Chapter 11

CHAPTER11

“You look like you need a drink.”

Leo didn’t know he looked that bad. Or perhaps, Seth was referring to a celebratory drink?

“I return to town this morning to find out that my best friend has gotten married the day before!” Seth exclaimed, walking over to a dark, mahogany cellarette where he kept some of the finest whiskeys Leo had ever tried. Those were usually served on special occasions, and obviously, according to his friend, this was one of them. He offered Leo a glass and then kept one for himself.

Leo hesitated before accepting the professed glass. He wasn’t planning on drinking so early in the morning. It was not even noon. But according to Seth, any time was a good time for a drink. Seth Follett, the Marquess of Huntington, was tall and excessively blonde with some Scandinavian blood certainly. He was a fan of drinking, traveling, and women. His reputation also went in that order with women getting the smallest portion of it.

“I honestly have to say that I am surprised to see you here this morning,” Seth commented with a disapproving smirk. “I would expect you to be knee deep in quim right now.”

“That is my wife you are speaking of,” Leo frowned although he had to admit that this was expected of Seth. He was not the type of man to choose his words very wisely but rather spoke them as they came to him, especially when the subject matter was women.

His friend raised his glass, without even considering offering an apology for the way he spoke just now, and then downed all the contents of it. Leo took a small sip, and despite what he initially believed, it did him good.

“Marrying her of all the eligible young ladies in London!” Seth exclaimed even more loudly this time. “A lady whose father did his best to ruin your father. Two families who had been in a feud for years. That is the woman you chose to marry! I swear, I thought it was a wicked joke when I heard it this morning. Then, the newspapers confirmed it, old boy. I honestly don’t know what you were thinking.” Seth was shaking his head disapprovingly.

Leo always considered Seth a good friend although he frequently did not agree with Seth’s outlooks on many things, especially regarding women. For Seth, they were merely sources of pleasure and entertainment. He did not really see them as beings made of flesh and blood, beings with emotions, beings that bled.

Seth had always been the more well to do of them two of them, and that made him a better prospective husband although ladies usually had no idea that he was so crude when discussing them. Leo could not understand this approach of treating everything like a game that needed to be won. Seth always had to win. He was a sore loser but, sometimes, an even more sore winner.

“But… perhaps you could have some fun with the chit?” Seth suggested, walking back to the cellarette to pour himself another drink.

Leo didn’t want to admit how close he had come to that. He glanced at the whiskey in his hand then took another sip. It was more for the purpose of buying himself more time to come up with the right answer. Once again, it was whiskey of the finest sort—Leo had to admit that. Seth was a collector of fine things. Only, it was such a shame that there was not a single fine bone in his body. It was all twisted and bent.

Nonetheless, Leo believed that was simply who Seth was. And as such, he was still a good friend, someone who had been by Leo’s side for numerous years, listening to his troubles and offering friendly advice. Leo would never forget that it was Seth who was patting him on the back when his father died, and once again, they were drinking the finest of whiskeys in memory of Leo’s late father.

“You know, we could have invested in that brewery together,” Seth reminded him.

“I know,” Leo nodded. “And I still appreciate the offer. But I told you, I wish to keep it in the family, and the idea of merging these two breweries together, which were one brewery a long time ago, seemed like the logical choice.”

“If you say so,” Seth shrugged. “I am simply wondering why you needed to bed a woman who has been and always will be your enemy.”

“I have not bedded her,” Leo protested.

Immediately, he remembered the way she looked in the library, illuminated only by the soft glow of the candles around them. Her long hair cascaded down her back in thick tresses while he could see the faint outlines of her breasts underneath that robe she was wearing. Leo had bedded many women in his life. Some he cared for, others less, but he respected them always. It was simply how he had been brought up. He respected women, and they in turn, beautiful and skilled in showing a man all the pleasures of the bed chamber, respected him back. With Jane, he wasn’t certain if she respected him at all. And yet, she was the one who caused the most fearsome tumult of emotions inside of him.

“What do you need her for then?” Seth asked with genuine curiosity in his voice.

Leo sighed. That was a good question, but he already knew the answer to it.

“Her father would not allow me to get my hands on the brewery otherwise,” Leo admitted.

“But the man is in terrible debt,” Seth pointed out what all of London knew. It was no secret. “Wasn’t it enough to just offer to settle it for him?”

