Chapter 5

Chapter Five

" I think we should have the wedding ceremony soon."

Anthony looked up to see his mother framed at the doorway of his study wearing her white silk night gown that had an identical robe belted over it.

He dashed a look outside and saw it was quite dark. A quick look at his timepiece told him it was the wee hours of the night. He had a meal at what felt like a few hours ago in his study while working on the ledgers. But it must have been longer if it was already that late.

It also begged the question as to why his mother would be in his study by that ungodly hour of the night.

"Good evening, Mother, what brings you here at this time of the night? I would have thought you would be abed by this time."

"Well it would be quite remiss of me to sleep comfortably while my only son remains a bachelor. I am sure I can get all the sleep I want when I have you safely married and settled."

"I hardly think my marital prospects are dire enough to deny yourself of a good night rest," he said matter of factly.

"It is dire, dear son. You are over two and thirty you should be married with a herd of children now. At the rate you are going I would be dead before my grandchildren arrive," she complained.

"Mother," he said, exasperated. "You are not dying any time soon. You are too stubborn for that."

"I do not understand the reason for the delay," his mother continued, ignoring his comment. "The young lady in question is just fresh out of the school room and unattached as far as I know,"

"I am not quite sure how unattached she is," Anthony said slowly.

"Even if she were attached, so far no official engagement has been announced. The girl still remains unmarried in my opinion."

"The ton seem to be aware of the attachment between her and a certain young baron."

"That's just idle gossip," she said, waving her hand to indicate how flimsy she thought the idea.

"Besides, You are a duke. There is no reason why you cannot marry any lady of your choice. Remember you are second only to the princes in terms of status."

"I do appreciate your reverence for my status," he said ruefully, "unfortunately not everyone is that impressed by my title."

Especially when the duke in question is scarred.

His mother was a descendant of powerful titles herself. Having been born a duke's daughter, she had grown up with a healthy respect for the power of titles. Hence why she couldn't fathom why some persons didn't bow and scrape at the mention of his title.

Correction, they did bow and scrape but it was more to put a reasonable distance between themselves and the beastly duke than it was about respect.

"That is their loss, I would say. I think a fortnight from today would be perfect for a wedding."

"Whose wedding, Mother?" Anthony asked, slightly distracted

"Yours of course. Don't tell me you have not been paying attention."

"Why would you presume to plan a wedding between me and miss Charity. I have not managed to woo her, neither has she agreed to my offer for marriage. She shrinks from my presence. How am I supposed to take a woman that despises me to wife?"

When I harbor indecent feelings for her sister.

"The lady must be the shy type. Remember she is just fresh out of the school room. It is natural for her to feel nervous in the presence of a gentleman especially a powerful one such as yourself.

Powerful, another word for hideous

"She did not seem all that nervous when she conversed with her dance partners" he replied sarcastically

"She is just yet to adjust to your personality. You can be quite intense and intimidating sometimes " she said

So now it was his fault?

"She would warm up to you when you get married and she gets to know you better."

Anthony suppressed the discourteous urge to snort. The young lady was more likely to run screaming on their wedding night when she gets a full view of the true extent of his injuries.

An expression on his face must have alerted his mother to his true thoughts and her eyes narrowed in annoyance

"Devlin, it seems you are not treating this matter with the seriousness it deserves. Do remember that you owe a duty to this title to marry a suitable young woman and provide heirs."

The fact that she called him by his title was enough to tell him she was getting to the end of her tolerance

"I could marry another lady or better still, leave the title to be inherited by a distant cousin or so. It just might save me the stress of attending all these tiresome affairs and dancing attendance to a woman who clearly despises me," he said, frustrated.

His comment seemed to anger the duchess because he watched her expression change from frustrated to implacable.

In a single moment she transitioned flawlessly from his mother to the Dowager Duchess of Devlin revered and feared in the whole of England.

"You will marry, Devlin. There is no distant cousin to inherit. I had a private investigator look into it while you were missing from battle. So if you do not produce an heir, the title will revert back to the crown. Your father, bless his soul would roll over in his grave should you allow that to happen."

