"The Hale Treasure?" Stiles repeated, not really sure if he was hearing things right. "You have a treasure?"
"If you tell me it is some form of pirated gold from yesteryear, and your ancestors were free-traders, I may actually swoon dramatically at your feet." Erica added.
"She won't be the only one." Isaac grinned.
"Should I ring for some refreshments? Rum, perhaps?" His wife asked, causing both herself, and her brother, to dissolve into fits of humour that didn't seem to dissipate under the hard glare of Duke Hales disapproval.
"Why did you marry her?" He groused, in a tone that made Stiles want to laugh along with his friends.
"My skills in the bedchamber." Erica retorted, before Stiles could even open his mouth. "Back to the Hale Treasure."
"Erica!" Both Stiles, Isaac and Scott gasped at her, scandalised. "You can't say things like that!" Stiles managed, feeling the heat rise on his face. Damn woman was always managing to keep him just off his footing with comments like that in private, he surely didn't need her adding to his discomfort in public.
"Oh, tosh!" She said, tucking a stray curl behind her ear. "It's not like I'm in public, I know you all well enough to say what I think." She paused. "And I've just been reading the most scandalous things about each one of you, so stop acting so prudish. Two Princes!" She glanced at her brother and grinned. "I'm almost proud."
Stiles face burned as Derek snorted a laugh, and Isaac simply smirked at her. "I am so glad I managed to get you out of my house."
"You miss me terribly."
"Like a hole in my head."
"I love you also, brother dear."
"What about this treasure?" Stiles interrupted, before things descended into more chaos with the Lahey siblings – good lord, you'd think that they hadn't bickered enough as children.
"The Hale Treasure is a myth." Derek shrugged. "The whole 'riches in the soil' isn't a metaphor for gold or gems. It actually means that the soil is rich. Things grow well."
"How bloody disappointing." Isaac sighed.
"Well, there was gold once." Hale shrugged, "I suppose that's where it all started."
"My ancestors, they fought in the crusades. It's how we got the title – bestowed by King Richard. There wasn't any money though, the land was fallow because all the able bodied men were off fighting, and most of the country was starving to death by the time they returned.
The new Duke Hale though, didn't come back empty handed – he had gold and gems from all over, Egypt, Turkey – India. He used it to build the old mansion – the newer house built by my Grandfather uses the same original foundations – but the gold has been gone for generations. It's nothing but a family legend, trust me – I've had cousins and uncles going back forever digging up the old ruins and each one of them returned empty handed." Derek shrugged. "The family motto 'Within the Earth is Riches' just means... well, the soil is good for growing. It was the first in the area to start producing food and saved a lot of people from a harsh death."
"Well, Gerard Argent thinks that if Scott inherits, then he'll have access to this mythical treasure." Erica pointed out. "He thinks he lost the opportunity when the Duchess died without an heir."
"But I probably won't inherit!" Scott pointed out, giving Derek an odd look. "I mean, you aren't old – and many men have heirs long after it seems hopeless."
"I'm not re-marrying." Derek said, shaking his head. "The title will fall to you."
"I don't want it!" Scott snapped. "I've got my own land, and my own tenants to worry about, I don't want to become a bloody Duke as well."
"You'll have to get married!" Erica agreed. "People will talk. You'll have to find a nice girl and have her pop out a baby or two." Her words made Derek feel ill, and he looked at Stiles, who was actually agreeing. He didn't want Stiles agreeing to this!
"Oh!" Scott suddenly burst out, his face deep crimson. "I didn't think… oh! Stiles and… oh." Derek tried not to let his emotion show on his face. Scott, after all, had been intimate with Isaac – it wasn't as though he should be ashamed.
But he was.
Stiles saw it, saw it in his eyes and felt something within him… curl up. Nothing broke, or shattered – nothing so dramatic as that – but something in his heart just curled deep within him.
He wasn't sure what he was expecting, really. The man had been married to a woman – one whom he obviously had loved deeply at one point, if not any more – and Stiles was just… well… Stiles. And a man. Which made it all so much worse, really.
They spent the night at Isaac's, playing cards and billiards – Erica beating them all at both, damn Isaac for ever teaching her to play! – and not a single drink passed the lips of their gracious host.
Isaac didn't even try to flirt with Scott, which was a good step up from his normal behaviour, and found himself enjoying the night even though he was still banned from his own drinks cabinet. He understood why he shouldn't start – it would be unlikely that he would stop.
He was unwilling to leave Stiles, at some point in the night his best friend had retreated into his own head, and despite being just as talkative and animated as he ever was, Isaac was getting s distinct impression that he was not as happy as he seemed. Erica too, was picking up on it, and had already thrown him a questioning glance.
Sober and slightly pensive, he shut his chamber door with a click.
"You are most definitely the best dressed of your friends." Matthew smirked, standing up from his seat at the dresser. He had been reading something – the man was always reading something – although he didn't seem so concerned to put it down.
