Page 71 of Her Tiger of a Duke
“It is everything I could have hoped for and more. My husband, on the other hand… I cannot say that he is particularly at ease.”
“Why not?” Owen asked. “He has found work, and you are living here. If there is anything more that we can do for you, we would be more than happy to.”
“In truth, I believe the best that you can do is talk to him. I do not know what is troubling him, but it is beginning to concern me too. That is why I asked you both to visit. I believe he needs to speak with a man, rather than his wife.”
Owen did not need convincing. It was for the best, he thought, that he left the ladies to talk while he found the man. It also meant that he could avoid looking them in the eye for a while longer.
“I shall return soon, then,” he said with a nod, making his way to the study.
As he wandered the halls, he was taken back to his childhood when he did not walk them alone. It was comforting, but there was also sadness in it. He missed the way things were, and he wished that everything was different, but there was no changing what had happened.
There was no changing what he had done.
He knocked on the study door, and he heard a voice on the other side telling him to enter. He walked in to see George, dark hair covering his face as he read.
“I thought I would come and see you,” Owen explained.
“Your Grace! My apologies, I did not realize that you were here. I shall come down now.”
“Do not worry, our wives are talking to one another, so they are more than entertained.”
He took a seat across from him and peered at the book. It was filled with law terms that he did not quite understand, and it was no surprise to him that George had been looking at them so intently if he was trying to make sense of them himself.
“I have been given work as a ledger,” he explained. “In the meantime, I am studying law. It is my hope that I will become a solicitor, as they make enough money to support a family.”
“I have already told your wife that if the two of you need assistance, you need only ask.”
“And that is very kind of you, Your Grace, but I cannot accept it. Helena and I know that we need help, but I cannot let you do too much for us. As it is, you have done more than I could have asked for.”
“There is no shame in needing help.”
“Perhaps not, but there is shame in not being able to support my family. I am supposed to be the man, the one that cares for my wife and our child, and yet we are relying on the charity of another man. She almost married you because of our circumstances, and though I know she was doing what she thought was best, it stings knowing that I am not enough.”
Owen knew the feeling all too well; yes, he had the funds to support his wife, but he could not give her what she deserved, and it was killing him inside.
“And yet, she chose you,” he replied. “George, I know how it feels to think yourself undeserving of a lady, but Lady Helena is not a fool. She wished to marry me, yes, but it was with the understanding that she loved you and would not spend much time with me at all. She did not want anything to do with me, and I cannot blame her for that.”
The man’s eyes widened for a moment, as if he did not know about that.
“But she said that the two of you are friends, and that you had saved her.”
“I did what was right. Any good man in my position would have seen her situation and understood that she needed protection. I will never claim that it was ever anything more than that.”
“Then, if I may ask, why her? There are plenty of young ladies who would have liked to marry you, your wife for example. Why was it Helena that you chose?”
Owen sat back, looking the man in the eye. He had never told anyone the real reason, partly because it would have meant admitting it to himself.
“She reminded me of someone I know,” he explained. “I could not help the other young lady, so when Lady Helena came to me in need of assistance, I could not turn her away.”
“Even though you were not obligated to?”
“She was honest with me. She told me her situation, and she was clear that she would never love me. I could not refuse, not when she had no duplicity in her motives.”
George nodded, eyes sliding away.
“I want to take care of her,” he repeated. “I want to be the man that she deserves, and I cannot stand that I am incapable of being the man she needs.”
“But you already are. You love her, and that is all she wants. She would have been happy anywhere with you. I was the one that insisted upon all of this, not only for her sake but for yours too. I want both of you to be happy, George.”
