A Marriage Most Inconvenient (Inconvenient Matches Book #1)

Chapter 17: Ben

When he had accepted the invitation from his wife to attend the picnic, he had not been aware that they were headed to the beach. If he had known, he never would have come. The endless blue vista, water as far as the eye could see, and the peaceful slosh of waves over the sand would have been picturesque to just about anyone. To Benedict, it was a nightmare come to life. Every time a wave encroached closer than comfort, he felt the panic claw up his throat. It did not matter that the water was so shallow that Prudence was happily wading waist deep, his body too readily remembered the burn of the way the water had filled his lungs. As Prudence took a dip, her brown hair disappearing from view, Benedict nearly jolted out of his skin. His heart was in a gallop and it did not settle until she reemerged and Nick offered her applause.

'Regular old fish, Prudie is!' Nick laughed in delight as she dove beneath the water and appeared just a little further out to sea, unaware of the nausea roiling through his gut. Benedict decided to not look at the water or Prudence for the sake of his mental well-being.

'I can swim just as good!' Elizabeth informed Benedict primly, never willing to share the spotlight, least of all with Prudence. 'I just don't feel like it today!'

Minerva caught his eye and they shared a private smile.

She will be a handful. Her eyes said to him, dancing with laughter.

Likely all your influence. He offered his reply with a quirked eyebrow.

Unbidden, he thought of his friend, the Duke of Rutland, and his wife. The way the two always seemed to be aware of what the other was thinking, so attuned they were to each other. It was because they were soulmates, his friend claimed and Ben had ridiculed him for hours at the sentimental horseshite. Now, he was even more vindicated in his belief that all of this romantic claptrap was nonsense men fed themselves to justify how their women wrapped them around their fingers, because who on earth could ever believe he and Minerva were 'soulmates.'

Ridiculous.

Clearly, being attuned to another's thoughts was an unspoken byproduct of marriage. Yes, this was just married...things. And as for the fact that he had stepped between her and a charging madman? Well, he had done what had been expected of him. He couldn't have let his wife get assaulted while he stood by idly, now could he? No, as her husband it was his duty to protect her. Never mind that he had moved on pure instinct, just aware of a bone-deep need to protect what was his. Which was, of course, ridiculous. She was her own woman, and he had the least amount of claim upon her. They were married in name only. Exactly as he had wanted it.

'Will you help us make a sand castle?' One of the boys asked, extending a bucket toward him.

'I do not know how to build a sand castle.' Benedict admitted with a frown as three pairs of disbelieving eyes bored into him. Again, he was at a loss for how to interact with children. Most people of his class usually delegated the child care to the staff, interacting with them only once or twice a day. As a child, he and his siblings were invited to tea with their mother every other afternoon, and if she ever decided to go traveling, they could have spent weeks without a glimpse of her. He had never questioned it. It was just the way of things. But he could not deny the obvious joy his wife brought to these children when she listened to them and joked with them. The ease with which they spoke to her was so unlike the 'do not speak until spoken to' attitude that had been instilled in him in his boyhood.

'What?' Gasped Elizabeth. 'Surely you've made one as a child?!'

His mother would have had a fit if she could see the impertinence with which this child spoke to him. But then again, his mother was a joyless, miserable creature that begrudged everyone even a sliver of happiness.