"Yes." He nodded, as he was helped out of his jacket. Fashions were currently leaning toward skin-tight coats – some mornings he needed another lad to help him into his clothes. Luckily, taking them off was easier.
"Hale seems to have an aversion to colour." Matthew continued, hanging the coat neatly and turning to help with the yards of white that made up Isaac's cravat.
"Yes." Isaac said, not moving his head as his valet worked swiftly. He quite liked how close Matthew was, standing toe to toe with him, but of course Isaac was taller. He wasn't sure about Matthew – the man liked to compliment, Isaac liked to be complimented. He liked clothes and fashion – but well… so did most gentlemen, and it was his job to care. So when his fingers perhaps lingered for a touch to long on his neck, or skimmed along the skin on his back as he was taking off Isaac's shirt… he didn't think too much about it. He'd learned his lesson with Scott – sleeping with men whom were unsure in their preferences was a dangerous road.
"Not a fob or button on the Earl either." Matthew continued. "And the Baron – father advised me he's not even got a man?"
"No." Isaac said, sitting on the edge of the bed while Matthew was on his knees and pulled at his boots. "He's never had one."
"How does he dress?"
"Remarkable as it seems," Isaac pointed out, as Matthew carefully pulled at the soft leather. "Gentlemen are able to cloth themselves."
"I am disinclined to agree." Matthew smirked.
Really, Isaac knew that he shouldn't be allowing his Valet to talk to him in such a way, but he enjoyed the banter. It was infinitely better than the constant disapproving of his previous man.
"Probably." Isaac shrugged, smiling. "Should men learn to dress alone, you would be forced into new employment."
"I do more than that." Matthew said, putting the boots to one side and using Isaac's thighs to push up into a standing position.
"I'm sure your talent with blacking of leathers will ever be in demand." Isaac conceded, which got him no reply other than a slightly confused smile. "That will be all." Isaac said with a wave of his hand.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, Matthew, I am fully able to prepare for bed."
"Yes, your Grace."
Erica spent the night in her old room, quite surprised when Stiles joined her not long after. She was even more surprised later – but all in all, she'd married him knowing that he'd expect an heir at some point, and well… might as well get it over with. She was extremely surprised by the end of it all – surprised and impressed – perhaps their marriage of convenience was a bit more convenient that she had thought.
Derek had assumed that Stiles would, at some point in the night, join him. When he awoke in the morning – alone – he had a sinking feeling that perhaps something was wrong.
Lord and Lady Argent, of Bromly, are delighted to announce the engagement of their daughter, Miss Argent to Earl McCall of Haverly.
Three weeks of Stiles being nothing more than a perfect friend was grating on Derek like a delicate torture. No late night visits, nor frantic meshing of bodies – when they were alone Stiles normally chatted amicably about whatever crossed his mind. Fresh from a week of almost hedonistic pleasure at the hands, and mouth, of the younger man – then plunged into the icy waters of a simple friendship had him reeling like an idiot. Coupled with overhearing a conversation that was not meant for him at all – Isaac telling his man that he would soon expect to be an uncle, had him back in his own home within 48 hours of seeing the ledger.
Scott had re-applied to Allison's father, this time using his knowledge that Gerard Argent wanted the match to go ahead, had asked for her hand when the older man was present.
They were currently in the throes of arranging the fastest wedding in the history of London – her father refusing to have a special licence drawn up, and insisting on a traditional ceremony. As far as he was aware, his lack of wife hunting was the only thing keeping Gerard Argent approving the match. His sudden and unexpected departure from Stiles bed had him thinking more of perhaps securing a lasting convenience – London was full of ladies whom a husband was nothing more than a well-placed mask – but would not do his cousin the bad turn of looking until he had married the girl he was obviously in love with.
What worried him more than anything was his apparent lack of sex drive in concern to anyone not Stiles. He wasn't attracted to Isaac, nor any of the other gentlemen of his new friends acquaintance – it seemed the only gentleman he knew that made his heart beat too fast and his hands itch for skin… was Stiles.
The main issue, however, was that this feeling of indifference was not limited to gentlemen. He had completely turned away from the idea of satisfying his need with any of the available ladies whom made it more than clear that they were open for such adventures. That worried him a great deal.
At least Scott was getting what he wanted, although managing to be rather underhanded about the whole thing. He'd mentioned at a dinner, under his breath to Derek, that he'd told Gerard that he was sure his cousin would never re-marry, and that he, Scott, was more than expecting to become the next Duke in the family.
It had been the conversation that had tipped the scales in his favour in the old man's eyes, and the announcement had been in the paper the next day – much to the delight of his young cousin.
Of course, without the ledger, the Argent fortunes were about to take a bad turn. The sooner that Allison, whom appeared to be as genuine a girl that Derek had ever met, was away from that life, the better.
