His Reluctant Lady (28 page)

After the carriage moved forward,
Pennella stared straight ahead. Not sure what to say, Christopher
decided to keep silent and glanced out the window, reminding
himself that he’d be back home soon.

“
Are you aware that Lord
Edon sneaks into your townhouse?” Pennella asked, still staring
straight ahead.

No, he hadn’t, though it
made sense if Ethan was passing along gossip for Agatha to report
to the
Tittletattle
and handing her novels to the publisher. He chuckled as if the
news hadn’t surprised him. “Of course I know Lord Edon enters my
townhouse. He’s my friend.”

“
I didn’t say he ‘enters’
your townhouse. I said he ‘sneaks’ into it.”

He shrugged. “You know how rebellious
he is. Entering a townhouse the traditional way would bore
him.”

“
You think this is for fun?
That he does it for amusement?”

“
That’s the only reason he
does anything. Life is one big ball to him. If he’s not gambling or
chasing skirts, he’s sneaking into his friends’
townhouses.”

“
Or maybe he’s doing it so
he can spend time with your wife. I saw them talking at my
ball.”

“
She talked to a lot of
people at your ball,” Christopher replied. “Including
you.”

Pennella finally turned to face him,
his eyes cold. “You don’t seem to understand what I am saying. Lord
Edon has most likely taken your wife as a lover. I notice he snuck
into the townhouse while you were gone.”

Forcing aside his displeasure in
finding out Pennella had been keeping track of his and Agatha’s
whereabouts, he chuckled. “And what if they are lovers? At least
he’s being discrete.” Not that Christopher believed they were
lovers, but there was no sense in letting Pennella know
that.

“
I’ve seen the way you look
at your wife,” Pennella said. “You’re very much in love with her.
As far as you’re concerned, the sun rises and sets at her bidding,
and yet you don’t care that she needs another gentleman to keep her
satisfied?”

“
Husbands and wives take
lovers all the time. Haven’t you been paying attention to the way
people behave? This shouldn’t come as a shock to you.”

Pennella’s spine stiffened. “And I
suppose revealing a secret is acceptable? That a gentleman’s oath
at White’s is a trivial thing, just like fidelity in a marriage
is?”

Christopher knew he had to be careful
in how he answered, and after a quick debate on possible responses,
he chose the path that would imply ignorance. “What secret are you
alluding to?”

“
Do you take me for a
fool?”

“
No.” He maintained eye
contact, silently thankful for all those years he’d worked to
master the level gaze when telling a lie so he wouldn’t get in
trouble with his cousin.

“
I’m not the kind of
gentleman you want to cross.”

“
I didn’t cross
you.”

Pennella gripped his knees
and took a deep breath. “So you refuse to admit you were the one to
tell someone—someone very close to you who works at the
Tittletattle
—about the
wager between me and Davenport?”

“
There were other gentlemen
privy to the wager, and who knows who is working at the
Tittletattle
?”

“
So that’s how you’re going
to be about it, hmm?”

“
I don’t understand what you
mean.”

A slow smile spread across his face.
“All right. You want to do this. I’ll do it.” He rested an arm
against the back of the seat and leaned toward
Christopher.

It was closer than Christopher was
comfortable with, but since he was in a carriage, there was nowhere
he could go.

“
If you don’t mind Lord Edon
taking your wife, perhaps you won’t mind sharing her with me. I
admit she’s very pleasing to the eye. She certainly has curves
everywhere a lady ought to have them.”

Christopher had to fight to keep his
expression void of emotion. The moment he showed any signs of
weakness, this verbal duel was over. “It has to be her choice, but
I won’t stop her from doing what she wants.” And he knew Agatha
well enough to know she’d never make love to Pennella, or any other
gentleman for that matter.

“
Oh? It’s that simple then,
is it? You’d pass your wife around like a lady of ill
repute?”

“
I don’t own her. She
decides what she’s going to do or not do.”

The carriage came to a stop, and
Christopher gave a silent prayer of thanks. Now maybe this whole
thing could be over.

Pennella glanced out the window and
snickered when he saw Agatha’s carriage in front of the townhouse.
“It looks like your wife is home. You don’t mind if I invite her in
here and tell her that you just offered her to me, do
you?”

He stiffened. Pennella managed to find
a weakness. He knew the moment Pennella’s lips turned up into a
knowing smile the whole thing was over. “I am not giving you
permission to touch her.”

“
Really? It sounded to me as
if you just did.”

The footman opened the door.

“
I believe it’s time we paid
your very good looking wife a visit,” Pennella said. “I’ll be sure
to tell her you expect her to take lovers.”

Christopher felt his gut tighten. He
didn’t know if she would believe him or Pennella. He swallowed
hard, wondering what other course he could have taken to yield a
better outcome. Anything he said probably would have brought him to
the same place. Pennella was as upset with him as he was with
Agatha. This didn’t bode well for either of them. He didn’t know
specifically what dark deeds Pennella was known for, but this
definitely wasn’t good.

***

Agatha had just sat down at her desk
when the door flung open and Lord Pennella barged into the room,
followed by an apprehensive Christopher. Startled, she rose to her
feet.

“
Lord Pennella?” She walked
around the desk and glanced at Christopher before turning her gaze
back to him. “To what do we owe the pleasure?”

“
I surmise the pleasure will
be all mine,” Lord Pennella said with a smile that unnerved her. He
turned to the butler. “We won’t be needing anything at the moment.
Please close the door and be on your way.”

