Simply Scandalous Page 31

  "I don't take snuff," she said coldly. "I think snuff is disgusting. And you had no right to invite him to my wedding. Indeed, I don't recall inviting you to my wedding."

  Chuckling, Horatio tossed the enameled box into the air and caught it. "I hardly think I need to be invited to my own wedding, Juliet! I had the opportunity to offer the civility to my sovereign, and I did so very creditably, and, I might add, in a manner highly flattering to yourself."

  "You are quite mistaken if you think you do not need to be invited to your own wedding, sir!" Juliet snapped. "If the bride don't ask you to put in an appearance, then it ain't very likely that the wedding will proceed, is it? Not your wedding anyway."

  "That is just the sort of clever repartee that appeals to His Highness!" said Horatio, opening and closing the lid of his treasure. "That baronetcy is as good as ours."

  "No," said Juliet, rising from the bench and taking up her hat. "That snuff box is as good as yours." With her head high, she began walking back toward the house, leaving the deep shade of the spreading oak.

  "That is very handsome of you, my dear," Horatio said, falling into step with her. "I confess I was loath to let it leave my possession. I was with His Highness as he was passing the little table where it was among many other fine ornaments when he suddenly picked it up and gave it to me, with an expression of the most earnest desire that I present it to my future wife. My hand, Juliet-my hand actually trembled as he gave it to me. I was actually touched physically touchedby His Royal Highness. This little box passed from his hand to my hand with no intermediary."

  Juliet tossed him a contemptuous glance, which he misunderstood.

  "You are amazed. So was I! People remarked at the time the splendid condescension His Royal Highness showed me on that occasion, and more than one fellow cast me a jealous glance, I can tell you. I will keep this little snuff box, Cousin, as much as a reminder of your regard as of His Highness's, for he really meant you to have it."

  "No," said Juliet, summoning a reserve of patience, "he meant it for your future wife. Decidedly not me." She stopped and gently closed his fingers over the box. "You must save the box, Horatio; treasure it up, along with the Regent's best wishes, until you have met her."

  He frowned, and she thought with a glimmer of hope that her refusal had begun to impress itself on his stubborn arrogance, but she was mistaken. "I say, Juliet, did you hear something?"

  "I was speaking just now," she said tartly. "Perhaps you heard me?"

  "No, that's not it. There it is again! Hark!"

  "Crickets," said Juliet crossly. Then she heard itthe faint, distant scream of a woman.

  "Someone is in trouble!" Horatio pointed to the other side of the lake. Juliet squinted, but the sun dazzled on the water and made it impossible for her to make out anything on that side of the lake. "A woman! I think she is drowning." Hastily, he pulled out his handkerchief and wrapped the little green snuffbox in it before placing it in her hand. Then he removed his coat and dove into the lake.

  Juliet ran along the bank, past the rustic bench and the overspreading oak tree, through a little woodland plantation, and over a manmade hill covered in primroses. From there, she could see Horatio swimming across the lake in firm, even strokes, but the trees overhanging the lake obscured her view of his destination. She ran down the hill, almost tumbling head over ears, and arrived out of breath in time to see two figures, one male and one female, wringing wet and intertwined, resting on the bank. The man was actually crouched over the woman, who was lying flat on her back, her pale muslin dress clinging provocatively to her body. Various articles of clothing were strewn in the vicinity, including, she noted automatically, the lady's hat and slippers and the gentleman's coat.

  "Thank you, my lord," gasped Serena Calverstock. "I thank you with all my heart! I am in your debt! Indeed, I do not know how to thank you." In tears, she clung to her rescuer's neck.

  "My dear girl," said Swale, picking up his coat from the grass. "Wrap up in this. You will catch cold. Shall I carry you up to the house?"

  His voice was full of tender concern. He had not yet observed Juliet standing just a few feet away in the shade of a tree, and he remained oblivious, likewise, of Horatio's approach.

  "Captain Cary!" Serena saw Horatio first as he emerged from the shallow water, and she sprang to her feet, pulling Swale's coat around her.

  Horatio stared at her, water dripping from his hair into his eyes. "Madam," he said stiffly, offering a curt bow. "May I congratulate you on your conquest? You have made fully as handsome a match as your own sister. You need not now envy her so much."

