Page 15 of His Highland Duchess
“But perhaps we can look together?” Margaret offered. “Surely, there is nae harm in that?”
“Re–really?” Aurelia brightened.
“I willnae tell if you dinnae.” She held her hand out for the girl, who took it immediately. “Remember, we are only looking. And this is our secret.”
“I won’t tell!” the girl cried with excitement, buzzing now because she was so thrilled. “I promise.”
“I believe ye,” Margaret said, smiling warmly. “Now, come, before anyone sees us.”
Together, Margaret and Aurelia made their way across the garden and toward the stables. It was such a small thing, really nothing to be too excited over at all. And yet Margaret could not help but smile as she went. A friend had been made today. Proof that these next few months might not be so bad. And if the duke found out and became angered…a thought that excites me for some reason.Yet somethin’ else ta look forward ta.
CHAPTER FIVE
“Are the two of you quite done?” Lysander muttered into his tankard of ale.
“You would like that, wouldn’t you?” his close friend, Julian, the Duke of Morland, chuckled. “But we are not even close.”
“Careful now,” Sampson joined in, his cheeks pink from having too much to drink. “I think we are hurting the duke’s feelings.”
“Not even close,” Lysander assured them both. “Julian, I can handle, for he knows I care little about his opinion.” He cocked an eyebrow at Julian, who burst into laughter. “But you, Sampson, I would have thought to have more shame than that. Mocking your sister-in-law. What would your wife say?”
“I am not mocking Margaret,” Sampson said rightly. “It is you who has found himself getting beaten left and right by my wit.”
“Wit? Is that what you call it?”
“Oh, come now…” Julian slapped Lysander on the back. “It is all in good fun. I mean,” he laughed and shook his head. “Of all the people I might have guessed to have been caught sneaking into a young lady’s bedroom –”
“Which was not what happened.”
“—and then forced into marriage to keep this most sinister act a secret, it would not have been you, Lysander. Anyone but you.”
“It was merely a set of unavoidable circumstances,” Lysander pointed out. “And all I did was what I had to.”
“You did the right thing,” Sampson agreed with a firm nod, only to burst into laughter. “Even if it is hilarious. Objectionably speaking.”
To that, Lysander said nothing.I will not rise to the bait they have laid for me, because to do so will only see them continue in this game they have started: punching me while I am down and exposed.Not that Lysander cared, of course. At least not about his own thick skin. He might have been a known introvert, calm in presence, careful not to let his emotions get the better of him. But he knew how to take a joke. And he rather enjoyed it when his friends included him like this. A known recluse, he sometimes feared that he would simply be forgotten, having to force himself at times to join his friends and remind himself that he had what it took to be social.
Truly, he needed it. The company. The drinks! A chance to put some distance between himself and his marriage so he mightclear his head and consider how on earth this had happened and what he was going to do about it.What can I even say about it, for it is done. Best to accept it and try to make the best of a bad situation.
It was just he and his two friends today, sequestered into a corner booth at their local gentleman’s club. An establishment that was empty at the moment, as it was rather early to be drinking. But that just spoke to how needed the occasion was.
“All jokes aside,” Sampson began, “How goes the marriage so far?”
“It has only been a day,” Lysander pointed out. “Not even that.”
“Ah, so that bad.”
“I did not say that.”
“It can’t be good,” Julian pointed out. “Otherwise, you would be home with your wife, rather than committing sins of the drink with us. What’s the matter, old boy, scared of your wife?”
Sampson snorted.
“Of course not,” Lysander snapped. “I am merely… giving her space to settle. That is all.”
“How gallant,” Sampson grinned.
Lysander eyed him warningly. Jokes were all in good fun, but they were getting dangerously close to personal.
