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“Because I am not getting any younger. I am not getting healthier, either. The doctor says my heart problem is back.” He spread his hands in a nonchalant shrug. “And I want to see that you have an heir before I die.” A pause. “Not just that, of course. You are already running most of the estates and doing all the work, and I want you to assume my place in Parliament as well.”
“You don’t look very ill to me,” Robert protested.
“No, not yet. But I want to see how you handle yourself before Iamtoo sick to do anything about it. I’ll share the responsibilities in Parliament with you this year until you settle down. But next year, I want to retire to Hampshire for good.” At Robert’s raised brow, he continued, “It’s warmer there. I don’t want to spend winters in London anymore; the smoke isn’t doing me any good. Or at least that’s what the doctor says.”
“What will you be doing there alone?” Robert frowned.
“Walk, fish, rest.” He shrugged. “What do old people do with their time?”
“You’re not that old.”
“I am old enough. And you are old enough to get a wife. I was much younger than you when I took your mother as a wife.” Seeing that Robert was about to protest, he put up a staying hand. “That is not the only reason. You cannot possibly take all the burdens of the estate alone. Someone has to run the household, act as a hostess at your balls and soirees. You need a good and gently bred young wife who will help establish your weight in society. I know your peers respect you, but you need to win the respect of my peers for me to rest easily in my retirement.”
Robert cleared his throat. “Your Grace, you know that after the last time—” The unpleasant memories of his last betrothal assailed him suddenly.
Rutland waved his hands impatiently. “I know, you don’t want to get duped again. And I sympathize. In fact, I agree with you. You know how I feel about unnecessary emotions.”
Robert scoffed. He didn’t think the duke possessed said ‘unnecessary’ emotions.
“I think what you need is a marriage of convenience.”
Robert narrowed his eyes in suspicion. The old duke had something up his sleeve.
“You know your mother and I married for that purpose. And, well, we had a pleasant life.” The duke’s eyes softened at the memory of his wife. The memory of her was the only thing able to soften the older man. For some reason, the duke was born without the ability for deep emotion. Still, Robert’s soft and beautiful mother had coaxed even that out of him. However, after she passed away, she seemed to have taken all his warmth and love with her. “That’s exactly what you need.”
“As you said,” Robert started carefully. “With all the responsibilities of the estates, and since you want me to assume the seat in Parliament, I won’t have much time for scouring the balls for perfectly mannered young ladies. Besides, I’d rather not go through the courting.”
“I agree,” the duke said evenly. “Going through the season, then the courting and betrothal, all of it is a long and drawn-out process you don’t have time to bother with. What you need is a marquess’s or a duke’s daughter, who is of an age and ready to marry a future duke.”
Robert scoffed.As easy as that, is it?“Where am I supposed to find these ready-made brides, pray tell? Especially if I am to avoid the social whirl?”
“That’s the best part. You don’t have to,” the duke announced almost cheerfully.
Robert stared at him. Rutland looked much too satisfied with himself. Which meant only one thing. He had found an extremely efficient way to solve his problem.
“One of the peers wants to marry off his daughter suitably. He reached out himself, offering his daughter for you,” the duke said.
“Suitably,” Robert drawled. “You mean into a good title and money?”
Rutland nodded. “You are a soon-to-be duke with a fortune. She is beautiful, young, and appropriately raised. Everything necessary for producing an heir.” Rutland stated it in such a matter-of-fact tone that Robert almost chuckled.
Indeed, a beautiful woman and a rich man made the best heirs together. He supposed he was a walking example of that.
“Fine,” he conceded.
Robert didn’t want a wife. He didn’t think he needed one either. He was happy going through his life as he was, with Vanessa available for his immediate needs whenever it suited him. But looking at the duke’s self-satisfied smirk, he couldn’t refuse. He guessed he still had that deep-seated need to please his father, to make him proud, to coax some sort of positive emotion out of him. To be loved by him. Besides, it wasn’t like he was saving himself for some great love. If the duke had everything arranged, he needn’t bother going through courting or otherwise applying himself. So he relented.
