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Edwin didn't begrudge him the pleasures, seeing as Wesley had spent so much time abroad. It was only natural that he would revel in the freedom to enjoy London as Edwin and Hugh had for the past several years. He knew that Wesley and Alex were becoming quite close; he rather enjoyed Lord Brooke's company himself and had passed more than one afternoon with the two over the past weeks. Especially since Hugh was away on his honeymoon, it was nice to have another man that he could consider a closer friend at the endless round of evening social events.
The three of them together was more than enough to make the ladies swoon, even without Hugh's angelic looks to complement them. Lord Brooke cut as dashing a figure as Hugh did, even if he rarely smiled and often looked quite forbidding, Wesley still had the look of a pirate but the ladies seemed to find his tanned skin and lack of fashion to be just as intriguing as Alex's well-tailored clothes, and Edwin's dark good looks were always well presented by the clothing his valet dressed him in. Still, he had no interest in the fluttering sea of females that they were often surrounded by in the evening and was grateful that he had Eleanor constantly on his arm. He'd gotten into the habit of glaring at the men who asked her to dance, not because he thought they might have a chance at flirting with his wife - he knew he kept her well satisfied - but because it invariably left him without her as a shield from those amorous ladies of the ton that were not being attended to by Wesley and Alex.
But there was no point in dwelling on the stresses of the evening when he was at White's, that was the point of the club - a bastion against the women's social whirl. Currently he was enjoying listening to Wesley read aloud the latest letter from his mother, outlining the various antics of his ward which were giving her much grief.
"Therefore," Wesley rounded up, his hazel eyes sparkling with good humor, "I despair of ever marrying the wretched girl off. If you know of any gentleman who is willing to take a wife unseen, I beg of you to increase her dowry to whatever amount will incite him to take her off my hands."
The trio of men howled with laughter. Although Lord Brooke was only socially acquainted with the Dowager Countess of Spencer, even he knew what ends she must be driven to in order to make such a bald and rude statement. Edwin was beside himself at hearing of her troubles; she'd managed Wesley and his brothers with an iron fist - albeit a rather kindly one, especially when compared to their father - but this one slip of a miss barely out of the school room had her writing to Wesley twice a week now with complete exasperation and frustration. The young woman sounded like an unmanageable hoyden.
"Perhaps you should get yourself to Bath and take the chit in hand," Edwin said grinning. "But whatever you do, don't bring her back to London. I've had to blister Eleanor's bottom on a regular enough basis as is, there's no need to introduce her to any more bad influences."
Wesley laughed, but Alex gave a start and looked at him in surprise, the expression looking rather unusual on his stony face. "Blister her bottom..." he echoed, saying the words as if he was tasting them and was unsure of the flavor.
"My wife has a sad tendency to need... corrective treatment on a regular basis," Edwin said, not at all ashamed to admit it. Wesley already knew and there weren't any other gentleman close by enough to hear him speak of his wife in such indelicate terms. "Part of her father's understanding with me when I married her was that I would provide it."
Looking like he was torn between being appalled and intrigued, Alex leaned forward. "Are you... are you speaking of..."
Remembering his own amazement when he'd discovered that Eleanor received the same kind of discipline from her father that he had from his own, Edwin grinned. "Spanking. Occasionally something harsher if she truly deserves it; I've only birched her once but I know that her father did so on multiple occasions before she was presented."
"We witnessed it," Wesley said with a grin as Alex looked to him confirmation. There was a bit of shock in the lord's eyes. "Believe me, Nell richly deserves any discipline that Edwin hands out to her."
"I have spanked her just for the pleasure of it on several occasions," Edwin confessed. "She enjoys that as much as I do. Of course she doesn't enjoy the pun
ishments at all, but she's just as eager for conjugal bliss following them as I am."
"Truly?"
The expression on Alex's face was one that Edwin had never seen before; indeed, Alex rarely showed very much emotion at all. Now he looked almost dazed, as if the world had tilted on its axis and he was seeing everything in a new light. Then again, this was not a conversation most gentleman would have except in the closest of company if then. The way spouses in the ton lived their lives was always behind closed doors and rarely discussed, because of the gossip it would create.
