Simply Scandalous (44 page)

Juliet tossed him a contemptuous glance, which he
misunderstood.

"You are amazed. So was I! People remarked at
the time the splendid condescension His Royal Highness showed me on that occasion, and more than one
fellow cast me a jealous glance, I can tell you. I will
keep this little snuff box, Cousin, as much as a reminder of your regard as of His Highness's, for he
really meant you to have it."

"No," said Juliet, summoning a reserve of patience,
"he meant it for your future wife. Decidedly not me." She
stopped and gently closed his fingers over the box. "You must save the box, Horatio; treasure it up, along with
the Regent's best wishes, until you have met her."

He frowned, and she thought with a glimmer of
hope that her refusal had begun to impress itself on
his stubborn arrogance, but she was mistaken. "I say,
Juliet, did you hear something?"

"I was speaking just now," she said tartly. "Perhaps
you heard me?"

"No, that's not it. There it is again! Hark!"

"Crickets," said Juliet crossly. Then she heard itthe faint, distant scream of a woman.

"Someone is in trouble!" Horatio pointed to the
other side of the lake. Juliet squinted, but the sun dazzled on the water and made it impossible for her to
make out anything on that side of the lake. "A woman!
I think she is drowning." Hastily, he pulled out his
handkerchief and wrapped the little green snuffbox
in it before placing it in her hand. Then he removed
his coat and dove into the lake.

Juliet ran along the bank, past the rustic bench and
the overspreading oak tree, through a little woodland
plantation, and over a manmade hill covered in primroses. From there, she could see Horatio swimming
across the lake in firm, even strokes, but the trees overhanging the lake obscured her view of his destination.
She ran down the hill, almost tumbling head over
ears, and arrived out of breath in time to see two figures, one male and one female, wringing wet and intertwined, resting on the bank. The man was actually
crouched over the woman, who was lying flat on her
back, her pale muslin dress clinging provocatively
to her body. Various articles of clothing were strewn
in the vicinity, including, she noted automatically,
the lady's hat and slippers and the gentleman's coat.

"Thank you, my lord," gasped Serena Calverstock.
"I thank you with all my heart! I am in your debt! Indeed, I do not know how to thank you." In tears,
she clung to her rescuer's neck.

"My dear girl," said Swale, picking up his coat from
the grass. "Wrap up in this. You will catch cold. Shall
I carry you up to the house?"

His voice was full of tender concern. He had not
yet observed Juliet standing just a few feet away in the
shade of a tree, and he remained oblivious, likewise,
of Horatio's approach.

"Captain Cary!" Serena saw Horatio first as he
emerged from the shallow water, and she sprang to
her feet, pulling Swale's coat around her.

Horatio stared at her, water dripping from his hair
into his eyes. "Madam," he said stiffly, offering a curt
bow. "May I congratulate you on your conquest? You
have made fully as handsome a match as your own
sister. You need not now envy her so much."

"You!" said Swale, turning on him. 'Where is Julie?"

"My future wife is none of your concern," Horatio
replied coldly, coming out of the water and striding
past Serena, who was shivering violently. "It seems to
me you have your hands full with her ladyship! I
wish you joy of her, my lord. You are exceedingly
well-matched. "

"How can you say such a thing?" cried Serena.

"The man's a silly ass," said Swale. "He thinks he's
engaged to Miss Wayborn."

"I am engaged to Miss Wayborn," said Horatio.
"Who's the silly ass now?"

"Still you," snorted Swale.

"Very sensibly, Miss Wayborn refused your lordship in Hertfordshire," said Horatio. "But I see you
have allowed Serena to console you. You must know you
have compromised her ladyship beyond anything.
But then, that seems to be your chosen method of getting a wife."

"Should I have allowed her to drown?" Swale asked.

"I saw you lying on top of her with all your parts
lined up with her parts, my lord. Lord Redfylde, I
promise you, will not be as forgiving as Sir Benedict
Wayborn. You will marry Lady Serena whether you
wish to or not!"

Juliet sat down under the tree and took a deep
breath. She hadn't the least idea what to do. It was all
so horribly tangled. The announcement of Swale's engagement to Serena had already been printed in the
Post, and now this! It would be exceedingly difficult
for Ginger to get out of marrying Serena now. And
after observing him with the lady, she could not be
certain he wished to get out of it!

