Chapter Eleven
Corin tried not to let his bad mood affect the late morning’s ride with his brother, but no matter how much he tried to push aside his frustrations, he couldn’t fully let them go. Why did his mother have to side with Candace the way she had? How did Candace manage to gain his mother’s sympathies in such a short period of time?
Candace hadn’t been here for more than a day and already his mother was treating her better than she treated him. His mother accepted whatever Candace told her, but she had trouble believing him. Now he remembered why he was reluctant in coming home. His mother could be downright impossible. He was expected to fall in line and obey her every command.
Celia had been the same way. Not only had Celia set her sights on marrying him before Stephen messed up her plans, but she had made it a point of running Anthony’s life for him as well. Being stuck with Celia was like being trapped at this estate with his mother.
All through the ride with Reuben, Corin kept comparing the two ladies. He couldn’t deny that there was a little blessing in what Stephen did. He wasn’t going to be shackled with Celia for the rest of his life. At least Candace left him alone. She didn’t tell him what to do. She let him live his life as he wished. Even if he didn’t like her, she was better than Celia.
But that was a small source of comfort when he factored in how much his mother seemed to adore her. His mother was fussing over her like she fussed over Reuben. And worse than that, his mother accepted Candace’s side of the story while discrediting his.
Upon returning to the stables, he instructed the stable master to make wheels for his carriage.
“It’ll take some time to do that,” the stable master said. “No one here has ever made wheels before. All we’ve done is fixed them.”
“Well, figure out how to make them and do it,” Corin replied.
Though the stable master looked baffled by the command, he agreed to do it.
Corin turned from him and nearly bumped into Reuben who had been standing behind him. Corin took a step back. “I thought you were still getting down from the horse.”
“No, I already did it,” Reuben replied, though it was unnecessary. After a moment, he continued, “Why do you want to go back to London? I thought you were going to stay with me for the next three months.”
Corin winced at the wounded tone in his brother’s voice. “It’s not you I want to get away from. I just don’t want to be stuck here with,” he swallowed, “my wife.”
Corin almost added their mother to the list of his grievances, but that didn’t seem like a fair thing to do to his brother. He didn’t want Reuben to have the same kind of dread of their mother that he did.
“The manor is a large place,” Reuben said. “I can show her the other wing. Maybe she’ll want to spend her time there.”
Despite the grim situation, Corin found himself chuckling. As much as he would like that, the countess of the estate had her own bedchamber to sleep in, and that just happened to be next to his.
Corin patted him on the shoulder as they left the stables. “I think it’s time we changed and had something to eat before you tend to your lessons. It’s important that you keep to your studies. Some day, you might need to pass on the title to your son.”
“That’s silly,” Reuben said. “You are the older brother. You’ll pass the title on to your oldest son.”
It was on the tip of Corin’s tongue to tell the lad that he wouldn’t be having any children, but if he did that, Reuben might ask him why not. And if he did that, then Corin would have to try to explain how babies came into the world without giving too many details. Reuben was much too young to know the specifics of that.
After careful consideration, Corin settled on saying, “Some things aren’t meant to be. I’m just glad you’re a boy. That means you can have a son for the sake of the estate.” Reuben’s eyebrows furrowed, and before he could reply, Corin said, “When your studies are done for the day, why don’t we go back to the fishing spot?”
As he hoped, Reuben forgot all about the subject of children since he started talking about all the fish he wanted to catch. Relieved, Corin let the lad ramble the entire way to the manor.
Once they changed outfits and had something to eat, Corin decided to spend some time in the den. He didn’t know where his mother and Candace were, but he wasn’t going to track them down. The fact that they had left him alone was all he could ask of them.
He made it to the den, shut the door, and poured himself a glass of brandy. He took a sip then went to the desk. This morning, he had started on the ledger. Working through the finances was one of the few ways he had of relaxing. Fishing and horseback riding were good activities, but his favorite activity was going through the ledger because he could mark his progress when he did that. He liked seeing how much the financial condition of the estate had improved since he’d taken it over.
