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Chapter Twenty-Six
“Bloody hell!” Nicholas hissed when he arrived at White’s and found Ernest lounging in the billiard room.
“You look like you rode hell for leather to get here,” Ernest drawled, turning his liquor glass continuously so the amber liquid swirled.
“Your note sounded urgent.”
“No, it did not.”
“Nicholas,” he began to quote the message he received, “Meet me at White’s. It is urgent.”
“Oh, did I put that in there?” he asked, looking innocent.
“Yes, and the messenger said it was for Jenny.”
Ernest passed a hand over his brow. “I supposed I made a mistake.”
Something was not right with his cousin and it caused him great concern. There were few people that Nicholas dared to care about and Ernest was one of them. “What is this about, Ernest?”
Ernest stood, drink in hand. “This place is getting crowded.”
They left the billiard room and found a salon with only a gentleman sitting in a chair near the window, seemingly lost in his thoughts as he drank. “Is this place quiet enough for you?” Nicholas asked.
“It is perfect.” Ernest sat down and propped his feet on a center table, crossing them at the ankles. To anyone that did not know him, he presented the image of insouciance.
“I heard you were at my house earlier.”
“I was and I wish I had not chosen today to call. Persephone is…” He shook his head. “Her machinations have extended to me.”
"What has she done this time?" Nicholas asked his cousin.
“She is planning something big. I don’t know what exactly it is but I have an inkling. You already know that she wants to see me leg-shackled. She sends me lists of eligible ladies, many of them from titled families.”
Nicholas chuckled. “Did anyone on the list catch your fancy?”
“No. Some of them are lovely, to be sure, but I’m not going to marry.”
Nicholas raised his hand to call the attention of a waiter. When the man came, he ordered some brandy and sweetmeats. “If you are not going to marry, then how do you intend to get our grandmother to leave you?” he asked.
"I don't know, man.” He rubbed his eyes, looking perturbed for the first time in a long time. “I received a note while I was at Gunter’s with Miss Bexley. She is asking me to join her riding in the park tomorrow afternoon. Since when does she ever go riding?"
Nicholas shrugged, popping a peppermint sweet that had just been brought into his mouth. “Persephone will ride when she wants something.”
He had heard some of her conversation with his wife earlier and he was pleased with how Jenny had stood up to her but he disliked the pressure she was putting on her. There would be no children in this marriage, thus finding a way to get Persephone to leave them was important.
Perhaps he could work with Ernest on that. “Why don’t you want to marry?” Nicholas asked.
"Come now, Nicholas, we both know I cannot give up my way of life for any woman in this world. My freedom is life." Ernest downed the rest of his liquor before asking for ale.
Nicholas did not believe his freedom was what was preventing him from marrying. There was something else. "Marriage is not bad.”
Ernest quickly took his feet off the center table and sat up. "No. Not you, too," he said. "I can bear her pushing Daphne at me at every given opportunity but having you think marriage is good for me feels like a betrayal."
"Daphne, eh?” Nicholas leaned forward, suddenly interested in his cousin’s budding relationship with Daphne. “I see you are already using her Christian name."
"Are youreallydoing this to me, Nicholas? I have lost Jenny’s loyalty and now I am losing yours."
“Jenny’s loyalty?” Nicholas quirked a brow.