  "You!" said Swale, turning on him. 'Where is Julie?"

  "My future wife is none of your concern," Horatio replied coldly, coming out of the water and striding past Serena, who was shivering violently. "It seems to me you have your hands full with her ladyship! I wish you joy of her, my lord. You are exceedingly well-matched. "

  "How can you say such a thing?" cried Serena.

  "The man's a silly ass," said Swale. "He thinks he's engaged to Miss Wayborn."

  "I am engaged to Miss Wayborn," said Horatio. "Who's the silly ass now?"

  "Still you," snorted Swale.

  "Very sensibly, Miss Wayborn refused your lordship in Hertfordshire," said Horatio. "But I see you have allowed Serena to console you. You must know you have compromised her ladyship beyond anything. But then, that seems to be your chosen method of getting a wife."

  "Should I have allowed her to drown?" Swale asked.

  "I saw you lying on top of her with all your parts lined up with her parts, my lord. Lord Redfylde, I promise you, will not be as forgiving as Sir Benedict Wayborn. You will marry Lady Serena whether you wish to or not!"

  Juliet sat down under the tree and took a deep breath. She hadn't the least idea what to do. It was all so horribly tangled. The announcement of Swale's engagement to Serena had already been printed in the Post, and now this! It would be exceedingly difficult for Ginger to get out of marrying Serena now. And after observing him with the lady, she could not be certain he wished to get out of it!

  It would be so much simpler for him to marry Serena, thus foregoing the doubtful joys of being sued for breach of promise and being forced to elope and live in Canada or Ireland like the meanest criminal. He could not possibly love her that much.

  "I cannot possibly marry Serena," said Swale. "I am engaged to Julie. Why in hell's name would I want to marry a woman who can't even walk upright? Do you think I wish to spend the rest of my life picking up things that have fallen off my wife? Shoes and hats and whatnot? Or fishing her out of lakes into which she has fallen? No, thank you."

  Serena sat down hard on the ground and began to cry.

  "You cannot be engaged to Miss Wayborn, my lord," said Horatio. "I have just told you that I am engaged to her."

  "No!" cried Serena, startling everyone. "You cannot marry her! I forbid it!"

  Horatio ignored her, and Serena dissolved again into tears. "There you are, Juliet!" he called to his cousin anxiously. "Do you have the snuff box? Is it quite safe?" He ran up to her and snatched it from her hand. "Here is my proof," he told Swale, unwrapping his treasure. "A wedding gift from His Royal Highness the Prince Regent!"

  Swale regarded Juliet with his brows drawn together. "Is this true, Juliet?"

  "You can't marry him, Miss Wayborn!" cried Serena at the same moment, lifting her tearstained face. "He is engaged to me!"

  "Do you think I don't know that?" Juliet shouted, dearly wanting to scratch out the other woman's eyes. She could not help but observe that Serena's vulnerability had only enhanced her beauty. With her dark hair clinging to her cheeks, her enormous violet eyes filled with tears, and her muslin dress plastered to her pretty figure, she looked like an artist's conception of a water nymph.

  "Please, I beg of you, don't take him from me," wept Serena on her knees with her hands clasped. "Miss Wayborn, my fate-my whole life-is in your hands! "

  "Oh, stop c
rying, you silly peagoose!" Juliet snapped. "You've won. The whole world knows he is engaged to you! There is nothing I can do now. Congratulations on your victory!"

  "I am no longer engaged to this woman," Horatio said coldly. "My dear Juliet, there is not a shred of truth in what she is saying. Pray, don't allow her to distress you with this unseemly display of emotions."

  Juliet's mouth fell open. She, of course, had supposed Serena to be speaking of her engagement to Lord Swale. 'What do you mean you are no longer engaged to her?" she demanded of Horatio. "When were you engaged to her? I never saw an item in the newspaper. Benedict certainly would have called it to my attention!"

  "Pity me, Miss Wayborn," said Serena. "I have been secretly engaged to your cousin these seven years while he was away fighting."

  "Good God," said Swale, recoiling in disgust. "Secret engagements as far as the eye can see! Does no one remember what happened to Chuck and Macbeth? Heads on poles, by God!"

