INHALE. STROKE. STROKE. Inhale. Stroke. Stroke. I sliced through the cold water as I felt the muscles in my arms start to protest. I’d finished my workout a few minutes earlier, but I kept swimming. It was the best kind of burn, the slow-spreading reminder of how close I was to competing in another Olympic games. I kicked hard, touched the wall, and sprang up out of the water to check the timer. I’d finished half a second faster than my last circuit.
“Good work, Archibald,” Coach yelled from across the pool.
I pulled myself out and shook off water like a mangy mutt.
“Think you could manage a break?” Thom asked. “Your arms will fall off before the games have even started.” He threw my towel at me and I reached out to catch it before it landed in the pool. He’d already showered and changed, which meant I’d stayed in the pool even longer than I’d assumed.
I shrugged. “Feels good. I haven’t had that good of a go since arriving.”
“Yeah, well you’re already crushing my time, and I’m the fastest bloody swimmer in the world. I think you could manage a breather every now and again.”
I wrapped the towel around my neck and walked to my bag so I could check my mobile. There was a text from Georgie waiting for me.
Georgie: Mum tried to phone you this morning, but I hid the charger for her cell. She was stomping around and having a fit. She’ll never find it in Chester’s litter box. I hid her hideous canary red lipstick there the other day as well. The woman should thank me—she looked like a cherry tart.
I smiled and typed back a reply.
Freddie: I owe you one.
“What are you doing now?” Thom asked. “Off to the gym?”
I shook my head and tossed my mobile back onto my bag.
“I actually have plans.”
“What? Who with?”
I shrugged. “No one.”
My mobile buzzed in my bag again and I reached for it as a way out. “Actually, I’ve got to handle this straightaway.”
I made it seem like an important email, but it was just Georgie texting me back. It worked though; Thom wandered off and I shouted that I’d see him back at the flat. I knew he’d interrogate me later, but I could work up a proper excuse by then.
Georgie: Oh no. Mum found the lippie.
Georgie: AND SHE PUT IT ON. You should have seen the look Chester gave her.
Georgie: Also she found her charger. Prepare yourself…I think I hear her trying to ring you from the front room.
She wasn’t lying. I’d barely closed Georgie’s text when my mum’s call popped up on my screen. Bloody hell. I had to answer it. It was better to get it over with. Besides, Andie wasn’t due for another few minutes and all the swimmers had left the natatorium. I was alone with time to kill, so I swiped my finger across the screen, took a breath, and answered.
“Hello Mum.”
“Frederick!”
She and Caroline were the only people who ever called me by my full name. I despised it. Henry had been named after my father, which left me to inherit a moniker from my great uncle, a stuffy bloke with red cheeks and a belly so round I used to wonder how he fit into the chairs in our dining room. He’d moan on about etiquette and the ‘old ways of British aristocracy’ any chance he got. In other words, he was a real bore and someone I hoped to never become.
“I’m thrilled to have caught you. Are you busy at practice?”
I wrapped my towel around my waist and took a seat on the bench.
“No, I’ve got a few minutes. How are things in London?”
She sighed heavily as though I’d just asked her to open up during a therapy session. “Dreadful. I’ve got Georgie driving me mad, but you know how hard it is to stay cross with her.”
I smiled. “Nearly impossible.”
“Precisely. And well, I’ve already begun planning the winter ball here at the estate. Of course with your upcoming engagement, it needs to be more lavish than ever before. I’m thinking of bringing on a party planner to help with everything.”
My chest tightened.
“Right.”
“It’s a significant event, Frederick. When Henry passed so soon after your father, I wasn’t sure how we’d manage. Whether you like the title or not, you must bear it. You are the Duke of Farlington and your marriage to Caroline is just what this family needs. She’s been reared for this since childhood and she’ll make a wonderful duchess one day. She’s familiar with running an estate and her family is so close to ours. It couldn’t be a more perfect union.”
I leaned back against the wall and stared up at the ceiling, listening to her go on.
“And speaking of Caroline…I know you’re busy with your races, so I’ve asked her to accompany Georgie to Rio, to make things easier on you.”
I sat forward with a start. “What do you mean? You’ve invited Caroline to Rio?”
“Georgie’s only eighteen. She needs a chaperone, and it’s not as if you’ve got the time. I would go myself, but I have too much to do here.”