Under A Duke's Hand (22 page)

They rode back to Arlington House in silence.
She could not divine his thoughts, although she guessed them quite
unpleasant. How long would they be laughingstocks? How long would
those crowds in the park judge her, and judge their marriage?
Forever, she feared.

As they neared the house, there was a great
clatter of carriages out front. She recognized the duke’s
Oxfordshire friends and their wives, and wondered why they had come
to call. Arlington went to speak to Lord Warren, and then Lord
Barrymore appeared. It was a relief to see them, in a way. It meant
he wouldn’t be taking her to bed again, for a few hours at least.
She did not enjoy his perverse and sadistic tastes.

Or perhaps she didn’t enjoy the fact that she
enjoyed them, when she really didn’t want to.

Oh, it was all such a terrible coil.

Chapter
Thirteen: Frank Talks

Aidan watched helplessly from the foyer as
the servants bustled back and forth with trunks and baggage, and
the Warrens’ baby crib. The ladies had gone upstairs to consult on
sleeping arrangements. Aidan went into his parlor, where his
gentlemen friends had gathered before the fire.

“So you’ve come to stay,” he said. “All of
you?”

“We’ve come to bide a fortnight or so, if
you’ll have us,” said Warren. “The ladies decided you had the
grandest house, and the best place to throw a Christmas party.”

“A party?” Aidan echoed.

“We’re not just here to throw a party,”
Townsend said, nudging Warren’s shoulder. “Tell him the truth.” He
turned to Aidan. “We’ve come to save your marriage, which is
reportedly in a shambles.”

“You read it in the papers?” he asked
acerbically.

“And heard it at the club, and in the park,
and in the ladies’ circles,” said Barrymore. “Sorry to give you the
news, but it’s on everyone’s tongue.”

“Is it as bad as they say?” asked Warren.
“Did your duchess really appeal to Queen Charlotte for an
annulment?”

“Dear God. Is that the gossip?”

His three friends gazed at him in
sympathy.

“Well, of course that isn’t true,” he said,
pacing across the room. “I mean, she didn’t specifically say that.
She said something more along the lines of wishing she’d never left
Wales.”

“Blast,” said Townsend. “That’s not much
better.”

“She also conversed with Queen Charlotte
about ‘bearing my heirs.’ Neither she nor the king was
charmed.”

“Goodness, Arlington,” said Warren. “What an
uncomfortable audience that must have been.”

“Uncomfortable does not begin to describe
it.” He poured a drink for himself, and for all his friends. “As
for saving my marriage, I doubt it can be done. Once she gives me a
handful of children, I suppose I’ll let her go back to Wales the
way she wants.”

“What? Really?” said Barrymore. “Things are
that bad?”

Aidan tossed back his drink, feeling cross
and humiliated. “I know you three bunglers managed to make a go of
your marriages, but Guinevere and I are poorly suited. We don’t get
along. I would go so far as to say she despises me.”

“Why?” they all asked in varying degrees of
outrage.

“Perhaps you shouldn’t stick your cock so
deep in her mouth,” said Warren under his breath.

Barrymore smacked him on the side of the
head. “This isn’t a time for laughs, Warren.”

Townsend glowered at him. “I agree. Show some
respect to our old friend, and more importantly, his wife.”

“Forgive me,” said Warren, throwing up his
hands. “I only feel rather helpless. Out of all of us, you’ve
always been the finest, most stand-up chap, and the ladies adore
Guinevere. There must be a way for the pair of you to come to
terms.”

“The marriage is young yet,” said Townsend.
“There’s still hope.”

There were times Aidan had hope, but those
times were always followed by some wretched scene of emotional
destruction. He wondered what his friends would say if he described
his last twenty-four hours with his wife.
I caned her for
embarrassing me before the crown, then sodomized her as a form of
punishment while she was tied to my bed. Later, I took her to the
temple, bent her over a wooden trunk, and fucked her...

“You’re welcome to stay, of course,” Aidan
said. “But I’m not sure if you can help.”

“It’s not as if we didn’t all have our own
problems,” said Barrymore. “I broke my wife’s heart to pieces
before I managed to get my head on straight.”

“And I made Josephine run away from me
twice,” Warren said. “Once all the way into the country.”

