Total pages in book: 115
Estimated words: 107763 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 539(@200wpm)___ 431(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107763 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 539(@200wpm)___ 431(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
“August, this is George Holt, the Earl of Chiswick.” Lukas pointed to the man with blond hair. “And beside him, Sir Arman Branham, of the Branham Trading Company. You may have noticed their sisters hovering right behind mine.”
I had not. “Ah, so are you all here for your sisters or for yourselves?” I asked as I took a seat at their table along with Damon and Lukas.
“Both,” all three of them answered.
“My mother’s invitations were specifically sent out for that purpose,” Damon replied as one footman dealt out the cards to us and another brought a drink for me.
“I will thank your mother graciously when I become your brother-in-law,” Lord Chiswick joked as he accepted his glass. My eyebrow rose at that.
“Didn’t my sister already reject you?” Damon shot back, making the man cough into his cup.
“That was your Lady Aphrodite.” Sir Branham chuckled, taking his cards. “He’s trying to play his hand again because clearly he does not know when to quit.”
“You’re going after both sisters?” I questioned, shocked that Damon seemed unbothered and more amused.
“They laugh but there is not a man in here that does not wish for a connection with the Du Bells,” Lord Chiswick replied.
“But do we want a connection with you?” Damon mused proudly; of his family’s fame I supposed.
“What is wrong with me?”
“Lady Hathor would not settle for simply an earl, George,” Lukas added.
“Earl is the highest rank here outside of the Marquess of Oxmoor.” Sir Branham nodded to the large-bellied man breathing and sweating heavily at the next table over. “And of course, our prince here.”
“Well, it must be the Marquess then, because August has no plans to marry. Is that not right, my friend?” Lukas tossed a note into the center of the table.
They all looked to me, and I just nodded. “Sadly, I am here only for show at the behest of my aunt.”
“So you mean to engage no young lady here?” Lord Chiswick smiled. “How the ladies shall weep when you tell them.”
“Why bother telling them? No one ever believes men when we say we wish to remain unmarried, anyway,” I said, tossing another note into the center myself.
“That’s because no man actually means it,” Damon replied to their jeers.
“Just because you have fallen victim to matrimony, Damon, does not mean we all shall,” Lukas replied.
“Yes, you all will, because you, Lukas, are an only son who will need an heir to carry on your estates and titles. You, George, despite having a plethora of younger brothers, will do so because your ego needs the constant attention of a woman. And as for you, Arman, you have too much damn money to spend on your own; your future wife will help fund half of all the silk shops in England,” Damon explained, tossing not one but several notes onto the table, causing us all to look to him.
“And me? What reason would I have to get married?” I asked, holding my cards firmly as I too placed more money in, which caused the rest of the men to fold their hands.
“You are royal; it is part of your duty,” he spoke.
I shook my head. “My cousins are proving it is more of a suggestion than an obligation.”
“You will need your inheritance,” he shot back.
I glanced over to Lukas, who just drank. I was sure he’d spoken to Vivi as well. “I’ve done quite well enough without it so far. Besides, I’m sure when my brother eventually takes the throne he will relent and give it to me anyway.”
“So, you truly believe you will be unwed all the rest of your days?”
“I am as certain as I am of the necessity of air.”
I thought I had him on this conversation but instead he placed all his money into the center. “I’m willing to wager that not only will I beat you with this hand, but that you will be amongst the first at this table to succumb to the beast that is matrimony.”
“You do not know it, but it’s a fool’s bet you are making.” I laughed. Me fall prey to marriage. I’d watched my father nearly kill my mother repeatedly. I’d seen my mother nearly descend into madness trying to do everything to appease him. That was what she called love. It disgusted me. The idea of marriage even for the sake of my inheritance only left me with bitterness. All my life I’d watched people associate love with pain. I had no wish for anything more than pleasure from a woman, and even that I wished to keep at a distance.
I put all my money in as well. “I wager that I shall leave your castle as unattached as I entered. Marriage is not suited for me.”
I would not resign myself to such suffering.
“Maybe you should not make the bet, Damon, he seems rather sure of himself,” Lord Chiswick muttered to him.