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rude to me as Scruggs, I could throttle you." Claudia drew herself up proudly. "Let me
tell you, sir, I am not at all certain I wish to remain engaged to such an ill-mannered
gentleman."
"Claudia, be reasonable. It was just a little game I was playing."
"You owe me an abject apology, Mr. Sheldrake," Claudia snapped fiercely. "I will
expect you to get down on your knees for that apology. On your knees, do you hear me?"
Claudia picked up her skirts and fled back toward the lights of the great house.
Peter turned on Augusta, who was choking on her laughter. "Well, madam, I trust you
are satisfied with this night's mischief. You seem to have put an end to my engagement
before it was even begun."
"Not at all, Mr. Sheldrake. You shall just have to work a bit harder at the task of
wooing my cousin. She deserves that apology, by the way. I am not particularly pleased
with you, either, I might add. When I think of how sympathetic I was toward you
whenever you complained of your rheumatism, I get vastly annoyed."
Peter bit back another oath. "Well, you have certainly had your revenge."
Harry folded his arms across his chest, amused by the wrangling.
"May I ask when you first realized I was playing the role of Scruggs?" Peter growled.
Augusta smiled wickedly. "Why, 'twas that night when you drove Graystone and me
about London for an hour or so before taking us back to Lady Arbuthnott's. I recognized
your real voice when you tried to tell Harry that the drive might not be such an excellent
notion."
"As you are happily married now, madam, it seems to me you should be thanking me
for playing the role of coachman that night," Sheldrake retorted. "You should be feeling
gratitude, not a desire for a paltry vengeance."
"That," Augusta said, "is a matter of opinion."
"Is that so? Well, allow me to point out "
"Enough." Harry hastily interrupted as he realized he did not care for the direction in
which the sparring was headed. The last thing he wanted tonight was for Augusta to
recall how she had been coerced into a hasty marriage because of what had occurred in
Sally's darkened carriage that night. He had enough problems on his hands without
dredging up that bit of ammunition for her to use against him. "The two of you are
beginning to remind me of a pair of small children and we do have guests to see to."
Peter muttered grimly under his breath. "I suppose I had better see about making that
apology. Do you really think Claudia meant that part about me getting down on my
knees?"
"Yes, I do," Augusta assured him.
Peter grinned suddenly. "I always knew she had spirit beneath that prim, angelic
facade."
"Naturally," Augusta said. "Claudia may be not a Northumberland Ballinger, but she is
still a Ballinger."
A long while later, when the great house was dark and silent at last, Harry sprawled in
a chair in his bedchamber and considered the real reason he did not want to take Augusta
to London.
He was afraid.
Afraid that in London she would once again find friends of a kindred spirit who would
encourage her in her inclination toward recklessness.
Afraid that even though The Season was over she would still find ways to plunge
herself into the whirl of activities and pleasures that she had enjoyed so much before her
marriage.
Afraid that in Town she might just possibly encounter the kind of man who would
appear to be a far more appropriate mate for a passionate female of the dashing
Northumberland Ballinger clan than the man she had married.
Afraid that in London she might encounter the man to whom she could truly give her
heart.
And yet he knew that even if that should occur, Augusta would honor her wedding
vows, come what may. She was a woman of honor.
It struck Harry that he had everything that he thought he had wanted from the start. He
had a woman who would be faithful as a matter of honor, even though her heart might be
given to another.
Yes, he possessed her loyalty and her sweetly responsive body and they were no
longer enough.
No longer enough.
Harry looked out into the night while he carefully opened the locked door deep inside
himself. For an instant he peered very briefly into that hungry, desperate, smoldering
darkness. He slammed the door shut at once but not before he had understood something
he had not wanted to face until now.
For the first time he admitted that he longed to have Augusta's wild, passionate [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]