  "It was a foolish promise," said Horatio, quickly seizingJuliet's hands. "She released me from it six months ago. For that deliverance, I am sincerely grateful."

  "You so clearly wanted to be released!" wailed Serena. "Seven years I waited for you, not knowing if you would ever come back to me. And when you did, all you could think of was that wretched cow byre in Hertfordshire! You're too cruel, Horatio!"

  "Sir Horatio," he corrected her.

  "Good God," Swale muttered again, turning a little away from this sordid scene.

  "Tanglewood ought to have been left to me," said Horatio. "Cary has run it into the ground. Naturally, I felt it was my duty to rescue the old place."

  "He wanted to buy it, Miss Wayborn," said Serena, wiping her eyes. "I told him I could never live among the hayseeds of Hertfordshire. I wanted an establishment in London, a home of my own, not some moldy old Elizabethan pile! We quarreled. Your brother told him he would only sell Tanglewood to Horatio if he married you. I told Horatio to go ahead and do it-marry you-but I never thought he would! " She covered her face with her hands and sank to the ground, weeping.

  Swale surreptitiously passed her a handkerchief.

  "Is this true, Horatio?" Juliet demanded. "Were you prepared to marry me simply to get your paws on Tanglewood?"

  "It ought to have been left to me," he said stubbornly. "My grandmother promised it to me."

  "She also promised it to me on more than one occasion," said Juliet, "but when she died and we opened her will, we discovered she had left it to my brother. It was hers to dispose of as she pleased."

  "I don't dispute that," he said. "But Cary had let it go to rack and ruin. My parents live in that neighborhood. It reflected badly on all of us. I was willing to marry you and purchase the property for the handy sum of ten thousand pounds."

  "Which just happens to be the amount of my dowry! "

  "Well, something had to be done." He glared at Serena. "Are you pleased with yourself, madam? You cannot be happy, so you attempt to make everyone else miserable! `Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned!

  Serena choked. "I do not deny my present misery. I am miserable indeed. But hear me out, Miss Wayborn-"

  "Miss Wayborn cannot possibly be interested in the demented ravings of a lunatic!"

  "For this, I waited seven years. Seven years! This is how you repay my devotion!"

  "May I remind you, madam, you released me. Indeed, you were kind enough to release me from that obligation into which I foolishly entered seven years ago and which has become so decidedly repugnant to us both. For that, I thank you."

  "I was angry, Miss Wayborn," said Serena, struggling to keep her voice steady. "I was jealous of you. I told Horatio I would marry Mr. Wayborn myself and become mistress of Tanglewood. And you see the result."

  "The result is this display of madness," scoffed Horatio, his disgust for his former love evident in every syllable. "You did your best to seduce Mr. Wayborn, didn't you? Only Miss Wayborn saw through you and put a stop to your sordid plan."

  "Hateful man! " cried Serena. "He was responsible for the attack on your brother, Miss Wayborn!

  Juliet stared at her, shocked to the very core of her being.

  "You accuse me?" Horatio's lip curled.

  "He was jealous," Serena continued tearfully. "He wanted Mr. Wayborn out of the way."

  "Is this true, Horatio?" Juliet asked, pale-faced.

  "You cannot possibly believe this nonsense," Horatio cried, horrified. "The woman is clearly out of her senses. You know I am incapable of acting with dishonor."

  "I don't call a seven-year secret engagement precisely honorable," said Juliet.

  Horatio attempted to explain. "Lord Redfylde was my patron. He would scarcely have rejoiced in his sister-in-law's engagement to a penniless lieutenant, which I was then. I was forced into secrecy."

  Juliet looked at him intently. "Do you swear you had nothing to do with the attack on my brother? Swear to me now, Horatio, or I shall never speak to you again."

  "Certainly I swear," said Horatio. "It is all the absurd fantasy of a demented young woman. I? Employ criminals to harm my own cousin? For the sake of a woman whom I no longer admire?"

  "Did you ever love me?" Serena wanted to know. "Horry?"

  "Horry! " exclaimed Swale and Juliet at once.

  Horatio looked at Serena's tear-stained face contemptuously. "It is difficult to believe I ever did love you, madam," he said coolly. "You are making a disgusting display of yourself, you know. I thought you had more pride, more conduct."

