Page 41 of A Gentleman's Wager
“We’ll see, Miss Rushdale. We’ll see.”
~*~
Ghastly; that was the only word that even halfway adequately described that evening’s dining experience. Whatever had occurred the previous night remained as a cross between the men. Lucerne sat as rigidly square as if he’d been metamorphosed into marble. Wakefield scowled down at his plate the whole meal, refusing to even look at Louisa, who thence worried her lip and wilted like a plucked daisy. Pennerley repetitively and maddeningly tapped his fingernail against the rim of his glass. Even Charles remained silent, quailed by threatening glares from all quarters after the first syllable he spoke.
“Joshua.” Bella caught up with him at the base of the main stairs. “What’s afoot?”
“Lucerne’s challenged me to billiards. I said I’d fetch my cue, as I’d brought it from home.”
“No. Not that. I mean what’s going on? And don’t say nothing, because I know that’s not true. Something happened last night. You came back here. You may as well admit it.”
Joshua cocked his head nervously. “I went into Richmond, Bella.”
“You’re an awful liar. At least to me you are. I know all your tells.” Tall and hawk-like, he stared down at her like a bank clerk, but the austere gaze that worked on his employees at the mine had no effect on Bella. Had it ever? She recalled laughing at his frowny face as a child. Now, she saw only how the worry lines creased the skin around his eyes.
“All right,” he capitulated with a weary sigh. He sat on the stairs, elbows upon his knees.
Bella sat next to him. “You mean it? You’ll tell me why Lucerne came home looking like he’d been mud wrestling the Brown Man of the Moors?”
The merest flicker of a smile twitched Joshua’s lips. “I can’t tell you precisely the why of that, but I can tell you we played a joke on Captain Wakefield yestereve. I’m afraid it was probably in very poor taste and went overly far. He’s smarting as a result, blaming Pennerley, and disgusted at the rest of us for playing along. On top of that, I believe Marlinscar and Pennerley had a row.”
“A row?” That explained the marquis skulking about in the morning room. “About what?”
“Damned if I know. I’m neither’s confidant.” He stood and dusted off the seat of his breeches. “May I go now. Our host will be waiting, and I’d prefer not to try his patience.”
He grasped the banister and was halfway up the stairs before Bella called after him. “Wait. What was the joke?” Damn, she hated having only half a story. She lifted her hem to follow, only for Louisa to call to her before she’d even progressed a step.
“There you are. Please Bella, may we talk? I don’t know what to think. Frederick—”
Bella nodded her head before her friend said any more. Already, the glassy sheen of unfallen tears glittered in her eyes. It was easy enough to discern the issue. Louisa was utterly besotted with the man, and…
“—I think maybe he doesn’t like me anymore. Did you see, he wouldn’t even look at me? I think Pennerley must have told him all.”
“No. No, I don’t think so, Lou.” Bella put her arm around Louisa’s slender shoulders, allowing them to bend their heads together. “Joshua just told me they’re all out of sorts over some monstrous jape. It’s not anything to do with you. I’m sure once this has all blown over Wakefield will be just as set and attentive of you as he ever was.”
“Do you really think so, Bella?”
“Absolutely. I’ve no doubts about it at all.”
-26-
Lucerne
Lucerne heard footsteps behind him as he leaned over the billiards table to line up a practice shot. “About time, Rushdale,” he remarked, before hitting the ball with a crack. He may only have been waiting five minutes, but his patience was stretched thin today. His earlier ramble about the countryside hadn’t tidied his mind of wayward thoughts. They were scattered and frankly more dangerous than usual. He’d trekked high and low, over moor and dell, rationalised and laid out in a logical manner all the reasons why giving in to the troublesome lure he felt towards his friend was abhorrent, and wrong, and imbecilic, but none of it freed his mind of the itch he felt to satisfy his own curiosity. His cock didn’t care that such activity was decried as unnatural. It was happy to rear to attention at the prospect of another kiss.
He would go insane with all this circular thinking.
Realising he had received no reply, Lucerne turned his head to glance over his shoulder. Instead of his neighbour, he found Vaughan poised on the threshold. Fear and excitement sang in his veins at sight of the marquis. He was handsome as ever; the dusky grey of his coat suited him well and showed to best advantage the sable ringlets that lay luxuriously across his shoulders. The edges of his coat were lined with a frosting of crystal beads that might have seemed excessive on another man but looked magnificent on Vaughan. His face though, it was a mask. Only through his eyes did he betray his lingering rage and hurt over Lucerne’s rejection.
“My apologies. I didn’t realise anyone was in here.” His tone was crisp.
Lucerne reached for the glass he’d earlier poured. It seemed what Vaughan had begun in the churchyard yestereve would not be so swiftly swept under the carpet.
Not this time.
Lucerne gulped down some liquid courage. “No apology necessary. You’ll take a turn at the table with me?”
“Forgive me. I’d rather not.”
