The Duchess Takes it All

Chapter Two

Christian August, Count of Rauchberg, sucked in a deep breath and let it out slowly. The busy streets of London made him miss the beauty of the German countryside. The trip had gone much quicker than anticipated. But he both welcomed and dreaded its end.

“Sind wir schon da?” Fredrick Wilhelm, Baron of Feldhagen, asked with a petulant sigh.

“English, Frederick,” Christian reminded him. “We are in England now.”

“Ja, but there are no Englishmen in the carriage with us,” Frederick said with a scowl.

“It will do you good to practice. Your accent is terrible.”

Frederick snorted. “Not all of us had English grandmothers.”

“You spent as much time with her as I,” Christian said.

Frederick waved that off. He was never one for a logical argument. “If you insist on English… Are we there yet?”

Christian just shook his head, though he couldn’t help a slight smile. Traveling with Frederick was worse than traveling with a child.

“Surely you wish for this journey to be over,” Frederick said.

“Yes and no.” Christian glanced at his dearest friend in the world and most trusted companion. Who knew him far too well. “You watch me too closely,” he muttered.

Frederick just laughed. “As I have always done. I should think you’d be accustomed to it by now.”

“Be that as it may, I have guards and servants aplenty, and you have your own problems and responsibilities.”

Frederick ran a hand through his slightly longer than fashionable brown hair. “True. My family is just as keen for me to wed and produce a gaggle of heirs as yours. In fact, my father has apparently taken to having meetings with your uncle so they can discuss the virtues of one high-bred woman or another for the both of us. They are diabolical.”

Christian snorted. “Agreed. Though I’m not surprised your father wishes to get you settled.”

He brushed his own light brown hair from his forehead. He’d need to have it cut soon. The thick, wavy locks persisted in curling toward his face at the most inopportune of moments. His uncle would be mortified to have Christian traipsing about England less than perfectly coifed.

Frederick let out an exaggerated sigh. “Well, we cannot all be as perfect as the indomitable Lord Rauchberg,” he teased.

Christian turned his gaze back to the window. “I am far from perfect.”

“Only in your eyes. Your uncle never ceases to sing your praises.” Frederick propped his feet up on the cushioned bench beside Christian in a futile effort to stretch out his long, lanky legs. “God’s teeth, if my father encourages me one more time to be as obedient and helpful as you, I may have to do something drastic.”

Irritation flooded him at the word obedient . He might be dutiful, but he was no one’s lapdog and hated the implication otherwise. Still, Christian couldn’t help a slight smile at his friend’s antics.

“And what would these drastic measures be?”

Frederick tilted his head, his lips pursed in thought for a moment. “I’m not certain just yet. But I have no doubt that copious amounts of spirits and women will be involved.”

“And how would that be more drastic than your usual behavior?”

Frederick opened his mouth to answer and then snapped it shut with a confused frown.

Christian laughed, and Frederick glowered at him. “I suppose I shall have to intensify my activities, then.”

“Perish the thought.”

Frederick shook his head. “You are far too strict, my friend. If you don’t learn to enjoy life, you may just shrivel up into a pile of dust one of these days. Now that we finally have you out from under your uncle’s thumb and away from your ceaseless duties, we must make the most of this journey.”

Christian braced himself as the carriage hit a bump in the road and jostled them about. His back groaned in protest, and he had to bite back a complaint.

“I am only embarking on this journey,” he said, shifting in an attempt to get more comfortable, “because duty demands that I must. I would much rather be back home assisting my uncle and seeing to my obligations on my own estates. However, my cousin has entrusted me with a great responsibility, and I am honor-bound to ensure his son, his widow, and his estate are settled.”

“Yes, yes, I know. You are nothing if not honorable and responsible. Far too much for your own health, I’d say.”

Christian just shook his head again. Frederick would never understand the drive Christian felt to ensure the faith his uncle had in him was not misplaced. The determination to never besmirch his family’s honor as every other member seemed to have done. It was almost a family tradition at this point. A rite of passage that had begun with his grandfather, continued on with his parents, and then his younger brother. Not a good choice, pristine reputation, or sanctioned marriage among the lot of them.

But it would end with him. He’d made it to the ripe old age of thirty with nary a whiff of scandal attached to his name. Despite Frederick’s attempts to the contrary. And it would stay that way. Even as the urge to never step out of line rankled him to no end.

“If I could find the woman a suitable husband, my burden would be much eased,” Christian said. “I could return home without qualms if she were to wed an honorable man I could entrust to not only look after the duchess and her son, but also handle the estates in my absence. Alongside the managers that are in place, of course. Assuming I find they are trustworthy.”

“Assuming you find the lady willing to remarry, of course.”

“Of course.”

Frederick just shook his head. “That’s a lot of assumptions, mein Freund.”

Christian huffed out a laugh. “Perhaps.”

“By the by,” Frederick said. “Do not suppose that my company on your journey was entirely selfless on my part. Just the opposite. In fact, I wouldn’t have passed up the opportunity to run away with you even given the chance. Embarking on this journey is just as much a relief for me as it must be for you.”

Christian frowned. “We will be back home within six months. Sooner, if I can manage. I cannot leave my duties longer than that. That is hardly running away.” Frederick cocked an eyebrow, and Christian scowled. “I am possibly…stepping back.”

Frederick chuckled. “Stepping back to another country could conceivably be seen as running away.”