His father left them with very little money. For a solid year, Corin didn’t think there was any recovering from it. But he had. Thanks to Anthony and their friend Warren Beaufort, the Earl of Steinbeck, he no longer had to worry what would happen to his mother and brother. He let out a long sigh as he opened his ledger. He supposed he shouldn’t be too hard on Anthony. Anthony had been forced to bring Candace here. He hadn’t done it on his own volition. He owed Anthony some mercy.
He took another sip of his brandy then took the ledger out of the top drawer of his desk. The sooner he got started on the ledger, the sooner he could forget everything else going on around him. He opened the book. There were some things that needed updating. He hadn’t tended to this particular ledger in a while. Fortunately, his mother had done a good job of keeping track of the expenses, but he still wanted to check things over, just to make sure everything added up the way they were supposed to.
He took a piece of parchment that was on the top of the desk and placed it next to the ledger. He removed the cap on the inkwell. He dipped the quill into the inkwell and got ready to start marking down the expenses when he realized the inkwell needed more ink.
With a sigh, he set the quill down and opened the second drawer where the ink should be. The ink was there. But in addition to the ink, there was a book. He frowned. The book didn’t have a title or image on the cover, and it was too small to be another ledger. Curious, he took it out of the drawer. His mother didn’t make it a habit of putting books in this room. The ones lining the shelf behind him were his. So he couldn’t imagine what this particular book was doing here.
He opened the cover, and he saw a neatly folded parchment with his name written on it. This was getting stranger and stranger all the time. He opened the parchment and saw it was written from Lord Erandon. Except, Lord Erandon didn’t sign it under his title. He had signed it as Sebastian.
Corin rolled his eyes. He was not on a first name basis with that cad.
He had a mind not to read this. But as soon as his eyes skimmed the words “make love to your wife”, curiosity got the best of him, and he read the missive in its entirety.
This is a book I received from a friend, Lord Erandon had written. I read through it, but having a wife who is open about what she wants and doesn’t want, I don’t need it. I’ve been looking for a gentleman to give this to. Upon finding out about your troubled marriage, I thought this might benefit you.
Corin frowned. As he suspected, he didn’t like this. He had a mind to throw the book and the missive into the trash. He even closed the book and rose to his feet to do that very thing. But something stopped him from walking over to the trashcan and tossing it in. Well, actually, a couple of things did that.
One, the maid would empty the trash. She would see the missive and the book. He really didn’t want his personal life to be the reason for his servants to gossip.
Oh, who was he kidding? They knew he didn’t have a good marriage. They’d seen how upset he was when Candace came here. He guessed Candace had been equally upset. He wasn’t here when she arrived, so he had no way of knowing if she broke into tears, screamed, or remained silent. All he knew was that she had expressed a desire to return to London when he walked in on her in the drawing room while she’d been talking to his mother, Anthony, Lord Erandon, and the Duke of Lambeth.
So surely, they knew this was, as Lord Erandon put it, a troubled marriage.
Corin drummed the book with his fingers for a long moment. Just what kind of book was this?
He settled back into the chair and opened the cover again. He picked up the missive and continued reading.
I’m sure the last thing you want to do right now is read this book, Lord Erandon had written. But I’m sure once you realize your wife isn’t as terrible as you assume her to be, you’ll want to. It gives instructions, of sorts, on how to make love to your wife in a way that will please her. As a married gentleman, I can attest to the fact that a satisfied wife in bed will make her happier in other areas of the marriage as well. This, in turn, will make you happy. A happy wife leads to a happy life.
That was all Lord Erandon had written. Corin folded the missive. His curiosity prompting him to turn the page, he did. He was alone, after all. No one else was around to see him checking out this book.
As soon as Corin read the title, he dropped the book. He already knew what the book was about, but reading How To Pleasure A Lady right there, in bold letters, shocked him all the same. Good heavens! It was a copy of the book Lord Edon freely handed out at White’s.
Corin quickly looked around the room, just to make sure no one had come in and found him with it. The door was closed. Good. He was still alone.
He stared at the book, afraid that it might jump up and bite him at any moment. Which was silly. It was just a book.
