Page 40 of Lady Beast's Bridegroom
It was probably just as well. Peter would not have been able to contain his wrath, and Arial would have been displeased. The man had only postponed his punishment. An example had to be made, so the whole world knew the dangers of insulting Lady Ransome.
Chapter Seventeen
The following day,Peter made certain that Arial was fully occupied dictating replies to correspondence from her investment managers. She was going to be busy all morning, she said, when he’d asked what she had planned for the day. He did not want her going anywhere without him, though he sensed she would take exception if he made that an order.
When she said she planned a couple of afternoon calls, he offered himself as escort, and was relieved when she agreed. Nonetheless, when he left home on his own errand, he worried that she might set out on an unplanned excursion and meet with further insult.
It irritated him that she would not be guided by him and retire to the country until all of this nonsense blew over. Why didn’t she understand that he only wanted to protect her?
John was waiting for him at their club. “Are you going to call him out?”
“I promised Arial I would not do so. Did you find out where he spends his time?”
“My valet spoke to his, and I managed to talk to a couple of his friends,” John said. “He is a late riser, so he will be at his townhouse, probably having breakfast, if you want to deal with the pond scum in private.”
Privacy didn’t suit Peter’s plan at all. “I want somewhere with an audience of gentlemen, the more the better,” he told John.
John rattled off the places that Frankton was likely to be during the remainder of the day.
“Tattersalls will suit,” Peter said. “Just to be certain we have reputable witnesses, John, who do you know that might like to come and look at horses with us?”
They invited several other club members, and John decided to see if he could bring Deerhaven. “No one is more reputable than my brother the marquess.”
They agreed to meet at Tattersalls an hour after midday, and Peter headed home to make sure Arial was still there and was safe.
He was at Tattersalls at the appointed hour and found a dozen men waiting for him—a mix of officers and peers, all men of honor.
“Here he comes,” John warned.
Peter kept out of sight in the crowd, waiting for Frankton and a couple of his friends to pass them so there was no way the villain could exit the horse yard without going through Peter.
“Frankton!” he called.
Frankton turned in his tracks, paled, and then sneered. “Look, gentlemen,” he said to his friends. “Lady Beast’s lapdog.”
Peter cast a glance at his friends and gestured towards Frankton. “Look. It is a worm, pretending to be a gentleman.” He examined Frankton from head to toe and back again and curled his lip. “No. Worms are useful creatures. Let us say, rather, a cowardly cattle tick. And what do we do to cattle ticks, gentlemen?”
Frankton paled, then flushed. He puffed out his chest and demanded, “You shall meet me for that insult, Ransome.”
Peter returned sneer for sneer, with interest. “I would not demean myself by meeting you, Frankton. You are not a gentleman.”
“How dare you!” Frankton shrieked, putting up his fists and beginning to dance from foot to foot.
Peter spoke over him to the men around him. “I ask you, gentlemen. What manner of man invites a lady to dance so that he can whisper unspeakably corrupt lewdness to her? If he does that to a married lady whose husband is a seasoned army officer, and well able to protect her, can he be trusted with any lady ever again?”
Frankton was sputtering, but Peter called out two of the men he knew by sight, because they had been escorting their sisters to some of the events Peter had attended with Arial. “Wilson? Becksnaith? Do not let him near your sisters. I won’t repeat what he said to Lady Ransome, but if he can act with such disrespect to the daughter of an earl and the wife of a viscount… Well, I leave it your imagination how little respect he will show to ladies such as your sisters.”
“No!” Frankton protested. “I wouldn’t! Not a true lady! But Stancroft is her cousin, and he says she is a monster. And Ransome’s own mother agrees! Ransome is the one showing disrespect, carting that hideous bitch into decent homes and pretending she is a lady.”
He found himself dangling by his cravat from Peter’s fist. Peter’s voice was a low growl. “I strongly suggest you do not insult my wife again, Tick.”
He shook the man once more for good measure and dropped him to cough and splutter his way to a full breath.
“Bad form, Frankton,” Becksnaith said. “Come on, Wilson. The air stinks around here.” They left, taking another couple of Frankton’s erstwhile companions with them, so that only one remained.
Peter stirred Frankton with his foot. “You have been listening to the wrong people, Tick. Stancroft is a leech who resents his cousin because she was a better steward of the earldom than hewill ever be. My stepmother… well, I will not sully my tongue with insults to a lady.”
Frankton made to get up but froze when Peter stretched out his hands as if yearning to strangle the man. Which was no more than the truth.
