The Notorious Widow (17 page)

Catherine nodded.

The fight now involved a score of men. Blake doubted most knew whom they were hitting, though they seemed to be quarreling over Lansbury’s guilt. But the confusion made it all the more dangerous. He waded in, ducking fists and sidestepping feet until he finally spotted William and Brad Lansbury on the floor. A tangle of chairs separated them from the others.

“Stop this!” he demanded, deflecting William’s blow before it could land on Brad’s ear. “I mean it!” He rolled William off and pulled Brad to his feet, pinning the boy’s arms to his side when he tried to escape.

“Fighting will only make things worse.” He stepped on William’s arm, then shook Brad to get his attention. “The stories are lies from start to finish. You would be better served to get your uncle out of here before he makes enemies that will plague him for years. No one is in a mood to listen just now.”

The sound of breaking crockery cut through the noise. Someone was peppering Lansbury with plates and bottles. Wine soaked his coat, drawing new protestations of innocence. Jasper stood nearby, sheltering Mrs. Telcor from flying debris.

Brad broke away, shoving men aside as he rushed across the room. Mrs. Lansbury’s wails had progressed to full hysterics.

“Get up and control yourself,” Blake told William.

“He called Catherine—”

“I don’t care what he said. I’ve heard worse. But fighting will accomplish nothing. Now pull yourself together. You are a baron, not a brawler. Start acting like it.”

Brad’s efforts to calm Lansbury distracted men from the fight.

Blake grimaced. Now that tempers were cooling, Jasper stepped forward, making a great show of separating combatants. Satisfaction blazed in Jasper’s eyes.

Catherine was struggling to control her sisters. She had one hand clamped around Laura’s wrist and the other on Mary’s skirt. Laura was wailing at the top of her lungs. Mary must have seen Jasper’s triumph, for she was dragging the others in his direction, fists raised in fury.

Alicia stormed across the room. “Stop this caterwauling at once,” she snapped, slapping Laura in the face. “If you insist on living with a harlot, people will shun you.”

The blow penetrated Laura’s distress. “Hussy!” she screamed, slapping her back. “How dare you judge me when you are no better than a vulgar bawd?”

“Who are you calling vulgar?” Alicia landed a blow to Laura’s shoulder.

“We all saw you stalking Rockhurst.” Laura shook off Catherine’s hand, grabbed a hank of Alicia’s hair, and pulled. Strings snapped, scattering pearls across the floor.

Alicia shrieked, then waded in, both fists flying. A new melee erupted as people scrambled to recover the pearls.

Blake groaned. “Do something,” he ordered William. “Catherine can’t control both of them.” By now she had her hands full trying to prevent shy, docile Mary from attacking Mrs. Telcor, who was praising Jasper for his masterly action in quelling the first riot and urging him to stop this new fracas.

“We should have stayed home,” moaned William.

“Save the regrets,” Blake snapped. “Fetch the girls and meet me by the window. And no more fighting, no matter what the provocation.”

“Right.”

Blake didn’t completely trust him, but he had to do what he could to minimize the damage. He pushed through the crowd until he found Hortense. “The timing of this revelation is quite interesting,” he said, so only she could hear. “It began only moments after Jasper Rankin arrived. Three days ago, two boys overheard him threaten revenge on Lansbury for having the audacity to drive his wagon along a narrow lane at the precise moment Rankin wanted to use it.”

Hortense frowned, but she made no comment. He held her eyes a moment, then slipped away, hoping she would remember his suggestion once the dust settled.

William had routed Alicia and was dragging his sisters away. But the melee was growing. Three merchants’ wives were hacking up the floor, looking for pearls that had rolled down a knothole. Chairs flew as others scrambled into corners. This assembly would be remembered for generations.

William finally escaped the crowd. And just in time. Mr. Wyath arrived, fire in his eyes. Alicia burst into tears at his greeting.

When Blake reached the window, Catherine’s eyes glittered with unshed tears. “Now we know how Jasper will ruin Lansbury,” she murmured. “I should have considered his wife. Edna clings to him. Suspecting him of infidelity will destroy her, and seeing her pain might well kill him.”

