Just Deserts (25 page)

Persephone drew a shuddering breath. ‘No
indeed.’

Then she turned to Chiddingly, and came towards him,
walking like a mechanical doll. Her eyes were pools of deep misery.
A sharp stabbing pain twisted in Chiddingly’s breast.

She held out a hand that quivered pitiably. But her husky
voice was steady as a rock.

‘
Here is your filly, Chiddingly. At least she will bring you
your gold.’

***

At the end of race week, Persephone, in company with her
family, made a subdued return to town. All her pleasure in the
excursion had been destroyed.

The day of her fall from grace, followed by reinstatement
in society’s august eyes as the promised wife of Baron Chiddingly,
she had not even ridden on horseback to Newmarket Heath. She had
not wanted to make any appearance at all, and none of her mother’s
representations would have made her relent. But her prospective
husband managed to change her mind with one sardonic
observation.

‘
Very well, remain here—that is, if you wish the world to
know that you are ashamed.’

As Chiddingly had confidently anticipated, Persephone’s
eyes rolled and she tossed her head, for all the world like one of
the mettlesome horses she so adored.

‘
Ashamed? I am not in the least ashamed, and they may all of
them go to the devil!’

But, for all her bravado, she had no heart for the company
of Chiddingly’s racing cronies, and chose instead to accompany her
sister in Lady Buckfastleigh’s carriage. She was soon regretting
this decision, however, for trapped in the carriage she could not
escape those who came up to greet the twins, and was obliged to
endure a shower of congratulation. Since she could not doubt that
all these apparent well-wishers must be perfectly aware of the
circumstances which had led to her engagement, she received their
felicitations in tight-lipped silence.

Chiddingly, who, for the sake of appearances, had remained
in close attendance by the carriage, did not long tolerate this
intransigent attitude. Waiting only for a convenient interval
between visitors, he stepped up to the carriage.

‘
Persephone, if you do not try at least for an appearance of
complaisance,’ he muttered direfully, ‘you will, I promise you,
presently have good cause to regret it.’

As the instant flame in her eyes scorched him and she
opened her mouth to retort, he added a threatening
rider.

‘
And if you treat me to a public display of temperament, my
girl, don’t imagine I will be deterred from using you as you so
richly deserve.’

He then turned from her and strode away before Persephone
had a chance to utter a word. He left her fuming, Penelope beside
her gazing open-mouthed after his retreating form.

‘
Kuta!
You
would, too,’ Persephone flung after him, but in an under-voice.
‘God, how I
hate
him!’

Penelope seized her hand and held it tightly. ‘Dearest, I
had no notion. Oh, Seph, it is dreadful.’

‘
Of course it is dreadful,’ her twin said, but more in anger
than horror. ‘Oh, I will teach him to talk to me thus. Only wait
until we are married! I will show him.’

Penelope stared at her wonderingly. ‘But—but—are you not
afraid of what he may do?’

‘
Afraid of Chiddingly? I?’

‘
He was so fierce,’ shuddered her sister.

‘
So am I fierce,’ Persephone declared. ‘He shall not get the
better of me.’

Penelope could only gaze at her, dumb-founded. ‘You were so
desperate to avoid wedding him. You said you hated him.’

‘
So I do. He is a loathsome barbarian. Naturally I don’t
want to wed him. Who would? But even though I am forced to have the
cur to husband, you may be sure I shall never submit to his
autocratic rule.’

‘
Oh dear,’ Penelope said, quite appalled by the vision of
domestic strife that filled her mind.

Looking rather wildly about her, she became aware that
Fitzwarren was walking towards the carriage, in company with a
handsome young man, whose plump figure, encased in the
tight-fitting breeches of present fashion, showed an incipient
tendency to corpulence, and whose comely countenance, for all its
youth, already bore the marks of dissipation.

These defects notwithstanding, Penelope gave a squeak of
delight, and clutched her sister’s arm.

‘
Oh, heavens! See whom Fitz has got with him? And he is
bringing him over here.’

Persephone glanced round. ‘What is the matter,
Pen?’

‘
It is the prince, Seph,’ Penelope said, in great
excitement. ‘For the Lord’s sake, smile! And if you dare to say one
word out of place, I shall never speak to you again.’

An introduction to the Prince of Wales could not compete
with the iniquities of Chiddingly in Persephone’s order of
significances. But it was momentarily diverting. She knew the
prince to be a keen tulip of the turf, but by all accounts a man of
indifferent ability in picking a horse. But the prince was not
interested in talking of horseflesh.

‘
At last I have the good fortune to meet you,’ young George
said expansively. ‘I have heard so much of the nabob’s “little
peas” but I must tell you, Fitz, that report does not in the least
do them justice. By the lord Harry, you take my breath
away.’

‘
Not noticeably,’ Persephone murmured, and received a
punitive dig in the ribs from her twin’s elbow.

‘
We are flattered, sir,’ Penelope cut in. ‘And honoured by
your grace’s condescension.’

‘
Pooh, nonsense!’ said the Prince, as if borrowing from the
nabob’s vocabulary. ‘I wish you will both come down from there and
walk with me a little way. I can imagine no greater felicity than
having one such delicious bloom upon each arm.’

Since this was tantamount to a royal command, even
Persephone could not commit the solecism of refusing. Accordingly,
the twins found themselves strolling arm in arm with the genial
prince, who declared himself baffled indeed to find the same face
cropping up either side of him, adding merrily, ‘Upon my word, you
have set my head in a whirl!’ and contriving at the same time to
slip his arms about their slim waists, indelicate fingers squeezing
the soft flesh they encountered there.

