“You look more somber than usual,” Robert said when Caleb found him. “Trouble with the dukedom?”
Dropping into a vacant chair, Caleb frowned at his friend, who poured a large drink and handed it to him. Caleb took a long sip, enjoying the powerful flavor and the heat it exuded as it slid down his throat. “I cannot stand it any longer.” Leaning back, he cradled the glass between his hands and stared at his friend as if he had the power to save him. “It is awful, Robert. I just…” He sighed and scrubbed one hand across his jaw. “I hate being a duke.”
Robert had the decency not to argue. Instead, he watched, his eyes increasingly somber until he finally said, “Then don’t be.”
Startled by the comment, Caleb grinned, the expression so foreign to him now it actually hurt his jaw. “As if it’s that simple, but you know as well as I that it is not.”
His friend inclined his head, paused for a moment as if on the verge of divulging some piece of information, but then set his own glass to his lips and drank. “Is it not getting any easier?”
Caleb thought back on the endless hours of work that held him hostage in his study. There had been little reprieve and no time at all to consider his own wants and needs since his return. Even now, the satchel holding his architectural designs remained unopened. He’d had no opportunity to share them with anyone or to dream up new ones.
“No,” he told Robert with unwavering honesty. “If anything, it is getting worse. The demands on me are increasing with each passing day. Women I’ve never met are showing up at my home, intent on praising their daughters’ charms. Meanwhile, every business in Town is paying me court, and every hostess wishes to make me her guest of honor. And that’s not considering repairs I am asked to fund and approve at my various estates and the tenants who all have concerns they’ve decided to air in a steady stream of letters I receive daily.”
Robert’s lips twitched as if struggling to contain his laughter. He cleared his throat. “I see.”
“Do you really?” Caleb wasn’t certain. “You were groomed for this sort of life from the day you were born, while I was largely ignored until I was dropped in the middle of it.”
“I also have the added benefit of being happily married to a woman who helps me endure the burden of the responsibility I carry.” Robert considered Caleb for a long moment before saying, “Maybe your mother has the right of it. Perhaps marriage is precisely what you need.”
Caleb groaned. “Don’t be daft. The last thing I need at the moment is another female to coddle.” He winced, aware he’d just referred to his mother in rather disparaging terms, but the truth of it was that as much as he loved her, her constant weeping and insistence he fill a mold he didn’t quite fit had driven him to the point of madness.
“Then what do you need?” Robert stared him straight in the eye. “Do you even know?”
It took a moment for Caleb to turn the question over in his head and find the right answer. “Yes,” he finally said. “I believe getting away for a while would help.”
Robert studied him with increased interest. “Where would you go?”
Caleb snorted. “I have no idea. If I head to one of my country estates, all the problems I’m trying to escape will surely follow.”
“So you want to go somewhere where you won’t be bothered.”
“Just long enough for me to find my bearings again.” Because he could not believe this was all there would be to his life— now until he drew his last breath. There had to be more to it than sitting in a study, going over numbers. Somehow, he had to rediscover himself, recover from the shock of losing his father and brother, and find the means to stay true to himself while being a duke.
“Is your secretary capable of running things without you during this absence?”
“I believe so,” Caleb said with conviction. The man had worked with his father for the past two decades. He knew everything he needed to know to handle things efficiently, which made Caleb warm to the idea of taking a break. Perhaps it would be more possible than he’d dared to believe.
“In that case, I have a proposal I’d like for you to consider.” A smirk made Robert’s mouth tilt with a hint of mischief. “I have a modest property in Cornwall. Clearview is its name. It’s a decent place, but the money I’ve sent for repairs has, as I understand it, been spent on other things.”
Caleb frowned. “If you think your servants are stealing from you, it might be prudent to go and investigate the matter.”
“And so I would if I had the time, but with Vivien’s pregnancy, I am reluctant to leave her side at the moment, so I thought perhaps…”
Understanding dawned. “You want me to go in your stead?”
Leaning forward, Robert rested his elbows on his knees and pierced Caleb with a direct stare. “I believe a man like you who enjoys working with his hands might take pleasure in seeing to some of the repairs himself.”
“You could be right,” Caleb said. The prospect of mending a leaking roof or a crumbling wall held a lot of appeal. “I can also hire new servants for you, if you think that might be helpful.”
A flicker of amusement brightened Robert’s eyes. “There are no servants there, Caleb. Just my sister, her friends, and the orphaned children they offer sanctuary to.”
Caleb blinked. “Your sister?” Robert had several, some younger, some older.
“Cassandra, to be exact. She’s five years younger than us, so you might not recall her. She debuted after you left England.” His expression cooled a fraction as he added, “She made the scandalous choice of bedding her fiancée before they were married. Poor devil died on his way to the church, struck down by an oncoming carriage.”
“Jesus!”
Robert nodded. “Cassandra sought my help shortly after. Apparently, that one indiscretion had gotten her pregnant. When she refused to pass her child off as another’s, which was what our parents advised, they threatened to turn her out of the house. So I secretly bought a place for her to live. When two other girls encountered similar hardships, Cassandra invited them to come with her. During the last five years, they have taken in several children, who cost more to keep than they can afford with the measly donations they receive from friends and family.”
