Coal Among Diamonds │Benedict Bridgerton

Chapter Twenty-Four: Benedict Comes to a Decision [Part One]

✦ Author's note ✦

Dearest Readers,

I apologise for the lack of updates, life and work have been quite busy. However, I have finally got around to writing the next chapter and I am happy to share it with you. Some of you requested a Benedict POV, so here you go, in the next two chapters, we'll get into our beloved and favourite Bridgerton brother's head. Thank you, Kayla, for being my editor, your insights are always invaluable.

Enjoy,

L.H.

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Benedict had always known he wanted to get married. Most men, of course, knew that they had to get married and a great majority of them eventually reached the point where they wanted to do so on their own volition and not because of the constant nagging of their mothers, something Benedict was closely familiar with. But he knew, ever since he was just in leading strings, that he wanted to find a life partner and settle down with, preferably in the countryside, separate from his family. He would visit, of course, but he wanted to live his own life in peace and quiet, away from the meddlesome ton, scrutinising gazes and constant social pressure of the city. He wanted to find a wife he would cherish and, in exchange, she would adore him to bits, and a few children who would look up to him for any mediocre achievement. He did not have strong preferences for a woman, although he has always been partial to long, silky blonde hair and small, petite women whom he could encompass in his embrace. He has never been blind to beauty and luckily he could find something he liked in almost any woman, a slender waist, a freckled face, a shy smile, rosy cheeks coloured by blush. He absolutely loved when women blushed and more importantly when he was the cause of it. And what he enjoyed the most was when women took pleasure in his company, when they melted under his touch, trembled with anticipation for his kiss, and whispered his name in pleasure. He enjoyed the effect he had on women and he rarely had any trouble finding willing participants to satisfy his needs.

But unlike his brothers, he wanted to settle down. Anthony was a rake, quite an infamous one, there was no shame in speaking the truth. He had introduced Benedict to brothels on his eighteenth birthday and he was a frequent and well-liked visitor of them. He constantly had a mistress, sometimes even more than one, and he, ever more so than Benedict, was always popular with the ladies. But at the end of the day, Anthony was very well aware that as head of the family it was his duty to sire an heir. Therefore, the day would come when he needed to find himself a viscountess and start his own family. For now, Anthony was doing his best to delay the inevitable and was falling head over heels in love with the opera singer Sienna Rosso. And he probably hadn't the faintest idea. Benedict knew his brother better than anyone else and he was sure that there was yet hope for him, but it would take one incredible woman to twist his stubborn head and knock some sense to it. Good luck to anyone who would attempt to try it.

Then there was Colin who could enjoy a few more years of escape from the attention of their mother. Benedict wasn't privy to Colin's affairs with women. It was quite certain, however, that Colin was constantly running away from any kind of responsibility under the excuse of his adventures. Surely, travelling had its appeal and Colin truly seemed to be invigorated every time he returned from abroad, but he never courted any young lady with serious intentions, even if he courted more of them than Benedict and Anthony put together. If Anthony had the reputation of being a rake, Benedict of being mysterious, Colin was surely the charmer of the Bridgerton brothers, the golden boy, mamas' and debutantes' favourite and the addressee of many heartfelt but never sent love letters. Whereas their mother's attention was focused on Daphne for the Season, she found the time to make subtle and not so subtle comments about her sons' lack of marital status.