It would be so much simpler for him to marry
Serena, thus foregoing the doubtful joys of being
sued for breach of promise and being forced to elope
and live in Canada or Ireland like the meanest criminal. He could not possibly love her that much.

"I cannot possibly marry Serena," said Swale. "I
am engaged to Julie. Why in hell's name would I
want to marry a woman who can't even walk upright? Do you think I wish to spend the rest of my life
picking up things that have fallen off my wife? Shoes
and hats and whatnot? Or fishing her out of lakes into
which she has fallen? No, thank you."

Serena sat down hard on the ground and began to cry.

"You cannot be engaged to Miss Wayborn, my
lord," said Horatio. "I have just told you that I am engaged to her."

"No!" cried Serena, startling everyone. "You cannot
marry her! I forbid it!"

Horatio ignored her, and Serena dissolved again into
tears. "There you are, Juliet!" he called to his cousin
anxiously. "Do you have the snuff box? Is it quite
safe?" He ran up to her and snatched it from her hand. "Here is my proof," he told Swale, unwrapping
his treasure. "A wedding gift from His Royal Highness
the Prince Regent!"

Swale regarded Juliet with his brows drawn together. "Is this true, Juliet?"

"You can't marry him, Miss Wayborn!" cried Serena
at the same moment, lifting her tearstained face. "He
is engaged to me!"

"Do you think I don't know that?" Juliet shouted,
dearly wanting to scratch out the other woman's
eyes. She could not help but observe that Serena's vulnerability had only enhanced her beauty. With her
dark hair clinging to her cheeks, her enormous violet
eyes filled with tears, and her muslin dress plastered
to her pretty figure, she looked like an artist's conception of a water nymph.

"Please, I beg of you, don't take him from me," wept
Serena on her knees with her hands clasped. "Miss
Wayborn, my fate-my whole life-is in your hands! "

"Oh, stop crying, you silly peagoose!" Juliet
snapped. "You've won. The whole world knows he is
engaged to you! There is nothing I can do now. Congratulations on your victory!"

"I am no longer engaged to this woman," Horatio
said coldly. "My dear Juliet, there is not a shred of
truth in what she is saying. Pray, don't allow her to distress you with this unseemly display of emotions."

Juliet's mouth fell open. She, of course, had supposed Serena to be speaking of her engagement to
Lord Swale. 'What do you mean you are no longer engaged to her?" she demanded of Horatio. "When
were you engaged to her? I never saw an item in the
newspaper. Benedict certainly would have called it to
my attention!"

"Pity me, Miss Wayborn," said Serena. "I have been secretly engaged to your cousin these seven years
while he was away fighting."

"Good God," said Swale, recoiling in disgust. "Secret
engagements as far as the eye can see! Does no one
remember what happened to Chuck and Macbeth?
Heads on poles, by God!"

"It was a foolish promise," said Horatio, quickly seizingJuliet's hands. "She released me from it six months
ago. For that deliverance, I am sincerely grateful."

"You so clearly wanted to be released!" wailed
Serena. "Seven years I waited for you, not knowing if
you would ever come back to me. And when you
did, all you could think of was that wretched cow
byre in Hertfordshire! You're too cruel, Horatio!"

"Sir Horatio," he corrected her.

"Good God," Swale muttered again, turning a little
away from this sordid scene.

"Tanglewood ought to have been left to me," said
Horatio. "Cary has run it into the ground. Naturally,
I felt it was my duty to rescue the old place."

"He wanted to buy it, Miss Wayborn," said Serena,
wiping her eyes. "I told him I could never live among
the hayseeds of Hertfordshire. I wanted an establishment in London, a home of my own, not some
moldy old Elizabethan pile! We quarreled. Your
brother told him he would only sell Tanglewood to
Horatio if he married you. I told Horatio to go ahead
and do it-marry you-but I never thought he
would! " She covered her face with her hands and sank
to the ground, weeping.

Swale surreptitiously passed her a handkerchief.

"Is this true, Horatio?" Juliet demanded. "Were
you prepared to marry me simply to get your paws on
Tanglewood?"

"It ought to have been left to me," he said stubbornly. "My grandmother promised it to me."

