Page 36 of I Never Forget a Duke (The Night Fire Club #1)

“I cannot stay long,” Hugh said as he sat in the chair across from Lark. “I worry about what may happen if Adele and my mother spend too much time together. But I wanted your opinion.”

Lark narrowed his eyes. “Why my opinion?”

“Well, not yours specifically. You fellows. But Fletcher and Owen are not here. Are they?”

“No. Both had other engagements this evening.”

“Are you drinking alone?”

Lark looked at the snifter in his hand. He knew he could trust the old Hugh, but he still wasn’t completely sure what Hugh knew and didn’t know, and if this new Hugh would accept things or not.

Still, he said, “Well, if you must know, I’m meeting Beresford.

Time is a bit of a loose concept for him, however, and he is running quite late. ”

Hugh stared at him for a long moment. “You and Beresford are lovers, aren’t you?”

Lark looked down. “Yes,” he said quietly.

“It’s all right, you know. I don’t have those inclinations myself, but I know sometimes men prefer their own sex.”

Hugh sounded sincere, so Lark looked up and said, “I prefer everyone. Although right now, I prefer Beresford.”

“How long?”

“Oh, here and there for a few years, more regularly the last two months or so.”

Hugh nodded. “I thought you didn’t like him.”

“Me too. He grew on me.” Lark rubbed his head. “What did you want my opinion on?”

“Oh.” Hugh reached into his coat pocket and withdrew a large jewelry box. “I bought this for Adele. Do you think it’s too much?”

“How should I know?” But Lark waited while Hugh opened the box. “Wow.”

Hugh revealed a necklace with a huge emerald surrounded by diamonds. The necklace was gorgeous. Breathtaking. Lark struggled to picture it on the neck of someone as austere as Adele. “It’s lovely.”

“You think so?”

“A necklace befitting a duchess. Adele will think it too much.”

Hugh frowned. “I know. I could not resist it, though. I’ve never seen anything like it. When I saw it in the case I could picture exactly how it would look at Adele’s throat. I thought she could wear it to the wedding.”

“I do not know much about women’s fashion, but this is a very nice emerald. What if she wears a color not suited to emeralds to the wedding?”

“Then she can wear it to a ball or something. I don’t know anything about women’s fashion, either. I just thought it would look pretty on Adele. Or, hell, she could wear only the emerald and I would be happy.”

Lark laughed. “Well, of course.”

Hugh closed the box. “She’s going to hate it.”

“No, I don’t think anyone could hate a necklace like that. But wearing it will make her self-conscious. You’ve agreed to marry not only a wallflower, but one who blends right in with the wall.”

Hugh shook her head. “No, that’s ridiculous. She’s beautiful.”

“I know, but she hides her beauty in order to fade into a crowd. She is not interested in being the sort of woman whose beauty everyone admires. I don’t think she will be comfortable with the sort of attention a duchess commands.”

“On the other hand, she spent a fair bit of my money at the modiste. Although, based on how Adele described the visit, my guess is that once the modiste discovered she could bill me, she was deceptive about the costs of things with Adele. I can’t see her spending that much money knowingly.”

“Are you angry about it?”

“Not at all. I gave the modiste permission to bill me for anything Adele wanted. I don’t anticipate her causing me any financial hardships. You’re right, Adele is not extravagant, and I can afford it anyway.”

“Speaking of people with financial hardships, I ran into your cousin the other day.”

Hugh frowned at that. “My cousin?”

“Collingswood. He’s still in town.”

Hugh made the face he made when he couldn’t remember something. “And he has financial troubles?”

“His property in Jamaica has experienced some hardships.” Lark watched Hugh for any reaction, but Hugh still seemed lost.

“He has not asked me for money,” said Hugh.

“No, he is too proud for that.” Lark frowned.

“The thing is, Collingswood is your closest relative and he stands to inherit your title, which is unlikely to happen now that you’ve married.

I don’t know him well enough to say if that matters to him.

Maybe it doesn’t. In the meantime, I’ve received word that Collingswood thought he’d be inheriting some tract of land but lost out on it, then he tried to buy a piece of land in Surrey but was outbid for it, so he has thus far been unsuccessful at buying land in England. ”

“That is curious.”

“In what way? Collingswood’s desire to own more property is well known.”

“I don’t know what to make of it, honestly. But I have the sense there’s something I don’t remember here. A connection I can’t make because some things are still lost to me. Do I like Collingswood?”

“You are not close. Your feelings toward him have always seemed… ambivalent.”

“Hmm. Are he and I… that is, do we compete? Is there ill will?”

“If there is, you have never spoken to me about it, but it wouldn’t hurt to take a look at your land holdings to see which of them Collingswood might have tried to make a play for.”

“That is a good idea. I will discuss it with my man of business.”

“Please do. I can’t say anything for certain, but I have a nagging feeling about him. Still, perhaps it is of no consequence and I am biased because I personally find Collingswood somewhat repellant. Did you invite him to your wedding?”

