Much Ado about the Shrew (19 page)

           
“Excellent,” Milford said, pulling
at his waistcoat. “I am quite famished.”
 
He looked over at the two standing together and rolled his eyes and
sighed deeply.
 
“That’s how the wind
blows, does it? Well, I suppose I will have to share Welles with you, now, Lady
Julia. Come, we shall be fast friends, and I will tell you all of the childhood
pranks he hopes to keep from you.”
 
Milford offered his arm, and Julia stared at him in wonder before taking
it and being led off, Welles trailing behind him, trying to smother a smile of
his own.

           
Ben guided Bee to the sofa next to
the window and gently sat down with her, keeping his arms lightly wrapped
around her. Lennox, Bee's aunt and his mother all filed in after them, standing
awkwardly as they all tried not to stare at Ben, who was still holding Bee.

           
Ben broke the silence. "What
happened?" he asked Lennox.

           
Lennox sighed. "Surrey,"
he started, and with that Bee began to cry again. Ben gathered her into his
arms as she sobbed quietly, gently rocking her.

           
"Perhaps it would be best if
Lady Beatrice was allowed to go home," his mother suggested. "Then we
can talk tomorrow."

           
"That's the rub," Lennox
said. "Tomorrow may be too late."
           
"Too late for what?"
his mother asked.

           
"To stop her blasted
uncle!" Bee's aunt rose and furiously stamped across the room. "Of
all the outrageous, asinine stunts that man has pulled, this... this absolutely
has to be the worst!" She stamped her foot in fury, and Ben thought
absently that he would have been impressed had the situation been a little
different. As it was, nothing seemed real; Bee was crying, her aunt was angry,
Lennox was pensive, and his mother was quiet. Nothing in this tableau made
sense.

           
"Could someone please just tell
me what is going on?" Ben said in a quiet, yet forceful tone.

           
Ben heard Bee's breath hitch, and
she pushed his chest lightly. Reluctantly, he relaxed his hold and she sat up,
her eyes raw from weeping. "My uncle," she said in a teary voice.
"He's... he signed papers... Surrey..." her eyes filled with tears
again and Ben quickly pulled her back to his chest.

           
He looked around the room.
"Lennox?" he asked.

           
"It's like she said,"
Lennox sighed. "Her uncle signed betrothal papers with Surrey."

           
"WHAT?" Ben yelled. If he
had not been holding Bee, he would have jumped off the sofa right then. As it
was, he had to check himself.

           
"How can he do that?"
Ben's mother asked.

           
Lennox shrugged. "Technically
he's her legal guardian with her father gone. He signed the papers on her
behalf."

           
"They'll never hold up in court
if Bee refuses," Ben growled.

           
"If?" her aunt yelled.

           
Lennox shook his head. "Not if
we fight him, no they won't."

           
"What? Of course we will fight
him."

           
Lennox's eyebrows raised.
"We?"

           
"Yes, we," Ben frowned.
"I cannot believe you were even thinking of accepting this."

           
"I wasn't," Lennox said,
holding up his hands in surrender. "Honestly!" he added when Ben's
eyes narrowed. "Bee, tell him what I told you."

           
Bee hiccupped and took a deep
breath. "He is telling the truth," she admitted. "Leo said I
could refuse."

           
"Then why the
histrionics?" Ben asked.

           
"Really, Ben!" his mother
said, as Bee's aunt
tsked
and Lennox grunted.
Bee
 
sat back a little from him and
glared.

           
"Oh, come now!" Ben said.
"Don't you all turn on me like that."

           
"Surrey himself came and
announced the news while I was out this afternoon," Lennox explained after
a short silence. "I believe that was the catalyst for the... um..."
he paused, trying to find the word.

           
"For me being a watering
pot," Bee said sullenly.

           
"But a more lovely watering pot
there never was," Ben smiled, although Bee merely glared back.

           
"As I see it," Ben said
slowly, addressing the room, "there really is no issue. I will call upon my
solicitors in the morning. No one can
make
you marry Surrey, Bee."

           
"That's what I said this
afternoon!" Lennox groaned, looking to the ceiling and rolling his eyes.

           
"Are you certain?" she
asked hesitantly.

           
"As the day is long," Ben
smiled. "Or, rather, the evening." He looked up at the clock.
"Come, everyone, let's have a bit of supper, shall we?" He stood and
held his hand out for Bee. "During the war, we would always eat heartily
before an upcoming battle, and I believe tomorrow we shall have to engage in a
sort of war, in any case."

           
Leading Bee towards the dining room,
Ben's mind raced furiously. Half of him wanted to jump up and call Surrey out
right this minute, and the other wanted to drag Bee off to Gretna Green to
elope that night. He caught Lennox's eye as he escorted Bee and his mother, and
saw that Lennox, seemed to be thinking at least on one of those ideas.
 
