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“You seem more agitated than I would have thought,” Edwin said, raising his eyebrows in Hugh’s direction as he missed yet another easy shot. “Honeymoon not as wonderful as you made it sound in your last letter?”
In the absence of his father, Hugh needed someone to unload his burdens onto and Edwin was the next best thing. Even if he hadn’t been married much longer than Hugh himself.
“It was, all the way up until the day before,” he said gruffly, watching as Edwin moved to bend over the table in his usual graceful way. Normally they were well matched at billiards; today he was giving Edwin barely any sport at all. “She tried to sneak out and ride Rex.”
Edwin laughed as he stood up, the ball he’d aimed for sinking neatly into a corner pocket. “That sounds like something Eleanor would try to do.”
“Yes.” Hugh scowled. He still didn’t understand what had made Irene try to do such a stupid thing, especially after he’d warned her not to. “I had already warned her to stay away from him and she refused to promise not to try and go near him again, so I told her that I would blister her bottom if she did.” He sighed. “She didn’t seem to believe me and she became… well I ended up giving her a small spanking.”
His attention captured, Edwin leaned on his cue, listening to Hugh with a look of almost disbelief on his face. After all, he knew very well that Hugh hadn’t wanted a wife like Eleanor, one that would need constant discipline, but he could tell from Hugh’s expression that his friend had enjoyed the experience more than he’d ever thought he would. Yet things hadn’t turned out well anyway.
“And now she won’t talk to me. Barely looks at me. It’s driving me up the wall. She’s not like Eleanor… I keep wondering if I did the right thing.”
“Well of course you did,” Edwin said immediately. “Rex is… well even I don’t want to try to ride Rex. It has nothing to do with how good a rider I am, he’s the kind of horse that will only allow one person to ride him. I hate to think what would happen to him if something were to happen to you. She’ll get over being spanked, she wouldn’t get over whatever Rex would do to her if she actually attempted to ride him.”
“True,” said Hugh, feeling marginally better. With Irene acting as though he truly was the monster that she’d named him, and no immediate support in the form of his father or friends, he had started to feel as though he’d over reacted. Edwin’s immediate approval of his actions helped to bolster his confidence. He watched as Edwin turned back to the task at hand – soundly trouncing Hugh at billiards.
They played a few more turns in silence, other than the wooden clack of the balls slamming into each other and the slightly muted thuds as they bounced off the sides of the table.
“I don’t know what to do to get back into her good graces,” Hugh confessed as the game neared its end. “She was just truly starting to come out of her shell in the country and as soon as she showed some real spirit, I punished her for it.”
“Stop trying to get back into her good graces at all,” Edwin advised, lining himself up for his next shot. “Do you think I pander to Nell after she’s done something that she needs to be disciplined for? The more you act like you think you did something wrong, the more she will. She’ll eventually realize that you were disciplining her over a matter of safety, not anything else.”
As Hugh mulled that over, Edwin’s butler knocked and announced the arrival of Lord Brooke and the Earl of Spencer. While he was glad to see Wesley, Hugh felt a bit more ambivalent about Lord Brooke’s presence, especially considering the man’s brotherly protective attitude about Irene and her current demeanor towards her husband. Fortunately, upon their arrival, the conversation switched over. Wesley had another letter from his mother to share about his ward, his dark eyes sparkling as he outlined the recent escapades of the young lady.
It was obvious that the Countess was coming to the end of her rope in regards to Wesley’s ward, she was practically demanding that her son come and take the young woman in hand.
“I’m not sure what she thinks I’ll be able to do that she won’t,” said Wesley as he folded the letter back up following his recitation. “It’s not as if I have any experience in raising a lady.”
“But you do have quite a bit of experience with ladies,” Edwin riposted, causing all of them to laugh. He and Hugh had given up the table to Wesley and Lord Brooke and were enjoying snifters of brandy while they watched the two play.
“Perhaps she thinks that you’ll be able to provide a more ah… stringent discipline?” Lord Brooke said, brushing an auburn lock of hair out of his face. His lips twitched into almost the facsimile of an amused smile.
“Perhaps,” said Wesley easily. “If she’s as wild as mother describes the chit could probably use a sound spanking. Mother was never very good at playing the disciplinarian, not that she ever needed to. Somehow she always had us toeing the line without it… I can’t imagine why she’s having trouble with a schoolroom miss.”
Edwin sighed. “Unfortunately even strict discipline doesn’t guarantee immediate good behavior. Eleanor can go for days being absolutely perfect and then she’ll do something that makes me think she must want to be spanked.” He grinned, his eyes getting a bit of a faraway look in them. “Not that it bothers me to do so, but she seems just as infuriated by it every time. Even if she enjoys it as much as I do, she doesn’t want to admit to it.”
“Less information please,” Hugh murmured with a little wince. Hearing about his sister’s discipline didn’t bother him. Knowing the intimacies of her relationship with his best friend was asking a bit much, however.
Wesley guffawed a laugh and even Lord Brooke looked rather amused, although the expression was all in his eyes. Edwin gave him a long-suffering look. “Just pretend I’m talking about someone other than your sister.”
“I try, and then I get angry thinking that you’d dishonor my sister by doing that with another woman,” Hugh said dryly, making Wesley laugh again.
“He’s got you there.”
“Says the man who’s slept with half the bored wives of the ton.”
“Not half… I haven’t had nearly the time for that.”
Lord Brooke shook his head. “Give him the time and he may make the full round.” The man’s voice sounded disapproving, Hugh noted with surprise. But Wesley didn’t take offense.
“I’m not that bad. Actually, I’m rather discerning. I’ve no desire to end up on the dueling field with an angry husband… women start expecting things when you make them widows.” He shook his head almost sadly, as if mourning those ladies he couldn’t approach due to overprotective husbands. “I prefer to deal with those who have no expectations.”
“As long as you stay away from my wife, you know I have no quarrel with you,” Lord Brooke said, almost absently as he studied the table. Both Edwin and Hugh studied him with interest, but Wesley just shrugged; it was apparently something he’d heard before and of no interest to him.
“Even if I had an interest in the lady, I wouldn’t do that.” Wesley grinned at his friend. “Despite how beautiful she is. But mostly because I have no desire to die at dawn.”
“You’re that good a shot?” Hugh asked Lord Brooke with some interest. After all, if Irene went complaining to the man and he didn’t bother to hear out Hugh’s side of the story, he might well be facing him early one morning. Wesley, Edwin and Hugh were fairly evenly matched when it came to shooting, and they were all considered crack shots. If Wesley thought Alex was better…
