Simply Scandalous (45 page)

"You're not my favorite person at the moment,"
Swale told him bluntly.

"My cousin would never do such a thing," cried
Serena. "Mr. Wayborn is his particular friend."

"Then ... Redfylde was innocent all along?"Juliet
asked Swale.

Swale snorted. "Hardly! His lordship entered into
a scheme with Calverstock. He placed his bet against Cary in the full knowledge that Cary would be forfeiting the race."

"Good God! I must thank you again, madam, for
releasing me," Horatio told Serena, suppressing a
shudder. "I would not care to have my name associated with that of Calverstock. I don't even care to have
my name associated with Lord Redfylde after what I
have just heard!"

"That is ungrateful, Horatio," Serena gasped. "If it
were not for my brother-in-law's patronage, you would
still be a lieutenant and very far from a command of
your own.

Juliet was aghast. "Abominable crime! Cary must be
devastated. "

"When he learns we are to be married, my dear
Juliet," Horatio said quickly, "he will be consoled.
The fate of Tanglewood must weigh heavily on his
mind. We can reassure him on that score, at least." He
took her arm, attempting to detach her from Serena.
"Let us return to the house now. Lord Swale will
look after Lady Serena."

Swale scowled. "I told you, Gary ... I'm engaged
to Julie. I will escort the ladies to the house, and you
will quit the neighborhood"'

"I asked Miss Wayborn to marry me three days ago,"
Horatio argued. "I believe that gives me the prior
claim. And I am properly addressed as Sir Horatio!"

`Juliet, is this true?" Swale's face was black with
fury.

"No, I believe he is properly addressed as Cad!" she
retorted.

"I say!" Horatio protested, but Swale drowned him
out.

"Have you been engaged to this pompous ass for
three days? Three days, Juliet? I need hardly remind you of certain events that have taken place in the last
two days!"

"How dare you!" said Juliet, turning bright pink.

`Juliet, I am growing angry," he told her. "Either you
tell this insolent puppy that you are engaged to me,
or I shall let slip the dogs of war!"

Horatio drew himself up to his full height. "If you
persist in insulting my betrothed with your bizarre and
unwelcome claims, honor will force me to issue a
challenge! "

"Do you think I would gratify your pretensions to
rank and gentility by condescending to shoot you?"
Swale replied contemptuously. "You are the sort of
thing I scrape off my boot, sir. I am the Marquess of
Swale, you a mere cypher."

"I am a knight of the Order of the Garter," said Horatio furiously. "I hold the rank of Captain in His
Majesty's Navy."

"Piffle ! "

"I consider you to have been used very ill by both
these disreputable characters," Juliet told Serena,
turning away. "You had better come to the house
with me and get into some dry clothes, my dear."

"Disreputable?" Horatio was bewildered. "What
have I done? Juliet? Juliet!" he called after her. "What
about the Prince Regent? What about the snuff box?
What about the pretty little racehorse?"

"Give me that!" Swale snatched the little green
box and threw it as hard as he could.

It arced across the sky, sparkling in the sunlight,
green and gold, and then it was gone, vanishing beneath
the surface of the lake like the mighty sword Excalibur.

Horatio screamed as though Excalibur had been
driven through his body and, in the next moment, he
dove into the lake after the Regent's gift.

"Pompous ass," Swale muttered, hurrying over to Serena. In one easy movement, he swept her off her
feet into his arms. "You're better off without him, you
know. Coming, Julie?"

Julie threw up her hands. "I'll get her ladyship's
shoes and hat!"

As she scooped them up, she saw Horatio break the
surface of the water and then dive back down, almost
as if he were trying to rescue a drowning child.

"If you want him, Julie," Swale jeered, swinging
around with Serena in his arms, "go and fish him out!"

"I really am quite able to walk, my lord," Serena
murmured in embarrassment as Swale carried her up
the path.

"Nonsense," he replied. "You are light as a feather.
Not like some people-eh, Julie?"

Juliet trudged behind them, rolling her eyes.

"You saved my life, my lord," she heard Serena say.

