Page 93 of Waiting for a Scot Like You
“That Beatrice and I were meant to be. That’s why you asked me to escort her to Nottinghamshire.” He stared at his Machiavellian friend as everything clicked into place. “You did that deliberately.”
Rotherby stared at him as if he’d just spoken the most obvious truth. “Of course I did, jackanapes. If I hadn’t, you would have just brooded and moldered away at Carriford, and I couldn’t let that happen.”
Before Duncan could reply to that incredible statement, Holloway added, “And he helped Grace andme find each other. Although, technically, she and I already knew one another and had cultivated a friendship for many years prior to his intercession, and—”
“I accept full responsibility for your marital bliss,” Rotherby drawled. “Though, I must admit that I wish you hadn’t found someone of similarly scholarly disposition, or else I wouldn’t be saying goodbye to you tonight.”
“We’ll be back in a year,” Holloway said firmly. The Holloways’ expedition that Beatrice, as benefactor, was funding was intended for both anthropological and zoological conservation and preservation, a preventative measure against Britain’s thirst for empire. Between Duncan and Beatrice’s trip, and Holloway and Lady Grace’s expedition, the Union of the Rakes would not be together for a long while.
“I insist that you do return,” Rotherby said with his usual ducal high-handedness. He added, after the duchess gave him a pointed look, “Please. In fact,” he went on, moving to the middle of the library so he could address everyone gathered within it, “I must extract a promise from all of you, that in a year’s time, we will all meet again in this very place and share stories of the past twelve months. What say you?”
“Wouldn’t miss it,” Rowe said, resting his head on Curtis’s wide shoulder. They now resided together in a snug lodging in Bloomsbury and owned a bulldog named Herman.
“I can say with absolute assurance,” Holloway said,“that Grace and I will be present, and we shall provide extensive documentation of everything we learn.”
“What about you, McCameron?” Rotherby asked, turning to him. “Will you join us, or will we be forgotten?”
“That won’t happen,” Duncan said emphatically.
“Don’t you forget about me,” Rotherby insisted. “Or any of us.”
Duncan looked down at Beatrice, who smiled up at him. She’d become everything to him, his light, his laughter, his heart, his passion. They explored every part of England together, always learning, always evolving—from sampling new food to meeting new people to greeting every new experience with curiosity and eagerness.
He’d consigned himself to a strangled existence of precise definitions and narrow beliefs, and then she had burst into his life. She had opened him in every way—his eyes, his mind—and shown him the universe.
He loved her so much it frightened him. But in the face of that fear, he was courageous, too.
And there was still room in his heart for the four men who had, long ago, given him their undying loyalty.
He looked at each of them in turn, recalling the simplest terms and convenient definitions that had been assigned to them: Rotherby—an admired man of influence. Holloway—a shy scholar. Curtis—a defiant miscreant. Rowe—an uncanny eccentric. And him, an athlete who always followed the rules.
They were far more than these superficial descriptors, and he silently thanked whatever cosmic being had brought them together. Because he wouldn’t have been able to love Beatrice as he did if he hadn’t learned what love was from these four men.
“Forget you and the Union?” Duncan’s voice was hoarse, and he blinked back tears. “Never. Don’t you know, you damned bastards? We’re stuck together. Now and always. To the Union of the Rakes.” He lifted his glass.
“To the Union of the Rakes,” everyone echoed, also raising their glasses.
“And the people that love them,” Beatrice added.
“Hear, hear,” the duchess said.
Lady Grace shyly lifted her glass higher. “I like you all much better than lizards. And I like lizards quite a lot.”
“To lizards,” Holloway proclaimed, looking ardently at his wife.
“To lizards,” the group repeated.
They stepped forward so that their glasses chimed together, filling the library with musical sound and laughter.
Duncan had never adored seven people more. Everything was excellent.