Now he couldn’t throw it out. If one of the servants found that thing, they would be laughing at him behind his back. No gentleman wanted others to think he needed this kind of book to help him be good in bed. No wonder the thing didn’t have a title on the front cover. This was meant to be something discreet, and that was why Lord Erandon had slipped it into the desk when no one was watching.
Corin took another look at the door. Then he listened for an indication that someone was walking down the hall outside the den. Nothing. Silence. He released his breath.
Clearing his throat, he leaned forward in the chair and gingerly picked up the book. He couldn’t leave it in this room where someone might stumble upon it. He needed to hide it somewhere safe. But where?
His bedchamber. It was the only logical place. Yes, he supposed he could burn it, but part of him wondered what kind of information would be in a book like this. He would rather die than admit that to anyone, of course. No one needed to know how inexperienced he was…or that he was curious about what happened between a gentleman and lady when they were in bed.
He glanced at the door. Just how was he going to get this all the way up to his bedchamber without anyone seeing it? After a long and frustrating moment, the answer came to him. He needed something to hide this scandalous book in.
With a quick scan of the room, his gaze settled on a box that held his chess set. The book would fit in there. Inspired, he hurried over to it and set the book down on the table next to it. He opened the box and slipped the book into it, looking over his shoulder as he did so, just to make sure no one had come into the room.
After the way his mother barged in on him this morning, it was impossible to tell what to expect. One thing he missed about being in his London townhouse was that no one ever barged in on him. If he wanted to get any kind of privacy around here, he needed to leave the manor and go to the fishing spot. His mother never ventured out there.
Once the book was secure in the box, he carried it—at arm’s length—out of the room. Yes, he supposed he would arouse suspicions this way. He should clasp the box up against his side, but he couldn’t bring himself to get that close to the book. Even if he was curious about the contents, he didn’t want to get too close to it. It seemed like doing so would taint him somehow. Anything connected with Lord Edon had a way of making him feel soiled because Lord Edon was a rake.
Fortunately, he managed to get all the way to his bedchamber without being spotted. With a sigh of relief, he closed his door and rushed the box over to the top of his dresser. Now to find a good place to hide the book. Where would be a spot the maid, his meddlesome mother, or his deceitful wife would never look?
After a couple of agonizing minutes, he opted to put it under the mattress. He might have put it in a drawer if he didn’t think his mother or wife would snoop around for the key. But he knew for a fact that no one would bother looking under the mattress.
He opened the box and took out the book, and though it was just a book, he held it as if it was a snake. He made it to the bed and knelt by the mattress. Just as he was ready to tuck it in, he dropped the book, and it fell to a page that seemed to describe, in great detail, the female body.
He’d never seen a lady without her clothes on. He didn’t associate with gentlemen who made it a habit of entertaining ladies in bed, either. So his knowledge on the subject was greatly lacking. Not that he had minded up to now. He had more pressing things to worry about than ladies. He had an estate to secure. He had a legacy to leave for the next heir.
But…as he turned the page and realized there was an illustration of a naked lady in the book, he had to admit his interest was piqued.
Even as he told himself he should get back downstairs and go over the ledger, another part of him—the baser part—urged him to read a few pages of the book.
To his surprise, the book wasn’t as lewd as he thought it’d be. Yes, the subject matter was sensitive, and it did go into detail on the female body. But it was written in a way that educated more than aroused. It was like reading a book on the proper use of investing one’s money. Except in this case, the book was instructing a gentleman on how to properly touch and kiss a lady to bring her the greatest amount of pleasure.
And it didn’t stop there. The book also went into the emotional components of a relationship, emphasizing the need to see a wife as a companion. Doing so, the book claimed, would make the time in bed that much more pleasurable to both the husband and the wife. Well, he couldn’t argue that point. It was to be expected that lovemaking would be more enjoyable if a husband wanted to be with his wife and a wife wanted to be with her husband.
Which was where the rest of the advice in the book didn’t make any difference. What good was it to know how to pleasure a lady in bed when the marriage was a sham? Sure, he was married to Candace on paper, but it didn’t mean anything. There was no way they would ever consummate the marriage, much less have a civil conversation.
