One Year Later

“I don’t get it. How did you know it would work?” Bradley stared at his grandfather as he sat across from him at his desk.

Wardington looked up from his paper and grinned. “You’ll feel it in your gut when you know it’s right.”

Bradley frowned. The duke had been saying similar things for over a year, ever since Bradley decided he wanted to be just like him. Yes, he admired his father and would take over as the Marquess of Clariant as well, but Bradley wanted to be like Martin Dawnton, the Duke of Wardington and the smartest man Bradley knew.

Wardington leaned over the desk and stared at his grandson. He laced his fingers together. “Everyone is meant to be with someone, Bradley, and while some will always miss that opportunity, you will learn to help ensure that some never miss it.”

“By letting my gut lead me?” Bradley asked.

His grandfather nodded.

Bradley stood. “Inconceivable! Such things should never be left up to the gut but the mind. Surely, there is more to love than a gut feeling.”

Wardington leaned back. “Well, of course, there is. Two people need to be desperate for it as well, for while everyone needs love, there are only a few who truly know they need it. The ones looking to fill the emptiness within them, those are the people you’ll aid.”

“And the others?” Bradley asked.

“They’ll fill that emptiness with other things.” Wardington looked troubled at that thought and said, “It was what my generation did. We allowed titles and power to lead us, but I knew it wasn’t right.”

“So, you build marriages on love.”

“Exactly,” Wardington told him. “Because, those who know how to love make the world a better place.” He smiled.

Bradley narrowed his eyes. “And those in love have more to lose.”

Wardington lifted a brow. “You’re catching on.”

Bradley took his seat again and asked, “But why do it at all? Why did it matter to you?”

Wardington sighed and his mouth twitched before he said, “Can you believe I wished the world to call the coming time ‘The Age of Wardington’?” His eyes moved away as though he were imagining it. The entire world respecting him for what he’d achieved. But then he frowned and said, “But thanks to the attack on Victoria, it’s more than likely to be known after her.”

Bradley didn’t want to break his grandfather’s spirits by telling him that more than likely the coming time would be known as Victoria’s time because she was queen. Bradley had attended her coronation a few months ago and had felt at peace seeing the woman take the throne. A heavy weight had been lifted off his grandfather’s shoulders, and thus Bradley’s. He doubted the duke would see another year but wanted him to know how much he was loved. He walked over to his grandfather and put a hand on his shoulder. “Grandfather, when you die, I’ll remember you, and I’ll make sure that my children know the great man that you were.”

The old man’s eyes turned to Bradley and he chuckled. “Bradley, do you still want to be like me?”

Bradley nodded.

Wardington held his eyes and moved forward to reach into a compartment of his desk. Bradley couldn’t see what he was doing, but he noted another door in the drawer open and then Wardington pulled out a thick leather book and placed it on the desk. The casing was worn, and the pages looked old.

“What is that?” Bradley asked.

Wardington stood and started toward the door, the cane taking him the entire way, almost more useful than his legs now. “I’m going to the party and then plan to simply sit in the sun for a while.” Today was Evan’s party, Marianne and Simon’s eldest son, who was five.

Bradley stared at the book then looked up at his grandfather. “What is this?”

A look crossed Wardington’s face before he said, “It’s yours now, Bradley. Use it wisely.” Then he left the office.

Bradley moved to the tome on the desk and suspected he knew what it was. There had been whispers about his grandfather keeping a book, a book of secrets about not only the ton, but every man and woman in power.

He was nearly afraid to open the cover, but the moment he placed his hand on it, he knew he’d be unable to resist.

He turned the page and smiled.

“The Aaron Family,” Bradley said. The book was in alphabetical order and was very real. Bradley sat down in his grandfather’s chair and studied the page.

What he read shocked him so greatly, he shut the tome and moved away. Then he quickly put it in the drawer, inside the hidden compartment that Wardington had left open, closed it, and stepped back. What was in that book was more than he’d been ready for. It had the power to tear down men, destroy families, and leave tragedy in its wake.

Bradley was not ready for such power and wasn’t sure he ever would be.

He ran from the room and hoped that one day he would forget what he’d seen.

---