Page 83 of A Gentleman's Wager
Lucerne vaguely recalled the Hayes sisters from the ball. Hadn’t Millicent been the one that Vaughan claimed Freddy had kissed, prompting Louisa’s upset and all the blasted unpleasantness afterwards? “Sorry fool,” he muttered, lost as to what else to add. He patted Bella’s hand, adding a comforting squeeze when he realised that she was staring at their entwined fingers. “You can’t take the blame for that. How could you have ever known?”
“I did mean to tell you last night, but…” She shrugged.
Lucerne didn’t need any further explanation to deduce that she’d kept quiet owning to Vaughan’s presence. His commentary could turn a tragedy into a pantomime. “Wakefield’s a good man, but he’s easily cock-charmed. Perhaps it’s for the best.”
“Do you truly mean that? You don’t think they’re well suited?”
“I’m surprised you’re not dead against the idea given what you’ve just told me.”
“I know Millicent,” she muttered, turning her attention back to the window. Outside, Vaughan was roaming the maze. “And in my experience, men are rather weak willed when it comes to the matter of sex. They are largely unable to restrain themselves in the face of temptation.”
Though it rankled to admit it, he could not entirely disagree with her observation. “Are you suggesting we think with our pricks?”
“My lord.”
Lucerne nodded. They passed a few moments in silence. “If I’m to be entirely honest about it, I don’t see that such a crock of volatility could ever have really come to anything. Believe it or not, Wakefield does have a sense of honour. No matter the affection between them, society would have painted him as having preyed upon her, and he wasn’t ready to shoulder that.”
“Such gossip would be forgotten in time.”
Lucerne shook his head. “Not in my experience. It might not be spoken of frequently, but you could be certain that their names would be raised every time a similar situation occurred, and they occur all too often. Men like rich wives. There’s all too many who would gladly snatch up her and her fortune. For the most part, they’re no better off than Wakefield, but it’s not necessarily so apparent. An old name, a title, they can mask a multitude of sins.”
“Is this a good time to ask about the Marlinscar finances?” Bella pushed her tongue into her cheek.
Lucerne used his thumb upon her chin to turn her head towards him. He pressed a kiss to her lips. “They’re remarkably robust, all things considered. I shan’t have to finagle my way into an heiress’s good graces.”
“So, you’re free to make a love match?”
He kissed her again. “Aye, if such a thing exists. Bella, about yestereve and Vaughan’s behaviour at breakfast. I pray you won’t let him provoke you. Last night was precious.”
She inclined her head in acknowledgement. “I wish you could have said so earlier.”
“Did you squabble after I left?”
To his surprise, she shook her head. “We each went our separate ways. He to the library, and now the maze. I…” she shrugged again. “I have flitted here and there.”
Lucerne pulled her closer, so that she sat with her back to him, resting against his body. It grieved him that Vaughan and Bella remained so determined to hate one another. He’d hoped that last night would make them realise there were alternatives to such enmity, but perhaps it was overly much to expect one epic shag to solve everything. There surely had to be a way of reconciling them. He would find it, because if the experience of loving them both together had taught him anything, it was that he wanted them both in his future, and his bed, preferably together.
-49-
Bella
Later that evening, they gathered in the music room adjoining the grand salon. Bella and Lucerne facing one another across the hexagonal gaming table for a round of cards, while Vaughan applied himself to some correspondence, and Louisa relentless hammered out morose tunes on the pianoforte. The one benefit of the melancholy tinkling being the ability to converse without being overheard. Charles had taken himself on a walkabout. This generally constituted a saunter into the village and reeling back several hours later, ruddy cheeked and reeking of ale, but with the wind howling another gale outside, he was taking his evening exercise about Lauwine. Weaving a circuitous route through it’s many rooms, stopping wherever convenient to partake of Lucerne’s hospitality. When Bella had seen him last, he was already three quarters through a bottle of tawny port and had been muttering stanzas beneath his breath. She was only surprised that he’d not yet insisted upon joining their game of cards.
Lucerne winced as Louisa hit a discordant note. She repeated the section several times over before getting it right and moving on.
“Are you at all musically inclined, Bella?” he asked.
She huffed, breaking into a smile. “I prefer to leave such things to those with a talent for it, but I dance.”
“I don’t recall seeing you do so at the ball.”
“Well, that was awfully civilised dancing.”
Lucerne’s eyes sparkled at the notion there might be some other form, perhaps, she suspected, horizontal in nature.
“What I mean is that I prefer the sort you see at the county fayre, or on May Eve around a pole.”
His smile only broadened. Of course her interest involved poles.