"She also promised it to me on more than one
occasion," said Juliet, "but when she died and we
opened her will, we discovered she had left it to my
brother. It was hers to dispose of as she pleased."

"I don't dispute that," he said. "But Cary had let it
go to rack and ruin. My parents live in that neighborhood. It reflected badly on all of us. I was willing
to marry you and purchase the property for the
handy sum of ten thousand pounds."

"Which just happens to be the amount of my
dowry! "

"Well, something had to be done." He glared at
Serena. "Are you pleased with yourself, madam? You
cannot be happy, so you attempt to make everyone else
miserable! `Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned!

Serena choked. "I do not deny my present
misery. I am miserable indeed. But hear me out,
Miss Wayborn-"

"Miss Wayborn cannot possibly be interested in
the demented ravings of a lunatic!"

"For this, I waited seven years. Seven years! This is
how you repay my devotion!"

"May I remind you, madam, you released me.
Indeed, you were kind enough to release me from that
obligation into which I foolishly entered seven years
ago and which has become so decidedly repugnant
to us both. For that, I thank you."

"I was angry, Miss Wayborn," said Serena, struggling
to keep her voice steady. "I was jealous of you. I told Horatio I would marry Mr. Wayborn myself and become
mistress of Tanglewood. And you see the result."

"The result is this display of madness," scoffed Horatio, his disgust for his former love evident in every
syllable. "You did your best to seduce Mr. Wayborn,
didn't you? Only Miss Wayborn saw through you and
put a stop to your sordid plan."

"Hateful man! " cried Serena. "He was responsible
for the attack on your brother, Miss Wayborn!

Juliet stared at her, shocked to the very core of her
being.

"You accuse me?" Horatio's lip curled.

"He was jealous," Serena continued tearfully. "He
wanted Mr. Wayborn out of the way."

"Is this true, Horatio?" Juliet asked, pale-faced.

"You cannot possibly believe this nonsense," Horatio cried, horrified. "The woman is clearly out of her
senses. You know I am incapable of acting with
dishonor."

"I don't call a seven-year secret engagement precisely honorable," said Juliet.

Horatio attempted to explain. "Lord Redfylde was
my patron. He would scarcely have rejoiced in his
sister-in-law's engagement to a penniless lieutenant,
which I was then. I was forced into secrecy."

Juliet looked at him intently. "Do you swear you had
nothing to do with the attack on my brother? Swear to
me now, Horatio, or I shall never speak to you again."

"Certainly I swear," said Horatio. "It is all the absurd
fantasy of a demented young woman. I? Employ criminals to harm my own cousin? For the sake of a
woman whom I no longer admire?"

"Did you ever love me?" Serena wanted to know.
"Horry?"

"Horry! " exclaimed Swale and Juliet at once.

Horatio looked at Serena's tear-stained face contemptuously. "It is difficult to believe I ever did love
you, madam," he said coolly. "You are making a disgusting display of yourself, you know. I thought you
had more pride, more conduct."

"How could you be so cruel! " Juliet rebuked him.

He blinked at her in astonishment. "My dear cousin,
you cannot possibly believe her ridiculous assertions! Upon my honor, I am blameless! Your brother's
attack had nothing to do with me."

"I meant how could you be so cruel to Serena,"
Juliet replied ferociously, walking over to the lady
and wrapping her own shawl around Serena's shaking shoulders. "How could you treat her so?"

Horatio gaped at her. "It was she who was cruel to
me! She broke the engagement in a fit of pique because I said I did not want to live in London! She
broke my heart. You-you have mended it, dear
Juliet. Do not regard her in the least. I don't."

"That is what I mean, Horry," said Juliet coldly.
"You once loved her, but now you do not regard her
in the least! As for your word of honor ... I do not
know that I believe you. Perhaps you did want my
brother out of the way. I know you were angry that he
inherited Tanglewood, and you did not! "

Horatio turned white.

Swale's conscience prompted him to speak in Horatio's defense. "As to that, Julie," he said with a
cough of embarrassment, "I have information clearing your cousin completely of the deed. Cary has received a letter from Stacy Calverstock. He confesses
to everything, and he has fled England forever."

"Stacy!" Juliet shook her head in disbelief.

"You might have spoken on my behalf sooner, my
lord," sniffed Horatio.