Page 12 of A Kiss Gone Wylde
Benny tried not to fumble it, though her fingers were strangely numb as she removed the delicate piece of jewelry from the box. Then she removed the signet ring he’d placed on her hand the night before, slipping the other ring on in its place. It fit perfectly. “It will not need to be sized. It’s a perfect fit… and I do not think I’ve ever seen a lovelier ring.” It was true. The piece was lovely, even if she felt weighed down by the significance of it.
He reached over then. taking her hand in his, lifting it to inspect the ring as it rested at the base of her third finger. “It suits you. I think we should have the banns read this Sunday and next, then marry the following Sunday if that is agreeable.”
“Yes, I suppose it is. I suppose it has to be,” she said.
“I will need to speak to your father about the marriage contracts.”
Benny realized he was not even talking to her. Rather, he was simply going over the list of things he had to do.
“Aunt Marguerite sent him a letter this morning. I’m certain that he and mother will be descending on us as soon as they can possibly get here… much to my eternal misery.”
He did glance at her then. “You are at odds with your parents?”
“No. Not at odds. But my father will bluster and rant. My mother will weep and faint. I daresay the number of swoons she will suffer is greater than all of our ages combined.”
“So you are not like either of them… well, perhaps a bit like your father,” he observed.
And sometimes, he said things like that.Funny. Insightful. Caustic but not necessarily mean. In those instances, Benny thought she could like him a little.
Benny’s lips pursed in an effort not to laugh. “Perhaps a bit.”
They fell into silence then. Neither of them speaking. The only sound in the room was the clock ticking on the mantel. But it wasn’t uncomfortable to sit in silence, not at first. And when it was no longer comfortable, it wasn’t necessarily unpleasant. Rather, it was a kind of awareness, a tension that settled between them that Benny didn’t truly understand, but had some suspicion of what it signified.
When the door opened and her aunt appeared, they both breathed a sigh of relief.
“We should go on to the park for our promenade… if you are ready,” she suggested.
“Miss Wylde, are you ready to face the jackals?” Payne rose and straightened his already pristine waistcoat. It was a nervous gesture, she thought.
“Jackals? Will it be so bad as that?”
He shrugged. “Worse honestly, but perhaps I will be proven wrong.”
Benny rose and he offered her his arm which she gladly accepted.
“We are quite ready, Lady Marguerite,” he agreed readily, getting to his feet. “Miss Wylde?”
6
The promenade was a disaster. No one could ever be ready forthat. As they strolled along the Serpentine in Hyde Park, the day unseasonably warm for so late in the year, all eyes were on them. It was a first for Payne—to be at the true center of a scandal. When Anne had died, he’d been on the continent. Their understanding had been well known to one and all, as was the fact that the matter had not been officially settled. Upon his return, he’d been the object of both pity and speculation—but in a much more subdued manner. After all, he’d been gone for an entire year on hisGrand Tour. No one suspected, given his long absence, that the child Anne had borne belonged to him, thus sparing him the censure of others.
Most people, and he was fairly certain of it because some had even said so to his face, felt he was lucky. That somehow he’d avoided some terrible fate in not marrying her because Anne had been untrue and had carried another man’s child. No one ever stopped to consider that it might not been her choice. That what had occurred had been more an act of brutality than an act of betrayal. Even had it been a betrayal, she would not have deserved the fate that she ultimately suffered.
An elbow caught him in the side and he glanced over to see Lady Marguerite smiling at him in such a way that it bared her teeth rather viciously. “We cannot afford to have you lost in morose thoughts with so many eyes upon us, Lord Davenport. Your expression was positively glum.”
The admonishment delivered and accepted, he nodded. Smiling at her. “Of course, I was just thinking of a business matter,” he lied. “Complicated puzzle with some issues at my country estate.”
“You should tell Benedicta about your estate. Ashwood Hall is it not?” Lady Marguerite offered. It was clearly more an order than a suggestion.
Chastened, Payne turned to Benedicta. “Have I been neglecting you so terribly during our promenade?”
“I do not think so, but I can hardly be counted as an authority on how one ought to behave. If I were, we would not be in this situation,” she said rather grimly but forced a weak and very unconvincing smile toward her aunt.
“I do not think that is true. I think you know perfectly well how one ought to behave,” he mused. “And just like I have done on many occasions, you chose to ignore it.”
It was that fact which really resonated with him. She had left her house and gone to a public place with no intention of doing anything more scandalous than that. Yet, that one act had turned her life upside down. And why? Because she was a woman. He’d reacted with typical male disdain to everything she had said in her own defense the night before, and now his conscience pricked at that. The world ought to be safe enough for a woman to go when and where she pleased with no threat of being accosted.
Benedicta continued to stare straight ahead, a pale imitation of a smile curving her lips. People were walking past them, tittering behind their fans and parasols. Some didn’t even bother to try and hide the fact that they were whispering about them. “It isn’t as if I make a habit of ignoring the rules of common decency and good behavior! I’ve never even stirred a whiff of scandal before,” she protested. “I have always followed the rules. For twenty-six years I followed them religiously. All I have to show for it is a drawer full of empty dance cards and the unfortunate nickname, along with my cousins and sister, of the Wylde Wallflowers.”
