Page 53 of The Reckless Love of an Heir
Some of the liquor cleared from Henry’s head with a sudden rush of adrenaline. He strode across the room, although he walked a little askew. ‘What is it? What has happened?’ he asked of this search party.
‘As if you care…’ his father stated, his frown deep. ‘I have come to take you back to London. There are people waiting for you there. A respectable woman, the daughter of my friend.’
Henry’s brow scrunched in confusion. His father had come to drag him out of brothels before, but not since he had left Oxford.
‘Harry!’ Edward yelled across the room, his eyes looking beyond Henry.
Henry looked back at Harry, the liquor stealing his balance a little as the room swayed again. Harry had heard. He was halfway up the stairs. He said something to the woman then let go of her and turned around. He jogged down the stairs. Harry was the epitome of uncaring.
Henry smiled at his father’s small group.
Harry walked past Henry, steadier than Henry was. ‘Go away,’ he growled in a low voice at his father.
They were Henry’s sentiments exactly. He smiled at his own father.
‘I am not a boy to be dragged out of brothels any more,’ Harry continued.
‘You ought to be in your barracks.’
‘I shall be by six, and no one gives a damn where I am until then. Oddly enough I am a man and able to manage my time and my life without your oversight, Papa. Go away.’
‘Henry.’
Henry faced the diatribe awaiting him in his father’s expression.
‘My sentiments are the same as Harry’s,’ he slurred. ‘Go away.’ He swayed.
His father grasped his arm. ‘You were supposed to spend this time escorting Sarah and Alethea – clearly you have forgotten the promises you made.’
‘I attended their balls and I have not forgotten, believe me.’ Of course he had not forgotten. How could he damned well forget?He had attended Alethea’s ball and found his eyes, his awareness and his soul constantly drawn to the wrong sister. Then at his sister’s ball he had ceased arguing with his urges, acted upon them and kissed the wrong sister. Who had then expressed her judgement by leaving him standing in a street obviously alone in his obsession. And his obsession had not abated! Of course he remembered. He remembered and cared!
His father’s glare intensified.
‘Go away, Papa,’ Henry said. ‘I have no idea why you thought coming here would benefit anyone.’ Henry would have turned away but Lord Sparks gripped his arm before he could.
‘Where is Peter?’
‘In bed, enjoying the sport, I should imagine.’
‘As I will be, the moment you go away,’ Harry added, looking at his father.
‘Damn you, Harry,’ his father complained.
Lord Sparks let Henry go.
‘Goodnight, Father. Enjoy your journey home.’ Harry walked away, to return to his bird of paradise. ‘Goodnight to you too, Uncle; Lord Sparks!’ Harry called, capturing the attention of every man and woman in the room. When Harry reached the stairs, he looked back. ‘Oh. Shall I tell Peter you were looking for him? I am happy to, if you like, Lord Sparks?’
Henry looked at his father’s group, a smile pulling at his lips.
Lord Sparks had turned puce. He was not amused by Harry’s mocking comment. He looked as though he was about to go upstairs and throw open every door until he found Peter, whereupon he would drag him out of whichever bed he was in.
Henry’s smile broadened, because the thought of Peter’s father dragging him from a whore’s bed was amusing. They were grown men. Yet their fathers constantly struggled with that fact.
‘And you, Henry…’ his father said. ‘You began this, from what Ihave heard, even though you had obligations in town. Is there a woman upstairs?’
His father’s image swayed.Obligations…He hated that word.
‘My obligations…’ Henry slurred. Obligations that were created for him from the day he was born. Obligations that had not been his choice, and were no longer his preference. Obligations he had been slowly and firmly trapped into throughout his childhood. How could he have known as a child – when he had not refused his father’s or Uncle Casper’s desire for him to wed Alethea – that there were undiscovered emotions that would defy obligations, sense and morality? He had been a child – how was he supposed to know he should say no?
