Page 5 of Making of a Scandal
A muscle in his jaw ticked, and he leveled a determined glare at Ben. “It isn’t too late. There’s still a chance.”
“Don’t be a fool, Nick.”
Dominick took hold of his shoulders. “Ihaveto try, or I’ll regret it every day for the rest of my life. Can’t you stop being such a cold bastard for one minute and put yourself in my place?”
Benedict’s knuckles cracked as he flexed and clenched his hands, his skin growing hot. “Ihavebeen in your place. Do you want to know how it turned out? Much the way this is going to end for you.”
Dominick shook his head and began to back away. “No. No, I don’t accept that.”
With that, he turned and took off at a run, dodging a few pedestrians before picking up speed. Benedict bit back a string of curses, trying to appear composed as he turned to find Hugh and David looking on, their faces showing confusion and curiosity.
“Tell Aubrey I’ll be there as soon as I can. I’ll have Nick with me.”
Without waiting for a response, he set off after Dominick. Teeth gritted as he ran, he rethought his earlier assessment of today’s occasion.
It was official. Now hereallyhated weddings.
Chapter 1
London, 3 months earlier …
“This time of year, London is overrun with desperate spinsters. Now that last Season’s crop of desirable debutantes has gone off on honeymoon trips with their new husbands, the dowdy and the forgotten may have their pick of the leavings.”
The London Gossip, 20 August , 1819
“Miss Barrington, surely you must know how much I’ve come to enjoy your company.”
Calliope Barrington offered a diffident smile to the man who had spent the past half hour overflowing with effusive compliments and poetic speech. Much to her surprise, Mr. Rufus Gordon had spent several weeks dancing attention on her. They’d made one another’s acquaintance through their fathers, who were old school friends. He was only ten years her senior, was neither handsome nor ugly, tall nor short, fat nor slender. He might just be the blandest man she’d ever met, quite easy to overlook or forget.
But, she had long grown past her years of aspiration and girlish fancy. At two-and-twenty, Calliope had reached the age of practicality.
“You are kind to say so, Mr. Gordon,” she replied, coming to a stop as he steered them off the Hyde Park path and onto a patch of grass beneath a large tree. Her sister remained in their shadow, close enough to keep them in her sights, but far enough to be out of earshot. “I, too, have enjoyed coming to know you.”
A bald-faced lie. The man was as boring as he looked, and a bit pompous to make matters worse. But, he was unwed and interested, and beggars could not be choosers.
He beamed his pleasure at her words. “I think we get on well, Miss Barrington. So well that I believe the time has come for us to speak of furthering our friendship, as it were. I find you to be both beautiful and companionable, and I think of you often when we are apart. If I may be frank, Miss Barrington—and I hope you will not think me too bold—I have found myself utterly bewitched by you.”
Calliope stiffened, doing her best to keep her expression demurely neutral. She could never let on that in the midst of her relief at what must be an overture toward a proposal, there was also a great deal of dread. Her stomach went cold as if a glacier had settled there, and her gaze grew unfocused as she tried to muster a response.
“Again, you flatter me, Mr. Gordon.”
He took a step closer, his face swimming before her bleary eyes as he reached out to take hold of her upper arm. The gesture was subtle, the positioning of their bodies ensuring none of the passersby would notice.
When her vision cleared, she noticed he was staring at her quite intently. Actually, he wasleering, his gaze falling somewhere south of her face. Her throat convulsed with disgust as his polite demeanor slipped, salacious ambition flaring in his eyes.
“I would be good to you, Calliope,” he murmured, her Christian name caressed with the forked tongue of a snake. “I am prepared to be very generous, if you understand my meaning. Yes, I can see you do.”
Calliope clenched her teeth around the urge to release the words of castigation resting on her tongue. She could never act in so unseemly a fashion in public. No, too many people would expect that of her. What was worse, it was unlikely anyone would believe that the so-called ‘gentleman’ had propositioned her.Shewould be the one cast in a bad light.
“Take your hand off me,” she ground out, giving her arm a twist to dislodge his hold. “And I have never given you permission to address me thus.”
Mr. Gordon’s hand dropped to his side, his expression transforming from one of anticipation and lust to one of annoyance. “Come, Miss Barrington. Surely you do not intend to play coy after we’ve spent weeks dancing around the inevitable.”
Calliope curled her hands into fists, disgust churning her stomach. “And here I thought your intention was courtship and that the outcome would be a respectable one.”
He smiled, once again the doting suitor, though the coldness in his eyes kept her on edge. “I have shocked you. I’m aware that despite your advanced age, you are still an innocent. I wasn’t certain, but you’ve proven that with your reaction to my overture. I am prepared to take that into account in coming to the terms of our arrangement.”
She recoiled, her gorge rising sharply. “Mr. Gordon, you have grossly misjudged my character if you think I could ever be coerced into such an arrangement!”