The wedding wasn't exactly lavish, but it was attended by two Dukes and that always attracted a great deal of attention. Erica stood beside her husband and tried very hard not to sigh as he chatted animatedly with Duke Hale about bloody insects. She loved her husband, she really, genuinely did. He had been a friend most of her life, and recently made her more aware of the things she disliked and liked a great deal. More importantly, he seemed more than willing to make their marriage a real one, in every sense.
That was what concerned Erica more than anything. Stiles wasn't… attracted to her. Oh, he made sure that their nights together were more than enjoyable, and never failed to perform – but the whole thing felt like a performance. He was acting, pretending – and it was hurting them both.
Erica loved to the side of Stiles that she saw as soft and open, but she was attracted to the side of him that was masculine and hidden. The idea that in his private relationships he was… well more masculine was something that she got more than a fission of excitement from.
She'd asked a great many questions, and despite his reluctance to answer, had finally succumbed under the knowledge that she simply would not stop questioning until he gave in.
Her husband, it seemed, possessed quite a varied experience that had opened her eyes to a great deal more than she had expected from the act of lovemaking. She had learned a great deal and had wanted to learn a great deal more – and she wasn't got to get that until Stiles realised that Duke Hale was effectively pining for him. Oh, it took her a week to notice, but once she'd noticed the way that Hale would drop his eyes so that he was watching Stiles mouth rather than his expression, or the way he would lean forward when they were talking – or (she found herself noticing the little things more often) the way Hale would sit with his legs splayed and watch as Stiles spoke. Such small things that no one else would see, but damn the man was trying to grab Stiles attention and Stiles attention was nowhere to be found. It was as though he had shut off that part of his life, that part of his nature, completely… and Erica didn't think that was a healthy sign.
Later, when she was curled up in his arms, she wondered if it wasn't Stiles, but Derek, who was the problem.
"You need to do something." Erica announced to the room. Stiles was at dinner with Duke Hastings, whom had called him there to talk of his recent paper on natural pollinators, and she was eating with her brother and Derek.
"Who does?" Derek asked at the same time as her brother asked "Do what?"
"Stiles is unhappy."
"He's married to you, no bloody wonder." Isaac smirked. Erica managed to ignore the jibe which she was sure meant that she was on the list to get to heaven, despite her many flaws.
"He's unhappy because of something you did, and I don't know what it was." She said pointedly to Derek, who looked mildly furious that she'd even mentioned such a thing. Well, bully for him. She was worried about her husband and she wasn't about to let a grumpy glare put her off.
"I have done nothing at all."
"That might be the issue." Erica retorted. "He's decided that he's quite happy repressing what apparently was a thriving appetite for masculine companionship."
"Maybe he's changed." Isaac shrugged.
"Please forgive me if I'm not convinced he's suddenly changed the way he was born."
"Maybe he likes both." Derek shrugged, looking at Isaac who had taken no pains to hide his current mistress' – both of them. "From what you have insinuated, he is currently more than able to…" He waved a hand in the air vaguely.
"Ha." Erica laughed, although there was no humour there. "No. He's not interested in the female of the species at all. It doesn't mean he can't keep it up in the presence of one."
"Erica, I do not want to know what goes on in your head, but I don't want to be made aware of what goes on in the bedroom of my child sister and my best friend." He paused. "Unless you are announcing your pregnancy."
"I'll tell you when I know." She shrugged. She already knew – although she was waiting another week before she mentioned anything to Stiles. "But I believe that he's trying to deny a huge part of his nature and it is making him unhappy." It was making her unhappy too – watching as a man whom she had always loved try to be something he was not. Perhaps had she never known of his true nature she would not have noticed, but as it stood, it was like a slow wound that was not healing.
"This has nothing to do with me." Hale groused. "I wasn't the one who stop-" He cut off mid-sentence and glared at her. How telling, the words that he did not say. "It has nothing to do with me."
"You need to man up." She snapped. "You're walking around him like he'll break. Grab him, push him up against a bloody wall and remind him that he's a damn gentleman's gentleman."
The chapter that just wouldn't play ball. I hate, I hate, I hate this.
It seems that this era just doesn't want to play ball with me at all. I'm struggling so bad with trying to keep people in character and in the right time frame. I love Erica in this so much, but I know she's waaaaay too modern for the time frame.
Thank you all, though, for your wonderful words of support through the last chapter, because I'm about 'this' close to throwing this whole thing in the damn bin and writing something else.
And work is being an utter bitch right now – you'd think after a break everyone would be in a better mood, but it's like people have just let all the strings go over the holiday and now I'm franticly trying to get a hold off everything before it all flies away.
I've managed to get an Ao3 account as well, and I'm posting my older work on that, so if you have an account there, I'm 74days on that too. J
Thanks again, your support is keeping me going with this one!