This liberty brought the militant sparkle to Persephone’s
eyes and a blush to Penelope’s cheek, but neither of them had any
idea how to extricate themselves without discourtesy. Fitz,
however, who knew his prince, was on the watch for just such an
occurrence, and procured their release by reminding young Florizel
that his horse was about to run in the next race.

‘
By Jove, is it time already? I declare, I have been so
agreeably entertained that had it been the passage of an hour I had
not noticed.’

Bestowing with his pudgy hands one last squeeze on the neat
waists, he released them and said his farewells.

‘
I am minded to snatch a kiss,’ he uttered, lowering his
voice conspiratorially and winking, ‘but I see old Chid’s jealous
eye upon me. I should hate the fortunate dog to blow a hole through
me. Ha, ha! No idea which of you is promised to the old fellow, you
see.’

The twins could only be thankful, though Penelope told Fitz
she found the prince excessively droll. They were alone, for
Persephone, unable to disdain any interest in the forthcoming race,
had returned to the carriage to obtain a better view.

‘
Is he always so amorous?’ Penelope enquired,
awed.

‘
If he can but get his hands on a pretty woman, I am bound
to say, yes, he is,’ Fitz responded. ‘I confess I was in dread that
your sister would send him to the rightabout.’

‘
So was I,’ Penelope said feelingly. ‘Especially as she had
been in a furious temper just before you came up.’

Fitz lifted an eyebrow. ‘She is taking it badly,
then?’

‘
Badly? I think she is mad,’ Penelope said frankly. ‘And I
am sorry to say this of a friend of yours, Fitz, but Chiddingly is
a brute. I have a very lively fear that he may beat her when they
are married.’

‘
I should think it all too probable,’ Fitz agreed, a laugh
in his voice. ‘Though I suspect your sister will give as good as
she gets.’

‘
Yes, that is what she threatens. I shudder
to
think
of what sort of a life they will have
together.’

Fitz looked down at her with a good deal of amusement in
his face. ‘It is as well he abandoned his pursuit of you,
then.’

Penelope shuddered. ‘Don’t mention such a thing! Not that I
would have married him, even when I had no idea of what a vile
temper he has.’

‘
Poor Chid,’ laughed Fitz. ‘Hoist with his own petard. Yet I
dare to hope they will both come about.’

Penelope turned anxious eyes on him. ‘Do you think so
indeed? Seph says she hates him. There is such venom in her when
she speaks of him that I cannot but fear for her
future.’

Fitz reached for her fingers and lifted them to his
lips.

‘
Dear Pen, you are such an innocent. I beg you will not
trouble your gentle heart unduly. I am certain there is no need, my
love.’

‘
If only I could be sure of—’ She broke off, and
her fingers quivered, her eyes flying to his.
‘What
did
you call me?’

He reddened. ‘Forgive me. A—er—familiarity between friends
merely. It—it slipped out.’

Bowing, he released her fingers and turned away, greeting
with obvious relief the approach of Leopold to claim her
attention.

***

Persephone was not the only one to view her approaching
nuptials with concern. Mrs Cordelia Harraton, whose first
intimation of events was received through the medium of the court
notices in the newspaper, was shocked to discover that her brother
had offered for hoydenish Persephone rather than gentle Penelope.
She descended upon his lodgings in a mood of righteous
indignation.

‘
A fine sister-in-law you seek to saddle me with, I
declare.’

Chiddingly bristled. ‘Oh, indeed? I was under the
impression that it was you who proposed the match to me in the
first place.’

Mrs Harraton swept up and down the small parlour, her
cherry-red skirts rustling about her. ‘I know I did so. But I did
not know then that twins were in question. When I realised how
their fortune was divided, I could not think it large enough to
tempt you.’

‘
You realised it?’ Chiddingly demanded, setting down his
tankard of ale and rising from his chair. ‘Then why in Hades could
you not have told me?’

‘
Good heavens!’ she exclaimed, coming to a halt to stare at
him. ‘Do you tell me, Christopher, that you have offered for this
Persephone in the hope of gaining a fortune?’

His cheeks darkened and his jaw tightened. ‘So you have not
yet visited with your friend Lady Alice.’

Cordelia gazed at him in
the liveliest astonishment.

‘
No, I have not. What in the world are you talking
of?’

‘
You will know soon enough.’

‘
For the Lord’s sake, Christopher, do you wish me to have
the vapours? What has occurred?’

His blue eyes were sombre. ‘Well, I suppose you have some
right to know.’

But when he had related the story of the unseemly haste
with which he had been obliged to contract an engagement, his
sister’s reaction made him regret disclosing the tale.

‘
And I am expected to greet this
brass-faced
hussy
with cordiality?’

‘
She is no hussy,’ Chiddingly told his affronted sister with
dangerous calm.

‘
Is she not, indeed? Upon my word, Christopher, you are a
great fool. Depend upon it, she will be dispensing her favours all
over town within weeks of the wedding.’

She paused, frightened by the expression of livid fury in
his face.

‘
If ever you repeat such remarks, Cordelia,’ her brother
said in a chilling tone, ‘you will bitterly regret it. You have it
quite wrong. The whole episode was my fault from start to
finish.’

Mrs Harraton eyed him. ‘Are you trying to make me believe
you sought to compromise the girl?’

Chiddingly looked at her, arrested all at once.
Here was a loophole. Let Cordelia believe
him
villainous,
rather than nourish such uncomplimentary—and indeed untrue—views of
his Seph.

‘
Why not?’ he said, adopting a flippant tone.

‘
To what end, pray?’

‘
Don’t be stupid, Cordelia. We may only see fifty thousand
pounds at the start, but the nabob cannot last forever.’

‘
And so you have saddled yourself with a wife who, I am
reliably informed, is a termagant of shrewish temper without the
smallest pretension to comformable behaviour.’

‘
That is my affair.’