He shrugged suddenly. He had already been embarrassed by the lady. He doubted much else could happen that would be more embarrassing.
“She said that climbing trees was a part of every child’s development and basically dared me to climb a tree.”
“Dared you?” Arthur asked him, an eyebrow shooting up in askance.
“Well, she made fun of me for not climbing trees and then dared me to climb a tree.”
“Were you able to climb it?”
As Arthur waited for his answer, Morgan wished he had not told the man this part of the story.
“Well, no, I wasn’t,” he replied more quietly than his voice of indignation had been all through his narration of all that Selina had done.
Morgan glared at his friend when the man’s only response to what he had just told him was to let out a loud burst of laughter. What a friend he had that would laugh at his plight instead of seeing things from his point of view.
Arthur silenced his loud laughter when he noticed his friend’s glare.
“I’m sorry. I did not mean to laugh,” Arthur said, his voice filled with mirth, a clear indication that he was indeed not sorry for laughing.
“We- what – do you know how to climb trees then?” Morgan asked his friend.
“I’m afraid so, my friend,” Arthur replied.
“So you were climbing trees in your childhood?” Morgan asked him in total disbelief.
“Indeed I was, Reid,” Arthur confirmed, smiling slightly at his flustered friend.
“Where was this information when I was a child? If it was such an important part of a child’s development then why was I not introduced to this ritual?”
Morgan could not believe what he was hearing. Had everybody been climbing trees in their childhood except him?
“Mhmm. It is exactly because you say things like that,” Arthur teased, still smiling at him. “Ritual? It is clear to see that there is no way that you would have been invited to climb trees.”
Morgan rolled his eyes, not saying anything in retaliation to his friend’s teasing.
“For all the trouble it is worth, is she at least pretty to look at?” Arthur asked him, still maintaining his teasing smile and wiggling his eyebrows for effect.
Morgan did not know what it was about the way that Arthur asked the question but somehow it left a sour taste in his mouth. He knew his friend and what he was capable of.
Arthur was an absolute ladies’ man. He flirted with any lady at first sight. It seemed like second nature to the man as he tended not to think of it before even doing so. He never attached any emotions to it either, seeking a thrill for as long as it lasted.
Morgan knew his friend usually did not mean for anything to happen the majority of the time and was only doing it because he wanted to. Still, he had left a trail of heartbroken women in his wake after moving on from them to the next pretty lady.
Despite what he knew, hearing Arthur speak about Selina’s beauty made him annoyed and uncomfortable. He was not exactly sure why it was, but he chose not to dwell on that since it was likely because she was under his grandmother’s protection.
“I have not been able to notice whether she was pretty or not because I have been too busy being upset by every action and every word that comes out of her mouth,” Morgan said, looking away from Arthur who chuckled.
“You, my friend, have your priorities set in the wrong place,” Arthur clapped him on the shoulder before returning his hand to the reins.
“I would argue that I have my priorities in the right place and it is perhaps you who needs to set yours right.”
Arthur laughed, shaking his head at his friend. They had often had this conversation whenever he found a new lady who caught his interest and it was often the same way.
Morgan always maintained that he did not have time for such and would get a wife when he needed an heir, while Arthur insisted there were way too many beauties in the world for him to spend all his time with his head lodged in books, poring over numbers.
“Race you,” Arthur said as his grip tightened on his horse, leaving behind a shocked Morgan who had not had time to piece his words together.
CHAPTER8
