Page 24 of A Duke, a Virgin and a Baby
“You seem distracted.”
Lysander’s words barely managed to sink into Julian’s mind before he found himself quickly raising his arms to block the clenched fist heading straight for his face.
“I thought you said our marital status has no place in the ring? And yet, here you are, wholly distracted by thoughts of your duchess. What exactly inspired your return to her?” Lysander questioned with a proud grin.
“I didn’t come for her,” Julian replied, panting slightly as he wandered away from the center of the ring.
He thought a boxing match would help clear his mind as it often did before. But it appeared that his thoughts were too heavy to leave without a solution.
“But she did summon me due to the rise of a… sensitive matter.” He felt the need to add.
Then he told Lysander about the child that had appeared at the doorstep of his house and how his wife was wholly convinced that it belonged to him.
“You mean it does not? He is not your son?” Lysander questioned, the exaggerated shock on his face only further irritating Julian.
“You know he is not.”
“Forgive me, friend. Perhaps you picked up new hobbies while I was distracted by my travels. Who knows?”
“You have a rather disconcerting belief in me. The child is not mine… but I fear I know who his father is.” Julian admitted.
“You do?” Lysander asked, his expression a strange mix of confusion and surprise.
“I suspect the child… Nicholas is a product of Seth’s irresponsible actions.” Julian admitted.
Lysander stared at him for a moment. Then his lips parted as he inhaled shakily, only to blurt out the next moment.
“Your brother?”
“Unfortunately. The little boy bears a slight resemblance to him and my brother does have a history of being rather… careless, with his escapades.” Julian sighed tiredly.
He had come to the conclusion after taking notice of Nicholas’ blue eyes, a trait he and his brother had inherited from their father. When he considered it a bit more, he realized that truly, it was a plausible assumption to make, given his brother’s penchant for misbehaving.
“Have you known this all along? Why did you not tell your wife? She thinks you have been unfaithful to her! She likely believes that you decided not to spend the days after your wedding in the same house with her because you wished to live a life of infidelity.” Lysander groaned.
“I did not know it all along, but it is one of the few things that make sense to me, considering that the child was also left at my doorstep, out of all the estates around. I saw no reason to inform my wife because I do not trust her with such vital information concerning a sensitive matter such as this. If word were to get out, it would put my brother’s reputation in jeopardy. That is a risk that I will not take, especially as I am almost certain that I am right and Nicholas is my brother’s son.”
Lysander looked incredibly frustrated with each word that came out of Julian’s mouth and he did not hesitate to let him know just that.
“This is incredibly absurd. If you had so many reservations about your wife, why have you let her take care of the child? She is the one looking after him, is she not? Harrow, you are too fond of exhausting yourself with needless thoughts. You have a penchant for being right, so I will not entertain any thoughts on the possibility of that not being the case. But the right thing to do would have been to inform her of your thoughts on the matter regardless of what she believes is the truth. How else would you expect to dwell peacefully with her?”
While it would certainly provide some form of relief to not argue with Anna over every little thing, the sooner she was far away from him, the better. The same could be said about the way Julian’s skin itched to feel her warmth again, the way his mind craved to once more relish in the way she had shuddered against him.
Julian found these foreign notions annoying and he wished to be rid of them soon.
“I have no expectations from her. All that I want is to be done with this ridiculous situation and to put it behind me.” He stated, deciding that he had being at the boxing club for long enough.
Lysander sighed, clearly wanting to stand as the opposition of Julian’s existence, the way he had always been since they had become friends.
“All right. What can I do to help?”
Anna gave herself another careful once over, ensuring that she looked put together, just as the butler knocked at the open door of the drawing room.
“Lady Greenrow has arrived, Your Grace.” He announced and stepped aside for her guest to walk in.
“Leah!” Anna cried in relief, rushing towards her sister with open arms.
“Careful, dear,” Leah chastised lightly with a laugh. “One would think that you and I have not seen each other in so long. I was here last month, was I not?”