Her jaw dropped as the butler obeyed.
“Who gave you the right to come into my house and tell my staff
what to do?”

“
Oh, I have far more rights
than that.”

Christopher stepped between them. “This
will stop at once. All you do is bully people when they do
something you don’t like.”

“
What is this about?” Agatha
insisted, trying to peer around Christopher’s shoulder, but he
placed his hands on her hips to keep her behind him.

“
I thought you were
perfectly fine with another gentleman touching your wife,” Lord
Pennella said.

“
What?” Agatha
demanded.

“
You will not lay a hand on
her,” Christopher told him.

“
But what if she chooses
it?” he asked.

“
She won’t. You will leave
at once.”

“
I will? Are you going to
force me out?”

“
If I have to,” Christopher
said through gritted teeth.

She shoved Christopher’s hands away so
she could finally face Lord Pennella. “What is this
about?”

“
Agatha—”

“
Wait,” she interrupted,
ignoring Christopher’s pleading tone. “This involves me. I have the
right to know what is going on.”

Lord Pennella clasped his hands. “Your
husband just promised me a night of pleasure in your
bed.”

“
I did not!” Christopher
glared at him then turned to her. “I never said any such
thing.”

“
He said it’s all right with
him if you take lovers.”

Before Christopher could reply, she
asked, “What is this really about, my lord?”

“
I think you know,” Lord
Pennella replied.

“
Don’t listen to him,”
Christopher told her. “I never said he could spend any time with
you. You know I wouldn’t say that.”

Yes, she did. And from the look on Lord
Pennella’s face, she guessed he was there to finish the
conversation he’d had with her at his ball. “So you’re here to see
if I’m willing to take you as a lover? Was this something you
wished to ask at the ball?”

Lord Pennella reached out to caress her
arm, but Christopher shoved him away. “I told you not to touch her!
Do we need to go to a duel for you to get the message?”

“
Christopher!” She stopped
him before he could push Lord Pennella again. “He’s not worth a
duel. Now, let me handle this.”

Christopher remained still for a long
moment, his body tense as he stared at Lord Pennella, but he
finally relented. “All right.”

“
Thank you.” She turned her
attention back to their unwanted guest. She was beginning to
understand how Christopher got into so much trouble in the past. He
had a tendency to let his emotions override good judgment. All a
duel would do was get him killed or in trouble since it was
illegal. Placing her hands on her hips, she directed her gaze at
Lord Pennella. “We both know I’ll never take you as a lover, so
stop wasting my time and tell me why you’re here.”

“
Money,” Lord Pennella
snapped.

Her lips formed a tight line. Money.
Why did so many things always have to come down to
money?

“
You give me what I need,”
he continued, “and I’ll forget what happened at
White’s.”

“
What happened?” she asked.
“Did Christopher lose to you in a game?”

“
Nothing so
simple.”

“
Then what is
it?”

“
So you’ll pretend
ignorance, just as your husband did?”

She groaned. “I tire of this game. Why
don’t you just come out and say it?”

“
Fine. There’s a lot more to
you than people realize. I’ve been watching what you’ve been doing,
and I discovered something very interesting about you. You enjoy
morsels of gossip when they come your way. In fact, you enjoy them
so much, you can’t help but pass those morsels on to
others.”

She took a deep breath, forcing her
mind to reason through this situation. She already deducted that he
knew she had a hand in exposing his wager with Lord Davenport. But
apparently, he wasn’t going to let the matter go. He was going to
insist on restitution, and in this case, restitution involved
money. Well, she wasn’t one who could be manipulated. If she gave
in now, who knew how much more he’d demand? For all she knew, he’d
keep coming after her for money for the rest of her life. She
couldn’t accept that possibility. She had to stop it now, before it
got any further.

After a moment, she figured
out her best option. He had other things to hide, much more
pressing things that only someone writing for the
Tittletattle
would know,
though she hadn’t disclosed it publicly since it would be
dangerous. With more courage than she felt, she straightened her
back, refusing to give her apprehension away.

Taking a deep breath, she said, “I hear
Spain is nice this time of year. In fact, there’s a little town of
special interest. It’s not far from Madrid. Does the name Raquel
mean anything to you?”

A moment passed between them, one in
which time itself seemed suspended. The tension in the air was
thick. Behind her, Christopher stepped toward her, his presence
comforting despite the circumstances. Her heart raced but she
lifted her chin and kept eye contact with Lord Pennella, refusing
to blink. There had been a rumor about the lady he secretly married
and kept hidden.

But as she stared at him,
she knew it hadn’t been a rumor. It was the truth. Had it not been
for his brother, she never would have heard about it. Disguised as
Gerard Addision, she had found his brother lying by an alley,
intoxicated and rambling on about it. At the time, Agatha thought
it was the alcohol making him say those things, but now she knew
better. The only reason she hadn’t put it in the
Tittletattle
was because
she hadn’t been sure if it was accurate.

And now, as she played the only card
she had to get Lord Pennella to leave her and her husband alone,
she hoped her maneuver would work. “I’m willing to overlook it, of
course,” she began, sounding more confident than she felt, “if a
certain wager at White’s can be forgotten?”

After a long pause, he finally offered
a stiff nod.

She released her breath and swallowed
the lump in her throat. Good. Her ploy worked.

“
Just know one thing, one
thing no one else would believe if I told them,” he
said.

Her body tensing, she waited for him to
continue.

“
I was never going to marry
Miss Giles.”

She watched him as he strode out of the
drawing room, wondering why he felt the need to tell her
that.