“Mother took care of the invitations, but I imagine she would have. He is my cousin, after all, and a Baxter, and Mother has been lecturing me about Baxters and Swynfords and reputations all week. I believe her intention of explaining that my ancestor Such-and-So Baxter fought with Henry V at Agincourt is to somehow impress me into seeing that Adele is unworthy. Luckily she does this only when Adele is not around, but I think Mother will not cease with this until the wedding is over and done.”

Lark nodded. “She’ll come around. She needs to see with her own eyes that nobody cares. If Adele is pretty and charming in public, she’ll do just fine.”

“Are you sure nobody cares?”

Lark crossed his arms. “I have given this some thought. I think we’re in the midst of a quiet social revolution, actually.”

“What do you mean?”

“I think it is the fate of daughters and sons to feel dissatisfied with the lives of their parents. What year were yours married?”

“I have no idea.”

“Your memory is still faulty, so I will forgive you that. Mine were married in 1778. Think about all that has happened since then. We lost the American colonies. We went to war in Europe. The king went mad. We defeated Napoleon. Not only that, but women want different things now. Did you read Wollstonecraft? Well, if you did, you won’t remember, but she argued that women should have equal rights.

I think we can see a future where what we do in the privacy of our homes stops mattering. ”

Hugh sat back in his chair and raised his eyebrows, so Lark decided to plow forward with his speech.

“Can you imagine men and women having the right to choose whom they go to bed with? You could marry whomever you wanted to without fear of being cast out by your family or by society. You could decide not to marry if you don’t want to, or decide not to have children.”

“You could marry for love.”

“Yes. And I appreciate that you are doing just that. I fear I will not have that luxury.”

Hugh nodded and was silent for a long moment. “Do you love Beresford?”

Did he? Lark was fond of Anthony and he was surprised by the depths of Beresford’s character, but love? “I do not know.”

“Beresford himself said you’d have a moment where you’d just know. I haven’t had a moment like that with Adele, but I can see where what we have may grow to that. In some ways, I feel like we barely know each other. And yet I cannot imagine marrying anyone else.”

“That is a luxury. It’s not like I can marry Beresford. And you, by the way, are giving my parents ideas. Isn’t it time I settled down, my mother keeps asking. In truth, I do not wish to marry at all. I can bequeath the title on my nephew, perhaps.”

“It is of no consequence to me, as long as you are happy.”

“Yes, and I think that is at the crux of our lives right now. You and I are both wealthy men. We can afford to be happy, or we should be able to. Why shouldn’t you marry your Adele? Why does it matter what anyone thinks of it?”

“Is that how you think people will view it? You seemed pretty dead set against our marriage just a couple of weeks ago.”

Lark shrugged. “Perhaps I have grown. And anyway, scandal is fleeting. At the end of the day, you’re marrying an earl’s daughter, and there’s not much objectionable about that when you take the public regard of Canbury out of the mix.

Maybe a few people will object, but they’ll forget in a week when the next scandal occurs. ”

“So why were you and Owen and Fletcher working so hard to talk me out of it?”

Lark sighed. Why had he? He liked Adele.

It was clear Hugh cared for her. “I can’t speak for Owen or Fletcher, but the old Hugh had not been ready for marriage, so I merely wanted to make sure you were not rushing into something you would regret later.

And I do like Adele. I’ve never met a woman with a more practical head on her shoulders.

The fact that you are buying emeralds for a woman who I am certain would find emeralds too ostentatious is just evidence that you are confident in your decision, and so I will support it. ”

“Thank you, I think.” Hugh tilted his head. “I appreciate your support.”

Lark laughed. “Yes, well. You’d better go home to her now before your mother does her in. Here comes Beresford anyway.”

Hugh turned around in time to see Anthony heading their way.

Today, Beresford looked like Beau Brummel had dressed him in the very height of dandy attire, in an ornate jacket with gold trim, the correct shade of yellow on his waistcoat, and his long hair was tied away from his face in queue at the base of his neck.

He grinned when he and Lark made eye contact.

“Hello, Your Grace,” Anthony said to Hugh.

“He was just leaving,” said Lark.

“What have you got there?” Anthony asked, pointing to the jewelry box in Hugh’s hand.

Hugh opened the box and showed it to Anthony. Anthony gasped. “That is gorgeous. I take it you bought it for your future wife and not this oaf.” He gestured toward Lark.

“Yes. A wedding gift for Lady Adele.”

“Beautiful. The color of that emerald is something else. It will look lovely on her.”

“Tell me, Beresford,” said Lark. “You have your finger on the pulse of gossip among our peers. Has anyone said anything about Swynford’s impending nuptials?”

“No, not really. Well, a lot of surprise, but no one seems especially bothered that Lady Adele is Canbury’s daughter, not the extent you all seemed to fear at any rate.

Mostly they’re not over the shock that Swynford finally picked someone, and basically the last woman they expected.

And Eugenia Sackville is spitting mad, but that seems poetic justice. ”

“Fair enough,” said Hugh. He stood. “This will all be fine, right?”

Beresford smiled. “I do believe that everything will work out as it should.”