Page 91 of The Duke's Second Bride
“And you have a wife,” Vincent concluded. “And it is clear from the way she looks at you that she cares for you very much. Perhaps even loves you. And it is even more clear to me, as someone who has known you for many years, how deeply you love and care for her. And yet all you continue to do is push her away.”
“Protecting her,” Christian muttered, shaking his head.
Vincent gently slapped his hand on the bar. “Protecting her from what?” he asked. “From the pain of future loss? There is no life without loss, Christian. You haven’t deprived her of it in the least. All you have done is put her through that pain sooner. And now every day you spend in the same house, married, you will have to know that you could have had perfect happiness, and yet you pushed it away with both hands because you were afraid.”
“It is not fear, it is—” Christian shook his head in frustration at his inability to find the words he was searching for. “Fate,” he finally came up with. “It is fate. As you say, there is no life without loss. It is a fact I know well. After Isabel, I came to terms with the fact of loss. I had not thought to ever hope again until Ava. She made me …” He cleared his throat. “Hope is the most dangerous thing,” he said. “I know that now. I know better than to tempt fate. I will not risk Ava’s life like that.”
Throughout this little speech, Vincent remained perfectly silent, not nodding or shaking his head or making any move to interrupt. All he did was listen intently.
When Christian was finished, Vincent let another moment pass. Then he raised a hand to wave at the barkeep. He tossed some money onto the bar and then looped a hand through Christian’s elbow.
“Come on,” he said. “No more of this. It is getting to be ridiculous.”
“I am being nothing but perfectly reasonable,” Christian muttered.
He did nothing to help Vincent, but he didn’t fight him as the other man began to maneuver him towards the door.
“I don’t want to go home,” he said, hating the hint of pleading that had entered his voice.
“Then I would say you are in luck,” Vincent said. “I am not taking you to your home. Not right away, at the very least. We have more important business to attend to, so that you may change course before you throw away your chances.”
Christian climbed up into Vincent’s carriage obediently, but unhappily. “Where are you taking me?” he asked.
Vincent climbed up into the carriage and slammed the door behind him. Nearly as soon as that happened, Christian felt the carriage peel off, rattling over the roads.
“If you won’t listen to reason,” Vincent said, “perhaps you will listen to the dead.”
Ava had just finished another visit with Edith. Most of it had been spent receiving the same well-meaning advice and comfort from her friend, while she tried her best to steer the conversation in any other direction. Now, she and her maid were walking home.
The sun was beginning to set, but it was not so late that Ava had felt the need to take the carriage. After all, she wasn’t alone, and the weather was nice out.
Besides, she was not exactly in any kind of rush or hurry to get home, only to have to avoid Christian.
However, as another carriage pulled up beside them, Ava was beginning to regret her decision to walk.
“Ava! It has been quite some time since I’ve been graced with your beauty.”
She froze where she stood, every muscle tightening.
“Your Grace?” her maid said. “Are you all right?”
“Quite all right,” said the new voice from the carriage. Ava looked up to see Brandon stepping out from the carriage to smoothly stop just in front of her. “I was merely passing by, and despaired to see two ladies left out to walk in the streets. May I offer you two a ride home?”
“No, thank you,” Ava said.
“Are you quite certain? Those shoes you’re wearing—they look expensive, but not very comfortable,” he said, his voice lined with silk.
Ava felt a shudder of disgust crawl up her spine as he looked her up and down, like a wild animal taking stock of its prey.
“Kate,” she said. “Would you give us a moment alone, please?”
Kate, her maid, looked at her with wide eyes. “Are you certain, Your Grace?”
Ava nodded. “Not too far,” she assured the younger woman. She saw Kate visibly relax at this, though she still looked back at Brandon nervously as she walked away.
She didn’t go too far, just a few paces past the carriage, but it was far enough that Ava felt she could speak to Brandon frankly, without fear of prying ears.
Evidently, Brandon felt the same way. Before she could so much as open her mouth, he said, “A moment of privacy? I’m honored. Shall I take this as agreement, then?”
