Page 18 of Her Heartless Duke
Daniel laughed out loud at his reaction. “No, truly—this is indeedverygood authority. You remember my Aunt Joana, don’t you?”
Isaac nodded. He had danced with her daughter in the Townsend ball and the woman looked like she was just about to have paroxysms of elation. Olivia had also mentioned that their aunt shared some friendship with Lady Pierce.
“Well, Aunt Joana is rather close to Lady Pierce—girlhood friends and all that—and she found out just two days ago over afternoon tea at the Pierces’.” Daniel leaned in and whispered conspiratorially to Isaac, “Apparently, Lord Pierce is opposed to his suit. The man is more or less penniless, I heard, and if Lady Vivian is allowed to marry him, he will gamble away her dowry before the year ends and she will be forced into a life of genteel poverty.”
It was a fate that no parent would ever wish on their children, even for those who were more callous towards their offspring. Marriages in Society were more or less transactional and in the best-case scenarios, both parties would benefit from the union. If Lady Vivian were to wed the Viscount of Wolverton and he was indeed as bad of a gambler as he was reported to be, she would spend the next half of her life in misery and her family would gain nothing from it.
“That is very good news indeed!” Isaac grinned and raised his glass at his friend.
“See? You can never say that your friend does not care for you,” Daniel smiled and nodded as Isaac refilled his glass. “That means that you may once again be able to present yourself as a suitor to the lady. This time, of course, you better not make a mess of things.”
It was a harsh and brutal assessment of his earlier courtship tactics, but one that Isaac knew that he needed. In the past, he had not been a good enough suitor for Lady Vivian, scarred and hardened as he was from the war.
“Lady Vivian is good for you,” his friend told him softly. “I have seen the effect that she had on you. Otherwise, I would have told you to have pity on the poor woman and stay well away from her.”
Which was to say that her gentle presence made Isaac more of a civilized man than the broken shell he had been after the war.
“She… brought balance to my life,” Isaac admitted in a rare show of vulnerability. “I do not wish for a grand love—that is nothing more than a fantasy dreamed up by poets.”
At least, he had not felt any of that with Lady Vivian. Yet, in a way, she had a manner of grounding him back to the present. With her soothing voice, she drew him away from his dark thoughts of death and the battlefield.
“One could hardly call you a poet, Langley,” Daniel remarked wryly. “If anything, you are more likely to ruin a perfectly good rhyme.” He leaned back in his seat and raised an eyebrow at his friend. “You have to be on your best behavior, then, and attend as many balls as you can.”
Isaac’s eyes narrowed. “Should it not be that I shall attend only the balls that I deem necessary?”
“You have to make a show out of having recovered from your sojourn in the war,” his friend insisted. “Maybe even put out the word that the Duke of Langley is searching for a wife this Season.”
“And risk having all those bloodthirsty mothers descend upon me the moment I step out of my home?” he snorted. “Highly unlikely.”
His courtship last Season with Lady Vivian had been a disaster of sorts. He was not about to make the same mistakes he did, and he definitely did not want to have Society’s mamas on to his scent like bloodhounds on the hunt.
This time, he was resolved to do everything right by Lady Vivian and show her that he had changed for the better. That he was a man worthy of asking for her hand in marriage. That he was not going to make her miserable for marrying him.
And he knew just the person who could help bring his message to her.
“What is that sly grin on your face?” his friend scoffed. “I suppose you have already formed a grand plan to win your lady’s heart.”
“Indeed, I have.” He did not care if he looked smug.
“Well, do not fall flat on your face this time,” the Earl grimaced. “I do not want to have to pick up your sorry behind from all over London once more.”
“You will not have to this time.”
Daniel looked at him suspiciously. “I have never seen you this sure of yourself. I pray to God that for your own sake, you will finally find success with the lady of your choice.”
“Thank you for the vote of confidence, my friend. I know I will succeed this time.”
Because this time, I have Lady Olivia to help me.
Daniel did not need to know that to win the heart of Lady Vivian, he would be soliciting the help of his sister—the very same one his friend had said was fond of driving him insane regularly. It was his great fortune that Lady Olivia knew what she wanted and was bold and audacious enough to go after it.
Even if it meant seekinghishelp.
Perhaps we are both a little bit mad, he admitted to himself.But is that really so bad?
Even in the midst of the darkness of his mind, he had been glad to find someone who understood his madness and maybe shared in it a little.
Both men continued to drink, this time in much lighter spirits. Apparently, the effects of alcohol seemed to have lessened the burden of responsibility on Daniel’s shoulders for however brief it may last. Isaac, for his part, felt that the spirits only heightened his joy at the good news he had received about Lady Vivian.