Christine Merrill - A Convenient Bride For The Soldier

‘Well...’ Nash looked from one to the other of them, obviously not convinced.

‘It is not as if she came here to surprise you,’ Challenger said, dismissing her actual plan as impossible. And now that it had gone horribly wrong, it did seem ridiculous. But as long as her mistake did not end up forcing her into the arms of Nash Bowles, it would be an embarrassing success.

She gave not a word to confirm or deny. Instead she sighed and leaned into Mr Challenger’s body, nestling there as if it were the most natural thing in the world to be held by a virtual stranger. And it did feel rather nice. His embrace was neither too tight nor too loose and the breath that was ruffling her hair was pleasant.

Perhaps she had needed his protection. At the sight of them together, Sir Nash seemed to swell in his indignation like some disgusting sea creature. ‘You are playing a dangerous and foolhardy game, Miss Knight, if you think to partner with this man instead of me. Do you not know the reputation of the Challengers? Surely your father does not wish you to marry into such a rakehell family. And this man is the worst of the lot. Just look at where he is.’

‘He is in the same place as you,’ Georgiana pointed out quietly. ‘I see no difference.’

‘There is one and it is significant,’ Nash shot back. ‘I am but a patron here, but Frederick Challenger is one of the owners. He is the master of the revels tonight. If you do not wish to give yourself into the hands of a despoiler of innocents, then avoid him at all costs. There can be no greater one than he.’

‘Unlike some men, I do not take what is not freely given.’ The look he gave Nash told Georgiana quite clearly that, even amongst unrepentant sinners, there were some lines that could not be crossed.

‘Georgiana.’ Nash turned to her now, holding out a hand as if he could coax her back to his side. But the benign smile that accompanied the gesture was followed by a brief, downward gaze to stare at her body.

It was then that she remembered her state of undress and the fact that the original plan had not included removing her mask. This time, she made no effort to hide her shudder at his gaze.

Without waiting for a request, Mr Challenger stepped away from her and seized a cloth from a nearby table, tossing it about her shoulders, hiding her from view. Then with a manner as dire as death, he pointed a finger at Sir Nash. ‘In the future, you will refer to the woman at my side as Miss Knight. At least until such time as she does me the honour of becoming Mrs Challenger. Then, you will not speak to her at all.’

‘That day will never come,’ Nash said, almost shaking with rage. ‘I will talk to my cousin over this. We had an understanding.’

‘You do that,’ Mr Challenger said. ‘But one thing that you will not do is remain in this club a moment more. Collect your hat and be on your way, or I will have Snyder help you to the door.’ This was followed with the sort of cold, satisfied smile that assured everyone near that this was less a request than a threat.

‘This is not the end, Challenger. This is not the end.’ But it looked final enough to Georgiana. Sir Nash was backing towards the door as if afraid to take his eyes from the man next to her. Then, with a swish of the black cape that he wore, he was gone.

And once again, she was alone with Mr Frederick Challenger.

Chapter Three

When he was sure Sir Nash was gone, he released his hold on her and his warm expression returned to disapproval. ‘Well?’

‘Thank you for making him go away,’ she said, her nerve failing her in the face of such a large, angry man.

‘Do not thank me. I did not do it for you,’ he said. ‘I cannot abide that fellow. He cannot seem to manage a visit here without doing something so foul that I have to turn him out. If you had a jot of sense you would not have come here, to risk falling into his clutches.’

In the face of this fresh condemnation, she felt as young and foolish as her stepmother thought her to be. Then, she remembered that Mr Challenger had spent the whole of their limited acquaintance thinking such things about her, with no basis in fact. ‘My behaviour was the result of desperation,’ she said firmly, looking him in the eye. ‘My father and stepmother are all but forcing me to marry Sir Nash and I find him repellent. I thought if there was some way I could prove to them how awful he was...’

‘So you came here to find him,’ Challenger said. ‘And just what did you mean to do once you had?’

She could not reveal the whole of her plan without announcing Ben’s part in it. If he lost his position because of her foolishness, how could she forgive herself? ‘I thought to scream for help,’ she said, wondering if it would have worked. ‘When someone came to my rescue, I would demand that he be a witness against Sir Nash to my father.’

‘Or you could have drawn a crowd and not a rescuer. You could have been ravished for sport by the very man you thought to entrap, while the worst of the ton looked on and laughed.’ His voice rose, as if he thought she was some underling who had to stand for his punishment. ‘Once he had what he wanted, you’d have had to beg for the honour of the marriage you did not want to keep from being cast into the gutter with the rest of the fallen women.’

‘Then what Nash said about you was true,’ she responded, raising her volume to match his. ‘If you own such a place and would have allowed that to happen, you are as bad, or worse, than any who come here.’

His mouth snapped shut, as though he could not figure out how to respond.

‘For your information, he’d have married me no matter what had happened,’ she said, crestfallen. ‘I think he has debts. My stepmother speaks disapprovingly of his gambling even as she tries to arrange our marriage. He wants my father’s money as much as anything else he might get from me.’

‘I seriously doubt that.’ Mr Challenger gave another sweeping glance up and down her body, as though it was possible to see through the tablecloth that hid it.

After weeks of studiously ignoring her, she was unsure of what to make of his sudden interest. She did her best to disregard it despite the strange tingling she felt at the passage of his eyes. ‘Well, your interruption has prevented anything bad from happening tonight. If you will excuse me...’ She turned toward the door.

He gave a single, sharp laugh in response. ‘And now, you mean to go home as if nothing has changed.’

‘What else can I do?’ she said, trying to smooth the tablecloth into the semblance of a respectable garment.

‘Go on, then.’ He smiled, gesturing toward the door. ‘If you really think that is a good idea.’

His maddeningly smug tone raised the hairs on the back of her neck. She hated being lectured to like a foolish child. She hated it doubly so when she suspected that she deserved it. ‘All right, then. Say what you mean to. You are itching for the chance to scold me and I will not deny it to you. Why can’t I just go home? Do you still mean to ravish me?’ She had meant it as a joke, but once the words had passed her lips, they seemed to hang in the air between them on a cloud of musk.

‘You will go home, untouched,’ he said, in a reasonable tone that belied any knowledge of a change in the atmosphere. ‘But it will be quite impossible for either of us to pretend that this incident did not happen.’

‘Do you mean to tell my father?’ she asked in a small voice. The story would sound no better delivered by Mr Challenger than it would from Sir Nash.

‘I will not have to. Bowles will be there at first light to do it for me.’

Of course. He would come to press for an immediate approval of his suit. He would portray her as a wayward hoyden and himself as a rescuer from near disaster. ‘I have made it worse,’ she said, miserably.