He already knew that, but didn't bother interrupting her. It was best to let her lecture take its course.

"Furthermore, " she continued, "normally I would leave the choice of who to marry up to you. But you more than anyone know that our reputation as a family has taken a severe hit in previous years. As much as it grieves me to admit it, we need Miss Charity if we are to regain our good name back. She is the belle of the season, from a well-respected family of the ton . She is the perfect candidate for a duchess in my opinion "

With a few choice words, his mother had managed to guilt trip him.

Standing up, she righted the sash of her robe. "I will leave you to gather your thoughts. Good night, my son," she said, patting his cheek like she did when he was a child.

There was a lot of sense in what she had said but was it fair to marry a lady knowing he harbored volatile feelings for her sister? Feelings that were growing uncomfortably every day.

If he were to marry Miss Charity, what was he to do with his feelings for her elder sister? How long could he hold our before his iron clad self-control collapsed?

* * *

A few days later, he was sitting in his carriage, on his way to yet another ball. This time though a faint feeling of excitement assaulted him and it wasn't difficult to associate the feeling to the hope of seeing Victoria again

He had spent the last few days in deep thoughts about his proposed marriage to Miss Charity. While his mind agreed that she was a perfect match that fit his needs, his emotions did not seem to agree with the idea.

Whenever he tried to imagine what married life with the amiable Miss Charity would be like, he became distracted by images of Victoria that seemed to be stamped at the back of his eyelids.

His obsession with Victoria was now that terrible that it could be a disease. Even now when he should be making plans on how best to woo Miss Charity, he was more preoccupied fantasizing about her delectable elder sister.

When they arrived at the ballroom. While he was being announced. His eyes searched the crowd eagerly for any sign of the object of his obsession. In moments he found her, standing surrounded by several aristocrats, gowned in a beautiful dark blue creation that highlighted her dark complexion. She held them in thrall with her bright smile and expressive hands as she explained some unknown concept to them.

Before he knew what he was doing, he was walking a direct path towards her.

It seemed they were attuned to each other's presence at an elemental level because before he reached them, she raised her hand and granted him a bright smile that he could not help but return.

There was instant silence from her previous companions. It seemed they had been surprised to see him smile.

The beast duke did not smile, he was well known to be brooding. Anthony was also astonished that he still possessed the ability to smile. After witnessing the horrors of war, he had found smiling and happiness to be a luxury.

" Good evening my lady. Can I have this dance?"

He could hear the strings of a waltz beginning and he thought it was just perfect for how close he wanted to be with her, a tiny voice warned him that he was also signing up for torture, because such proximity would stoke the flames of the passion he had been trying to put a lid on in recent times.

But then roses were known for their thorns and to his mind, the discomfort that was sure to come was a small price to pay for the honor of holding her close.

Smiling up to him the beautiful goddess in front of him replied

" It would be my honor your grace" she accepted his proffered hand then turning to her companions " Please excuse me gentlemen" she said with a polite smile.

He led her to the dance floor, and when the music began, he used the hand he had on her waist to pull her in a little closer to his body.

It definitely improper as he could hear faint murmuring in the ballroom but in that moment he didn't care, he was still trying to organize his incoherent thoughts while simultaneously gouging himself on the delicious scent that was her.

"Have I mentioned that you look absolutely ravishing tonight" he said looking down into her warm eyes

"I don't believe you did" she replied, a mischievous gleam appearing in her eye

"That is such a crime, Apologies my lady" he teased giving her a slight bow.

"It had been known that gentlemen have extremely short attention span, so I forgive you for the oversight" she said her eyes dancing in merriment.

"Indeed. I hope to redeem entire gender by redeeming the oversight" he replied enjoying the banter between them.

" My lady are indeed the loveliest in the room. I count myself immensely fortunate to hold you in my arms"

"You play this game of flattery so well your grace" she said a flush appearing on her cheeks. Embarrassed she avoided his eyes

"I.. I thank you for your kind words, your grace," she said.

