Chapter 1

CHAPTER1

“Please, Brother. I don’t find it so sinful to ask one’s flesh and blood a mere favor,” Simon pleaded with Gerald, the Duke of Powell.

Gerald, however, couldn’t help but scoff at his false description of the situation.

“This must be the third mentioned ‘mere favor’ this month, Simon. So, yes, I do find it unjust that you make these requests of me once again,” he spat. “What tends to trouble me more is the question of what you are doing with all the borrowed money that causes it to disappear so quickly.”

“So, you expect me to come running to you with each small exchange of money?” Simon chuckled in an exasperated manner. This bothered Gerald immensely, as he found him in no position to be the one laughing. “Well, my dearest, loving brother, Mother asked me to give a payment to the maid. Do you suggest we leave her unpaid and soon unemployed?”

Gerald rolled his eyes, clenching his fists in anger. He looked back at his brother, making sure to stretch ou the silence in order to discomfit him.

“I had already paid the maid this month, Simon,” Gerald replied through gritted teeth.

He tried his best to keep his composure, but his brother had a tendency to choose the worst timing possible to come with his aggravating requests. An important one, in fact.

Simon’s lips curled at the realization that his lies had led him nowhere but into a larger amount of trouble. He pinned Gerald with a familiar look that said, You’re my older brother, Gerald. Thus, I come to you for help, since I am so lost and confused at my young age. The young age of three-and-twenty.

Gerald gulped in a large amount of air in further attempts to maintain his composure, but Simon made it increasingly difficult. He wanted to continue their fight further, end his brother’s inquiries once and for all. But he knew his tactics too well. Simon chose an important event in his life to make his request.

Gerald gave in, to his own disappointment.

“I’ll send you some money tomorrow, but certainly not as much as I had last time.” Gerald sighed. His head started to hurt from the couple of minutes he had to endure this exchange. “But this is the last time, Simon. And this conversation is certainly not over.”

“Thank you, Your Grace,” Simon said with half a bow. Something in his voice indicated that he, too, remained agitated, despite his poor attempt at thanking his brother. “I completely understand the cut. After all, you are such a poor man.”

Gerald waved his brother off and started walking away, leaving him behind in the garden and wishing him to stay there for much longer. But, to his deepest disappointment, he was met by the sound of footsteps merely a few inches behind him.

“What?” Gerald blurted out without turning around. He feared if he did, his brother would suffer the consequences. Painful consequences.

“So, you say you hadn’t met her?” Simon asked, falling into step with Gerald as he continued striding down the dimly lit pathway.

“You are aware of the answer to your own question. No, I had not,” Gerald replied, shifting his gaze to the garden to avoid any eye contact with his brother.

It would be hard for Simon to catch Gerald’s gaze in any way, since he stood a few heads shorter than him.

“That’s a bit troubling, don’t you think?” Simon sneered at the response he had expected. “An arranged marriage for a member of the Chambers household?”

Gerald swallowed the words he wanted to hurl at his brother. He would only rile himself up more. He couldn’t deny that he, too, was not exactly excited about the entire ordeal, but he had no other option.

“I retract my offer, Simon. I don’t believe it is best for you or the family to borrow another cent this month,” Gerald said bitterly.

Part of him had actually rethought his offer and found it displeasing, but a larger part of him felt it appropriate to make his brother aware that his statements had consequences. Thus, Gerald wouldn’t spare him another penny.

He heard Simon’s footsteps stop next to him but continued walking. He believed his brother had expected him to stop and discuss the matter further, but he hadn’t. Simon had to run after him to do so.

“You can’t do that!” Simon yelled as he tried to catch up to Gerald. “How vile can one be?! Promising something one moment, and retracting it the next?”

“Simon, stop playing the victim,” Gerald said through gritted teeth. “You’re irresponsible with money, and I find it best if I stop enabling you. Besides, I have provided food, drink, and clothes for you, so I don’t see any reason for you to purchase anything else.”

“Pathetic!” Simon shouted, causing nearby heads to turn and whisper at one another in curiosity.

Gerald effortlessly ignored his tantrum, still continuing his walk. Finally, Simon stopped following him.

Gerald tried to shove his thoughts out of his head, not wanting to dwell on them any longer. His pace quickened without realization, his footsteps carrying more and more weight with each step.

He agreed with Simon that an arranged marriage wasn’t ideal, but his brother remained the reason he found himself unmarried at eight-and-twenty years of age. Simon had either meddled in with the women Gerald had courted or chased them away.

Gerald couldn’t understand Simon’s odd actions toward him, but then again, he couldn’t understand Simon.

He had agreed to this arranged marriage for one simple reason that he didn’t feel proud admitting. He simply needed an heir for his duchy so that Simon wouldn’t inherit the title and drive it into the ground as any other opportunity he had ever had. But in order to produce an heir, Gerald needed a wife. And soon.

After all, he felt that he might be doing the woman a favor. According to the gossip, she had been struggling to find a suitor in her prior Seasons, so she must be desperate to marry someone with a minor title even.

Gerald kept up his pace as he continued down the pathway. Some of his brown curls had fallen into his eyes, blocking out the majority of his surroundings as his head hung low. Unfortunately, it blocked out a bit too much of his view.

