Page 38 of Lord of Mischief
Chapter Twenty-One
Freddie brushed the dust from his boots and quickly headed into the house.He intended on catching up with Eve, to steal a moment of her time—and hopefully a kiss or two.Every time he had been close to Eve since her arrival, he had wanted to pull her hard against him, and take her mouth in a searing kiss.
Disappointment greeted him instead.Once inside, he discovered his mother and Adelaide had beaten him to Eve.They were making plans to take her into the village and show her the Norman era church.
As he made his polite greetings and farewells to them, he prayed they wouldn’t be encountering the local shepherd and his flock as they made their way.His mother would tear strips off him if she knew he had been racing about the countryside disturbing the local inhabitants.
In his bedroom, he sat at his writing desk and penned a note to Lord Godwin.He would soon be a member of the Bachelor Board but felt an obligation to share his financial good fortune with his friend.Being the fifth son of the Duke of Mewburton, little money would trickle down to Godwin during his lifetime.
As Godwin was not the sort of young man cut out for the army, nor did he show the slightest interest in taking up a position in the church, he would be among the first people Freddie would assist once he had his own fortune established.
He finished the letter to Godwin and then looked at the date he had written at the top.It was the third day since he had arrived home, time to see what Osmont had set for the final challenge.
He was going through the motions now.With no one else left in the game, the challenge could only be a formality.
He retrieved the letter from his travel trunk and stared at it.
“It had better not be a naked ride through the village,” he muttered.
He opened it.Read the instructions quickly.Frowned.Then read them a second time.Slowly.Word for word.
He sat back in the chair and stared at the page.
To the Honorable Frederick Rosemount,
The final challenge to secure your place on the Bachelor Board is to win the heart of a woman and then crush it without mercy. Only a man capable of such an act is truly deserving of the keys to the kingdom. Cowards choose love over power and wealth.
You have one week to complete this final challenge and report to me in London.
Your future awaits.
Osmond Firebrace
Freddie sank his head into his hands.His world had been rocked to its foundations by this cruel blindside.“Fuck.”
The price of winning the challenge would be to break Eve’s heart.
His head felt light, and for a moment he was sure he was going to faint.His fingers fidgeted with the ties of his cravat that were suddenly too tight.He rose from the chair and began to pace the room.Scuff marks on the carpet soon appeared, showing the trace of his boots as he walked back and forth.
If the letter had been from anyone else, he would have challenged it.Offered them any other challenge for him to undertake.But he knew Osmont Firebrace was not the kind of man you negotiated with over such a prize.This was not Royal Ascot, and this was not an argument over the weight of a jockey.Horse racing and gambling were games for children; the Bachelor Board was for men who knew what they wanted in life.
Membership of the Bachelor Boardwould guarantee him and his heirs a life of wealth and power.Men were waiting to hand him the means to making his fortune.Doors would open that he did not know even existed.To throw away the chance of securing such a life would be madness.
He closed his eyes.Images of Eve filled his mind.Her smile.Those luscious lips were soft, yet when he kissed her they held a power over him stronger than anything he had ever known.He had told her he loved her.While she hadn’t said it in so many words, he thought she loved him.
He would be a fool, not a coward to give her up.To treat her so cruelly.Either way he chose, he would lose.
He picked up the letter and looked at it.Osmont had given him a week.He still had time.
He folded the letter back up and left it on his desk.He couldn’t stay in his room all day and ponder the choices set out before him—he would go mad.He pulled at the remainder of the knot of his cravat and released it from his neck.After throwing it on the back of the chair, he took off his jacket.
The one place he could be sure of having his mind occupied was the stables.Mucking out the stalls had been a childhood punishment, but today it was exactly what he needed.The smell of horses, hay, and manure would buy him at least a few hours of sanity.
Time in which to make a decision.
