While undoing his waistcoat, Benedict smiled over his shoulder, “It was a lovely time. I do wish you’d have attended, but then, you might have stolen the eyes of the lady I met.”
Pressing a hand to his heart, Edward feigned pain. “I would never do that, dear brother. You do know you are the one to continue the ducal line, yes?”
“I do,” Benedict struggled to undo his cravat, forcing Edward to step in.
After spending years traveling the continent with no valet or butler to serve him, Edward had learned to take care of himself—not a choice most gentlemen would have made. However, necessity was the mother of invention, so he had gotten quite inventive: he could tie his own cravat and dress himself, even in the dark.
Adeptly, he undid the waterfall knot and pulled the silk from his collar, “I would never hurt your chance for marriage. Now, tell me, who is this lady like?”
“She is not a lady in the sense we take it as,” Benedict replied. “But in my eyes, she has the comportment of one.”
“Oh,” he said thoughtfully. “That is not as concerning as you might think.”
Benedict’s brows lifted. “You wouldn’t come down on me for possibly marrying a woman from the Gentry?”
“Not as long as she or her family aren’t up to their eyebrows in debt,” Edward replied. “In that case, we might have a discussion.”
“I don’t think so, but the conversation did not stray to fiscal matters,” Benedict said.
Laughing, Edward added, “I would save that conversation for the second meeting.”
“Or the third,” Benedict joked as he donned a looser shirt. “I see you’re out for the Town?”
“I am,” Edward replied. “How are your lectures?”
“Long and tedious enough to make me want to slam my head against my desk,” Benedict muttered. “But I had a paper to write, so I shall be drinking oceans of coffee and burning the midnight oil.”
Lips tilting to the side, Edward replied, “I do not miss those days, let me tell you.”
“Any tips on economics?” Benedict asked dryly.
“Be able to explain the law of supply and demand backward,” Edward responded as he headed out the door. “Is Professor Yates still rambling in hall four?”
“He is.”
“Then you will need it,” Edward laughed his way to the carriage.
“Do you have a minute, Alice dear?”
Seated at her writing desk in the drawing room, Alice glanced up from her book. Her aunt, clad in her thick brocade robe, her hair up in a nightcap, stood at the doorway, a cup of tea in hand.
She didn’t really—she had to find Rutledge again—but she knew she could not deny her aunt, even if it was the tiniest thing; making sure Eliza got a five-minute egg instead of a seven-minute one. She would always say,I’ll have it done, Aunt.
“Yes, aunt,” she said, putting the book down. “How may I help you?”
“It is in regards to Marquess Brampton,” her aunt said, her face bright with expectation and pride. “I was so honored when he chose to stay with you all day and even have you as his partner at dinner. My word, Alice. You have turned the ton on its head.”
No, not yet I haven’t. Not unless he asks me to marry him. Only then will I have turned the ton on its head.
She ducked her head, “Such high praises, Aunt.”
“I mean them dear,” her aunt sounded almost giddy. “A Marquess! In my wildest dreams I would not have imagined you’d gain the eye of such a prestigious lord. You could be the catalyst to push our family as we have so long hoped.”
“His lordship is indeed a very polite man with a lovely sense of humor.”
What she did not say was;he did seem intrigued, but I hope his interest is not passing.
“He stopped you after dinner,” her aunt added. “What did he say?”
