AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You let yourself get attached to her.”
“It’s more than that,” Michael protested, setting the glass down heavily. “I love her, Joseph. I love her more than I am willing to admit. I cannot bear hurting her but hurting her now is what I must do.”
“You are making the best decision.”
“Am I?” he challenged. “Because right now, I do not feel like I am.”
“Of course, you are,” Joseph argued. “I believe you are thinking about your desires, your passion, for this girl. You have only known her for what, about two weeks?”
“Closer to three.”
“Sure, three weeks,” Joseph continued. “That is not a long time. I’ve known you to have other trysts that have lasted longer. Marriage is different, Michael. This is for life. Your passion will fade, your desire will fade.”
“This is different.”
“It’s not. What do you say we go out to find some entertainment? The theater perhaps, we could make it, just barely.”
Michael shook his head. “I am no longer in the mood for that sort of thing.”
“Cards perhaps, or a drink.”
“I have plenty of wine and whisky here at home.”
“Come now, you are wallowing in your own misery. We can go to find the madam-”
“No,” he said emphatically. “Joseph, you do not seem to understand the levity.”
“What else can you do, now, though? You cannot marry the girl or should not. You have to get through this public break up, somehow.”
“Going to a brothel is not the way for me to solve this ache in my heart.”
Joseph was quiet for a moment, staring back at Michael. “You have changed.”
“I suppose everyone was right, that the right woman would bring an end to my rakish ways,” he said, scoffing.
They sat in silence for another moment. Michael wasn’t sure what to say to his cousin, now. Joseph seemed to be sitting across from him, judging him for his feelings toward Lydia.
“Do you not like her?”
“Who, Lady Lydia?”
“Of course, Lady Lydia,” he said, impatiently.
Joseph looked taken aback, briefly. “Of course, I like her. She is a charming, attractive young woman.”
“So why would you not encourage me to pursue my feelings for her?”
“It is not a prejudice against her at all. But I know you, Michael. I have tried our whole adult lives to help you make good decisions, to keep you from doing anything reckless that might scandalize you, jeopardize your title, your power, as duke. This tryst is just another in the series that I’m trying to protect you from.”
“Why do you feel like you have to protect me?”
“I always have,” Joseph shrugged.
Uncomfortable talking any more about his emotional state, he asked, “Where’s Kitty?”
“She has come with me,” Joseph said. “She and her maid have gone up to her rooms.”
“And Lionel and Ranora?”