As if the book knew exactly what he was thinking, the next section covered what to do if a husband wasn’t getting along with his wife.
If you want a happy marriage, you’ll need to work for it. People aren’t perfect. Too often we get consumed with our pride. Pride is probably the biggest hindrance in any relationship, but it is especially so in a marriage. Pride prevents someone from taking the time to listen to what the other person is saying. We often think we know what is going on when, the truth is, we don’t. We let our feelings get in the way of honest and sincere communication.
As painful as it may be, try setting aside what you think to be true in order to find out what your wife is thinking and feeling. I know this isn’t easy, but someone has to be willing to take the first step in resolving conflicts within a marriage. Since this book is written to husbands, then I’m asking you to be the one to do it.
Corin lowered the book and sighed. As much as it pained him to admit it, the author was right. The sting of conscience that pricked him told him he was letting pride hinder him from being open to the possibility that he might be wrong about Candace. What if she wasn’t the kind of lady he had made her out to be? Everyone else kept arguing that he wasn’t being fair to her.
It was possible she was only playing the part of an innocent lady in order to gain their sympathies. He couldn’t rule that possibility out. But if he refused to consider that she might be telling him the truth, then he would be letting his pride get in the way of resolving their problems.
His father let his pride blind him to his foolish investments. His father had been so sure that the things he was putting his money into would yield a nice profit that he ignored the advice of his friends who had warned him to research the investments. Corin had learned from that and made sure to gain as much knowledge as he could in investing.
But was he making a mistake by not listening to everyone who implored him to give Candace a chance? What if he had misunderstood what happened that night of the scandal? What if Stephen had picked Candace at random and flung her at him while he was in the den? He already knew he couldn’t trust Stephen. Stephen was a sly fox. He had been willing to accept payment to force Corin to marry Celia. It was only because Corin paid him more that he didn’t go with Celia’s plan.
The events in the den happened so fast that, even now, he had difficulty processing everything. One moment, he was alone, and in the next moment, Candace was pushing him to the floor. He did distinctly recall the way her hand touched him between his legs. Even now, he had to fight back the feeling of being violated. But what if she wasn’t trying to touch him there? What if Stephen had pushed her? What if her hand happened to land there by accident?
He recalled the words Stephen had told him when he confronted him at his townhouse.
“With the way her hands were all over you, she wanted you very much. She didn’t touch Brad that way. She only took him by the arm, and that was because she had to. But you’re right, Corin. She wanted very much to make mad, passionate love to you. I advised her against it, but she insisted on being with you. It turns out she’s been secretly in love with you for a long time now.”
Corin frowned. The whole thing of her being secretly in love with him for a long time hadn’t made any sense at the time, and it made even less sense now. If she really had been secretly in love with him, then wouldn’t she have sought him out at some point during their marriage so far?
He knew for a fact that Celia had been in love with him, and she had looked for ways to be around him. Whenever he came to her brother’s townhouse, she managed to show up in the same room with them. She made it so that he had to escort her to the dinner parties her brother hosted. She cornered him at balls.
He hadn’t done anything to seek Celia out. She had pursued him. And relentlessly so. He hadn’t been able to get rid of her no matter how hard he’d tried. Even coming out and telling her he didn’t want to marry her hadn’t dissuaded her. Her response had been to hire Stephen to trap him into a scandal.
So if Candace had similar affections for him, wouldn’t she have made her intentions known by now?
Sitting back, he debated what to do about the newfound possibility that he had misjudged the circumstances surrounding the scandal.
He couldn’t come out and ask Candace about it. For one, she might lie. And two, even if she told him the truth, how would he know?
What he needed to do was take a step back and investigate her behavior. Instead of avoiding her, he should observe her. How did she act around others? Was she like Celia, who had a habit of manipulating people to get what she wanted? He’d been around Celia enough to know a lady who couldn’t be trusted. All he had to do was compare Candace to Celia.
And if it turned out that Candace was nothing like Celia, he would follow the instructions in the book and smooth things over with her.