“Shouldn’t have stuck your cock so deep in
her mouth,” Aidan said.

“I couldn’t help it,” Warren retorted.

Aidan refilled their drinks, and the three of
them looked at Townsend. He glanced over his shoulder and back at
them. “What, my turn now?”

“C’mon, Towns,” said Barrymore.
“Confess.”

He lifted his arms with a woebegone
expression. “I don’t know where to begin. Before we even married, I
tried to duck out of my engagement by trysting with another woman,
who, thanks to you all, ended up being her.” Townsend continued
enumerating his missteps on his fingers. “I also spanked her on our
wedding night, forced her to learn bedroom techniques more suited
to a courtesan, then bought her an insect to try to win her
affections.”

“An insect?” Warren snorted. “You’ve always
been a hopeless romantic.”

“I’ve never been a romantic.” Townsend glared
at them. “Must I go on?”

“I wish you would,” said Aidan. “I’m actually
starting to feel better.”

“Let’s see... I took her to an orgy at
Wroxham’s country estate to cure her of a
tendre
for a
certain gentleman who shall remain unnamed, who happened to be
embroiled in a scandalous assignation.”

They all looked at Warren as a blush spread
about his ears.

“I had my cock out and everything,” said
Warren. “It was not well done of you, Towns. Our friendship barely
survived.”

“My marriage barely survived. Aurelia and I
had a screaming fight in the carriage on the way home, and...” He
fell silent. “Well, I had a lot of apologizing to do afterward, to
you and everyone. Love makes people do stupid things.”

Aidan gave a mirthless laugh. “I wouldn’t
know about that. There’s no love between us.”

“That doesn’t mean you aren’t being stupid,”
said Barrymore in his typically forthright way.

Aidan leveled his friend with a glare. “What
are you saying?”

“I’m saying that when I was hurting Minette,
I didn’t even know I was doing it. I thought I was being a caring,
honorable chap. I was incredibly stupid. Maybe you’re being stupid
too.”

“In what way?”

Warren jumped in to smooth rising tempers.
“We don’t know in what way, Arlington, or what’s going on between
the two of you, but maybe we can offer advice after we’ve watched
you muck about for a while.”

“So you’re going to make a study of my
marriage?” Aidan leaned back in his chair. “Is this absolutely
necessary?”

“Yes,” they all said in unison.

He let out a sigh. “I’m only warning you, our
problems run deep. We’re not at all similar. Unlike your wives,
Guinevere is hardly part of our class.”

“Our class?” Barrymore tilted his head.

“Well, there’s your problem,” said Townsend.
“If you’re lording it over her with your riches and title—”

“It’s not that,” Aidan interrupted. “She
scorns my riches and title. We don’t have the same world view. We
are not the same.”

“And yet she’s your wife,” said Warren. “You
must find some way to connect with her. You must have something in
common.”

Aidan pursed his lips.
After I fucked her
in the temple, I molested her all through the night, kissing her
and stroking her and hurting her. Oh, did I mention she likes
erotic pain?
“We have things in common,” he bit out.
“Just...not enough. Not enough to build a workable marriage.”

“Not yet,” said Townsend. “But we’ll help you
figure things out. The ladies will help too. You know how the three
of them get when they put their heads together toward a common
goal.”

The other gentlemen groaned. “Yes, we know,”
said Warren. “All too well.”

“In this case, their scheming can be put to
good use,” insisted Townsend. “This is important. Our friend’s
happiness is at stake.”

The other men nodded and agreed that the
women could be capital schemers when the situation called for
it.

Good Christ. Aidan needed another drink.

* * * * *

“Dearest Gwen,” said Minette, crossing the
sitting room to put an arm about her shoulders. “We have all become
the most smashing of friends over the past week. Don’t you
think?”

Gwen regarded Barrymore’s wife warily.
What now?
she thought.

It was true they’d become closer friends. She
called all of them by their first names, and knew a great deal more
about their marriages than she had ever really thought to. She had
learned that Minette was the chatterbox of the group, while Aurelia
put great stock in propriety and manners. She’d learned that
Josephine grew up in India and even communed with tigers. Her
friends were interesting and kind, and well-loved by their
husbands.