"You were very fortunate I happened to be there,"
Swale replied. "I was looking for Julie, and I thought
you were her. Not that you bear the least resemblance to Julie, but from a distance, any two females
bear certain-er-charming similarities. Up close, of
course, there is no mistaking you for Julie. I saw you
take off your hat and your shoes, and I asked myself,
What the devil is Julie up to now? Thought you might
be gathering more newts." This last remark he tossed
over his shoulder to Juliet. "I was going to advise
against it. Then you went in," he went on to Serena.
"It must have been deeper than you thought, old
girl. You sank like a stone. Fortunately, I got to you
in time."

"Yes, very fortunate, my lord," Serena whispered. "I am so grateful to you. When I think that I might be
dead right now ... when my sister is in such a fragile state ... Miss Wayborn!" Blindly, she stretched out
her hands to Juliet "Please do not alarm my sister with
reports of my accident."

"Of course not," said Juliet.

"They will be so worried about me at Silvercombe.
You see, I left without telling anyone where I was
going. I did not mean to go so far ..."

"I shall send a message at once," said Juliet, increasing her pace. "And as soon as you are dry, Benedict will send you home in his carriage. Your sister
need not be alarmed at all."

"Thank you, Miss Wayborn. My lord, I think you
must put me down now. I don't wish Sir Benedict's servants to see me like this. I assure you I can walk."

Juliet put the lady's slippers on her feet, and Swale
reluctantly set her down. He would have kept his
arm around the lady's waist, but Juliet took this office
upon herself, handing him Serena's hat instead.
"You're very kind, Miss Wayborn," Serena murmured.

As they entered the garden near the terrace, servants came out of the house to help. Juliet was informed that Sir Benedict wanted her to appear before
him in his study the instant she returned to the
house. It was not an interview she anticipated with any
pleasure.

Swale answered for her. "Please inform Sir Benedict
that Lady Serena has met with a slight accident in his
lake and that Miss Wayborn and I will attend him as
soon as she is made comfortable." He cast a sidelong glance at Juliet. "Agincourt?"

She nodded, and he barked out the order to make
Agincourt ready for Serena.

Juliet ran to her own room and brought her best nightdress and dressing gown for Serena to wear
while her clothes dried. Benedict found her in the hall.

"Not now, Benedict! Serena needs my attention."

"Yes, what has happened?" he demanded. "Is she
injured? Shall I send for the doctor?"

"She walked here under her own power," Juliet
replied. "She is in danger of catching cold-I will
know better her condition when she is warm and
dry. She fell into the lake and was nearly drowned."

"Good Lord," breathed Benedict, deeply distressed.
"I must know the exact spot where she fell in! There
should be no place near the bank where the water is
deep enough to be a danger."

"Lord Swale saved her," said Juliet quickly. "You
must not blame yourself, Benedict! I believe there has
been no permanent harm. I must go to her now."

"Of course," said Benedict. "I would not detain
you. But when she is comfortable, you will come to
me in my study. I must speak to you on a very important matter."

Juliet nodded. 'Will you send word to Silvercombe
and, without alarming Lady Redfylde, let them know
that Lady Serena is in our care?"

"Of course."

In Agincourt, Swale had taken the coal scuttle from
the maidservant and was building the fire himself.
"Out," Juliet told him. "Betsy can certainly manage,
and it is of the utmost importance that Serena change
out of her wet clothes as soon as possible."

"You are in very good hands," Swale told Serena
before closing the door.

As Betsy started a good blaze in the hearth, Juliet
helped Serena peel off her damp muslin and put on
the nightdress and quilted robe she had brought
from her room. Overriding the lady's protests, she made her climb into the big red and gold bed and
pulled the heavy coverlet up to her chin. "Sir Benedict will never forgive himself if you catch cold, you
know. He is already threatening to send to the doctor."

She dismissed the servant and found a towel to dry
Serena's long, dark hair.

"The tea will be here soon," she said gently, "and
a little brandy."

