Page 28 of Five Ways to Bed a Duke

“Well, you look terrible,” Simon noted.

As much as Richard would like to deny it, it was true. His waistcoat was lost somewhere in the room, his shirtsleeves were roughly rolled up to his elbows, his cravat was partly undone, and his hair was mussed because of the countless times he had run his hand through it. He must look like a terrible mess—hefeltlike a terrible mess.

“Are you well? St. George?” Simon asked, furrowing his brow in concern.

“Very well, in fact,” Richard answered, affecting nonchalance.

“You have been drinking. I thought you had given up the vice, and don’t get me started on the state of your clothing. Did your valet go on vacation or anything of that sort?”

“Careful, Simon. You are starting to sound like my mother.”

Simon’s lips quirked up. “While I do not particularly care for the comparison, I can’t wait for you to marry so I can quit worrying about you,” he said, before heaving an exaggerated, long-suffering sigh.

Richard shivered in revulsion, and his reaction made Simon chuckle loudly.

“You know my stance on marriage. I would do almost anything to escape the Parson’s mousetrap,” he scoffed.

“We will see about it,” Simon drawled, eyeing him speculatively.

Richard narrowed his eyes in suspicion, heaving a tired sigh. He decided to change the topic.

“St. George? Since when do you address me by my title?”

“I do when my friend becomes the newest duke in the ton,” Simon said, a triumphant smile on his face. “I can’t wait to see those pricks swallow their words.”

While they had outgrown their experiences as schoolboys, unfortunately, noblemen seemed to carry their grudges into adulthood.

Simon, with his blonde Adonis looks, might seem like the fun-looking, charming nobleman, but Richard could attest to the fact that beneath the layers of his pristine clothing, his friend had a streak for pettiness. It could be amusing sometimes, but Simon was the best friend any man could ever ask for.

“… so we could go to the club. I am sure we could make some dents in their ego with well-placed blows.”

Richard snapped back to reality, realizing that Simon had been speaking with him the whole time he had been distracted.

“The club? I am in no mood for boxing now.”

“Come on, man, I am sure there is nothing like physical exertion to take your mind off whatever thoughts seem to plague you.”

Richard reluctantly agreed because if he refused, Simon would pester him till he agreed anyway.

When they arrived at the club, Richard swore that some part of him enjoyed the extra respect that was accorded to him by the patrons. It was nice to patronize the men who had once gossiped about him within hearing distance.

Within moments, he and Simon stood opposite each other in the boxing ring, but after a round, he gave up because he just kept getting hit by Simon. Considering that he was a better strategist than his friend, it was a testament to his absent-mindedness.

But why wouldn’t he be distracted when his mind seemed to develop a fixation on Catherine’s pink lips and how they felt underneath his, soft, succulent, sweet…

Damn and blast, he was back to that train of thought even while he made efforts to curb it. He guessed he should be grateful that he had only had a match with Simon. If he had a match with another opponent, he would have been nursing something worse than a broken nose and a black eye.

“What is wrong, man? Money problems?” Simon asked teasingly.

“Simon, I just inherited my father’s title. Trust me, I have more money than I know what to do with,” Richard answered, exasperated.

It was true, because it seemed the one good thing about having a father who buried himself in his estate accounts was that the estate’s accounts were meticulously arranged, every penny accounted for.

“So, it is a woman then,” Simon concluded with a cocky arch of his eyebrows.

“How did you get to that conclusion?” Richard asked, bewildered.

“Those are the only things that could bother a man deeply,” Simon said, a solemn look in his eyes. But then, his lips curled into a smile. “How is the beautiful Cynthia?”

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