“If she truly cares, she will let him explain. A lifetime of trust cannot be undone by one venal rumor.” He sighed. “Tempers are too high to do anything more tonight. We must concede this round to Jasper, but I am more determined than ever to defeat him.”

“Impossible.”

“We must leave,” William said, holding Laura and Mary so tightly that Laura could not throw herself against Blake’s chest.

Blake checked the room. More than half the guests were gone. The musicians had fled. So had the servants. Someone was probably fetching the constable.

“Very well.” He let William lead the way, then whispered to Catherine, “Go with them and make sure William does not respond to taunts as he leaves. His temper is still precarious. I will join you shortly.”

“What are you doing?”

“Fulfilling that promise I made to Harry. Now go.”

She nodded, but she glanced back several times as she headed for the door.

Edna Lansbury had finally lapsed into silence. When everyone turned to watch the Seabrooks’ exit, Blake whispered in her ear. “The story is a lie concocted by Jasper Rankin to hurt your husband, though he did nothing to deserve such spite. Don’t let Jasper destroy your trust.”

Before she could respond, he slipped into the night.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Something halted Blake just outside the library. Maybe it was a sound or the slightly ajar door. Or perhaps it was merely instinct. But once he glanced through the crack, he fled.

Damnation!
More explicit curses followed. Never had he been so furious.

He’d been set up. Thank heavens he’d been heading for the breakfast room when he’d received the summons. He’d arrived before Laura had finished arranging the scene. Was William positioned to jump out and cry compromise the moment he entered the room?

A new stream of invective tripped off his tongue. He should have expected this after the fiasco at the assembly last night. For the first time, Laura had experienced the same ostracism Catherine had suffered for weeks, and his disinterest must have finally penetrated her conceit. So she had taken matters into her own hands.

As soon as he found William indisputably alone, he would denounce them both, then move back to the White Hart. Leaving Seabrook would make it more difficult to fulfill his vow, but that was a price he must pay.

In the meantime, he would check on his horses. They, at least, offered undemanding company.

He was rounding the corner of the manor when he nearly ran William down. “Cad!” he snapped, unable to hold his temper. “I hadn’t believed you would stoop so low, though I should have expected it when I realized you brought me here under false pretenses. I should call you out – and would if it would not harm Catherine beyond repair.”

William recoiled. “What?”

He ignored the overdone shock. “This would have been bad enough if I weren’t your guest, but abusing your hospitality after tying me to the estate makes it worse. I will never—”

“What the devil are you talking about?” demanded Seabrook, interrupting. “If you have a complaint, we will discuss it, but let’s at least go inside instead of sharing it with the staff.” He gestured toward a pair of gardeners clipping hedges in the distance.

“You won’t set me up a second time. I’ll see—”

“Stop!”

William’s voice cut through Blake’s protest. Snapping his mouth closed, he stared at his host, then applied curbs to his temper when he spotted the confusion simmering in the man’s eyes.

William let out a deep breath. “I have always considered you a fair man, Rockhurst. If you feel wronged, I must respect that, but I have no idea what you are talking about. Your summons said only to meet you in the library.”

“Summons?” Blake glared. “I sent no summons.”

“No su—” William frowned. “Bill told me that you wished to see me in the library as soon as possible. Since he’d chased me down in the stable to deliver the message, I presumed the matter was urgent.”

“How interesting.” Blake cupped his chin. “Rob met me outside the breakfast room. According to him, you needed me in the library immediately. He was so anxious that I postponed eating.”

“But—”

“The only occupant of the library is Laura. When I peeped around the door, she was pulling the pins from her hair.”

“She wouldn’t!” William’s horror finally convinced Blake that Laura had concocted this plot on her own.

“She is. If you join her, she will weep and wail over my supposed attack. I won’t stand for it, Seabrook. I meant to speak with you this morning anyway, for her antics have become more than irritating. I must lock my door at night to keep her from crawling into my bed. She has the entire staff spying on me. I cannot sit down for a moment without her appearing. Her constant prattle gives me headaches. But this is too much. I have no interest in the chit. Any lies she devises will ruin her, for I will never offer. I would leave the country first, for I despise schemers.”

