Enamored Extra Scene - 14
[Set in: During chapter 35]
Not that he would ever admit it to anyone, but he was beginning to understand why every suitor went to Elias to talk about his sister, instead of their father.
He made his way to the door to Duke’s study and Cecily turned her head when she heard him approach, then grinned at him.
“So, Lord Bridgerton,” she taunted him. “Your final trial.”
“Quite literally,” Anthony murmured. “Do you think he will shoot me or…?”
Cecily hummed. “Nowhere lethal,” she commented. “I think.”
“Great.”
“It would be romantic, your betrothed would love that.”
“Thanks a lot, Cece,” Anthony said, making her laugh and he took a deep breath, then knocked on the door.
“Come in,” The Duke’s voice reached them and he gave Cecily a faint smile, then opened the door to step inside.
The Duke was sitting behind his mahogany desk with a glass of scotch in his hand and he raised his glances to look at him when Anthony closed the door behind him.
“Lord Bridgerton,” he said and motioned at the armchair by his desk. “Please, take a seat.”
Alright, this honestly felt like that one time he had broken all the fine china.
Anthony tried to ignore the nervousness and went to sit down on the armchair. “Lord Avon.”
“Let’s hope this conversation goes better than the last one we had,” he commented and Anthony cleared his throat.
“I’ve been informed by my mother that…it wasn’t my place to talk of something I didn’t know about,” he said. “My apologies, I was not thinking clearly.”
“No you were not,” the Duke said. “Lady Bridgerton is a wise person.”
“She is.”
“Much like your father,” he stated. “Makes me wonder who you took after.”
Oh this conversation was off to a good start.
Anthony raised his brows but managed to hold back the retort. The Duke eyed him for a moment and let out a small chuckle.
“I’m jesting,” he said. “Scotch?”
“Is it poisoned?” Anthony asked back and the Duke rolled his eyes.
“I’ll leave that to my sister if the need arises,” he commented before he went to fill his own glass along with another, then handed the other glass to him. Anthony took a huge sip and cleared his throat.
“I know you don’t approve of me,” he said. “As her suitor or in general.”
The Duke made a noise of discontent before leaning back in his seat.
“But I love her.”
The Duke sipped his scotch and heaved a sigh.
“Listen,” he said. “For the sake of your father, I will try to keep this conversation civil.”
“I appreciate that.”
“But you do not have my approval.”
Anthony frowned, sitting up straighter. “Why not?”
The Duke swirled the drink in his glass. “Anthony…”
“No, give me an actual, valid reason,” Anthony said. “Besides the fine china incident, I was a child back then. Tell me why you do not approve.”
“Where do I start?” the Duke asked. “Firstly, you did not ask me beforehand.”
“Her opinion on the matter is more important than anyone else’s, she said that before.”
“This was a very short courtship period.”
“I already know I want to spend the rest of my life with her, why would I wait?”
“You barely know each other.”
“I’ve known her longer than Elias has known Cecily— you don’t have to like me,” Anthony insisted. “But you have to look at this objectively.”
The Duke ran a hand over his face and thought for a moment.
“Edmund would be proud of you.”
Anthony was so ready to oppose anything he would say that he had already opened his mouth, then he pulled back slightly, trying to wrap his mind around what he had just heard.
“What?” he asked, completely confused and the Duke shrugged.
“Your father was a great man,” he said. “And he was a very close friend of mine as you know. And after his death, you did a great job in stepping up, you’ve taken on a very heavy responsibility at such a young age. Anyone else would have stumbled at the very least but you…you did not. You’re a much respected Viscount, your family has a prominent position within the ton, and as the head of the family, you honestly do not have any faults I can think of at this point.”
Anthony felt the need to look down at his glass to check whether he was in fact drinking scotch or something much stronger that would twist his hearing.
