Page 10 of Falling for a Forsaken Marquess
“What do you mean?” the man asked. “You were firmly against the idea of marriage when I last saw you. What has changed? Have you met someone?”
“Good heavens, no! My views on marriage have not changed, but I might have given my mother the power to marry me off without protest from me.”
“How the devil did you do that?”
William ran his fingers through black curls, wincing when a ring caught on a lock. He used his other hand to release it and rubbed the stinging coin-sized area on his scalp.
“That’s the fifth time this week,” he complained. “I’m usually more careful.”
“Who can blame you?” said Martin. “You signed away your rights to refuse marriage. That must keep you awake at night.”
“My sleep has been affected,” William admitted. “It isn’t the falling asleep part that bothers me, but the nightmares that come once I close my eyes.”
William had recurring dreams of women who turned into creatures as they walked down the aisle towards him. His last dream had featured a dark-haired beauty who transformed into a massive troll with stained yellow teeth, leathery brown skin with hues of green and yellow, and straw-like hair that grew in patches on her head.
The guests had not seemed worried about the creature’s presence as though they could not see the woman’s true grotesque form, and even his mother had laid her cheek against the troll’s face with happy tears flowing down her face. It had all been disturbing, to say the least.
“The look on your face says it all,” said Martin. “What horrific dreams have your mind conjured for you?”
“The sort that I would rather not think about. They say that if you talk about something long enough, it will come true.”
“I don’t know if I believe that, but it’s best to be cautious,” Martin replied sympathetically. “Tell me how your mother came to have all the power over such a decision.”
“My mother caught me at the worst moment of my day,” William explained. “I thought buying her some books and sending flowers would soften her resolve to plague me with her chatter about marriage at every evening meal, but it didn’t. It seemed to work at first, but she soon started the topic, and I suppose something snapped within me. I was calm on the outside, but I was livid on the inside.”
William was not one to let his feelings get the best of him, but the bubbling over of his frustration after months, even years of hearing the same thing over and over again, finally overrode his common sense and put him in his present predicament.
“I would have liked to see your reaction,” said Martin. “I have never seen you be anything but calm.”
“I looked calm.”
“Did your parents not notice anything about your behaviour?”
William shook his head. “Mother was simply overjoyed to finally have her wish granted. I left my meal partially eaten, and they didn’t bother to enquire why. My mother likely has women all lined up in her mind. ’Tis only a matter of time until my fate knocks at my door.”
“She will not need to knock if your butler opens the door,” said Martin tongue-in-cheek.
“Do you find my situation amusing?”
“No,” Martin said, not quite able to disguise his mirth. “I think I am surprised. Your mother enjoys beautiful things, so you can rest assured your bride will not be a beast.”
“Physical beauty means nothing if the woman is not a kind and considerate person.”
Martin snorted. “You cannot tell me that you would choose an unbecoming woman with a kind heart over a beauty with no heart?”
“Charlotte taught me that beauty is not worth a heartbreak.”
Martin immediately sobered as he scratched the side of his head. “I suppose that’s true, although you cannot paint every woman with the same paintbrush.”
A corner of William’s mouth lifted at the phrase. “I have never heard you use that expression before.”
“I attended a painting competition some months ago and heard someone give his friend some advice. Apparently, the man had suffered heartbreak, and the friend was consoling him.”
“Much like what you did four years ago,” William reminded him.
“Precisely, but your situation was different. The man didn’t have his brother take the woman he loved.”
A slight pang of pain tugged at his chest, but it was nothing compared to the turmoil of emotions he had experienced years ago.