  "How could you be so cruel! " Juliet rebuked him.

  He blinked at her in astonishment. "My dear cousin, you cannot possibly believe her ridiculous assertions! Upon my honor, I am blameless! Your brother's attack had nothing to do with me."

  "I meant how could you be so cruel to Serena," Juliet replied ferociously, walking over to the lady and wrapping her own shawl around Serena's shaking shoulders. "How could you treat her so?"

  Horatio gaped at her. "It was she who was cruel to me! She broke the engagement in a fit of pique because I said I did not want to live in London! She broke my heart. You-you have mended it, dear Juliet. Do not regard her in the least. I don't."

  "That is what I mean, Horry," said Juliet coldly. "You once loved her, but now you do not regard her in the least! As for your word of honor ... I do not know that I believe you. Perhaps you did want my brother out of the way. I know you were angry that he inherited Tanglewood, and you did not! "

  Horatio turned white.

  Swale's conscience prompted him to speak in Horatio's defense. "As to that, Julie," he said with a cough of embarrassment, "I have information clearing your cousin completely of the deed. Cary has received a letter from Stacy Calverstock. He confesses to everything, and he has fled England forever."

  "Stacy!" Juliet shook her head in disbelief.

  "You might have spoken on my behalf sooner, my lord," sniffed Horatio.

  "You're not my favorite person at the moment," Swale told him bluntly.

  "My cousin would never do such a thing," cried Serena. "Mr. Wayborn is his particular friend."

  "Then ... Redfylde was innocent all along?"Juliet asked Swale.

  Swale snorted. "Hardly! His lordship entered into a scheme with Calverstock. He placed his bet against Cary in the full knowledge that Cary would be forfeiting the race."

  "Good God! I must thank you again, madam, for releasing me," Horatio told Serena, suppressing a shudder. "I would not care to have my name associated with that of Calverstock. I don't even care to have my name associated with Lord Redfylde after what I have just heard!"

  "That is ungrateful, Horatio," Serena gasped. "If it were not for my brother-in-law's patronage, you would still be a lieutenant and very far from a command of your own.

  Juliet was aghast. "Abominable crime! Cary must be devastated. "

  "When he learns we are to be married, my dear Juliet," Horatio said quickly, "he will be consoled. The fate of Tanglewood must weigh heavily on his mind. We can reas
sure him on that score, at least." He took her arm, attempting to detach her from Serena. "Let us return to the house now. Lord Swale will look after Lady Serena."

  Swale scowled. "I told you, Gary ... I'm engaged to Julie. I will escort the ladies to the house, and you will quit the neighborhood"'

  "I asked Miss Wayborn to marry me three days ago," Horatio argued. "I believe that gives me the prior claim. And I am properly addressed as Sir Horatio!"

  `Juliet, is this true?" Swale's face was black with fury.

  "No, I believe he is properly addressed as Cad!" she retorted.

  "I say!" Horatio protested, but Swale drowned him out.

  "Have you been engaged to this pompous ass for three days? Three days, Juliet? I need hardly remind you of certain events that have taken place in the last two days!"

  "How dare you!" said Juliet, turning bright pink.

  `Juliet, I am growing angry," he told her. "Either you tell this insolent puppy that you are engaged to me, or I shall let slip the dogs of war!"

  Horatio drew himself up to his full height. "If you persist in insulting my betrothed with your bizarre and unwelcome claims, honor will force me to issue a challenge! "

  "Do you think I would gratify your pretensions to rank and gentility by condescending to shoot you?" Swale replied contemptuously. "You are the sort of thing I scrape off my boot, sir. I am the Marquess of Swale, you a mere cypher."

  "I am a knight of the Order of the Garter," said Horatio furiously. "I hold the rank of Captain in His Majesty's Navy."

  "Piffle ! "

  "I consider you to have been used very ill by both these disreputable characters," Juliet told Serena, turning away. "You had better come to the house with me and get into some dry clothes, my dear."

  "Disreputable?" Horatio was bewildered. "What have I done? Juliet? Juliet!" he called after her. "What about the Prince Regent? What about the snuff box? What about the pretty little racehorse?"