Ada & The French (The Woodhouse Series #2)

Chapter 6

CHAPTER 6

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*Versailles/Paris, France*

A loud cheer came from the room as Theodore entered the Gentlemen's Club. 

"Dr Theodore Woodhouse!" Charles Chlomendley, Viscount Malpas cheered as he came up to Theodore, greeting him with a smack on his back, and still holding a glass of wine.

Charles was one of the newest friends of the group. Having spent his formative years in India - where his father was the aide-de-camp of the Viceroy - he moved to England at 14, to attend Eton College, moving in next to Theodore. The two clashed while Theodore studied, and Charles partied but over time developed a mutual respect and understanding for each other. Stationed in Malta in the Royal Navy after a few years in India and the Caribbean, Charles's reputation as a 'party hard philanderer' had reached England - but the truth was very different. While most men found him obnoxious and women found him fascinating, around the men in the room with him, he was a different person.

"Teddy Boy..." Charles teased Theodore with his Etonian nickname (one that he hated himself). "We have much to discuss!"

Theodore's attention shifted to the man who was sitting with Ambrose and he smiled, greeting him with a hug. "Rupert, my friend!"

Lord Rupert Paulet, the youngest son of the Marquess of Winchester, lived a very...different life from his friends. His family was businessmen and politicians but Rupert was not interested in corporate life. He arrived at Eton at 13, befriending Ambrose, then Theodore and then Charles. He started painting when he was young, landscape and still life, but then joined the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and began becoming more daring in his artwork, painting women, legends and Bible reenactments as well as commissioned portraits. His muse, Lucrezia Bianchi, arrived from Italy years ago. She posed for his paintings and he taught her to paint, the two becoming lovers - much to the chagrin of the Paulet family. They only married to keep Lucrezia in England and lived a very bohemian life in the Oxfordshire countryside.

"How's Lucrezia?" Theodore asked Rupert.

"As divine as ever..." He said, still smitten by his wife three years later. Even the men could accept and acknowledge that Lucrezia Bianchi Paulet was a goddess.

And finally, Ambrose Lisle -Twickenham. Theodore and he were inseparable from the day they met and went through every big life moment together. A lawyer at the Crown Prosecutions Office, his family were not titled but had made their fortunes in mines in the UK. They owned a few homes across the country, but they were based in Wiltshire. Engaged to the delightful Emily Dickens, Theodore was glad his greatest and dearest friend in the world was settling down and happy.

"The gang's back together again!" Charles cheered as wine was handed to Theodore and they gave a toast.

"To these friendships...may they never die!"

Their glasses clinked together as they settled into their armchairs, a waiter bringing some hors d'oeuvres over.

"So...we come together to celebrate a good man who has fallen..." Charles gestured to Ambrose who frowned.

"I'm not dying..." Ambrose pointed out as Charles scoffed.

"Yes, but you are getting married and it is sort of the same thing..."

The group chuckled as Theodore turned his attention to Charles. "Didn't your father tell you to marry if you want to inherit the Marquisate?"

"My father tells me a lot of things - does not mean I have to listen."