"Don't tell me you've never thought of turning your wife over your knee," Wesley said, his voice filled with amusement. Immediately Alex's face hardened, and Edwin shot his friend a glance. As far as he knew Wesley was the only one who dared bring up Lady Brooke to Alex. Not since Alex had liberally applied his fists to some wag who’d dared make a joke of roaming wives to the man a few months after he and Lady Grace had started living apart. As ever, Wesley ignored the warning looks he was receiving from his two friends. "She certainly deserves it."
Surprisingly, Alex didn't rebuke Wesley. Instead he looked almost thoughtful, although there was no definite change in his expression. Just a slight softening around the eyes as he sat quietly. Edwin could almost hear the gears turning and he wondered if Alex was giving the suggestion serious consideration. He almost asked what exactly had happened to estrange the couple, but he wasn't as daring as Wesley and he certainly didn’t think he was close enough to Alex to merit the question.
"Perhaps," Alex said eventually. "I shall take it under consideration." Downing the last of the brandy he'd been drinking, he set the glass down on the table and gave his friends a slight smile. From Alex that really just meant a slight upturn of the edges of his lips. "I must be off. I shall see you gentleman later."
After Edwin and Wesley had tendered their goodbyes and Alex had left, Edwin turned to his rakish friend. "Do you know what happened between him and Lady Grace? I've asked Nell but she doesn't seem to know any of the specifics."
Wesley shrugged, tipping his glass back and forth as he studied the amber colored liquor that was left in it. "Not much, just that after they returned from their honeymoon she kicked him out of her bedroom and wouldn't let him back in. Wouldn’t even speak to him about it."
About a half hour later Edwin and Wesley parted ways, Edwin pondering Wesley's words. He could certainly imagine Eleanor trying to bar him from her bedroom out of pique; not that he'd ever tolerate that. But then he and Nell had a rather different relationship from many marriages within the ton, having knowing each other for so long. There was affection and understanding on both sides.
He grinned. Also his wife desired him just as much as he desired her. All he had to do was take Nell in his arms and kiss her for her to go up in flames, her soft body eagerly submitting to his. She might be furious with him afterwards, if they had been fighting beforehand or if he made them more than fashionably late for an event, but that didn't stop them from enjoying each other to the fullest. Just thinking about her made him feel full of masculine smugness.
Nell might run hot and cold on a daily basis with him, driving him to confusion, but one place she was always hot was in their bedchamber. Too bad he couldn't just keep both of them locked up in there.
******
The ball was a complete crush, Eleanor thought with a tinge of annoyance as she was jostled yet again. She remembered at the beginning of the Season when she'd dreamed of being at a ball that could be described that way, sure that it was the epitome of romance and that she would be swept off her feet by multiple suitors. Instead she found it to be an annoyance.
A hot annoyance.
Snapping open her fan, she created a breeze for herself, flicking her eyes upwards at Edwin who was speaking at length about his father's interests out in the country. She was bored by the conversation, bored by the ball, and overheated on top of all that boredom. Was this really what she had been dreaming about?
Perhaps it would have been more exciting if she had those swarms of suitors - certainly she had found her come-out ball to be rather enchanting - but now the only man she wanted to be swept away by was her husband. The thought was bringing less and less panic every day. While he certainly didn't go as far as to reveal any of his inner thoughts or feelings to her, she was able to watch him interact with the various ladies of the ton and even an inexperienced eye like hers could tell that he had no lascivious interest in them. Certainly nothing that she should get herself worked up over.
She'd become quite adept at people watching; not just noticing who was flirting, but also deciphering who meant it and who didn't. Some only flirted for show. Some in order to make someone else jealous. Some because it was second nature. Wesley seemed to be in that last grouping, although of course he also occasionally meant it when he flirted.
As if summoned by her thoughts, the man himself appeared at her side, looking decidedly roguish. Even in formal clothing he couldn't quite shake the look of a slightly dangerous savage; perhaps it was the residue of scruffy hair on his cheeks or the disheveled state of his cravat, although she privately thought it had more to do with the way he held himself. Wesley looked like a jungle cat, prowling the drawing rooms and balls of the ton. She’d actually overheard some of the dandies discussing the possibility of sunning themselves to attain the dark complexion he’d returned from India with, as if it was a new fashion fad.
