Page 8 of Taken By the Dangerous Duke

The two men fell silent, both basking in the moment. Arthur’s mind went back to the place it had been going all week.

“It is coming up soon, is it not?” asked Parker quietly.

“It is,” confirmed Arthur. “I have been thinking about him a lot recently. It will be twelve years this year. It has been a long time, and it still feels as if it were yesterday. I really wish he was still around. I wish both of them were still here.”

“I know,” said Parker. “If there is anything I can do, please let me know.”

“Thank you.”

The two men were silent again, both happy to drink their beverages and stare out of the window.

“I have been thinking a lot about his last words to me,” said Arthur.

“About marriage?” asked Parker.

“Yes. I was not with him at the end of his life, but I was with him a few days before that. I loved my father more than anyone in the world, and it killed me when he died.”

“I know,” replied Parker. “I lost my father at a young age, younger than you, and it is hard to live on after that, but we all struggle forward.”

“You might be the person who understands me most in the world.”

“And yet, I am not sure if I do understand what goes on in that head of yours. How could you have played the ten in the first round against the Anderson twins?”

“I believe I won the needed points later that round, but I might have mixed up the king of hearts and the king of diamonds. It is an easy mistake to make.”

“For some,” muttered Parker.

“Can we get back to my actual problems,” complained Arthur.

“I suppose I will allow it.” Parker pickup up his glass and clinked it against Arthur’s, the crystal ringing out.

“I can’t keep pushing it off and off. If I keep going on like this, I am never going to get married, and I won’t be able to continue his legacy.”

“You know that is not your responsibility in life, Arthur. From what I have heard of him, he was a good man, but that is a lot to carry for a man who never wants to take a wife.”

“I don’t need a wife,” claimed Arthur. “No one needs a wife. I am doing just fine as it is, and that would only complicate things.”

“You can keep telling me that, but I am going to find out what is really going on one day. I am going to find out all of your secrets. In the meantime, I am going to assume you are deathly afraid of women.”

“Yes, that is it,” agreed Arthur. “I am terrified of them.”

“I am glad we got that cleared up. Now, down to finding a wife. There must be plenty of eligible women in London. Have you got to any of the balls you get invited to when you come up there? If you stay a few more days, I am sure you could attend at least two. I guarantee you will have a wife before you get back to York.”

“I don’t have time. I have to get back to the businesses in York, and Aunt Bertha does not do well if I am away for too long.”

“She is not your responsibility either.”

“She is family,” claimed Arthur.

“She is,” sighed Parker. “So, this future wife of yours? Do you have any idea where you are going to find her? Are there even any women in York? I heard there are only old women down there. Are you going to shack up with an old spinster?”

Arthur laughed. “There are one or two young women in York. You would know that if you ever ventured down there. No, I need a young wife so she can give me a child. And, I would like good facial features and a slim body so that can be passed onto our child.”

“Good facial features?” asked Parker with a chuckle. “Why don’t you put an ad in the local newspaper? I am sure there are plenty of women with good facial features who would queue up along the street for a chance at the man who needs one child to continue his father’s legacy. Tell me more so I can talk to all the slim women I know.”

Arthur laughed again, happy to have his mind taken from his pain for a few hours. “I don’t want a meek woman.”

“The meek shall inherit the Earth,” commented Parker.

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