Page 84 of The Duke of Distraction
“I could go with you,” Felix offered, hoping their friendship wasn’t completely destroyed.He looked at Sarah.“Are you certain you wouldn’t prefer your parish?I could stop in Harlow and obtain the license.”
“I don’t need you to come,” Anthony said.
That was all the answer Felix needed—to Anthony, their friendship was dead.And Felix wasn’t sure he blamed him.
Loss stabbed through him and stole his breath.No,he wouldn’t give in to it.“Perhaps you’d consider taking Beck,” Felix suggested.“If you don’t wish to go alone.”
Anthony gave Felix a cool stare, leading Felix to believe he wasn’t as sotted as he’d assumed.“Alone doesn’t bother me.Not anymore.”
The three of them stood there in silence for a moment until Anthony finally said, “Is there anything else?”
“No, I don’t believe so.”Felix worked to make his voice sound normal despite the tightness in his throat.“Should we expect you for dinner?”
“I should think not.”Anthony let out a soft snort, then closed the door in their faces.
Felix felt Sarah tense beside him.“He just needs time to get over being angry.”
“And sad,” she said, sounding sad herself.“If he can.”She slid him a curious, almost probing look that made him a bit uncomfortable.
He turned from Anthony’s door, fighting against the sense of loss he didn’t want to feel, and desperately tried to focus on something else.Something he could manage.Something he could control.
He suggested they go down to dinner and offered her his arm.“So next month, we’ll marry in Ware?”he asked.“I can obtain the license tomorrow.”
She put her hand on his sleeve, and they started toward the stairs.“What about your family church?”Her question surprised him.“Perhaps the vicar could perform the ceremony here.”
Felix’s heart pounded so hard, he feared she would hear it.“You know of the church?”
“I visited it today with George.”They turned and began to descend to the ground floor.“It’s such a beautiful location.”
“I’d, ah, prefer to marry in Ware.”He never went to the church.His father had dragged him there every year until he died.Felix hadn’t gone back.
Halfway down the stairs, she nearly sent him tumbling to the base.“Your birthday is day after tomorrow.How about we have a celebration?Anthony won’t be here, but Lavinia and Beck will be.I believe they plan to stay a week more at least.”
“I don’t need a celebration.We should focus on planning for a wedding celebration.”Yes, focus onanythingelse.
Her forehead pleated as they reached the bottom of the staircase.“We shouldn’t really have a celebration.It’s too soon after my parents.”
He seized on the excuse, aware that it perhaps didn’t fit and not caring.“Then we definitely shouldn’t have a birthday celebration for me.”
She took her hand from his arm and turned to look at him, her brow still creased with concern.“There’s no reason we shouldn’t.Unless you’d prefer not to.”
Cornered, he took the evasion she provided.“I’d prefer not to.”It was also the truth.
“Why not?You work so hard to entertain everyone.Can’t we entertain you for once?”
Flatter.Flirt.Fend.Do whatever you must to deflect and distract.“Sarah, I should think it would be obvious that you entertain me greatly.”
Her eyes narrowed slightly.“You could do with a little self-indulgence.”
He wanted to argue with her, to shout that self-indulgence was what had thrust him into this marriage disaster.But he didn’t.Instead, he summoned a smile and took her arm once more.“Then I’ll leave it to you to tutor me.”He gave her a flirtatious smile and guided her to the dining room.
“I’ll look forward to it.”She sent him a sidelong glance.“And you will too.”
Of that, he had no doubt.
Once more, Sarah and Lavinia sat together on the settee in the drawing room following dinner.Anthony had never joined them, nor had he offered an excuse for his absence.Felix had told Beck and Lavinia about the highwayman being shot.
After that distastefulness, Sarah and Felix had shared the news of their upcoming marriage but without giving the details that had prompted it.It should have been fairly obvious—at least to Lavinia given what Sarah had told her and the ways in which Lavinia had advised her.
