Page 19 of A Bride for the Cruel Duke

“So, it is his fault you are marrying?” Anthony chuckled. “Even from beyond the grave, he finds ways to ruin your life.”

“He was an old wart,” Roderick snapped. “And I know he is up there right now, laughing at me.”

“Perhaps he is proud of you.” Anthony could not help but smile, as he knew how little Roderick and his father cared for one another. “His only son, finally getting married. What a happy circumstance, I would say.”

“A marriage of convenience,” he sighed. “You know as well as any how expected such a thing is from men of our ilk. Alas, even I was not able to avoid expectation, so when the countess approached with me the marriage offer, I figured why not...” He shrugged and had another sip. “Best get it over and done with.”

“How romantic of you.”

“Even more romantic are my plans post wedding.” His eyes flashed with wickedness. “Violet is a fine creature, do not misunderstand me. And if I was to succumb to the lure of wedded bliss, she is perhaps the only one who could coax such a thing from me.

As I have told her, I do not want a part of it.” His expression hardened suddenly. “Which is why once we are wed, we will be living apart. Separate homes. Separate lives. That, in my estimation, is the true definition of wedded bliss.” He held up his glass as if to make a toast and then drained the rest in a single mouthful.

Anthony studied his friend with a mixed feeling of emotions.

On the one hand, he wasn’t surprised to hear of this plan, for he knew as well as any other how Roderick felt about marriage—that was why he had been so surprised by the announcement in the first place.

Anthony’s relationship with Roderick was complicated, as both men were naturally closed-off creatures who struggled to share their emotions with anyone. This meant that their relationship always remained at the surface level, borne from a familiarity with one another, while unable to grow into anything truly meaningful.

Perhaps this will change with marriage? The irony that it might take getting married to finally coax out those emotions which he guards with such venom.

That did not mean he wasn’t annoyed with how lightly Roderick was taking his impending marriage. It was an arraignment that had fallen into his lap without much effort exerted, something that Anthony would never get to experience thanks to a certain moniker that had the entire ton convinced that he was the sort who’d best be avoided at their own peril.

“I wish you well,” Anthony said bitterly, joining his friend in his toast.

“What of you?” Roderick grinned. “A night spent with a luscious young lady whom you have not been able to keep your eyes off all evening. Do I hear wedding bells?”

Anthony narrowed his eyes. “I would be careful of what you are suggesting, Roderick. Unless you plan on spending the rest of the weekend with a black eye.”

Roderick held up his hands, laughing to himself. He was shorter than Anthony, and nowhere near as physically imposing. Not a weak man by any stretch of the imagination, but not nearly as large as Anthony. “I jest, I jest. Of course, it is but a joke.”

“I thought the purpose of a joke was to be funny.”

Roderick shrugged. “I know she isn’t your type. And I know that you of all men are not one to take advantage of a young maiden who has found herself accidentally wandering into your lair.” He flashed his teeth in a mocking grin. “Besides, I have a feeling that the countess might offer up the hand of her other daughter...” He flicked his head toward the family, noticeably at Aurelia. “Anything to get her out of the house.”

“Are you quite done?”

“Oh, she is not so bad to look at.” He was chuckling and shaking his head. “A little plump, perhaps, but a man of your size would surely rise to the task. Shall I ask Violet if the match is one worth pursuing? I am sure she would be thrilled to help.”

Anthony knew Roderick was making fun, so he resolutely ignored him, turning his head away and focusing instead on the bickering family.

Despite himself, Anthony found his attention falling on Lady Caroline Hawkins, who was still standing back from her family, and still at pains not to find herself in the middle of their argument.Strange, as I would have guessed that of her siblings, she was the most outspoken.

Anthony had been doing his best all evening to put the previous two days behind him. A series of events that had not been in his control but had very nearly undone him, nonetheless.

He found his gaze locked onto Lady Caroline Hawkins, unable to keep himself from looking at her. She had frustrated him beyond belief for the entire time they were together, a woman who seemed designed to annoy him. Never had he met one so argumentative and forward, one who let her tongue wag before stopping to think what the consequences might be. Ordinarily he would despise such a trait as that, yet—where she was concerned—he could not help but be intrigued.

Oh yes, the fact that he was physically drawn to her did not help the matter. She was far shorter than he was, and her body was curvy in all the right places. Her round face was undeniably pretty; a mixture of wholesome and wicked. Her big eyes, round like an owls, had an innocence to them which contrasted mightily to her plump lips and the words they spoke.

Again, as he had been doing all day, his thoughts drifted to their night spent together. First, when he was between her legs, hands on her thighs, feeling her struggle and then relax as she gave into him. As he made her his to control. And then when he woke in the morning to find her wrapped around him, her soft body pressed in close, her warm breath drifting across his face as her legs squeezed him...

“Anthony?” Roderick said. “Is something the matter?”

“Hhmm?” Anthony snapped his gaze back from Lady Caroline, as he had been staring without realizing it.

“That look on your face...” Roderick could not have looked more pleased. “If I did not know any better, I would say that you were?—”

“Off to bed,” Anthony announced quickly, cutting through his friend before he could even suggest the obvious joke. He downed the rest of his liquor and then shoved the empty glass into his friend’s chest. “And not a moment too soon.”

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