Chapter Five

"I have decided on a wife for you!"

Joseph let out a low groan and pinched the bridge of his nose lightly, telling himself that it was either a dream he was having, hearing the voice of his mother speaking so, or he was still addled from the amount of liquor he had imbibed the previous evening.

Unfortunately for him, neither of those things proved to be correct.

"Are you listening to me?" His mother strode towards Joseph, coming around the side of the dining room table and pulling out a chair so she might sit directly beside him. Her gaze was piercing and Joseph closed his eyes, pain shooting through his head.

"Mother, I am not in the mood to hear any such nonsense," he said with a low groan, though this did nothing whatsoever to convince her to remove herself from his company. "Please, I –"

"Will you listen to me and stop your fussing?" The Duchess tapped his arm lightly, then, as Joseph opened his eyes, signaled to the footman to pour him another coffee while she herself reached to pour the tea. "Now, you know as well as I that I have determined to find you a bride. I –"

"Yes, you have made that very clear over the last few months." Joseph scowled, though his mother scowled back at him, clearly frustrated at the interruption. "You have brought up the subject almost every day."

She sniffed. "In fact, I believe I have mentioned it every single day," she replied, her tone laced with sarcasm. "Now, I will admit that when I heard what Lady Hannah said of you and when I saw the rumours and whispers that would follow, I feared that my task would fail utterly and you would triumph."

Joseph rolled his eyes. "This is not a contest between us, Mother."

"Oh yes, it is." Taking a sip of her tea, she let the silence challenge him for a few moments before she continued again – and in the quiet, Joseph could find nothing to say. It seemed that, whatever he said, she was ready with an answer. Frustrated, he gripped his hands tight together under the table, his jaw jutting forward but his mother took no notice.

"There will be no young ladies willing to turn towards you," she stated, her tone crisp and her words short. "Or even if there were, their mothers or fathers would not permit them – and this, despite your title and your standing! You know why they will not even consider you. It is shameful to me and it ought to be to you also."

"Please." Joseph let out a long, exasperated sigh, quite certain that this tirade – and the supposed decision as regards his bride to be – would be nothing but nonsense. This was taking far too long and given the pain in his head, he did not have much time for her long, drawn out explanations that would lead to either another argument between them or silence from him as he steadfastly refused to do as she suggested.

"You wish me to get to the point. Very well." Rather than speaking, however, his mother took another sip of her tea and then, settling the cup back in the saucer, turned to look directly at him. "Yarmouth, I have decided to approach the Earl of Jedburgh."

This meant nothing to Joseph and, from his blank stare towards her, he presumed that his mother recognized this given the way she sighed.

"He has three daughters," she continued, after a moment, letting out a huff of breath in obvious frustration. "I am sure that one of them could be… encouraged to consider you."

Joseph rolled his eyes, not caring in the least that his mother saw him. "You have already told me that you do not think that any mother or father of any young lady would be willing to push them towards me. What makes you think that this Lord Jedburgh will be any different?"

A glimmering smile crossed his mother's face and Joseph frowned, not liking it in the least.

"This is a different situation."

"Why?" Joseph's eyes narrowed a little as his mother opened her mouth and then closed it again with a snap, shaking her head. "Mother, you must inform me as to why this young lady's father would be willing to offer her hand to me. Is she very plain? Is that what your punishment is to be?"

At this, the Duchess' lips thinned and her shoulders lifted just a little. "There are times that I forget just how shallow you are in your thoughts and your considerations, only for you to then remind me of them with great force."

Her words stung but Joseph did not so much as flinch, looking back at her with a steady gaze as he fought to ascertain what it was about this lady that would make her father willing to consent. "She must be a wallflower, then. Or disgraced herself!"

"I can assure you that she is not." The Duchess drew herself up as best she could in her chair. "There is nothing but respectability about the lady and I will not have you suggest otherwise."

A sudden concern began to flood though Joseph's heart as he watched the confidence grow in his mother's expression. The small smile had returned to her lips, a glint in her eye that could not be taken as anything other than a certainty of her success. Surely it could not be? Surely it would be that his mother's attempts would be thwarted due to the rumors about him? Yes, it had not been pleasant to have Lady Hannah say such things to him and it had been all the worse to know that the ton now considered him a scoundrel but there had been some good in it – that being that his mother would no longer be able to force a bride upon him.

Perhaps, he considered, his confidence in that had been a little too strong. The way that she was looking at him told him that there was more to this than he had first thought.

