Christine Merrill - A Yuletide Invitation - The Mistletoe Wager / The Harlot's Daughter

‘In a sense he is. He is the object of a bet I have made with the other gentlemen. I guaranteed them that I could make Tremaine wish me a Merry Christmas.’

‘Why on earth would you do that?’

He grinned. ‘Perhaps my common sense was temporarily overcome with seasonal spirit.’

Rosalind frowned at him. ‘Or perhaps not. Perhaps you have some plan afoot that involves ending the separation with your wife. Or did you bet on her as well? And what prevailed upon the odious Mr Tremaine to accept your challenge? I do not understand it at all.’

‘Then let me explain it to you. I told Tremaine that I would facilitate the divorce Elise is so eager for, if he would come down to the country and play my little game. I knew he would take the information straight to Elise, and that she would insist they attend—if only for the opportunity to come back here and tell me to my face what she thought of the idea. I expect she is furious.’

‘And you think by angering her that you will bring her closer to you? Harry, you do not understand women at all, if that is your grand plan.’

‘But I know Elise.’ He smiled. ‘And so far it is going just as I expected it to.’

‘If you know her so well, then you should have been able to prevent her from leaving in the first place. Do you understand what you have done to her to make her so angry with you?’

He was honestly puzzled as he answered, ‘Absolutely nothing. As you can see from the house, her wardrobe, her jewels, she can live in luxury. And if this was not enough I would go to any lengths necessary to give her more. I treat her with the utmost respect. I do not strike her. I do not berate her in public or in private. I am faithful. Although I have never denied her her admirers, I have no mistress, nor have ever considered a lover. I want no one but her, and I am willing to give her her own way in all things.’ He gestured in the direction of the library. ‘I even tolerate Tremaine. What more can she ask of me? There is little more that I can think to give her.’

Rosalind paused in thought for a moment. ‘You spoil her, then. But you must cut her off if she means to belittle you so. If she has a taste for luxury, deny her. Tell her that you are very angry with her over this foolishness and that there will be no more gifts. Tell her that you wish for her to come home immediately. That will bring her to heel.’

‘Do not speak that way of her.’ He said it simply for he did not mean to reprove his sister, since she got enough of that at home. ‘Elise is not some animal that can be punished into obedience and will still lick the hand of its master. She is a proud woman. And she is my wife.’

‘It seems she does not wish to be.’

‘Perhaps not. But it is something that must be settled between the two of us, and not by others. And perhaps if you had lived her life …’

Rosalind laughed. ‘I would gladly trade her life for mine. You will not convince me that it is such a tragedy to be married to an earl. Even in separation, she lives better than most ladies of the ton.’

He shook his head. ‘You should understand well enough what her life was like before, Rosalind, and show some sympathy. For her parents were every bit as strict to her as your father has been to you. I met her father, of course, when I offered for her. Her mother as well. It would not have been easy for her if she had been forced to return home after the disaster with Tremaine. The man betrayed her, and so she broke it off with him. It was the only reason she was willing to consider my offer.’

Rosalind bit her lip, as though the situation was unusually distressing to her. ‘A broken engagement is not the end of the world. And you saved her from any repercussions. It could not have been so horrible to have you instead of Mr Tremaine.’

He shrugged. ‘Perhaps not. I have endeavoured to make her happy, of course. But in losing Tremaine she lost any dreams she might have harboured that her marriage would be based in true love. Her parents did not care what happened to her as long as her brother was provided for. It was for him that they came to England. They wished to see him properly outfitted and to give him a taste for travel. Her presence on the trip was little more than an afterthought.’ He remembered her brother Carl, who was as sullen and disagreeable as Elise was charming, and gave a small shudder.

‘Before I came into the room to speak to her father I heard him remonstrating with her before the whole family for her refusal of Tremaine. He called her all kinds of a fool for not wishing an unfaithful husband. Told her if her mother had seen fit to provide a second son, instead of a useless daughter, then the trip would not have been spoiled with tears and nonsense. Her father swore it mattered not to him who she might choose, and that if she wouldn’t have me then he would drag her back home by her hair and give her to the first man willing to take her off his hands.

‘When I entered, and she introduced me, I assumed he would show some restraint in his words. But he announced to me that if the silly girl did not take her first offer she must take mine, whether she wanted it or no. He complained that they had spent a small fortune in launching her at what parties were available to them in the winter. They had no wish to do it again in spring, when she might be shown to her best advantage and have a variety of suitors. She stood mutely at his side, accepting the abuse as though it were a normal part of her life.’

Harry clenched his fists at the memory, even after several years. ‘If I was not convinced beforehand that she needed me I knew it then. How did they expect her to find a husband with the season still months away? My offer was most fortuitous.’ He remembered the resignation with which she had accepted him, and the way she had struggled to look happy as he took her hand. ‘And she has been most grateful.’

‘Then why is she not living here with you, instead of at Tremaine’s side in London?’

‘While it was easy enough for her to break the engagement, it has been much harder to tell her heart that the decision was a wise one. And at such times as there is trouble between us, she cannot help but turn to him and wonder if she made a mistake.’ He sighed. But he made sure that when he spoke again it was with optimism. ‘But, since I can count on Tremaine to be Tremaine, if she thinks to stray, she always returns to me, sadder but wiser.’

‘Is he really so bad, then?’

He made note of the curious look in Rosalind’s eyes as she asked the question, as though she was both longing for the answer and dreading it.

‘He is a man. No better or worse than any other. I imagine he is capable of love if the right woman demands it of him.’

A trick of the morning light seemed to change his sister’s expression from despair to hope and back again. So he said, ‘But Elise is not that woman and never has been. He was unfaithful to her, you know.’

‘Perhaps the thing that parted them was an aberration. Things might be different should they try again.’ Rosalind’s voice was small, and the prospect seemed to give her no happiness.

He gave her a stern look. ‘I’m sure they would be happy to know that their rekindled love has your support. But I find it less than encouraging.’

‘Oh.’ She seemed to remember that her behaviour was of no comfort to him, and said, ‘But I am sure she could be equally happy with you, Harry.’

‘Equally?’ That was the assessment he had been afraid of.

Rosalind hurried to correct herself. ‘I meant to say much happier.’

‘I am sure you did. But I wonder what Elise would say, given the chance to compare? Until recently I could not enquire. For at the first sign of trouble, she rushed off to London to be with Nicholas Tremaine.’