Regency 09 - Redemption (20 page)

Dare wiped tears from his
eyes and slumped down onto the settee beside Lady Prestwich. He
slouched down, covering his eyes with one hand, his body still
shaking with silent laughter.

Adam was not faring much
better. He still stood, but barely. He leaned heavily on the
mantle, his shoulders shaking. Every once in a while, a snort
escaped him, making Bri stare in wonder.

It wasn’t long before she
got very annoyed. “Are the two of you quite through?”

Dare nodded, his face wet
with tears, his body still rhythmically shaking. Adam waved a hand
in her direction but did not look at her or say a word.

Both gentlemen made every
effort to compose themselves. It was a few moments later that they
finally succeeded.

Lady Prestwich sat, arms
folded over her chest, glaring at one man and then the other, over
and over. Dare apologized prettily, winning a reluctant smile from
her. Adam snorted at his cousin’s gesture and merely bowed to his
wife, a chuckle or two escaping.

“Would one of you mind
explaining that.”

Adam chose to answer.
“Darling, you know Miles. Can you imagine his outrage and horror
when he was informed of their destination? Not the stuff of a young
maiden’s dreams, I assure you.”

Bri chuckled a bit then,
her imagination allowing her to conjure the picture Adam painted.
“Ah, yes. It was cruel to do that to him, was it not?”

Adam’s jocularity abruptly
dissipated. “Do you realize just what it is you’ve done,
woman?”

She bristled. “I have
cleared the way for Dare and Jenny.”

Dare’s eyes threatened to
pop out of his head. He sat up, staring at her in utter shock. “You
have cleared the way for me and Jenny?” he asked numbly. “What
right did you have to meddle?”

The lady’s cheeks bloomed
pink. “I thought I was helping. Gwen assured me that Miles loves
her and you love Jenny.”

“Gwen assured you? And
that’s another thing. This doesn’t sound like Gwen. This sounds
more like… damnation! It was Jenny and you. Gwen had nothing to do
with it.”

Adam muttered a few choice
oaths at Dare’s realization and his wife’s headstrong interference.
“Denbigh will have all our hides for this, make no
mistake.”

Dare groaned. He flopped
back and threw an arm dramatically over his eyes. “I am lost,” he
muttered. “What shall I do now? My brother is gone. His betrothed
waits in vain for him.”

Bri punched him. And it was
no frail action, either. Dare laughed even as he yelped in sudden
pain.

“Good God, woman! Do you
realize the damage you could have done had you aimed lower?” His
laughter took the sting out of his words but Bri continued to glare
at him anyway.

“I should have struck you
there, you ignorant clod.”

“That’s twice in the
four-and-twenty hours I’ve been called a clod,” he mused to Adam.
“Could there be truth in it, do you think?”

Adam grunted.
“Undoubtedly.”

Dare’s face split into a
wide grin as if something momentous had just occurred. And perhaps
it had.

“Do you suppose Miles will
be less uptight after this?” he asked his companions, truly
delighted with the idea.

Adam ignored him. “Who
actually kidnapped them, Bri?”

She looked away and mumbled
something indistinct. Adam emitted a low sound of warning. Bri’s
head shot up defiantly and she snapped, “Vi! Levi agreed to do it.
Viewed it as quite a lark, in fact, eager as he was to bring Miles
down from his lofty pedestal.”

“Levi? Lord
Greville?”

Adam nodded to Dare. “Bri’s
incredibly dull-witted cousin, Levi, Lord Greville. Ever will that
sapskull be a thorn in my side.”

“Oh, Bri, you may have
actually created a scandal to overshadow mine.”

“Perhaps I have, Dare. But
there is something you should know. Jenny had nothing to do with
it. Gwen finally took matters into her own hands.”

Lord Connor Northwicke was
seen by several acquaintances marching into Lockwood House in the
devil of a temper. It was speculated that he was there to do murder
but who would be his victim was in question.

Many
assumed Mr. Darius Prestwich was the one Lord Connor sought. And
yet, it was Mr. Miles who had done the unthinkable and eloped with
Lady Guinevere. But, since Miles was
in
absentia
, it was speculated that perhaps
the young lord was there intent on murdering his lifelong friend,
Sir Adam.

Adam received Connor in his
study, mentally sighing. It was not an interview he anticipated
with any sort of eagerness. All he felt was resignation and his own
desire to do his two young cousins an injury.

Lord Connor sat, his face
arranged in lines of disappointed anger. Adam reclined in his
chair, his own face revealing nothing of his feelings, as
usual.

