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family, and excellent friends to converse with. What else could there be?
Something else, I am sure of it, he mused. It was a feeling that had appeared out of nowhere, as though summoned from the grave and, now that it was out of its box it refused to be ignored. As if to bolster his enthusiasm to ignore it, Myles looked around the table at each of his friends.
I am in excellent company. What more should I ask of life?
Estelle.
The word echoed hauntingly in the back of his mind. It was something of a relief to be able to forget all about her with a few ales and an evening of fine company with his friends – or try to at least. With that, he turned his attention back to the ongoing conversation flowing freely around him.
“I bet you that Myles is going to succumb first,” Elijah teased. “I tell you what. Let’s up the odds a bit.”
“What odds are you putting forward, and for what?” Sam asked, leaning forward in interest.
“I bet you that someone is going to fall beneath the parson’s trap before the year is out.”
“What does the last man standing get?” Sam peered at him suspiciously.
“What do we do if none of us marry? Are we all winners?” Robard asked, his smile dimming when he realised Elijah was serious.
Myles considered Elijah’s suggestion and then mused quite knowingly: “Well, I know for a fact that Rufus’ mother has been haranguing him to marry that Smitherson chit quite continuously of late. It won’t be long before he succumbs to her determination.”
“Balderdash!” Rufus snapped, thumping the table in outrage. “I don’t care what my mater says, I will be damned if I will ever be shackled to that witch. I heard that her father recently upped her dowry in a desperate attempt to get rid of her. It is preposterous. No amount of money could ever persuade a man to take that baggage on board.”
“What is he offering now?” Sam asked, trying to hide his grin and failing miserably.
“A veritable fortune and that damned colt of his that was sired by Dallantree,” Rufus replied. He nodded emphatically when a chorus of inhaled breaths and whistles rent the air.
“Still not enough,” Myles replied with a shake of his head. “I would rather marry the horse.” He filled his tankard up and took a sip. “I think the odds are that someone is going to marry over the course of this year. It won’t be me. My father and I have had a chat about this matter on many occasions. He has made it plain that his highly unsuccessful marriage to my mother has left him unable to support pushing me to wed someone I have no interest in. He understands my need to be my own man and, while he would prefer an heir to continue the family name, there are plenty of men in the family who would take over the reins as it were.” He leaned back with an arrogant grin and folded his hands behind his head as he studied his friends, whom he knew were not in such a comfortable position. “I am happy to take any bet you wish to put forth, and shall take my winnings with alacrity.”
“You shall crow for the following year if you win, and you know it,” Sam chided. “But don’t just condemn me as weak and foolish just because I surrender to my father’s machinations. His disabilities are what gives me a likening to agree to his requests. They haven’t strayed into finding a bride yet because my father knows it would take my time, and me, away from helping him. I have also made my aversion to marriage perfectly clear to him, and he has not argued one bit. So, I think it is safe to say that I shall be the one never to be dragged up the aisle to sign myself over.”
His smirk was arrogant as they all turned their attention on Elijah.
Elijah huffed a laugh but struggled to contain the urge to tug on his collar. He wasn’t in either position and knew it. However, he did have choices. Inwardly, his affection had been taken by a ghost from his past; someone he had loved and recklessly lost several years previously and he suspected his friends knew it. The last he had heard of the lady in question was that she had moved many miles away, but nobody knew where. Unfortunately, she had taken a piece of him with her, and it was something he knew would prevent him from saying the necessary words to anybody that would cement his life, but never his affection, to someone else.
“Not me,” he sighed. “Sorry, but I am already taken, and my family know it.”
“WHAT?” Everyone cried in unison.
Elijah waved them back down, especially Sam, who launched out of his seat and began to roll his sleeves up as though he would flush out the miscreant who dared steal his friend and race her back to her parents, out of the way of any matrimonial danger.
“I don’t care for any woman enough to wed – ever – it is as simple as that, and my parents know it,” he said quietly.
An air of amiability and quiet understanding settled over everyone as they each dealt with their memories of that difficult time when they had had to pick their friend up, brush him off, and force him to continue to walk a path with only a few pieces of his life intact. It had been a troubling time for all of them, not least Elijah, who had never been the same since.
“You could still find someone who could capture your attention and sweep you off your feet,” Rufus murmured quietly. “It isn’t impossible. It did happen many years ago. It may not be as bad as you think – not until you meet someone new who can prove you wrong.”
Elijah shook his head with an adamant determination that made it clear he wasn’t going to be budged on the issue.
“Never,” he said flatly.
They all knew then that was why Elijah had made the bet in the first place, because he was the least likely of them all to marry.
The rest of them looked at each other. Each man knew that they couldn’t, and wouldn’t, refuse the bet if everyone was serious. They all turned their attention on Robard and Rufus, the only two, as far as everyone was concerned, had no such ghosts from the past or understanding relatives.
“I have made my intentions clear to my family, and have not been back to the estate for several months now. I have no intention of returning either,” Robard replied.
He ignored the guilt that plagued him at having ignored several letters from his parents pleading with him to visit. He knew they would not fail to try to pressure him into taking over the albatross of the family seat should he succumb and do as they requested. Unfortunately, he had witnessed first-hand his father’s daily struggle to manage estate, and a harridan of a wife, whilst constantly entertaining and being dragged up and down the country to meet with various ‘acquaintances’, most of whom he didn’t like. It was all done to please his wife, and feed her constant need to social climb.