"What is wrong with the lady that her father will willingly offer her hand to me, a gentleman known to be a scoundrel and a rogue?" he asked, speaking plainly as his mother flinched visibly, still injured by what society now thought of him. "If she is not disgraced herself, is it that she has been already wed? Is she divorced?" The latter suggestion made sense to him, for a divorced lady was ill considered by society and none would look upon her again, even though it would have been her husband who would have forced that situation upon her. "I will not marry a divorced lady."

"For heaven's sake, Yarmouth, must you be so very particular?" His mother threw up her hands and, gripping the edge of the table thereafter, rose so sharply that her chair scraped back across the floor. "You have only just informed me about all that the things that the ton thinks of you and yet, somehow, you have a difficulty in even the thought of attaching yourself to a lady who might herself have some of the very same issues as you!"

Seeing the double standard his mother held out to him did not change Joseph's thoughts in any way. "I will not wed a disgraced nor a divorced lady."

She shook her head at him. "It is just as well that she is neither of those things, then," she answered, stoutly. "Now, as I have said, I will go to speak with the Earl of Jedburgh and –"

"Wait." Urgency and dread spiraled together and, before he knew it, Joseph was out of his seat, though he stood at the table rather than coming after his mother. "You cannot simply go to a gentleman on my behalf! I am a Duke in my own right! To have my mother pursuing a match for me is not only laughable, it is mortifying."

"And yet, that is what I shall do."

Joseph closed his eyes, telling himself that he ought to have expected that sort of response.

"You already agreed to this," she reminded him, as the footman opened the door for her. "You agreed to my finding you a match this Season, do you not recall?"

"Only because you were a relentless tormentor, unyielding in your torment," he muttered darkly, running a hand through his hair, the onset of a throbbing headache intensifying as he squeezed his eyes shut, striving to combat the wave of anxiety that threatened to engulf him. "After everything that has happened, I do not think that –"

"I will inform you about what takes place," she interrupted, giving him another quick glance before sailing out of the door. Joseph, his mouth still half-open given that he had not quite finished what it was he wanted to say, watched her leave, feeling his panic begin to grow all the more. When his mother had first entered the dining room and informed him of her intentions, he had quickly dismissed it as something that could quickly be dismissed. Now, however, he was not so sure.

Swallowing hard, he sank back down into his seat and then closed his eyes, breathing hard as he attempted to regain control of his emotions.

"She cannot force me to marry anyone," he told himself aloud, thumping one fist on the table. "She might force an engagement, she might even force me to the church but she cannot ever force me to say, ‘I do'."

***

"I am glad to see you." Joseph walked alongside his friend through the heart of London, letting his gaze flick from side to side as he took in the expressions of those who passed him, seeing how some looked at him with interest whilst others quickly looked away, as though horrified to have even seen him with their own eyes. "You must tell me all about your Great Adventure."

"Must I?" Lord Quillon chuckled, then shrugged. "I have a good many stories I can share, yes, but I must tell you that I have no intention of lingering on the difficulties that I endured." He winced. "They were very difficult days indeed and, at times, I was not certain I would survive, given how weak I became."

Joseph's eyes widened as he stopped walking and looked directly back at his friend. "You did not inform me of this. Had I known, I would have given up everything and come to your aid."

"I was too weak to write – or even to inform one of my servants to write to you – and when I began to recover, I did not see that there was any great need." Lord Quillon smiled, though there was no light in his eyes and Joseph realized, with a heaviness settling on his heart, just how much his friend had endured. "I have returned to London with a fresh perspective on life, however."

Joseph began to walk again, glancing across at Lord Quillon. "Oh?"

"I have decided to take a wife. I think it is high time that I do so, given that I have a good many responsibilities and no-one under me who could take on the title, should I go onto the next life."

A slight shudder ran through Joseph's frame as he took in Lord Quillon's words. "But you survived, you endured! You need not fear your passing now."

"No, but who is to say when it may come?" Lord Quillon's shoulders lifted and then fell. "I may fall ill with another severity and, given that I am still a little weak, I may not survive it! Therefore, I have decided not only to take a wife but also to make certain that I have the heir produced within the year."

Joseph tried to smile, keeping his tone light as he fought back against the severity which had hit him. "What if it is a daughter?"

Lord Quillon chuckled. "Then I shall try again and again until I manage to produce the heir! Otherwise, the line will fall to my wastrel cousin and I do not want that."

Nodding in understanding, Joseph considered his own brothers. They were both far more responsible and considered than him. "I do not have that same concern, I must say."

"Because of your brothers." A slightly dry tone hit Lord Quillon's voice. "Is that not a little… inconsiderate of your own responsibilities? You are simply leaving them to your brothers rather than taking them on yourself."

