Page 19 of Starlight and the Duke (Cherish and the Duke #5)

“Gad, I never expected to be the only bachelor among us,” Rob remarked, sauntering in and taking one of the comfortably padded leather chairs beside Reggie. “Am I going to see this same silly grin on Margaret’s face?” he teased. “Marriage agrees with you.”

Reggie laughed. “Amazingly, it does. Margaret is wonderful and sweet as anything. You ought to try this marriage business. It has worked out quite well for me. For Uncle Gawain, too.”

Rob accepted the drink now handed to him. “I’ll keep an open mind about it.”

“You had better,” Gawain warned. “Cherish and Fiona have been giving the downfall of your bachelorhood much consideration.”

“Not to mention the betting book out on you at White’s,” Reggie said. “The ton is in a frenzy wagering over whom you will marry.”

“Bollocks, do not remind me.” Rob turned to Gawain and scowled. “Are you going to deny that you and your Silver Duke friends were the ones who opened it, Bromleigh?”

“I have no intention of denying that we set up that betting book, but we never meant for the attention to fall to you. We were thinking of Fiona.”

Rob leaned forward. “Fiona? You were betting on her marriage prospects?”

“That was our first thought, since she’s my cousin and I love her.

I want to see her happily settled. But that idea was quickly cast aside.

The club members at White’s refused to permit us to place wagers on a lady.

So we changed the terms of that betting book, and it soon became all about you.

Anyway, Fiona is not yet ready to marry, despite any rumors to the opposite effect.

As for you, I think you will like the ladies Cherish and Fiona have chosen for you. ”

Rob forced a smile. “I am sure they are all lovely.”

Gawain laughed. “I might believe you if you did not look as though you were being led to the gallows.”

Rob shrugged. “Can you blame me? I do not enjoy this attention being foisted on me. Did you like it any better when you were one of London’s most sought-after bachelors? And a Silver Duke, no less.”

“I will admit, I detested all the attention.” Gawain nodded.

“But that unwanted interest in my every movement was a small cost, considering all the benefits gained from inheriting the Bromleigh title. You are the Duke of Durham now, and that comes with responsibilities. You need to sire heirs to continue the line and protect all those who rely upon your care. And before you lace into me for my resisting this very task into my forties, let me point out that our situations are not quite the same. I had a capable heir,” he said, glancing at Reggie, “who would step into my place when the time came. You have no one, Rob.”

“I know.” Wasn’t this what Fiona had gone on about this entire week?

“Margaret thinks you are going to like the choices Cherish and Fiona have made for you,” Reggie said, frowning slightly. “She says they are all smart ladies.”

“Then why the furrowed brow?” Rob asked.

Reggie raked a hand through his hair. “It was the way Margaret stated it, claiming they were much smarter than her. She is so quick to dismiss her own intelligence or the many other fine qualities that make her a wonderful person. It wasn’t her fault that her parents saw no purpose in educating her. ”

“Cherish adores her,” Gawain said. “I expect she, Margaret, and Fiona will be thick as thieves throughout the week, no doubt plotting to get you to the altar before summer’s end.”

Rob winced. “That’s what I am afraid of.”

“Well, you might like their choices,” Reggie said. “Fiona is especially clever about this matchmaking sort of thing.”

Yes, he knew.

Rob drained his glass and rose. “Mind if I take a walk before the others arrive?”

Reggie rose along with him. “I’ll go with you. I need to stretch my legs as well.”

Rob had wished to be alone, but Reggie was always good company. He had been a trusted friend for years, and it would not hurt to confide in him if ever he felt the need.

Not now, of course. Nothing had happened yet.

But all hell would break loose at some point.

Fiona was determined to match him with one of her handpicked choices, but how would she react when she saw him paying attention to any of these young ladies?

Fiona felt things so deeply. How was she going to respond if he led one of these hopefuls into the garden for a turn around the flower beds? Or danced a waltz with any of them?

Well, there were no answers to be had just now.

The pair made their way outdoors while Gawain returned to Cherish’s side to assist her in greeting more new arrivals.

“Do you know who they plan to foist on me?” Rob asked as he and Reggie wandered among the well-defined paths that were a mix of lush foliage and floral blooms in a blaze of summer colors.

Reggie nodded. “I think they chose well for you, avoiding this year’s crop of ton diamonds because they felt these debutantes were too young for you. They were certain you would dismiss them as peahens.”

