Page 22 of A Lady Igniting Wicked Passions
“I agree father. One can only do so much walking when there is fine horse flesh to be had,” she said boisterously, earning a bark of laughter from her father.
He called to his wife who narrowed her eyes before sighing discreetly and rising from her chair. The Eversdens began to walk towards the Ring. As Arabella walked past Isabella, the other woman caught her arm. She smiled sweetly but her grip was a tad too tight to be friendly.
“I would like to speak to you in private as soon as you are free,” she said.
“You may speak to me now, Lady Isabella,” Arabella said, matching sweet smile for sweet smile.
From the corner of her eye, she saw Aaron appear, sauntering over to the table as though he had simply been occupied strolling about the park.
“Have I missed anything, dear?” He said to Helena.
“My sister is about to humiliate herself by attempting to race a carriage about the Ring. And you will dish out the humiliation. She maintains that she can beat any man in a carriage race,” Helena said.
“I for one should love to see this. I will wager for you, Arabella. And I’m sure Harlton will too,” Edgeworth said, offering his arm to Arabella.
Walking around Isabella without acknowledging her cryptic remark, she took Edgeworth’s arm. “Thank you, my dear.” She kissed his cheek and then looked to Aaron.
He was regarding her with narrowed eyes, before looking across to Helena, who blinked back innocently.
“What do we wager?” He asked cautiously.
“Our father will stand the winnings if you win, Your Grace,” Helena said.
Arabella watched Aaron seem to hesitate. Then, he nodded. She wondered if he considered it an easy victory and the chance to take some Eversden money in addition to the dowry. The idea made her want to beat him. On the heels of that thought was the notion of him at her feet, grovelling and subservient, begging for her to release him from the terms of the wager.
A wager she knew he did not have the money to honour. The image was one that delighted and aroused her, making her almost breathless. Her eyes met Aaron’s briefly, and she wondered if he saw the wicked thoughts that were flitting through her mind. It excited her further to imagine that he did.
Chapter 13
Aaron strode to the Ring with Helena on his arm and Lady Isabella walking besides, lifting her face to the sunshine and smiling beatifically. She had caught up with Aaron and Helena after talking to Arabella, her head close to the other woman’s. Their faces had been intent. When she had reached Helena, she had smiled and whispered something to her that brought a smile to Helena’s face.
Then Isabella had looked over at Aaron and given him a grave inclination of the head. He scowled, not wanting to think about the games Isabella was playing. He felt as though he had been manipulated into something which he would live to regret.
The wager was a foolish one. If he lost, there was no way to cover his debt without revealing to Eversden just how precarious his finances were. That would expose him and he did not want that.
So, he was playing to win. The winnings that had been discussed, and which Aaron was assured that Eversden would agree to, would not cover Aaron’s debts for long but it would gain him some time. As they neared the Ring, he saw that two Curricles, painted in the colours of Isabella’s husband’s family. Aaron could still not remember the man’s name.
“Oh, that is lucky. Those are the two teams my dear husband, Sir Cecil, keeps here. How convenient that they are already being harnessed. Now we shall not have to wait,” Isabella said.
“Arabella, my dear! What is this I hear about a race!” Said a fair-haired young man.
Edgeworth greeted him warmly and the two stood side by side as Arabella approached one of the teams, looking over the horses with a critical eye, her father at her shoulder.
“A race, Lord Harlton. Between myself and the Lady Arabella,” Aaron called out.
Harlton looked at him sharply, then at Edgeworth, who shrugged and patted him on the shoulder. Harlton hurried after Arabella, calling out to her again with Edgeworth in tow.
“You have something to gain by orchestrating this farce?” Aaron whispered to Isabella as he inspected the horses himself.
Isabella was admiring the team that he was examining.
“Me? Personally? You do not know me very well, do you?” Isabella crowed without breaking her smile. “I would never be so crass as to allow my motives to become evident. I thought it would be interesting though, to see if you would take up the challenge. Or if Arabella would. I wondered if you would be terribly noble and refuse.”
“It is only a bit of fun, after all,” Aaron said. “Why should I refuse?”
“If one were not able to meet the terms of the wager but didn’t want anyone else to know. One might refuse,” Isabella said.
Aaron did refuse then. He refused to give her the satisfaction of seeing her words strike home. He did not know how she could now of his financial predicament but it was clear that someone had betrayed him. Pretending to whisper to the horse, he bared his teeth in a grin that did not reach his eyes.
