Page 5 of A Duke in Pursuit of Passion
At his friend’s words, Nathaniel cringed and shook his head. “You know well I have had noaffairsfor quite some time.”
“Ahh, yes, yes, your promise to your father to try and be a better son.” Arnold chuckled and rolled his eyes. “Being a fine and responsible upstanding member of thetonis overrated.”
Clapping him on the shoulder, Nathaniel laughed back. “You would say that because you are so far from being so.”
“Do you remember that time back in Oxford with the Albert twins?” Arnold asked, digging his elbow into Nathaniel’s ribs.
“How could I forget?” Nathaniel responded. He remembered all too well the twins who had allowed him and his friend to ply them with alcohol before taking advantage all night long more than once. Though the women had been under no illusions as to what the men wanted from them, his father had not been best pleased to learn of the situation from one of his spies.
At first, Nathaniel had tried to avoid them entirely, hoping he could get away with his affairs and his harlots, his drinking and gambling and all other things in between. But over the years, his father had finally beaten him into submission, making him feel as though it really wasn’t worth the way his father, the duke, looked at him.
“And yet you are still unwilling to find yourself a new plaything?” Arnold questioned, looking quite contrite. Shaking his head, he added, “What has happened to you, my friend?”
“I have grown up,” Nathaniel responded, pushing his friend away before throwing a grape at him. “The same cannot be said for you.”
“And I should think not!”
The way that Arnold stomped his feet and placed his hands upon his hips like a petulant child made Nathaniel chuckle to himself and shake his head. Oh, how he sometimes longed to be as carefree as his friend, but he had promised his father, and that was a promise he intended to keep.
“Are you trying to tell me something, Nathaniel?” Arnold asked suddenly. He gasped in such a way that it made the duke’s son look away from where he had been eyeing a particularly fine chunk of cheese in one of the bowls, debating whether it might be too heavy on his stomach if he were to beat his friend at fencing again in the next round. “You are not going to be gettingmarriedanytime soon, are you?”
The horror in his friend’s tone sent a shiver down Nathaniel’s spine. He grabbed the chunk of cheese and bit into it before insisting, “Absolutely not!”
“And why ever not? Your father has already whipped you into shape; why not allow him to take you all of the way?”
To continue his teasing manner in the conversation, Arnold poked Nathaniel with the covered tip of his fencing blade. Batting it away with his own, Nathaniel assured him, “Marriage is not on the cards for me just yet.”
Just the mere thought of it made him want to return to his old ways, to make himself entirely unmarriageable in not only his father’s eyes but also the eyes of the rest of theton.
“I would rather stick hot pins in my eyes,” he added to Arnold when his friend did not look entirely convinced.
“Why is that? Do you not feel it is your duty as the son of a duke? The dukedom will most assuredly need an heir,” Arnold pointed out, his voice filled with teasing and sarcasm. Though Nathaniel knew that his friend was merely trying to bait him, to get him riled up before the next round, he knew there was some truth behind his words.
“With any luck, my father shall be around for a good while longer yet,” Nathaniel said, and before Arnold could come up with anything else that might irritate him, he whipped at his friend with his blade and suggested, “Shall we continue?”
"We shall," Arnold agreed, giving a sweeping bow as though he were asking a lady to dance.
"Save it for the women," Nathaniel insisted, whipping his friend once against with his blade. Arnold barely managed to slip out of the way, back into the open area of the courtyard to take his beginner's stance.
"I shall have to if you insist upon leaving them all unsatisfied," Arnold said, laughing when Nathaniel lashed out with his blade, beginning the next round.
They continued in a similar fashion with Arnold teasing Nathaniel about his stupidity in refusing to give into his basic human desires after so long of their being roguish rakes together, causing trouble throughout Oxford, with Nathaniel beating Arnold almost every time simply because he could not stop his chattering.
And by the time they had both finally had enough, Nathaniel was famished.
"Shall we eat?" he asked Arnold, gesturing at the sandwiches and other refreshments brought out to them at some point during their last bout.
"Yes, on one condition," Arnold responded, swiping his blond hair back from his face where it had been slicked with sweat.
"And what might that be?" Nathaniel enquired, grabbing his towel to once more freshen himself up.
"Come to Winton's dinner tomorrow night," Arnold insisted, shaking his head. "The poor man says he has yet to receive an acceptance of his invitation. He seems quite desperate to have you there."
"I cannot imagine why," Nathaniel said, pouring himself a glass of water before downing it all in one go. He had been having such fun beating Arnold that he had quite lost track of how thirsty he was.
"Perhaps he is having regrets." Arnold chuckled, rubbing his blond mutton chops as though the sweat gathered there was irritating his face. His words caused Nathaniel to roll his eyes.
"I am certain it is nothing like that," he said and grabbed a handful of grapes, popping one in his mouth before throwing another at his friend. "Just because you would regret tying the knot during a spur of the moment fling does not mean that we all would."
