Lady Eloise came from a large, important family, and if she was not invited to join Drew’s family for the summer or winter holidays, it might not matter so much in the end. Lady Eloise would have a great many other demands on her time once she was a wife with a new family to answer to. But the Duke of Eastwick was Father’s good friend. The pair had regularly visited each other over the years. It might be awkward for a while, but Drew was certain those disappointments would fade in due time.
“I’m sure Lady Eloise knows what she’s doing. I cannot claim to know her reasons for her choice, or the character of the man she’s chosen to marry. But you know Lady Eloise as well as I do. Probably better. She is aware of her responsibilities to her family. She’ll have made her choice with her eyes wide open.”
Father continued to pace back and forth, puffing. “But to marry a mere viscount when she could have been your duchess when I am gone.”
Drew took his father a glass of port and urged him to sit down to drink it. “What does her father say about the match?”
“Eastwick was coy about his opinion at the club yesterday, but concerned for you.”
“So, he’s not obviously angry?”
“You know Eastwick. He doted on his youngest child. Hoped for a match with our family for many years. When I think of all the plans we made for the future,” Northport complained. “It would have been the joining of two great families.”
That was no reason to wed anyone. Drew sat forward. “Is it a love match, do you think?”
Northport huffed and puffed, and the upset slowly drained from his face as Drew’s suggestion sank in. He scrubbed his jaw, thinking hard. “Perhaps,” he conceded in the end. “She did seem particularly keen to dance with the young man, despite her family’s disapproval and mine.”
“Well, there you have it,” Drew exclaimed, sitting back. “You always say nothing can be done to stop a marriage when there is true love involved.”
Northport sipped his port, a sullen and frustrated expression on his face. The duke usually had no complaints about even bad matches made because of love. Drew’s first marriage had not been accepted at first. But once Father met Clare, and he had seen them together, saw how deeply attached they were to one another, he’d thrown his support behind them as if it had always been that way. Clare and Northport had enjoyed a polite but somewhat formal affection. He’d been deeply saddened by her death, too. He’d even shed a tear over her grave.
But the very next week, Northport had begun to mention acceptable families with daughters of marriageable age to Drew.
“So, you must resume your search,” Northport stated, downing his drink in two swallows and setting it aside with a loud bang on the nearest tabletop. “I won’t have it said that you’re hiding from society and licking your wounds. The Rooney ball, the Gill soiree. You must be at each and monopolize the season’s remaining diamonds to keep everyone guessing who you will pick as your bride.”
Actually, Drew did not have to do anything anymore. He’d chosen his bride, though Northport could not know it yet. Drew might have forewarned his father of his intentions toward Aurora Hillcrest. However, given her unwillingness to entertain even the idea of making a match for herself, he decided to keep his interest and pursuit quiet for now.
It was clear he and Aurora might be well matched in passion. She just needed time to understand his commitment to her was unbreakable, even now. “Yes, my search is ongoing,” he agreed.
“You’re not at all disappointed by that, are you?”
“No.” He shook his head. “I have always held Lady Eloise in the highest esteem, of course, but she was never the lady to capture my deepest affections.”
Northport pulled a face. “That is the trouble with being in love. Once you’ve had it, nothing else will do for you.”
“Nor for you, I imagine.” Drew breathed a sigh of relief the worst was over and turned the conversation to the duke’s favorite subject. His longtime mistress. “How is Juliette these days?”
Northport heaved a heavy sigh. “My mistress has taken to collecting curiosities. Little animal figurines. They are everywhere about the town house, and heaven help me if I accidentally knock one over. She acts as if they were alive and cries most piteously, forestalling my leaving by at least an hour, sometimes more.”
Juliette had been Northport’s mistress for nearly as long as Drew’s mother had been duchess. Juliette lived here in Town during the season, and when the duke removed to his country seat, she gladly went with him—living in a little cottage on the edge of the estate so the duke could visit her daily.
It had caused a scandal in the beginning, of course, but the woman made Father happy so what more could be said? Drew knew Juliette quite well by now. She was a warm and jolly sort. Weeping was decidedly out of character for her, as far as he could tell. “Perhaps she’s become lonely. You could get her a puppy. Something small that will be content to sit in her lap when you’re not there with her.”
“I will not share her affections with a snarling mongrel,” Northport vowed. He rubbed his jaw and frowned. “But perhaps I should do something for Juliette. She’s a good woman.”
“The very best,” he agreed with a small smile, watching the cogs turn in his father’s mind. Drew often wondered why Father hadn’t married Juliette. He was not getting any younger, and neither was Juliette. They could marry now, live together properly, and likely no one would care at this point. “What’s important is that she still adores you after all these years.”
Father grunted. “I wish you would hurry up and wed.”
Drew nodded and kept a tight rein on his smile. Happiness was again within reach. He just needed another chance to plead his case.
Drew stretched out his legs, considering a future with Aurora as his bride. He really didn’t know why he hadn’t considered her before, but he was a fool not to have noticed her appeal. She was bold and intelligent. Insightful, really. She had a kind heart and had proven to be none too shy in the right circumstances.
That made all the difference.
He smiled. No, not at all prim and proper, and he liked that about her even if she denied herself more. It would make wooing her, and their courtship, that much more exciting. He might not have to wait until they wed to satisfy any of their mutual urges his courtship might stir up. He planned to begin seducing her that very afternoon, in fact. He had cleared his schedule for the day and night ahead.
He could not wait to see her again, if only for a chance to kiss her cheek and touch her hand.