“Good. I do not want to be listening to some eighteen-year-old goose going on about whatever nonsense comes into her head.”

“Ease up, Rob. You are barely in your early thirties and would not be considered too old even for the freshest debutantes. Nor are they all so witless that you would consider them inane and boring.”

“I am not saying I would…only that I probably would.”

Reggie shook his head. “Most of them were raised as Margaret was, lacking in academic education. Since Fiona and Cherish consider you particularly intelligent, they sought out bluestockings for you. Ladies in their twenties who had experienced a couple of London Seasons.”

“And who might those bluestockings be?”

Reggie gave him a friendly poke in the ribs. “Gad, Uncle Gawain was right. Stop looking as though you are about to be marched to the gallows.”

Rob laughed. “Sorry. I’ll try to do better.”

Reggie studied him a moment longer. “I know these ladies are not Fiona. But give them a chance, won’t you? You need to get over her, because she will not marry you.”

Rob’s heart lurched. “Why do you mention Fiona?”

“Oh, I don’t know. Perhaps because you light up like a chandelier whenever she is present.

You are hopeful of making a match with her, aren’t you?

But it will never happen, Rob. No one wishes the circumstances were different more than I.

You know I love you both dearly. I also think you are a perfect complement to each other, for you are the solid anchor she sometimes needs to keep her firmly grounded, while she is the spark to jolt you out of your set ways when you become too serious. ”

“And your point in telling me how right we seem to be for each other?”

“By pressing your suit, you will only cause her anguish. If you love her, as I know you do, then let her go.”

Rob felt as though his heart was being ripped out of his chest. “Message received, Reggie.” He stalked off because he needed to be alone to recover his composure.

Everyone, even Fiona herself, was insisting he move on.

He thought so, too. But thinking to do it and actually doing it were completely separate matters.

Why couldn’t even one of his feckless male relatives have left a legitimate male offspring to succeed him? Was it asking too much? Those worthless knaves had spread their seeds everywhere except in their own wives’ bedchambers.

He wandered down a small path that led toward an open field dotted with wildflowers to his right and some woodlands to his left.

A flash of light amid the trees caught his attention, and he decided to investigate the source.

In truth, these small rows of trees hardly qualified as woods and were more of a glade than an actual forest. They were slender, easily bending in the strong winds that often swept to shore with the warning of a storm.

Their barks were a stark white and their delicate leaves a silvery green that shimmered in the sunlight and shivered upon a light breeze.

He saw the flash of light again, this time closer.

“Hello?” he called out. “Anyone out here?”

There was a flutter amid the leaves as several birds must have been startled by his shout and flew away.

In the next moment, a young woman dropped down from one of the trees only to land as softly as a cat upon the grass directly in front of him.

“Smartly done,” she grumbled, intending no compliment. “You’ve chased away the birds.”

“My apologies,” Rob said, wondering who she was.

She did not appear to be a trespasser, not with the impudent tip of her chin or the withering look she shot him, as though he were the one infringing here.

“Who are you?” he asked, his tone perhaps more gruff than necessary.

It was no polite way to greet the young lady, but she seemed capable of holding her own. “Who are you ?” she retorted.

“I asked first.”

Her gaze raked over him as she assessed him, as though she were trying to determine whether he was a gray speckled sparrow or a pied woodpecker. Finally, she stuck out her hand as though expecting him to shake it as he would a man’s.

He considered merely bowing over it in courtly fashion, then decided against it because she did not seem to be the sort of young lady who would appreciate the polite gesture. So he just stood there awaiting her answer.

She sighed. “I am Florence Newton, a friend of Jocelyn, Duchess of Camborne.”

“Ah, then you must be the bird-watcher friend she’s told us about.” Since her hand was still extended, he shook it. This felt odd because he was not in the habit of taking a firm grip on a woman’s hand. “I am Robert Durham, the Duke of Durham. A pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

She cast him a wry smile. “You’re the poor wretch they are all trying to match at this house party. Is this why you have run off already to hide in the woods?”

He laughed. “Yes, you have found me out.”

She eyed him speculatively this time. “Do you like birds?”

“To eat? To hunt?”

“To admire,” she replied. “Do you really shoot them?”

“On occasion. I also eat them from time to time. And you?”