Christian made a noncommittal—but thoroughly annoyed—sound and looked back out the window, ignoring Frederick’s laughter. He hated it when his friend saw through his pretenses. As he always did.

The weight of his duties in his uncle’s court had weighed more and more on Christian of late. Especially the pressure to find a bride. A task to which Christian was not opposed…in theory. He’d always done what was asked of and expected of him, even as a small child. His parents and brother had caused enough turmoil in the court to last many lifetimes. The least Christian could do was perform his duties to the best of his ability.

Still…doing so had become more of a chore of late. And while he had every intention to honor his personal vow to serve his uncle and his people until his dying day, he could not argue that the opportunity to escape all of that for a few months was not most welcome.

Not that he would give Frederick the satisfaction of admitting that.

“At least one good thing came from your cousin’s timely demise,” Frederick continued. “You can be the dutiful nephew your dear uncle desires, overseeing your cousin’s estates and building relations between our countries and whatever else you’ve been tasked to do, and you can do so while taking a well-deserved holiday from his interminable orders and matchmaking endeavors.”

Christian snorted softly. “You forget, my uncle would be most pleased if I were to find a suitable wife during our travels.”

“I had not forgotten, but purposefully ignored. First of all, who your uncle deems suitable is a very short list. The likelihood of finding anyone of whom he will approve is so small as to be nonexistent. And secondly, what good does it do to remove yourself from your uncle’s matchmaking only to then engage in it yourself?”

“It is the difference between choosing my own wife and having one chosen for me. A perhaps small but important distinction.”

“An irrelevant one.” Frederick shrugged. “Either way, you are still saddled with a wife.”

Christian sighed. “You are truly exhausting, Frederick.”

Frederick beamed at him. “Thank you, my lord. It is, as always, my pleasure to annoy you.”

Christian pressed his lips together in an effort not to laugh. Frederick didn’t need the encouragement.

“Thankfully for both of us,” Frederick said, trying again, and failing, to stretch his long legs in the cramped interior of the carriage, “our travels will be ending momentarily. I, for one, am more than ready.”

On that, Christian agreed. Regardless of their respective reasons for being on the journey, and while respite from his uncle was most welcome, the journey had been long and tedious. And he was ready for it to be over.

“Yes,” he answered. “I as well. My body is bloody aching for a good meal, a hot bath, and a soft bed. In that order.”

“My sentiments exactly,” Frederick said.

Frederick cocked his head and watched Christian for a moment. Until Christian growled at him to stop.

“Out with it,” Christian said. “What is it?”

“Nothing,” Frederick said. “You just look more like you are dreading our arrival as opposed to looking forward to it.”

Christian sighed. His friend wasn’t wrong. “Of course I am ready to quit this miserable carriage,” he said, glancing back out the window as he spoke. “However, when we arrive, I will need to contend with my dear late cousin’s widowed wife. A woman who couldn’t possibly welcome my arrival.”

“Oh.” Frederick waved that away with a scoff. “I’ve yet to meet the woman who wouldn’t welcome you with open arms.”

Christian cocked an eyebrow at that but shook his head. “This circumstance is decidedly different, and you know it.”

Frederick shrugged. “Perhaps. Then again, she doesn’t know you yet.”

Christian just shook his head again. “While I have no intention of disrupting her or her son’s lives more than necessary, the fact remains that I’ve been appointed the trustee of the estate. And co-guardian of the child. I can’t imagine his mother is pleased about the situation. But I have a responsibility to do right by the young duke while he is under my charge.”

“Of course you do,” Frederick said. “You are too noble for your own good.”

Christian’s eyes narrowed. “My noble character or lack thereof has nothing to do with it. I do, however, know what it was like to grow up under the weight of such an exalted position. If I can ease the boy’s path in this world, I should like to do so.”

“As I said. Noble.”

Christian rolled his eyes. “My motives aside, his mother can’t be pleased about the interference from a stranger.”

“Perhaps interference will not be necessary. We may arrive and find she has everything well in hand and go about our merry way.”

“That would be ideal, of course,” Christian said, though he couldn’t help a frown from forming. “I’ve heard some troubling things, however.”

Frederick glanced at him with real interest this time. “Such as?”

Christian huffed. “You’re such a tattler.”

“Yes, I am. And it has been a long and tedious journey with nary a drop of anything of any interest. So do tell.”

“It’s nothing much,” Christian said, turning his attention back to the view beyond his window. They had turned up a tree-lined lane a few moments earlier and should soon be in sight of the house where it sat in front of Green Park, much closer to St. James’s Palace than Christian had realized.

“The duchess is the daughter of a jewel merchant,” he continued. “Wealthy, well-educated, and finished properly. But still, not bred to the life of a duchess by any means.”

Though she was certainly living it now. The carriage slowed as the house came into view, and Christian took it in with great appreciation. Grand and stately with its classic columns, it eclipsed every other building on the street.

“Besides,” he said, sitting back, though he kept his eyes on the house as they drew nearer, “she wed my cousin not much more than three years ago, so she’s scarce had time to become adjusted to the new station she occupies. There is much, I’m afraid, she may be lacking.”

“Perhaps,” Frederick said, regarding him with narrowed eyes. “Though you may be a bit hasty with that assumption. After all, if she did, indeed, come from a wealthy background and was finished at a proper finishing school, she should be just as elegant and refined as her new peers.”

“One could hop—” His words cut off with a choked cry as their carriage lurched to a halt with a shout from their driver.