“Both, I think. She cannot help but worry.” Nate frowned, his brow furrowing as his eyes pinched.
“And you cannot help but worry as well, I think.”
Nate turned his gaze fully forward, his lips firmly closed. The loss of Melior and Nate’s first child had weighed hard on them; it was no wonder they had chosen to stay at home this season.
“Has Eddie shared his news?” Nate asked quietly.
Algenon tightened his grip on the reins. “You mean that he is also not returning to London this season?”
“No, that Livy is also in the family way.”
A strange burning filled Algenon’s chest, and he pulled Sterling to a stop.
It took Nate several more steps before he did the same. “Al?”
He didn’t answer as he stared into the distance.
“Are you well?”
Algenon finally looked at him. “I am not certain. I am happy for them, and you as well, but I believe I might be jealous.”
Nate smiled. “Jealous? The great Algenon Roberts, accomplished flirt whom all the ladies of London love? Never.”
“Twit me all you want, but you have something I never shall.”
“And what is that?”
“Familial joy.”
Nate’s grin faded. “I know your father is a difficult man, but you will have your own family one day.”
“Not of my choosing.” Algenon dropped his gaze to the browning grass below his horse’s feet. Like the rapidly cooling weather’s cruel hand on the surrounding plants, his father’s heavy hand was killing his dreams and making them as brown and brittle as the dried grass.
He had yet to tell the rest of his friends about his father’s interference, knowing it would only cause more distress. They had their own problems and apparent joys. He didn’t want to disrupt that.
But he also could not see any other choice but to agree to this disastrous arrangement, if only to save Javenia from any further harm.
“What do you mean, not of your choosing? Did something happen?”
“Yes, something happened. I was born to a stubborn man that holds my every move captive with either money or social ruin.”
Nate let out a long, slow breath. “I do not understand your father. He is amiable enough in company, but what does he have against allowing you to choose your way in life? You are an intelligent man with more knowledge of the running of his estates than even he has. I have watched the way he foists all his duties on you like you are his steward. You would make a brilliant match if left to your own devices.”
“Just not the one he wants.” Algenon nudged Sterling back into motion.
Nate did the same with his horse. “Might I assume that he intends for you to marry Miss Weston?”
Algenon’s jaw tightened, and his eyes narrowed.
“I will take that as a yes,” Nate said.
The horses walked for several minutes, a tense silence settling between the riders. Everything inside Algenon screamed in protest. His heart threw a veritable fit like a toddler who had not gotten the sweet he wanted. He didn’t want to capitulate to his father’s demands, but what else was there?
“Lord Falcross is determined to have me as a son-in-law. A strange desire considering I am not equal to his daughter’s standing in Society.”
Nate nodded mutely as he inspected the reins in his hand.
Algenon took that as his cue to continue. “Eventually, I will have to accept.”
