Page 5 of Romancing the Rifleman
The redness had spread to Cumberworth’s ears.“Shut it, you… you…”
“A fucking brute who’s planning on beating his wife.”
“This is none of your affair!”Cumberworth snapped.
“And all the physical attractions of a syphilitic potato,” Harrington concluded.
“I ought to call you out!”Cumberworth roared.
Harrington smiled, unperturbed.He was, after all, a deuced good shot.
With his smart mouth, he had to be.
“I should be delighted,” he said warmly.“I choose pistols.Shall we say tomorrow at dawn?”
Cumberworth was now performing the remarkable trick of being red with rage and a sickly shade of green at the same time.“Now, hang on a minute.I said Ioughtto call you out.Not that Iwascalling you out.”
Harrington ticked another finger.“Cowardly, as well.What an absolute prince.It’s a wonder the ladies don’t fall into a swoon.”
Cumberworth was back to scowling.“Well, it’s not as if she’s going to marry you, either.”
Harrington laughed.“Certainly not.Lady Diana isfartoo good for the likes of me, to say nothing of the fact that her brother despises me.”
Blachford, who had been watching their exchange in open-mouthed silence, spoke.“I say, Astley—if you don’t want her for yourself, what do you care if Cumberworth wants to court her?”
“Because he just said he was going tobeather.And it happens that I likeLady Diana.She’s clever, she’s funny, she’s nice?—”
“Nice?”Cumberworth laughed incredulously.“She’s abitch.”
Harrington raised his eyebrows.“She doesn’t suffer fools, so if she doesn’t suffer you, the implications are painfully obvious.And she’s good friends with my sisters.So, if you’d like it to be pistols at dawn after all, just go ahead and call her that one more time.”He gave Cumberworth a grin, not what you would call a nice grin, but judging by the way the man’s shoulders slumped, Harrington figured it conveyed his message well enough.
Cumberworth rose.“I believe I’ve had enough of thischarmingconversation.Come, Blachford.”
Harrington grabbed his upper arm.“Lord knows I won’t miss your company.But let’s make one thing clear before you go.You’re going to stay the hell away from Lady Diana, and my sister, Lucy, too.”
Cumberworth tried to shake him off without success.“Or else you’ll tell her brother what I said, I suppose?”
“Oh, I’m going to tell Trevissick what you said as soon as I leave this room.I would leave town if I were you.If you think I’m a right cunt when I’m angry, wait until you see him.”
Only now did Cumberworth seem to grasp the magnitude of his mistake.“Look, Astley, there must be some arrangement we can make.If I can get Lady Diana to the altar, I’ll be a very wealthy man.”
Harrington laughed.He was in the army, and he wasn’t planning on resigning his commission.It was the only useful thing he’d managed to do in his twenty-nine years.
The men of the Rifle Brigade prided themselves on being the first ones in and the last ones out of every battle.Their casualty rate reflected this fact.Not that he was even considering Cumberworth’s dishonorable offer.But really, what use did he have for the man’s money?He’d likely be dead in a year, maybe two.
“Go to hell,” Harrington replied.
Cumberworth’s eyes were poisonous as he strode toward the door.“You’ll regret this.”
“I doubt it,” Harrington said just before the door clicked shut.
Chapter3
Heart pounding, Diana clutched the back of the curtain, listening to the now-silent room.
He had stood up for her.He had even threatened to call Cumberworth out, putting his own life at risk for the sake of her honor.
Tears pricked the back of her eyes not only for that, but because, based on the way Harrington had described her, he sawher.Therealher.There were vanishingly few people who did.After her brother had saddled her with an absurdly large dowry, most of her suitors desired not her, but the hundred thousand pounds she came with.She’d asked Marcus not to do it.She’d argued that an ostentatious dowry would do nothing but attract fortune hunters.She would do just as well with a large dowry, but not a ridiculously large one, such as those her friends Lucy and Izzie had.