“I’m so grateful for your friendship,” said
Gwen politely. “Shall I call for more cakes?”

“Forget the cakes,” said Josephine, who
tended to abruptness. “The time has come for a frank talk. A talk
about you and Arlington.”

Gwen took another sip of tea. Bless them,
they were so interested in her marriage, even though Gwen resisted
talking about it. The three of them were in such affectionate
accord with their husbands, it made Gwen feel hopeless. Even if
Arlington could find something to love in her, he would never love
her that much.

“A frank talk?” she echoed, forcing a smile.
“That sounds serious.”

“You and Arlington have been married for
what, six weeks now?” said Minette. “And, well, to be perfectly
honest, people are still gossiping that the two of you don’t get
along very splendidly. Which seems a shame, for you are both
friendly and wonderful.”

“Oh,” said Gwen. “Well, ours was an arranged
marriage.”

“So was ours.” Aurelia regarded her with
sympathy. “And it is so awkward at first.”

“Yes, it is,” said Gwen, pouncing on this
truth. “It was especially awkward for us, because he didn’t want to
marry me. And honestly, I didn’t want to marry him either.”

“But you’re married now,” said Josephine.
“Don’t you think he’s a fine fellow? He seems a caring enough
husband.”

Gwen couldn’t say anything to disparage him
when they all admired him so much. She couldn’t explain how he made
her feel common and ugly in manners. She couldn’t explain how he
brought out her wanton side, then pointed to it as evidence of her
Welsh “wildness.” She couldn’t explain how she both adored and
hated him.

“He is very admirable,” admitted Gwen. “I
guess that’s part of why it’s...difficult.”

The ladies all watched her, waiting for her
to elaborate.

“Why would it be difficult, if you find him
admirable?” prompted Minette.

Gwen took a deep breath. “I suppose it’s
because he’s so much finer than me. So much more confident and
polished. I think he finds me wanting. No. I know he does.”

This confession brought tears to her eyes.
She’d thought it to herself a thousand times, but to confess it out
loud was embarrassing. It made it feel so awfully real.

“I’m afraid he’s not content in me. That I am
not good enough. We cannot seem to...connect.”

Josephine, Minette, and Aurelia exchanged
more glances. Aurelia rose from her chair. “I’ll be right
back.”

After she left, Minette took her hand. “You
are certainly not the only woman in history who’s had difficulty
connecting to her husband. We all struggle with it, especially when
you are wed to a particular sort of man, who is very strong in
temperament, and titled and rich, and used to having his way. And
when it comes to our husbands, well, you know, the lot of them had
a rather infamous past.”

“A ‘rather infamous past’?” Josephine
laughed. “You might as well say it plainly. They were rogues
through and through.”

Gwen looked at them in surprise. “Your
husbands? Rogues?”

“Yours too,” said Josephine. “They were known
for it, I’m afraid.”

“But they are such family men now.”

“So is Arlington,” said Minette. “He’s
different now that he’s married. He’s never been one to dote on
women, so it’s novel and charming, the way he looks at you in that
longing way.”

Gwen stared at her friend. If Arlington
looked at her with longing, it was for carnal reasons only. “I
think he mainly married me to have children,” she said. “And to
have a portrait to hang over the fireplace. He sent for an artist
right away.”

“Oh, how fun,” said Josephine. “I hope it
turns out beautifully. Arlington looks so smart when he’s done up
in his cape and sword and medallions. He wore them for the
painting, didn’t he?”

“Yes,” said Gwen. “And I wore a lot of
jewels. If nothing else, he’ll have something impressive to hang on
the wall.”

“I’m sure you mean more to him than a
painting,” said Minette.

Aurelia returned with a pile of books and
papers clutched to her chest, and carried them to the table where
they were taking tea. “I’ve brought some things to show you, Gwen,”
she said. “Books that have to do with...marital connection. In a
sense.”

Josephine gave the other two ladies an
exasperated look. “Are we really going to do this again?”

“Why wouldn’t we?” said Minette. “She
deserves to be educated, considering whom she married. We all had
to be educated too.”

“Yes, but I seem to remember all of us
getting spanked last time we ‘educated’ ourselves with these
materials,” Josephine pointed out.