“I suppose I need to get married eventually in this lifetime. Why not now?” He shrugged. “Who is she?”
* * *
Julie was sitting in the library, curled up in a chair, a book on her lap. The library was vast, with little in the way of comfortable furniture. Aside from row upon row of books, there was a hearth at one end and the single leather chair she currently occupied. This and her bedroom were her two favorite rooms in the house, where she could hide away from reality. At the moment, however, reality weaved around her and seeped through her, inescapable.
She’d sat motionless, staring at the pages of the book without comprehension, ever since she received the letter from John. As an unmarried lady, she could not officially correspond with a gentleman unless they were betrothed. Still, she’d bribed one of her maids to send the letters on her behalf. John’s replies came in the same fashion, through the same maid. In the latest, he’d written that he was injured during his last battle and had spent several nights in the hospital, feverish, dreaming of her.
Her eyes glazed over with tears, but they wouldn’t fall. What if he died? What if he never returned from the war? She couldn’t let those thoughts get to her, but she couldn’t chase them away either. When was the last time anything good had happened to her? She swallowed the lump in her throat. She couldn’t think like that. He’d be back; he’d promised.
He would have been back several months before, but just as the time came for him to return, the Napoleonic wars broke out, and the Crown called all the officers to the front lines. She couldn’t help but be angry at fate for keeping him away from her. Keeping her away from happiness. She had managed to stave off her father’s and chaperone’s attempts at getting her married so far, but she knew it wouldn’t last forever. Her father’s patience would run thin, eventually.
She heard the doorknob turn, and then confident steps entering the room. Julie raised her head and saw her father a few feet from the doorway.
A frown creased Julie’s forehead. Norfolk rarely sought her out. Despite his threats to marry her off as soon as John had left for the army, the moment Norfolk arrived in London, he had forgotten her existence. Or at least she had hoped that was the case. Instead, he’d hired her a chaperone, Mrs. Darling, the most stuffy and stern woman he could find. He ordered her to guard Julie and not let her marry anyone below her station or a certain standard of wealth. The woman took the order to heart, not letting Julie dance—much less go for a ride with—a gentleman she didn’t deem worthy of her charge. Mrs. Darling’s ambition was to marry her to a duke, a marquess, or an earl. With Julie’s bloodline and upbringing, Mrs. Darling said these were the only titles that would do for her. Julie didn’t protest; the woman was doing her a favor. Julie would not marry in any case. Not while she was waiting for John to return.
Now, as Norfolk was standing there in the doorway, wearing his bright red waistcoat and cream suit, unpleasant thrills moved down her spine. The season had yet to start. She’d thought she was free of her father’s attention for at least another month. She knew he wasn’t happy with her lack of progress on the marriage mart, even if that wasn’t entirely her fault. Ladies in their fourth season were almost certainly doomed to spinsterhood. But there was still a full month before the season. There was still hope that John would come back, and she wouldn’t have to go through this season at all.
“There you are,” Norfolk said in a jovial voice, breaking into her thoughts. “I requested your maids’ pack. We are leaving for a house party in Hampshire in two days.”
A house party, right before the start of the season?A sense of foreboding assailed Julie, and she licked her dry lips. “May I be excused from the party?” she asked, although she knew the answer.
“No,my dear.” Norfolk snarled the endearment. “I think I’ve been patient enough with you. I’ve given you three damned seasons to find a husband, and you’ve proven useless even in that. How difficult can it be to ensnare a husband? No matter,” he answered his own question in a calmer tone, which only made Julie shiver even more. “Now, I am taking things into my own hands.” He turned back toward the door and threw over his shoulder, “You are going to the house party. And you will be betrothed by the end.” He paused at the door before turning the handle and walking out, leaving a horrified Julie staring after him.
