The Boys of Summer by Chasity Bowlin

Author:Chasity Bowlin [Bowlin, Chasity]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
Tags: Fiction, Romance, Historical
Publisher: Dragonblade Publishing, Inc.
Published: 2022-12-29T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Five

They were nearing the end of the dinner hour and he had barely been able to make eye contact with Clarissa. She was at the other end of the table, too far from him and studiously avoiding looking in his direction. Not that he could blame her of course. After that moment in the garden, when he’d nearly forgotten himself and given in to an urge that had nothing to do with honoring the promise he’d made and everything to do with indulging a base desire, he couldn’t risk another encounter with her until he had himself in check. He’d nearly kissed her, dammit. The urge had been so intense, so all consuming, that it wasn’t until he’d heard the distant laughter of a pair of approaching servants that he’d managed to pull back and put distance between them.

The meal ended, and as was the norm, the gentlemen went one direction and the ladies went another. Taking a seat in one of the leather club chairs that dotted the corners of Marchwood’s billiard room, he scrubbed his hands over his face. He conceded that he would need to be far more careful in his interactions with her. Kissing her would have been a disaster. Clarissa was undecided as yet. She was frightened of him and he could not blame her. They were strangers now, and her upbringing had taught her to fear men and expect the worst from them. As a man of honor, he would not force himself on her in any way, he would not do anything to frighten her. Not only for the sake of his honor, but also for the sake of securing her hand. He needed her trust to secure her agreement and he would not obtain it by taking liberties she was not ready to grant.

“You’re looking glum.”

The observation had come from the viscount who’d sidled up next to him. “I am glum.”

“Miss Milson?”

Augustus smiled. “Am I so obvious?”

“Only to one similarly afflicted. But I am curious. If you have not seen her since you were children in Margate… it seems your feelings for her are very intense after such a long absence from one another.”

It was a reasonable cause for concern. “When you met your viscountess, how long did it take you to know that you wished to marry her?”

The viscount was silent for a moment. “Touché.”

“It’s more than that, of course,” Augustus admitted. Henry was a friend… someone he could trust. “We made a promise to one another as children. I swore that when my father was gone and could not hurt her or anyone else I cared for, that I would marry her… and now—now is the time.”

“Your father,” Henry said through clenched teeth, “was a cruel and vicious bastard. A shy thing like Miss Milson would have been crushed underfoot by him without a by your leave.”

“As well I know… and to that end, in the name of courtship, I’d like to make use of a curricle or phaeton. Any open conveyance where I might take her for a drive would be most appreciated.

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