Page 126 of Dick Stone, Regency Stud
“Before you seduce some chit who deserves better, I want to know something, boy.”
Dick Stone’s eyes shone in the light from the study window, gazing upon his father for what might be the last time. A pity he’d never been a good pater; Edward wouldn’t make the same mistakes with his own children.
“Those rumors have been hanging about your head for years, and you only now dispel them. Is all of this some knavery? Let me not discover that this is a trick!”
“It is no trick,” said Edward, turning to go. “I simply gave up on going through life alone.”
His father huffed, clearly not believing that something like friendship or love might ease the path of one’s life.
“Oh, and if you turn to the fifth page of that gazette, you’ll find the wedding announcements.”
The marquess froze.
“Including mine. We aregazetted,”said Edward with a flourish.
The old man dove for the paper, frantically flipping the pages.
“I’ll send my man of business to set up the accounts,” said Edward as he walked out the door of the study. “Once I hire one.”
In the hallway, Edward paused beside the wall hangings bearing the Chasterly cipher, a relic from the brief moment Parliament rid itself of the English king. How many times had he been chastised before these tapestries that bore witness to his tears and humiliation for real and imagined crimes of the most trifling sort? He hated those things, and under his direction, they’d someday be packed away. Perhaps burned, depending on how he felt then.
He crossed his arms and closed his eyes, pulling the twin triggers. One pistol merely clicked. The other lodged a ball of good size right in the middle of that cursed monogram.
***
“Ho there, sir!” called a voice he knew well.
“Ho there, Lady Millicent!” he called back. “Is my wife still with you?”
“Gesù, Tencendor, step lively now!” exclaimed Tabby as she led the giant warhorse onto the street despite being many magnitudes smaller.
“You got him,” said Edward, coming forward to stroke his beloved friend’s snout. “Your stepmother got you for me.”
“Stepmother,” groused Tabby, petting the beast’s flank.
“Didn’t think to bring him breakfast, did you?” asked Lady Millicent, opening her reticule to reveal an alarming number of apples. She began feeding the jumpy horse, to Tencendor’s great delight.
“Say, Lady Millicent, you wouldn’t have a use for these dueling pistols?” asked Edward, holding the cursed things up to the sun.
Her whole body stilled, then she shoved the remaining apples in Tabby’s hands so she could investigate the treasure.
“Probably best not to load them, but perhaps you’d like to have them about your person.”
“Would I ever,” she said, tossing her battered umbrella in the gutter and taking up the twin guns.
As Edward mounted Tencendor again at last, he called down. “Tabitha Stone, it’s high time we returned home.”
Tabby placed one foot on top of Edward’s boot and hopped in front of him on the horse, her husband’s old breeches making the maneuver possible.
“Please send my thanks again to the duchess,” said Edward, circling Tencendor around Lady Millicent, who was still entirely taken with her new guns. “She handed Tabby the winnings from her latest go at the Faro tables as we were leaving, which allowed us to purchase the special license so we could be married without delay.”
“High time you made an honest girl of your urchin,” muttered Lady Millicent as she stared into one barrel with great interest.
“Young lady. And she’s an honest viscountess now,” said Edward, setting off towards their rooms.
Tabby relaxed against Edward’s front as they clipped and clopped through the streets. “Was your da in a right state?”
“He was the same as ever. Obsessed with the aristocracy and primogeniture and the family, while holding nothing in his heart. That reminds me,” said Edward, reaching into his pocket to withdraw the box his father had given him. “He gave me something for you.”
