Page 30 of Romancing the Rifleman
“The truth is,” Diana said, “having grown up a stone’s throw from the Astley family’s estate in Cheltenham, Ceci knows Harrington better than either of us.I thought it only logical that we should ask for her opinion.”
A gleam came into Marcus’s eyes as he turned to his wife.“Indeed.Please regale us with stories of Harrington from your youth.I believe one of them involves a toad.”
“At least three of them involve toads.”Ceci ticked them off on her fingers.“On my pillow, in my sewing basket, and my personal favorite, inside my glass of water.”She shuddered.“When I say I have kissed some frogs, unfortunately, I mean it literally.”
Marcus turned to Diana, his smile triumphant.“Do you see?”
“But…” Ceci interjected, a note of steel in her voice.
Marcus wrinkled his nose.“But?”
Ceci shifted in her seat, no doubt trying to find a comfortable position.“But these were minor infractions in the grand scheme of things.When the stakes were high, Harrington showed his true colors.”
Marcus’s brow remained low.“Explain.”
Ceci turned to Diana.“The summer I turned thirteen, there was a boy in town who liked to mock me.I’ve never been what you would call willowy?—”
“You are stunning and gorgeous, and any man who says otherwise will be meeting me at dawn,” Marcus said darkly.
Ceci cast a fond smile at her husband.“Thank you.But I am sorry to report that not everyone shares in your opinion.That summer, the boy in question bestowed upon me a new nickname.”She grimaced, as if the memory was still painful.“Cecilia Cheno-width.”
Diana winced in sympathy at this unkind variation of Cecilia’s maiden name, Chenowith.
Marcus’s chair skidded across the floor as he surged to his feet.“What is his name?”
Ceci raised a hand, her expression placating.“It was a long time ago?—”
“Iinsistthat you tell me.”Marcus paced across the room to the hearth in four quick strides.He raised a hand before the mantelpiece, then closed it into a fist, as if he had barely suppressed the impulse to grab one of the Dresden porcelain figurines atop it and hurl it into the fire.
Ceci smiled fondly at her husband.“I appreciate your desire to defend me.But I assure you, there is no need.It is my understanding that this young man trained as an apothecary and set up his practice in Worcester.”She gave a little shrug.“I can’t imagine that our paths will ever cross again.”
“They most certainly will not,” Marcus muttered darkly as he resumed his seat and seized one of the blank sheets of paper Alaric had been using to scribble.Diana watched him scrawl down the wordsapothecary,Worcester, andask Fauconbridge.
Diana rolled her eyes.Typical Marcus.At least Lord Fauconbridge would talk some sense into him.
Ceci cleared her throat.“One day, Harrington stumbled upon me crying behind the stables.I didn’t want to tell him what had happened, but he eventually wormed it out of me.And do you know what he did?”
“What?”Marcus asked in a clipped voice.
“He wrote a play about it, of all things.You see, a company of traveling players had come to Cheltenham for the high season, and there was a contest in which they would present a work written by one of the local youths at the summer festival.Harrington wrote a brilliant comedic scene in which a moonstruck young man makes a fool of himself trying to gain the attention of a pretty young lady through mockery.”Ceci laughed, remembering.“He didn’t use our names, but he wrote it in such a way that all the local residents knew to whom it referred.He portrayed my tormentor as a pathetic dunderhead.”
Ceci paused to dab her eyes with her handkerchief.“In the end, ‘I’ threw him over for a man who turned out to be a prince in disguise—a nice bit of irony, considering I went on to marry a duke.My antagonist became a laughingstock overnight, and wouldn’t you know it, he never said a word to me again.”
At some point during Ceci’s story, Marcus had slumped down in his chair with his arms crossed over his chest.He did not look thrilled about the fact that Harrington was the hero of this particular story.“Hmph.”
Diana turned to face her sister-in-law.“What, then, is your overall impression of Harrington?”
Ceci directed her answer toward her husband.“He could certainly be annoying at times.But when it was important, he never let me down, and I am pleased to count him as a friend.”
Marcus’s expression was distinctly sulky.“I’m still not convinced he is worthy of you.”
Diana leapt in.“But you’ll give him a chance to show that he is.”
Marcus scowled, but he muttered, “I suppose.”
Diana sprang to her feet, eager to seize this small victory and make her exit before he could change his mind.She came around the desk and kissed her brother on the cheek.“Thank you, Marcus,” she whispered.
As she hurried from the room, Ceci cast her a significant look.Don’t worry, it said.Her sister-in-law would soothe the savage beast.