“I offered that as well, but no, it wasn’t enough.”

Seth shook his head. “The nerve of some people.”

Leo nodded, drinking the remnants in his glass. The whiskey slid down his throat more effortlessly now. He yearned for more, but he didn’t want to return to his home, to his wife, besotted at noon.

“So, you were forced to marry his daughter as well?” Seth pointed out.

Leo didn’t say that it was actually the other way around. He was the one who suggested it. He was the one who wanted it first. He didn’t want to tell Seth. He wouldn’t understand, anyway.

“I think things turned out all right in the end,” Leo said defensively.

“You seem rather pleased with yourself,” Seth noticed, raising an intrigued eyebrow.

“I do not see why I should not be,” Leo said, even more defensively this time, and it was this response that revealed all.

“You like her,” Seth said in a voice that allowed for no backtalk.

“Who?” Leo asked, although the moment he said it, he realized how ridiculous the question was. Of course, there was only one woman they could have been discussing.

“Lady Ridlington,” Seth said her official title, and it took Leo a moment to realize that Seth was talking about Jane. To him, she was just Jane. Lady Ridlington sounded so harsh, and yet, that was who she was to the rest of the world.

“I am indifferent to her,” Leo opted for the least painful response.

In reality, he was anything but indifferent to her. He was defensive when talking about her. He was obsessed when she was not around. He was confused whenever he spoke to her. He was randy whenever he thought of her loose strands of hair and the thin fabric of her gown and robe. He was so many things. Anything but indifferent.

“Are you now?” Seth asked. “I hear she is a beautiful young lady.”

“She is,” Leo had to admit.

“If that is the case, then how can you be indifferent to such beauty?” Seth inquired. “I know I certainly could not be.”

“I know,” Leo sighed. “But I know why I married her. It is a marriage of convenience.”

Perhaps if he said it aloud enough times, he would start believing it to be true. Even if it took him a million times to say. The millionth and first time would be when his mind started to believe it.

“Ah, I see,” Seth nodded. “In that case, I applaud you. You married a beautiful lady with whom you could… play games if you wished, but at the same time, you have the liberty to pursue whomever you wish. Bravo, old chap!” Seth clapped his hands for Leo although Leo didn’t feel like there was any reason for celebration.

He had absolutely no desire or intention of pursuing any other lady. He wanted Jane. Even though he could not have her—that much was obvious. But perhaps it would be enough to have her nearby.

Following his words, Seth got up to pour them both another drink.

“That deserves another round,” he told Leo, urging him to accept the professed glass. “Anyone in your place needs whiskey to ease his mind.”

“I do not need to drink,” Leo frowned, but he still accepted the glass. It lingered between his fingers, beckoning to him.

“Need to or want, it is all the same,” Seth shrugged, downing his own glass then slamming it against the table to his right. “You need to keep your mind clear because a woman’s cunny will make you go insane if you’re not careful, old boy. I should know. Many have tried to make me go mad, but I have been resisting them successfully.”

Leo didn’t know what to say to that. He doubted that Jane was trying to make him go crazy with her… cunny as Seth referred to it. He didn’t like the term. It sounded derogatory… unless it was spoken in the heat of the passion, and the lady in question liked dirty talk. There was only one woman he slept with who fancied that sort of thing. Not that she was on his mind, because she was not. The only woman he could not stop thinking about was Jane.

So, he downed the drink he received, feeling it burn a fiery path of scorching heat down his throat with steam exiting through his nose. He tried to inhale deeply, but it only burned even more.

Seth could tell that his friend was torn. So, he placed his hand on Leo’s shoulder, squeezing it compassionately.

“Just be careful, old boy,” he advised him. “You may not think it yet, but that woman is your enemy. She has fed off of the same hatred that spurned your father.”

Seth was right. His mother was right. Leo knew that they both meant well in their own way. Being careful was about the only thing he could do right now. But how could he go about it when all he wanted was to roam around the house, hoping that he would stumble upon Jane?

“Do tell me about your trip,” Leo said, in an effort to change the topic of the conversation.

“Oh, French women are the most beautiful by far,” Seth assured him, waving his hand in the air excitedly. “And… the most liberated, too!” He followed these words with rowdy laughter. Leo merely smiled. It was something he expected his friend to say. At least, he would be distracted and annoyed enough not to think about Jane.