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Rex chuckled. “They have, but apparently not as much as yours. Bloody hell, your face looks awful. Worse than normal.”
Theo attempted to glare. “They wanted me to marry, produce an heir.”
“Dreadful.” Rex gave a shiver. “Had they picked a woman?”
“How did
you know?” A ghost of a smile touched his lips. “The stranger part was that I met her on my way home. She is…” How to describe their instant attraction and connection to his friend who hated the idea of commitment?
Rex sucked in a ragged breath. “Do not say it.”
“What?” Theo sat up straighter. “I didn’t say anything.”
Rex grimaced. “Out with the story. Get it over with.”
Theo gingerly rubbed his forehead. Then he began. He told him of the English rain that caught him off guard, then of Violette’s mercenary rescue. How he left her only to have her arrive at his door. “It was like providence,” he said in a low voice.
“It was geography,” Rex growled.
Theo honestly wasn’t so certain. He continued his story with the confrontation he’d had with Tabbie.
“It’s her husband who’s been shouldering a great deal of the burden?” Rex asked. “Did he lecture you too?”
Theo pointed at his face. “In his own way.”
“Ah,” Rex nodded. “A respectable way for a man to show his dissatisfaction.”
“My face disagrees.” Theo continued on to his discovery that Violette successfully had grown her brother’s holdings, though not quickly enough nor with adequate funds. Then he relayed his plan to live a double life.
Rex didn’t say a word, which was odd. But Theo continued, “Then today, my sweet sister, who never has an unkind word for anyone, told me she’d agreed to finance Violette and her sister’s seasons in society in order to ensure my plan failed.” His fists clenched. “They have rallied against me.”
“Family,” Rex grumbled. “A plague on us all.”
Theo sat, now sipping his ale. Somehow the retelling had given him some clarity. “I know I can’t leave for two years at a time but what would be so wrong with taking the occasional adventure while still maintaining a family?”
Rex remained silent. Theo looked to his friend to see his face twisted in pain. “You can’t have both. Trust me, my father tried. In the end, he ruined all of our lives.” Rex tossed him an angry glare and Theo’s head snapped back in surprise. Rex never acted this way.
“Your father tried?” Theo asked.
Rex waved his hand. “Tonight is not my night for stories, but I am certain you have to choose. It’s one life or the other, you can’t have both.”
Hell and damnation, even Rex was against his plan.
“Your friend is right.” Luke stood over him.
“When did you get here?” Theo growled.
Luke gingerly sat in the chair next to him. “Long enough ago to hear the important parts.”
“This is your brother-in-law, I take it.” Rex grinned his usual rakish smile, his angst already forgotten. “I see you gave as good as you got.”
Luke rubbed the back of his neck with his hand. “I’m too old for brawling.” He exhaled long and loud. “Everything hurts.”
“You deserved it,” Theo spit. “Talking about how some other man would crawl into my wife’s bed.”
“Your wife?” Rex asked at the same moment Luke spoke.
“You deserved it, talking about leaving a woman like that to her own devices.”