William’s shoulders sagged. “I cannot believe that she is this desperate. She has turned down four offers that I know of, and I’ve no idea how many others she dissuaded from speaking with me.”

“None were from gentlemen who would whisk her away to a life of adventure,” Blake reminded him gently. “Now she finds herself with no suitors and a questionable reputation, so she has abandoned her dreams to claim the nearest male. What she refuses to admit is that she would be as unhappy with me as you would have been with Miss Wyath. She wants adventure, society, and fawning adoration. I prefer the Abbey to London. When I go to town, it will be for Parliament and not for an endless round of boring parties. Our ambitions are too disparate.”

“She isn’t as selfish as you claim. She’s—”

“Don’t.” Blake put as much ice in his tone as possible. “Nothing you say will make a difference. I know she is your sister, but to outside eyes she is a self-absorbed, greedy fortune hunter who ignores even obvious truths if they contradict her fantasies. Right now her goal is to escape Devonshire. She will do anything to achieve it.”

William turned away, staring into the distance as his fists clenched and unclenched. He finally turned back to meet Blake’s gaze. “I owe you a great deal for opening my eyes to Alicia’s faults. When I saw her pursuing you last evening, her avaricious nature became clear. And her attack on Laura was inexcusably vulgar. She would have made an abominable wife.”

“You can pay the debt by passing the lesson on to your sister. She will destroy her reputation if she persists with this plot. And her blindness is appalling. Even if she had succeeded in wresting an offer from me, word would have leaked out about her methods. It would have destroyed the rest of you by confirming the rumors of gross indiscretions.”

“I am not looking forward to the conversation,” William admitted.

“I would be surprised if you were. You might mention that I see little difference between her and Miss Wyath, especially after her performance at the assembly. Both flirt with anyone at hand while they scheme to trap a man who will elevate them. Both are selfish, caring little about how their actions affect others. And both are stupid, ignoring the inevitable result of their schemes. Husbands have no duty to their wives beyond providing food, clothing, and shelter. A loaf of bread, a tattered robe, and space in the dungeon would be sufficient.”

“True. I will see that she behaves in future.”

It wasn’t enough, decided Blake. Laura might ignore William’s orders. “If I cannot concentrate on countering Jasper’s plots, I must return to town.”

William grimaced. Leaving Seabrook would intensify the gossip, raising new charges against the entire family. “That won’t be necessary. I’ll lock her up before I’ll let her bother you again.” He paused. “I am curious, though. Might you have considered Laura if she had not been so brazen?”

“No. She exhibits none of the traits I demand in a wife. Besides, I have my eye on someone else,” he added in patent untruth.

“Well… That’s that, then.” William squared his shoulders. “I will see her now. Please accept my apologies, Rockhurst. This should never have happened. I cannot condone force, no matter what the goal.”

Blake watched him leave. He would never blame William for entertaining hopes. The man had two sisters to settle, a task made difficult by straitened circumstances and Laura’s air dreaming even before Jasper’s attacks began.

Abandoning his plans to visit the stable, he headed for the formal garden. But William's question teased his mind. His answer had sought to deflate even the tiniest hope that Laura could bring him up to scratch, but now he wondered if it had contained a grain of truth. He envied Max’s luck in finding a wife who complemented him so perfectly. The two shared a link felt by few aristocratic couples.

Catherine is very like her
, whispered his conscience.

Perhaps. And it was true that she elicited some of the same reactions Max had described. But he could not afford to consider the possibility just yet. Unless he kept their relationship firmly focused on business, he would make the situation worse.

Business meant identifying Jasper’s closest friends. They were the ones most likely to know his motives. The fact that they rarely teased him proved that they understood his reactions. Ted could discover their names. So could Catherine, of course. But asking her required going indoors. Until William had dealt with Laura, he couldn’t risk it.

Again he turned toward the stable, but Sarah shouted a greeting and beckoned him to join her near the folly. Within minutes he found himself tramping through the woods, diligently matching fallen leaves to the trees that had produced them.