AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Stewart Junior had been a marvel at juggling all the things expected of him, and he barely seemed to break a sweat while doing so. On the other hand, William already felt like a fish out of water.
The earl shook his head and waved away William’s suggestion quickly. William knew his father was about to tell him something serious when the man pushed himself up from his chair and walked around the desk to stand before him.
“Son, I am sure you are already well aware of the duties that have befallen you,” Stewart Talbot stated, reaching for William’s forearms and holding onto him in the first signs of a fatherly embrace since, well, William could not remember the last time his father had touched him. “But there is one especially important matter that we must discuss before we get into anything else.”
A shiver ran down the length of William’s spine, and he opened his mouth to speak, only to close it firmly again when he thought once more that whatever he said, his father would likely not hear him.
His father gripped his arms just a little tighter, and he smiled warmly, though William could see the intent behind it, see the hopefulness in his father’s eyes that he wished for his son to simply hear the command and obey as though he was still the little boy who would fall over himself to please his sire.
“What is it, Father?” William asked through gritted teeth. The longer his father drew it out, the more painful it would be when he finally heard the words fall from his lips.
“My boy, do not look so frightened!” the earl insisted. “There is most joyous news I have to impart upon you!”
I should have seen this coming,William thought, having already guessed what his father was about to tell him.I didn’t expect it to come quite so soon.
“I am not frightened, Father, merely exhausted from my journey home,” William admitted. It hadn’t exactly been an easy trip from the Americas by cart, ship, and carriage.
Every method of transportation was more uncomfortable than the last, likely due to his growing lack of patience in returning home and the fact that the long voyage was uncomfortable no matter how one travelled. From the highest nobleman to the lowest commoner, travelling by ship, nobody was immune to sea sickness and all the other perils that came with boarding such a vessel.
“Yes, yes, I am sure that you are,” the earl nodded, clapping William on the shoulder. “And you shall rest just as soon as I have told you this happy news.”
“Then please, Father, tell it and tell it true, so that I might go and rest and wake refreshed and prepared to begin my duties as the heir of Hervordshire,” William pleaded, hoping to reach the part of his father that would sympathise with his son, knowing he intended to be as good an heir as possible.
“Well, son, now that talks have been concluded and all necessary things put into place,” the earl announced, the smile growing on his face as he placed both his hands on William’s shoulders and gave them a firm squeeze, “I can indeed announce to you that you are to be married!”
William blanched immediately at the news. Though he had been entirely prepared for his father to have begun searching for the correct bride for his son and heir, a woman of nobility with good standing and a wonderful reputation to fulfil all the requirements of a viscountess, he had never expected that his father would have already chosen any such woman.
“You mean I am to begin courting?” William gulped, hoping that perhaps he had somehow misheard his father. Suddenly the sunshine filtering through the windows behind his father was too bright, and he felt as though he had bees buzzing in his brain, threatening to make it impossible for him to comprehend whatever answer his father gave.
“Oh, no, William,” the earl said, shaking his head and strengthening his grip on his son’s shoulders even further. “A promise has already been made between our two families for quite some time. Viscount Ashton’s daughter has been set to be married for quite some time, as I am sure you well know.”
William felt all the heat and blood draining from his face as he recognised the name of the girl who had always been set to marry his older brother, the woman they had never met due to their family’s important position in France during his childhood.
“But, Father. She was to be Stewart’s bride, and I have never met her!” William protested. “How am I to marry a woman I have never met?”
“There are plenty of men and women who marry never having met!” the earl protested, and William felt his father grip hold of him so tightly that he thought he might actually do him some damage. “Besides, you have met her several times. At least, I am sure that you must have before we departed for France.”
William clenched his jaw and struggled not to grimace openly. “Father, we travelled to France when I was just ten years old,” William pointed out, “and if I remember correctly, Ashton’s girl was a newborn babe at that time. I can hardly go off such an experience to be pleased with the woman I am to marry!”
“Your brother was all too willing to take the girl on!” the earl growled deep in his throat, and William felt the usual disappointment he felt whenever he was compared to his oh-so-perfect older brother.Even in death, you are still held in higher regard than I,William thought though he tried his absolute hardest not to begrudge his brother. He would have given anything to have him back, especially now in the face of this new development.
“Besides,” his father continued as though he had no wish to hear any further complaints on the matter, “there has always been an understanding between our two families, and I shall not be the one to break any kind of promise to an old friend.”
The lump in William’s throat grew bigger with every word his father spoke, and he felt the hole around him growing deeper and deeper. Once his father had got something into his head, he would not let it go easily, not unless some proof came about that gave him cause for concern.
“And what if I refuse this bride?” William asked, the lump threatening to choke him entirely as he defended himself against his father’s wishes for what perhaps was the first time in his life.I am the heir now,he reminded himself firmly, sending tension down to his feet to hold himself still and steady, determined not to show his father any hint of fear.
I am due the same respect that my brother had.“Just because Stewart accepted this promise does not mean I now have to accept it on his behalf because he has perished.”
“On the contrary, Bill.” The earl smirked as though he was at least pleased his son had found a backbone during what his father called “his adventures in the Americas.” “That is exactly what it means you must do.”
Chapter 2
After a year unable to wear anything but black, Miss Cynthia Besser couldn’t help marvelling over the colourful silken gowns that the modiste had presented before her in her bedroom within what used to be her father’s London townhouse.
“Do you find them to your satisfaction, Miss Cynthia?” Madam La Roche asked, standing behind Cynthia as she stood in front of the standing mirror to hold one of the silken gowns. She twisted and turned, grinning at the way the purple of the gown brought out the violet flecks of colour in her blue eyes.
“I think they are all quite lovely, Madam La Roche,” Cynthia assured the woman who was only a few years her senior, having taken over the dressmaker’s shop from her mother some years earlier. “You have quite outdone yourself, I believe. Don’t you, Miss Daphne?”