“I do not hold you
responsible in any way, Adam,” Connor told him quietly. “They are
grown men, after all, and should know better how to
behave.”

Adam’s lips twisted into a
mocking smile. “Ah, yes. Grown men.” He picked up a quill from his
desk and stared at it, his eyes unfocused and his mind rebelling
from what he had to tell his best friend.

“Actually, Con, it is my
fault,” he said, glancing up as he tossed the pen back on the
desk.

Lord Connor’s surprise was
writ plain in his expression. “You forced Dare to seduce Jenny? Or
do you speak of the elopement?”

Adam sighed. “The
elopement. Apparently, Miles had nothing to do with it. Gwen
planned it all…with Bri’s help.”

Connor nodded. “I see.
Would chasing them down do any good, do you think?”

Adam shook his head. “Miles
will marry her and perhaps it would be best at this point. If she
returns unmarried still, her reputation will be less than Jenny’s.
And knowing Miles as I do, he will not let that happen.”

“I thought as much,” Connor
admitted. “I just don’t understand why they could not have
approached my father, as is proper, and asked for their
hands.”

“Would he have listened?
Two young men, one with a blackened past, neither with very deep
pockets, neither in possession of a title, asking for the hands of
the daughters of the Duke of Denbigh? I admit that I understand why
they did not even bother.”

“That’s a little unfair of
you, Adam,” Connor remonstrated. “We are not so shallow as
that.”

“What have you to do with
it, Con? Would it not have been your father’s decision?”

His friend’s seeming
hostility nonplussed Connor. But then, this was Adam’s family they
discussed and he could understand protective bonds of familial
devotion.

But it was Connor’s sisters
who were ruined by the Prestwich men. That was something that gave
Connor the right to feel any damn way that he pleased.

“This discussion will
accomplish nothing but hard feelings between the two of us, the two
in the whole situation with the least power,” Adam inserted calmly.
“Has Denbigh decided what he will do about Jenny?”

“He wants Dare to marry
her,” Connor revealed without preamble. “Jenny has agreed. Seemed
almost pleased, in fact, although I think it may be simple relief
that her child will not suffer the ignominy of
bastardy.”

Adam kept his thoughts on
that nonsensical assumption to himself. He had never known Connor
to be so dense before but perhaps his concern for his sisters
blinded him to what was obvious.

Connor rose. “Have Dare
come round tomorrow afternoon. Father will inform him of his
options then.”

Adam nodded, watching Lord
Connor leave. Something in the other man’s manner was not right.
Adam had a feeling Dare was not going to like Denbigh’s
proposition.

“I have a proposition for
you, young man.”

Dare eyed Lord Denbigh
warily. He wouldn’t have been surprised if the man suggested Dare
take a long walk off a short pier. Indeed, he wouldn’t have blamed
him.

“Indeed,” was all he said
in reply, completely devoid of emotion.

“As you are the reason my
daughter finds herself in this… untenable position, it seems only
fair that you make it right.”

Dare hardly dared hope. Was
the duke actually suggesting he marry Jenny? Could his life
actually turn out so well?

“In what way, your
grace?”

The Duke of Denbigh gave
him a long, considering look. “You will marry her, of course. Is
there any other way?”

Dare released a breath he’d
not realized he was holding. It took every ounce of his willpower
to stifle the shout of joy that welled up inside him. “Indeed not.
Of course I shall marry her,” he managed to say blandly.

The duke fingered the quill
he held, solemnly regarding the young man before him. “You will not
receive the dowry I had thought to settle on her. She will be given
an annuity from her grandmother’s legacy that will allow her to
live in modest comfort, but she will retain power over her own
funds.”

Although offended, Dare
didn’t show it. “I expected nothing less,” he admitted in the same
bland, almost bored tone.

And it was true. It made
sense that they would assume he was a fortune hunter and Dare
hadn’t seen fit to inform anybody otherwise. Not even Adam knew
exactly how much he was worth. He almost wished he could see the
duke’s face when it became common knowledge.

“Time is of the essence. To
that end, you will be married in two days. Immediately following
the ceremony, you will depart. Jenny will remain here with her
family.”

Dare was almost too shocked
to reply. After a moment, he asked a trifle shortly, “Where am I
going?”

The duke waved a hand
imperiously. “I neither know nor do I care. You are to make
yourself scarce.”

“Why…the
bloody
hell
…would I
do that?” Dare bit off each word, angered beyond
bearing.

Denbigh sent him a look of
disgust. “You are not worthy of my daughter, sir. I will not have
her made miserable by the fact that she married so far beneath
her.”