Chapter 274: A chance [2]
Meanwhile, Zayne collapsed on a bed of flowers, his chest heaving from the escape he had made from Damien.
Zayne raised his right hand, pretending to wave a flag. "I give up. I can’t go on for much longer. I thought Eloise would have stopped us by now," he said, his voice trembling with exhaustion. "Do the ladies think I was running for fun?"
Damien stood over Zayne. He moved his left foot to nudge Zayne. "Get off the flowers. Those are the ones my wife likes."
Zayne attempted to roll onto his side, but his body felt heavy. "Just kick me hard enough for me to move. Wait!" he yelled, catching Damien ready to do just that. "I wasn’t serious."
"Don’t make suggestions if you aren’t serious about them. You need to train more. You’re tired too fast," Damien said, lowering himself beside Zayne. "If your uncle were to see you like this, he would lose his mind and force you to train."
"I’m going to need to get rid of him. Not kill him," Zayne added quickly, before Damien started to plan. "I mean, get him out of meddling in my life. He’s the one bringing all the marriage proposals to my parents and me. He needs to stop before all these proposals scare Iris."
"Before they scare the woman who doesn’t appear to have an interest in you? She must be concerned about her mother. Her home was not long burned, and already there is a man, her employer, asking for her hand out of the blue," Damien said, putting himself in Iris’s shoes.
"Why must you be so negative?" Zayne muttered, frustrated.
"I am trying to help you by pointing out her reality. If she’s anything like her cousin, she’ll spend her time worrying about her mother coming to find her. Then some debts must be paid off. It doesn’t seem like her brother will pay them," Damien said.
"Why should it fall on her to pay? Was she the one to seek the loans? I would ignore it all if I were her," Zayne said, sitting up.
"That is easier said than done when you aren’t the loyal daughter made to feel as though you owe your parents. She went against her family for Eloise’s sake, but I don’t believe she would fully abandon them."
Damien knew Iris was always going to care for her mother, which brought on concern about Agatha coming to the estate and Iris wanting to see her.
"I could pay off the debts for her," Zayne considered, his mind racing with possibilities. He had the money lying around to ease her of the burden.
"If you aren’t careful, you might end up with her feeling indebted to you. You want her to marry you because she loves you, not because she feels she must repay you. Settle the debts quietly and warn the men not to speak of it," Damien advised Zayne.
"You mustn’t speak a word of this to your wife. Women speak. Look at them both, trying not to be obvious with their stares as they whisper," Zayne said, catching Iris’s gaze lingering on him.
"I won’t tell Eloise. I hope you don’t pay off the debts, and if she rejects your advances, you turn around to ask her for the money. Make sure your intentions are pure," Damien said.
"Of course, they are pure. I want to help her so she won’t need to hide any longer. I suppose it would be right to make my advances clear right now. She laughed because she didn’t think I was serious, and I don’t blame her," Zayne admitted, recognising his faults. "I haven’t been serious so far."
"Then start to show her that side of you and court her. Act fast, since there might be someone ready to snatch her away. You’ll need to assure her that you don’t care about her status or the current state of her family. She will focus on these matters," Damien said, thinking of how Eloise would act.
"I will speak to her now," Zayne said, rising to his feet and brushing dirt from his pants. His heart pounded with nervous anticipation. "Wish me well."
"You owe me flowers," Damien muttered, eyeing the crushed flowers. "You’ve gotten too big."
"Damien, that is not what I want to hear at this time," Zayne said, his confidence faltering under his friend’s bluntness.
"Good luck not failing," Damien offered his encouragement. "Send my wife here to sit with me. She might enjoy the pathetic show."
Zayne turned to glare at him.
"I mean romantic show. All the words sound the same to me," Damien said, feigning an apologetic look. "Remember, don’t come off too strong."
Zayne turned away, holding onto some of Damien’s advice while letting the other go out his ear.
He approached where the women sat, forcing a smile that masked his nerves. "Lady Hawthorne, your husband requests your presence. I believe he might have destroyed some of your flowers."
Eloise caught the hint and excused herself gracefully.
"I saw you fall first. Are you certain you weren’t the one to crush the flowers?" Iris asked, suspicious. "You know he is going to expose you."
Zayne sat beside Iris. "He just might, but at the moment, he is distracted. I wanted to speak to you about what I said earlier. I was quite serious when I suggested the two of us marry, though I understand how sudden it was."
"You have proposals coming in from royals and noblemen’s daughters. You’d be a fool to turn them away just to ask for my hand. Are you toying with me?" Iris asked, shifting slightly on the bench. "Are you doing this because of my ties to Eloise? Is this a game for you?"
"No. This isn’t a game for me," Zayne promised. "I wouldn’t speak of marriage as a game, as it would reach my mother’s ears and get her too excited. I know that for the time I’ve known you, I’ve been drawn to you."
"I know how it looks, because I’ve teased you about being family, but I wouldn’t show interest in you simply because you’re Eloise’s cousin. Quite frankly, I haven’t thought of courting anyone until now," Zayne confessed.
"Well, that makes me feel better. I’ve missed out on many chances to marry this season, and I have a feeling that after this season, my chances will be lower. I will be open to letting you court me. But," Iris said, raising her hand to silence him before he interrupted her. "You mustn’t speak of marriage until the end of the season."
"There is much about each other we do not know, and it will give me time to settle my family troubles. I don’t want to have regrets," Iris said, recalling Eloise’s advice. "So, let us give it a try this season."