"You're very good. I'm sure I don't deserve it."
Serena's violet eyes filled with tears. "Oh, Miss Wayborn, can you ever forgive me?"

Juliet stiffened. "I am sure I was quite as horrid to
you as you have been to me," she said guiltily. "I
never liked you. You know that."

"But you were right not to like me," said Serena. "I
never cared for your brother at all. I only wanted to
hurt Horatio. Is Mr. Wayborn's heart very much
broken?"

"His heart. . ."Juliet scoffed. "Cary doesn't really
have a heart, you know. His pride was hurt, but he's
much more worried about his arm than his heart, I
promise you."

Serena grimaced. "Yes, I've never really been able
to give a man a lasting passion for me." Her face
crumpled, and she began to sob.

Juliet could not help but feel sorry for her. It must
be bitter indeed to be jilted not merely once but
twice within six months! Seating herself on the bed,
she began brushing out Serena's hair in an attempt
to soothe her. "You did not really fall into the lake,
did you?" she asked gently.

Serena turned her face away. "Please do not tell
anyone, Miss Wayborn. I'm so ashamed. How selfish
of me! I thought only of my own misery. My death
almost certainly would have caused my poor sister to miscarry. And I never considered that Sir Benedict
would feel responsible if I-if I died on his property.
I only knew that I was wretched! In my despair, it
seemed the only way to end my suffering."

Juliet listened silently.

"I knew that Horatio was returning today to hear
your answer. I did not mean to come here, but somehow, I found myself at the lake ...

"How did you know that? "Juliet asked curiously. "I
told no one he had proposed to me."

"He told me so himself when he came to Silvercombe to pay his respects."

"Insufferable conceit! "Juliet declared stoutly. "Why,
he visited Silvercombe before he solicited my hand! "

"He gave me to understand you were very eager to
accept him, Miss Wayborn, particularly after being
scorned by everyone in the village. He thought you
would accept him gratefully."

"He may have come to hear my answer," Juliet said
dryly, "but I promise you, he did not listen to it! I never
meant to accept him, and I would have told him so
three days ago, but he begged me-insisted-that I
take the time to consider the matter very carefully."

Serena wiped her eyes. "And are you seriously contemplating a marriage with Lord Swale?"

Juliet stiffened. "Yes, I am. We are very deeply in
love, and if you do not love him-and I suspect you
don't-I insist that you break your engagement to him
at once! "

"Miss Wayborn, I am not engaged to Lord Swale,"
Serena replied with an expression of astonishment.

"Of course you are," said Juliet. "He came to Surrey
for the express purpose of making himself agreeable to you."

"Then he has failed rather spectacularly!" said Serena with an abrupt laugh. "I can think of no one
I have ever met in my life who is less agreeable, except,
of course, Horatio."

"Don't you like him at all?" cried Juliet, her own partiality for Swale making Serena's indifference difficult
to accept.

"Lord Swale smells of cheese," said Serena. "And
he's so clumsy-! Yesterday, when we were walking to
the village, he kicked me some eleven times!" She
became increasingly animated as she recalled the
experience. "Kicked my shoe from my foot and then
had the gall to pretend Iwas the clumsy one! And he
would insist that I was some sort of weakling-that I
could scarcely walk without his assistance. Assistance,
he called it! Shoving me along the path with his
beastly hand at the small of my back. I grew sick to
death hearing myself compared so unfavorably to
yourself. Miss Wayborn could walk to Scotland without so much as a blister on her toe! Miss Wayborn is
so brown and healthy! Forgive me, but how I hated
Miss Wayborn!"

"Please call me Juliet," said the delighted young
lady.

"As I knew-as I thought-you were shortly to
become engaged to Horatio, I heartily wished you to
the devil! I was so eager to get away from Lord Swale
that I pretended to faint." She sighed. "Unfortunately, his lordship's chivalry was aroused, and he saw
it as his duty to see me safely home. On the way, he
told me everything Miss Wayborn did to keep herself
so healthy and that I would soon be dead if I did not
follow her excellent example of a hearty diet and daily
exercise! "