Joseph shook his head. "I have no interest in marrying. When I do – and I have already promised that I shall – I will do so in order to produce the heir and nothing more."

"Though you have no intention of marrying soon."

Wincing, Joseph looked away from his friend, turning his head so that he looked in the opposite direction. He did not want to speak of this, did not want to give it credence and yet it was a burden that, ever since his mother had spoken to him earlier that afternoon, now hung heavier around his shoulders. "My mother has insisted on finding me a match this Season."

Silence came from his friend and slowly, Joseph turned his attention back towards him, seeing the shock written across his friend's expression.

"She will not succeed, of course."

Lord Quillon cleared his throat gruffly, clearly trying to remove the surprise from his face. "Your mother is organising a match for you? Why do you not do it yourself?"

"Because I have no wish to marry, as I am sure I have just said!" Joseph let out a frustrated breath. "You do not know what I have endured, Quillon."

"Then tell me."

With a nod, Joseph rubbed one hand over his chin as they continued through the busy London street. "Some months ago, my mother informed me that it was high time I found a wife. We argued, I insisted that I be left alone and she determined to make my life nothing short of a misery – so she put it – until I relented and permitted her to do as she wished."

"Oh." Lord Quillon's voice had become very grave. "And might I surmise that she did as she had threatened?"

Joseph dropped his hand to his side and let out a low groan. "I cannot describe it to you. It was a difficulty rising from my bed at the end of it, knowing that I would face her at the dining room table. She spoke about marriage and my responsibilities for seemingly hours on end, almost constantly in my company and even when I was in my study at business matters, she would not relent – and I could not remove her! Adding to this, she then made herself a nuisance, making sure that the housekeeper served me meals I had not asked her to provide, refusing invitations and visitors before I could even see them and, what is worse, selling my most beloved pair of horses from under my very nose!"

Lord Quillon let out a low whistle.

"Precisely," Joseph muttered, shaking his head. "I thought I knew my mother well. Now, however, I see that she is cunning, determined and quite forceful in it! I could not endure any longer and thus, weakened by her constant haranguing, I relented."

"I see." His friend let out a sigh. "That is unfortunate. Though, now that you have had such rumours spoken of you, are you sure that she will be able to do as she has threatened? Is that what you meant by stating that she will not succeed?"

Joseph nodded. "Those rumours are dire, of course, though I will not pretend that I had nothing to do with them. However, I presume that with society turning away from me as it has, it is not as though any young lady is going to be eager to step towards me! My own mother told me that any sensible father or mother would not even think of permitting their daughter to come near me!"

"And yet, she thinks that she will be able to provide you with a wife?"

A knot of worry tied itself in Joseph's stomach. "I am afraid that she is clear in her determination. To add to this, she spoke to me earlier today about going to call upon Lord Jedburgh, in order to convince him that one of his daughters might be a suitable match."

"Lord Jedburgh? The Earl?"

Joseph stopped sharply. "Are you acquainted with him? Do you know his daughters?"

"I do, yes, though I cannot recall their names." Lord Quillon's expression grew thoughtful. "I believe that their mother passed away when they were all rather young. That is a pity."

Joseph barely listened to this, grasping a hold of his friend's arm in a sudden determination. "Are any of them very plain? Or a wallflower? Or disgraced in some way?"

A line formed between Lord Quillon's eyebrows, his gaze sharpening just a little. "Why do you ask such a thing?"

"Because I cannot see why else a father would consent to his daughter marrying someone with the reputation I have otherwise," Joseph explained, as his friend nodded slowly, rubbing one hand over his chin for a moment. "You have heard enough, I am sure, to make it quite clear to you that I cannot be considered by any of the ton as an acceptable match. Therefore, whoever this young lady is, there must be some defect in her or in her character which would, thereafter, force her father to attach himself to the idea with relish!"

Lord Quillon began to walk again. "From what I remember, none of the young ladies are particularly plain, they have not been disgraced and the family name is highly respectable. I would not think that there is anything about any of them that ought to concern you." He threw Joseph a glance. "Though I must say, it is a little surprising to hear you have such concerns when your own reputation is less than pristine!"

Joseph threw off the remark with a shrug. "There must be some reason as to why they would accept me. I just do not know what it is!"

"You are concerned." His friend's eyebrows lifted. "You think that she will be able to force your hand in that regard?"

Closing his eyes for a moment, Joseph let out a long, slow breath. "In giving in to her, I have effectively given my consent." Shaking his head, Joseph opened his eyes and looked into his friend's face, seeing the frown lingering there. "And in my very heart, I fear that she might succeed."