The lady apparently had a shy streak in her. It was difficult to guess that going by how ferociously she had defended her sister before him.

He must admit that a part of him felt smug that he still had the power to make a woman blush. It was positively thrilling and the more lustful part of his brain wondered how far the blush went beyond her clothes and how the color would look on her skin in the moment of passion.

To avoid embarrassing himself in the middle of ballroom, he shut down that thought and counted backwards from hundred. It would not do to sprout wood in public and alarm the innocent that stood in his arms because while she might be advanced in age, according to the marriage mart but in matters of passion between a man and woman, she was as naive as a baby and he hoped to keep it that way.... At least for now.

Clearing his throat, he pasted on a carefree smile completely at odds with the turmoil inside of him

"It is not just idle flattery my lady. You are truly a beauty and it would not do for me not to appreciate your radiance."

He watched as the redness depended to a lovely rosy color spreading along her chest down to the top of her bosom and taking his mind all the way to the gutter with its progress.

He heaved a sigh of relief when the music stopped to indicate the end of the dance

A moment longer and he would have run the risk of kissing the lady senseless right there in the middle of the ballroom with no care that the whole society was watching.

It would not have ended there, he was sure. The passion he felt for Victoria was dark and wicked at best. The moment he touched her, he just might not stop until he had debauched her of any iota of innocence.

He would not stop until he had possessed her in the darkest ways known to man. A part of him recoiled at the prospect of soiling such a bright creature.

But the primal part of him the one who pulsed with his need for her did not particularly care. It needed her and he wanted to have her in any possible way

"...Misery loves company don't you think," a female voice tittered stopping him in his tracks as he led Victoria to the lemonade stand

"I agree with you. They just might be a match forged in hell in my opinion" another voice agreed snidely

"The Beastly duke and the old withered spinster. It would be just perfect on the front of a gossip column," another rejoiced with cruel glee.

Anthony looked at Victoria and while she guided herself pouring herself some punch he could see from the white cast of her complexion that she was not immune to the snide comments being made about them.

He turned in the direction of the voices hoping to catch the culprit but then the ladies of the ton were remarkable actors and their well placed fans allowed them to say a lot of terrible things about people without any inkling of it showing on their faces.

He had been used to getting gossiped about. He had just waved it aside as the petty behaviors of lazy aristocrats but it galled him when an innocent like Victoria got caught in the crossfire, simply because she associated with him.

"Do you think they might announce their marriage?" one of the ladies asked.

"I should hope they do marry, the dregs of the ton marrying each other would do us a lot of good," the other replied

"It is almost too perfect. The beastly duke from a worthless title marrying the old maid that nobody wants. They are a perfect match I must say," another said I am triumphant glee.

Anthony never knew the ton thought his prestigious title was worthless. But then what had he expected when members of his family had regularly featured the scandal sheets the last one being his insistence in joining the army instead of staying back in England to study how best to be a proper duke.

With the scandals attached to the title, it would have been retrieved by the crown several decades earlier if it wasn't because of the promise signed in blood between the first Duke of Devlin andthe king at the time. The title had been payment for a blood debt for a life saved in battle, that was why it still stayed in their family even with their countless scandals.

That was why he needed the innocent well-loved Miss Charity if he was to regain the family honor. Marriage to the belle of the ton might make members of the ton thaw towards the family since Miss Charity was an admirable member.

While he hated gossip, it was particularly useful at this moment. He had to make plans to marry Miss Charity regardless of whatever feelings he harbored for her sister. While his chest ached at the thought. He had to do the needful. Because great responsibilities demanded great sacrifices.

"Miss Hobbs," he called coming to stand very close to her.

He waited until she lifted her head to look at him before continuing

"I have an important matter to discuss with you, please meet me in the gardens in half an hour" he said glancing at his time piece.

Ignoring the puzzling look on her face he strode away. Tonight everything would return to its rightful position. He would make sure of it.