“Care to wager on it?” He smirked. His thumb brushed over her bottom lip. “I never lose.”
Ten
Andrew dodged a child running to grab his leg, laughing as Norman Egerton, Duke of Wharton, rushed after the toddler. Little Alexander cackled, rushing to the side and dodging his father's attempts to capture him.
Kitty, Norman's wife, entered the room with a smile. "Andrew!"
Grinning, he gave her a hug. "Dearest cousin-in-law."
"You flatter me." Kitty dodged Alexander with ease, nearly tumbling into Norman. "I swear, having Alexander is the greatest joy of my life, but he reached the age where he can reach everything and run fast, and nothing has been the same since. Sometimes I long for the days when he had the physical abilities of a potato."
Andrew snorted and shook his head. "You're going to have another one soon enough."
Kitty's hand moved to her swollen stomach, a loving look settling in her eyes. "All I can do is hope for a daughter now. I would love a little girl to dress as if she were a doll."
"Alexander barely keeps his breeches on." Norman appeared beside them with the toddler tucked under one arm, the boy giggling despite his capture. His dark hair was disheveled, his cravat slightly askew. "I no sooner dress him then the clothing is on the floor and he's dashing through the house."
"And what of your nanny?" Andrew stuck his tongue out at Alexander, making the three-year-old giggle.
"Here!" She rushed into the room, her cap crooked, her cheeks flushed. She curtseyed quickly. "Good morning, Your Grace."
"You deserve a holiday," Andrew said with a teasing smile as she took Alexander only to have him immediately wriggle out of her arms and take off running again.
"I love my job, Your Grace," she said before chasing the toddler out of the room.
Norman shook his head and crossed his arms. "I can't have you trying to charm Mrs. Maggie. It's a bad look and I can hardly afford to lose another member of my staff because you broke her heart."
"The chef was hardly my fault." Andrew shrugged before moving to the couch in the parlor and taking a seat. "She thought wewere going to get married even though I told her I had no interest in anything serious."
"And that is the reason her heart broke," Kitty chided, sitting on one of the other couches.
Norman sat beside her, crossing his legs at the ankles. "Really, Andrew, I don't know how you do it."
"Well, Norman, it's a good thing you never visit the Mayfair Fox then. You would be astounded by the business dealings and the way men charm women."
"I didn't go there when I was a bachelor, and I certainly have no plans on visiting now." Norman stood, moving to the window and watching as Mrs. Maggie and Alexander made their way outside. "I ask again why you even bother keeping this business. You don't need the money anymore."
Andrew felt his jaw tighten. The words landed exactly where Norman intended them—a direct hit to his pride. "God forbid a duke wants to work instead of spending his day playing. I would rather keep busy than bathe in the gossip of thetonfor my main source of entertainment."
"I hardly bathe in gossip."
Kitty snorted and shook her head. "Do you think I haven't caught you stealing my gossip papers every now and then?"
Norman rolled his eyes. "It's hardly stealing them when you have them all over the house, my love."
Andrew scoffed. "If the two of you are about to act like newlyweds again, it might be time to take my leave."
"So you can go back to the club and avoid whatever it is that drives you to work there?" Norman smirked, rounding the couch as one of the maids brought in a platter filled with sandwiches. He selected one, examining it as though it held great significance.
Andrew's humor vanished. He sat forward, his elbows on his knees, his hands clasped together. "I have need to keep working there."
He didn't want to delve into all the reasons why he still ran the Mayfair Fox. Not when it served no purpose to the conversation. Norman was merely trying to provoke him, to extract some confession Andrew had no intention of making.
"I hardly see the need when all it brings you is trouble and a tarnished reputation." Norman took a bite of his sandwich, chewing with deliberate slowness. His eyes never left Andrew's face. "I rather wonder what you stand to gain from it."
The lecture was manifesting exactly as Andrew expected. He should have simply sent the wedding invitations by post and been done with it all. It would have saved him this particular ordeal.
Andrew forced himself to relax his clenched fists. He leaned back, affecting an air of nonchalance he didn't entirely feel.
