Page 104 of Courting Scandal With The Duke
Charles looked down at his hand on the table and spread his fingers. He looked up with a rueful smile. ‘We are not enemies. Indeed, I did my best to, how do you say it, ease things between her and my brother. There were many arguments. It was not such a happy marriage. My brother was not as wealthy as she had expected.’
Xavier frowned. ‘Are you saying she was disappointed because he wasn’t rich? That she is a fortune hunter?’
Was she now trying to rectify the matter by trapping a duke? Except she wasn’t, was she? She was refusing to marry him. Confusion filled him.
‘I cannot blame her entirely for the unhappiness. My brother made promises he could not keep. She expressed her disapproval as only a wife can, if she wants to dishonour her husband, you understand?’
‘You mean she took a lover?’
‘And when my brother fought for his honour, her arrival at the duel… Well, it was a disaster.’
‘Your brother died fighting over Barbara?’
‘He lost concentration when he saw her walk on the field. It was the only time he ever lost a duel.’
What a strange way to put it. ‘He had ahabit of duelling?’
‘It is common for all young men in Prussia to fight to the death. We do not box.’
There was a whisper of scorn in the other man’s voice that set Xavier’s back up. He took a deep breath. ‘It was hardly her fault if he was killed in a duel.’
‘True.’ He shrugged. ‘It seems she was unlucky. Twice.’
‘And from there came the rumour she was a black widow.’
‘Gossip travels fast.’
Making her the butt of jokes upon her arrival in England. Was it possible someone hoped to frighten off prospective bridegrooms?
Xavier finished his drink. He really did not like the way this supposed friend of Barbara’s painted her character. It felt distasteful. ‘I hope you will excuse me, I have business that requires my attention.’
He pushed to his feet and Charles rose with him.
They shook hands. ‘Thank you for your company,’ Charles said. ‘I am glad you granted me this opportunity to get to know you better.’
‘You are welcome,’ Xavier responded, trying to make sense of his feelings about the things Charles had said.
‘Please do not tell Barbara of this conversation,’ Charles said. ‘I only broached the matter because I do not want to see a man I admire follow in my brother’s footsteps.’
The words rang slightly hollow in Xavier’s ears.
They parted on the front steps of White’s, heading in opposite directions.
Xavier supposed he should be grateful for Charles’s frankness about his sister-in-law, and perhaps he would have been, if he did not have the sense it was not as altruistic as the other man professed.
In some ways, Barbara seemed like two different people. The audacious widow who blatantly broke Society’s rules and the sensual, intelligent woman who made him laugh and who brought him joy, and that he…what?
Liked?
‘Liking’ was too weak a word for how he felt about Barbara. He admired herjoie de vivre, her spirit, her lack of concern for petty rules, and the way she stood up to him like no one else. She seemed free, somehow.
Dangerously free.
It was her lack of concern for rules, or titles, or wealth that had made him frame his marriage proposal the way he had. His need for control over his life.
Clearly, she had balked at his conditions.
But should not a wife make accommodations for a husband? Or would those rules crush the spirit he so admired?