“I’m telling you all these so that you can understand what I’m saying comes from an objective stance,” the Duke said. “All those traits are remarkable yes. But Anthony, you would not make a good husband and I will not sacrifice my daughter to test that theory.”
Ah.
There it was.
“I love her—”
“For now.”
“Forever,” Anthony corrected him. “You of all people would understand, would you not?”
The Duke shot him a look. “As you said, my love story is a cautionary tale.”
“Doesn’t matter. You know how it feels.”
The Duke let out a tired breath. “You have quite the reputation,” he said. “What is it they call you? Capital R rake?”
“I’m not like that anymore.”
“You barely hid your escapades from the ton.”
“That was before she got here.”
“You had a mistress up until what, merely a couple of weeks ago?”
“Months ago,” he corrected him. “I put an end to that arrangement the moment I realized my feelings.”
“Either way, you’ve been popular among the ladies for years now,” the Duke said. “And that changed overnight?”
Anthony scoffed, even the thought feeling quite absurd now.
“I can’t even notice anyone else when she’s in the room,” he said. “Let alone looking at another.”
A silence fell upon the room and the Duke took a deep breath.
“Your word alone is not very assuring in this case, you know that.”
Anthony thought for a moment, then cleared his throat.
“What of your own experience then?”
“What?”
“As you said, my father and you were close friends,” he said. “He used to talk about all those adventures you two used to have. You had a reputation too, among ladies.”
The Duke raised his brows. “Decades ago.”
“Exactly, and it changed.” Anthony said. “When you met your wife.”
“That’s very different.”
“Is it?” Anthony insisted. “Because I know for a fact that you never took a mistress or even entertained the idea of another woman even after your divorce. I’m willing to bet that you’ve never been unfaithful the whole time you were married to her.”
“Of course not.”
“So it changed for you overnight,” Anthony said. “Why is it so difficult for you to believe that it changed for me overnight as well?”
“I was not a good husband,” the Duke pointed out. “As you so eloquently put it. I’m not going to put my daughter through a similar hell that her mother went through.”
Anthony shook his head. “I would never do that to her.”
“And yet you hurt her.”
That familiar bitterness spread through Anthony’s throat and paused for a moment, trying to put the words in order before he took a sip of his drink, deep in thought.
“I did,” he admitted after a couple of seconds of silence. “It was a misunderstanding, but that is not an excuse. It shouldn’t have happened, and I swear on my honor that it will never, ever happen again.”
The Duke watched him quietly and Anthony downed his drink, then put the glass on the desk.
“Now that all cards are on the table, there’s something you should know,” Anthony said. “I do want your approval on this, but I’m not going to let you stand in the way. You wanted to know why I didn’t ask you first? It’s because the only opinion I care about is hers. Not yours, hell, not even Elias’s at this point. Only hers. So even if you don’t trust me, I don’t care as long as I have her trust. And most importantly, she loves me.”
The Duke narrowed his eyes, glaring at him.
“I’ve never loved anyone more in my entire life,” Anthony said. “I’ve never wanted anything more than being with her. I’m not going to put her through that hell, because she is the embodiment of my heaven. So trust me, by hook or by crook I will be with her, regardless of your opinion or your approval.”
The Duke clenched his jaw before he clicked his tongue.
“Very well,” he said. “I’ll think about it.”
Anthony nodded and stood up from his seat to walk to the door, but stopped as soon as the Duke spoke.
“Lord Bridgerton?”
He turned around, adrenaline still rushing through him. “Yes?”
“If I do approve,” he said. “You do realize I will not make things easy for you during the settlement negotiations, do you not?”
Anthony shrugged his shoulders.
“As far as I’m concerned, everything I own is already hers,” he said. “Do your worst.”
With that, he opened the door and walked out of the study before closing the door behind him and Cecily saw him from the end of the hall, then rushed to him.
“How did it go?”
Anthony thought for a moment, then let out a breath, leaning back to the wall.
“To be honest,” he murmured. “I have no idea.”
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