Chapter 8: Vauxhall

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Later that night, Viscountess Bridgerton approached Anthony while he was working in the study.

He let her observe him for a moment, but upon realizing that she was not going to speak anytime soon, he said, "You were a perfectly reasonable mother until your eldest daughter came of age."

"Anthony..." she attempted to interject.

"This matchmaking scheme you rather transparently concocted with Lady Danbury, it will not work."

"I can think of worse matches for Daphne than a duke. I believe the two of you to be friends."

"We are good friends. Which is why I know he has absolutely no intention of marrying."

"Well, you must understand all men make that assertion," his mother insisted. "Your... your father..."

"Do not bring Father into this."

Anthony spoke so sharply that it silenced the Viscountess.

"Even if he were in want of a wife, you would most certainly not have the duke anywhere near Daphne."

"I am fully subscribed to the belief that reformed rakes make the very best of husbands," the Viscountess said.

Anthony wouldn't even let her finish her last word before exclaiming, "He will not make her happy!" Then, more calmly, "Daphne deserves better. And I know... I know you think you are solving the problem, but you are not, and that is all I shall say about the matter."

He looked back down at the desk and picked up his quill, making it perfectly clear that it really was all he wanted to say on the topic.

Still, the Viscountess stood firmly, taking a moment to collect her thoughts before speaking again.

"The Duke will be joining us as our guest at Vauxhall tomorrow evening. I admit, it was not easy to convince him to come."

"You overstep," Anthony commanded.

"She is my eldest daughter!"

"Yet she is my responsibility, as are you. As is Eleanor. As will the rest of them be when they come of age."

"Responsibility?"

"Do not make this any more difficult than it already is."

The Viscountess had had enough.

"I wish to know something, Anthony. Tonight, when you leave this study that you continue to keep at your family home, are you to return to your bachelor lodgings across the square, or will you pay a visit to a certain soprano that you tend to in an apartment that you pay for on the other side of town, relying on your younger brothers to one day do the job that you cannot? You like to speak of responsibility. My dear son! Of duty? Pray tell, what should you know of it? I sit with Daphne and Eleanor in that drawing room. Do you know what I see? Two young women who are terrified because they know what kind of life, what kind of future, awaits them should you continue to get in their way. If your father was still here, Daphne would already have been matched and none of this would have been necessary. The man would have made an arrangement with an old friend. The man would have done what was now necessary. Daphne and Eleanor both would have already been matched before the Duke even entered the picture. So, you must ask yourself, are you merely an older brother? Or are you the man of this house?"

Anthony scoffed and looked away. The Viscountess left the study, and Anthony watched as she went, thoughts spinning in his head. After a moment, he slumped back in his chair, shaking his head slightly to himself.

If his mother was going to talk to him like she did and try to force Daphne on the Duke, Anthony resolved not just to be the older brother. He would take hold of his responsibilities, stop seeing the opera singer, get his mother and the Duke off his back about his choices, and do what was necessary to secure a suitable match for both Daphne and Eleanor, and then the rest of his sisters in the years that followed. He would set out on this plan the very next day. First and most importantly, he would set up a new match for Daphne and definitively take Simon out of the picture.

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