After rounding a sharp corner, he collided with something, or rather someone. As he swiftly regained his balance, he heard a little feminine yelp. He had been so lost in thought that he had walked straight into a lady, nearly knocking her over.

She looked at him with a displeased expression.

“My dearest apologies, My Lady. I had not been looking where I was headed…” Gerald started, but his words faded as the woman turned toward him.

She was beautiful, and that was such an inexpressive word to describe her.

“It’s all right,” the woman mumbled, slightly red in her cheeks as she looked up at him.

A part of Gerald wanted to reach out his hand and touch one of the dark blonde curls sticking out from her bonnet, but he held back in fear of judgment.

“What could possibly have you in such deep thought that you hadn’t noticed another human being?” She laughed.

She bent down ever so slightly to adjust her shoe, which had come loose.

“Nothing can possibly upset me as you describe, My Lady. I just find myself dreading heading toward the woman I’m supposed to marry soon. One might even say I’m running.” Gerald shrugged.

An image flashed in his mind of a woman with a large unibrow and thin lips. Something inside him knew she wouldn’t be a treat for the eyes, for why else would she find herself unmarried after a few Seasons?

“Then I believe I might break out into a run as well.” The woman chuckled.

Gerald bent down to pick up a rock from the gravel beneath him, tossing it into the air before allowing it to drop back into his hand.

“That must be untrue, My Lady,” he said as confidence surged up his spine. “A beautiful lady can’t possibly be accompanied by anything other than a gentleman on such a lovely night.”

The woman smiled, her eyes on the shoes slightly poking out from underneath her dress. Gerald looked at her, expecting her to respond to the compliment, but she didn’t say a word.

“Are you unaccompanied tonight, My Lady?” he asked slightly hesitantly, making sure not to put her in an uncomfortable position. “If so, why aren’t you part of the larger gathering inside, where the ball is actually taking place?”

“I’m avoiding someone.” The woman sighed. “The man I am to marry. He just sounds like he’s a horrible man, in all honesty.”

Gerald couldn’t help himself, he burst out laughing. This caused the woman to rather scowl at him, her brow furrowing and her eyes narrowing.

“Apologies, My Lady,” Gerald said, trying to stop laughing. “My reaction was quite inappropriate.”

“Indeed,” the woman said, shaking her head.

Gerald had expected her to storm away from him, but she remained standing in front of him.

“I had only expected you to have thousands of suitors lining up outside your door. I’m surprised that you, too, find yourself stuck in an arranged marriage,” Gerald admitted, straightening his spine, which made him appear even taller and more confident.

He towered over the woman, causing her to tilt back her head in order to look at him.

“You’d be surprised how hard it is.” The woman sighed, starting to fan her dark blonde hair with the fan she had pulled out. “You men only seem to take the first eligible lady that grabs your attention.”

“So, you say your unmarried status is due to introversion?” Gerald asked. “Yet, I find myself having a perfect conversation with you now.”

“Perfect?” The woman chuckled, lifting a gloved hand to cover her mouth. Despite her attempts to cover her laugh, Gerald was able to see a perfect pair of pearly white teeth from between her fingers. “We started to converse due to you nearly falling on top of me.”

“I repeat my words, My Lady. A perfect conversation. Besides, I don’t believe either of us to have taken a tumble,” he said, taking a subtle step closer to her. “Yet, I still find it hard to believe that a pretty lady enjoys her time alone in the garden tonight.”

“Am I alone?” the woman asked, raising a playful eyebrow at his words. “If it weren’t for handsome men and their eagerness to walk somewhere, I would’ve enjoyed my time alone in the garden tonight.”

“Handsome, you say?” Gerald drawled, taking another small step toward her. They were but a foot apart from one another now.

“Don’t flatter yourself,” the woman scoffed, but her cheeks glowed pink nonetheless. She, too, found this interaction amusing.

“Well, what can a handsome man and a pretty lady do together in a large garden other than stumble into one another?” Gerald joked.

He had completely forgotten about the woman waiting for him inside. The woman he was actually supposed to marry.

The woman scrunched her face up in slight confusion at the odd question, but her gaze remained fixed on him. Gerald even started to lean in, their lips like magnets attracting each other.

Just before he had completely given in to this strange attraction, he remembered why he was attending the ball in the first place. He stopped a few inches from her face. He could feel the heat radiating from her cheeks.

“I must go. Good night to you,” the woman said hastily and then hiked up her skirt, starting to walk away from him.

Gerald looked at her retreating back. She was visibly limping as she walked away. He cocked his head in curiosity, wondering what could have happened to her.

Gerald turned his gaze back over to the garden. He allowed himself a few minutes of pure silence before rejoining the crowd. He knew that he would forget the meeting with the strange lady pretty quickly.

He had the tendency to sweep women off their feet and then forget them in an instant. Yet, he couldn’t help but wonder if she would be able to forget him.

Gerald looked over the crowd of dancing couples and laughing noblemen. He was part of it, he knew that, but it didn’t feel that way. He wished to hide behind one of the perfectly trimmed shrubs but knew his duty too well.

He had one task to complete tonight, and that meant meeting his future wife. The wife he had never asked for.