Page 10 of If the Duke Demands

Sebastian’s chest tightened as he remembered Miranda’s heartbroken words about his brother. “Does this mean you intend to court Miss Morgan?”

Robert smiled. “Yes, I do.”

He frowned. No one in the Carlisle family anticipated a marriage, yet Robert’s intentions appeared serious enough to draw Miranda’s attention and set her off on her madcap adventure last night to stop him. She could be flighty as a songbird at times, too boisterous and lively for her own good. Yet in her concerns about Robert and Miss Morgan, Sebastian didn’t doubt her intuition. Apparently she’d noticed something the rest of them hadn’t. “Do you plan to offer for her, then?”

Robert raised the cup to his lips and dodged, “If it comes to that. I do like her a great deal.”

His gut tightened in sympathetic dread. News of an engagement would devastate Miranda, who truly seemed to love his brother. Although looking at Robert now, gulping down whiskey-drenched coffee to combat a hangover, God only knew why.

“There’s no hurry to propose, you know.” Sebastian couldn’t stop the inevitable, but perhaps he could delay it. And truthfully, although he liked Miss Morgan, he wasn’t certain that she was the best choice in wife for his brother. Too demure, too genteel…too unsuspecting. “Best to wait until mid-season at least. Just long enough to give the girl time to realize what she’s getting herself into.”

Quinn grinned. “And flee.”

And just long enough to give Miranda’s heart a chance to heal.Sebastian nodded, for once agreeing with his youngest brother.

“Perhaps you’re right,” Robert agreed, taking a swallow of coffee. “There’s no hurry, I suppose.”

Relief swept through Sebastian. Miranda could bother him to no end with her uncontrolled exuberance, but she didn’t deserve to be wounded.

“Besides,” Robert chided, “you’re the one who should be getting married, Seb, not me.” He gazed with mock innocence at Sebastian over the rim of his coffee cup, an expression that did nothing to hide the flickering gleam in his eyes indicating that he wanted to cause trouble. “You’re getting old.”

“I am not old,” Sebastian grumbled. “I’m only thirty, for heaven’s sake.”

“And crotchety.” Quinn popped a bite of sweet roll into his mouth, oblivious to the glare Sebastian shot him.

Robert continued, “Isn’t it time for you to find a wife of your own and produce an heir—”

“Or six?” Quinn finished.

Sebastian glanced between his two brothers, pausing as he considered sharing with them the decision he’d made at dawn after a sleepless night of tossing and turning in rosewater-scented sheets, thanks to Lady Rose.

He’d been contemplating the idea of marriage for months now, ever since he’d inherited, if truth be told, when he’d come to realize how much of a help a wife could be. He hadn’t been prepared for the emotional burden of becoming a duke, or the loneliness of it. He had no one to confide in, not even his own family. His brothers had never felt the same duty for the title that he had and so wouldn’t be able to understand that he felt imprisoned by it, that he chafed from it so much that sometimes he thought he would go mad, or how deep his jealousy ran that they could choose their own life paths while his had been thrust upon him. For Christ’s sake, he couldn’t even get foxed anymore or spend the night with a woman for fear of what it might do to the title’s reputation. The night his father died had driven home that lesson. And as for his mother…how could he expect her to listen to his complaints when what had given him this burden in the first place was her husband’s death?

Last night had made him come to a decision about his future and the ongoing absence of a woman in his bed, one who truly belonged there instead of those women he’d known before, who had given him little more than physical release and a night’s distraction from his responsibilities. The exact same thing he’d wanted to take from Lady Rose when he’d first walked into the room and found her draped so invitingly across his bed.

What he needed was a wife, one who would be a proper duchess and a guiding hand at his side, one in whom he could confide his troubles and take solace. One who was a reflection of what was important to him. A true partner, as his mother had been to his father. Maybe then he wouldn’t feel like a prisoner in his own skin.

“Yes, it is time,” Sebastian agreed soberly, stepping to the edge of the cliff. Then he drew a deep breath and jumped. “That’s exactly what I plan on doing this season.”

The room froze around him, with Robert’s coffee cup raised halfway to his lips and Quinn stopping mid-chew. The only movement was a sudden widening of his mother’s eyes in stunned surprise. Not even the sound of breathing disrupted the shocked stillness.

Then his mother blinked. “That’s…” She blinked again, not quite able to clear the shocked expression from her face. “That’s…” She tilted her head as if she couldn’t possibly have heard him correctly. “Marriage?”

His brothers continued to stare as if he’d just sprung a second head.

With a grimace, he rolled his eyes.Good Lord.From their collective reactions, he might as well have just admitted to attempting to kill the king. He’d expected them to be surprised. Not shocked speechless. Despite his protests, at thirty he wasn’t young anymore, and although it pained him to admit that Robert and Quinton were right, he did need to produce an heir. Or six.

“I’ve been contemplating the matter for some time now,” he clarified, drumming his fingertips with agitation on the desktop, “and have decided that a marriage is in the best interests of the dukedom.”

“Oh,” Quinn said quietly around the last bite of sweet roll in his mouth, a stunned expression still on his face.

Damnation.Wouldn’t the three of them stop staring at him like that?

Finally, Elizabeth Carlisle smiled gently through her bewilderment. “If that’s what you want…It’s wonderful, Sebastian, truly.”

A niggling suspicion in his gut told him that his mother had just lied to him.

But given that she had her hands full coming to terms with Robert’s sudden courtship of Diana Morgan and preventing Quinn from ever courting anyone, he didn’t blame her for her surprised reaction to his sudden announcement. He’d certainly been surprised enough himself in the past twelve hours.