Surrey seemed to constantly turn up in Bee's
life like a bad penny, and Ben wasn't sure that even his marriage to her would
rid them of his presence completely. Besides, he had promised Bee to deal with
him, although he wasn't quite certain how to do that as of yet. How to get rid
of Surrey without resorting to murder?

           
Ben sighed. Unless Surrey retreated
back to the Continent or to parts unknown of his own volition, he would have no
choice but to call Surrey out, and most likely sooner rather than later. The
thought should have upset him, but instead he was almost grateful for this
push; Surrey had played his hand and Ben was now free to play his. If Surrey
believed Ben would back down, he had gravely misjudged.

           
William had intentionally missed
when firing upon Surrey that cold morning in London so many years ago. Ben,
however, had no intention of doing anything other than putting a ball straight
through the bastard's heart.

           
After supper, the men agreed to forego
their port (as Milford noted it was nasty stuff, and a waste of time he could
be drinking brandy) and joined the women in the sitting room. After a few
minutes, his mother excused herself and retired to her room.
 
"Ask her!" she whispered to Ben as she
left the room.

           
Ben chuckled, but Bee's aunt rose as
well. "I'm afraid Julia and I have a rather early meeting with the
modiste
," she explained.

           
Ben looked over at Bee. "Of
course," he mumbled. "Until tomorrow, then, Lady Lennox, Lady
Julia... Lady Beatrice."

           
"Oh, no, Beatrice, you
shouldn't have to leave so early. We can send the carriage back for you in an
hour."

           
"Oh, no, Auntie," Bee
said. "I wouldn't want to be a bother."

           
"No, no," she said, giving
Ben a knowing look. "It's not a bother. You should stay."

           
"I'll accompany you,"
Lennox said after being elbowed by his mother.

           
Within a few minutes he, Milford,
Welles and Bee were relaxing in the parlor. He smiled as he crossed the room
and poured himself a brandy from the sideboard.
 
He imagined that this would be how he would spend his evenings when he
and Bee were married.
 

           
"Is that for me,
ol
' chap?" Milford asked. "So kind of you."

           
Ben raised an eyebrow and leveled a
look at Milford, but poured another glass and handed it to Milford before
resting a shoulder against the mantle.

           
"So, what are you going to do
about Surrey?" Milford asked, taking the brandy that Ben offered him and
taking a seat by the fire.

           
Ah, Milford was direct. "I'm
not doing anything until I know exactly what his plan is," Ben tried to
explain.

           
"So what if he gets a special
license tomorrow?" Bee interrupted from where she sat. "Am I just
supposed to marry him until you figure out a plan?"

           
"I highly doubt he would be
able to get a special license by tomorrow," Ben frowned. "It will
take him at least a day or two at most."

           
Bee leveled a look at him and
crossed her arms.

           
Ben rolled his eyes. "When the
reverend asks if you promise to honor and obey, then just say 'no,'" he
said testily.

           
"Really? That's your brilliant
plan to save me from this situation?" Bee asked, getting up and pacing the
room.
 
"Just say no?"

           
"And what do you suggest I
do?" Ben asked.

           
Bee threw up her arms in
frustration. "I don't know," she said. "Turn him into the
authorities for killing my brother?"

           
Ben sighed. "I told you, unfortunately
that's not an option," he said, glancing over at Welles, who nodded
gravely.

           
"Well, what are the
options?" Bee asked.

           
"The options? Ha, the
options," Ben muttered. "What options?" The truth was, their
options were limited now, but if they were to be married, then at least the
fact that Surrey was still alive was merely a matter of honor instead of an
actual problem. He looked over at Bee, who was staring proverbial daggers at
him. He decided that the current situation did not seem to be the best ambiance
for a marriage proposal.

           
"Why can't you call him out and
be done with it?" Bee said.

           
Ben looked over at her.
"What?"

           
"Lady Beatrice," Welles
admonished.

           
"Well?" Bee said angrily.

           
"Well, what?" Ben asked.

           
"Why don't you call him
out?" Bee repeated, frustration lacing her voice.

           
"Call him- yes, now that would
solve all of our problems, now wouldn't it? Dear God, I thought we already went
through this!" Ben spat. He was annoyed, but he didn't know why. He
wanted
to call Surrey out. He
wanted
to solve this problem for Bee.
But he also knew that a dawn appointment would merely be the beginning of his
troubles.

           
"If I could, I would call him
out," Bee cried loudly. "He killed my brother and now he's trying to
ruin my life."

           
"Yes, let's review that, now,
shall we?" Ben's anger grew as he spoke. "Your brother decided-
against my advice, by the by- to salvage the honor of a woman of such reputable
character she is now Lord Milton's mistress.
 
He was shot and killed by Surrey, but before he died, he made me make a
fool's promise to look after you and protect you.
 
And now, here we are!" Ben threw his
hands in the air. "I have to follow you from ballroom to ballroom, trying
to prevent you from ruin, all because of a stupid promise to your brother, who
had to go and get himself killed over a woman! What a brilliant notion- I
should do the same!"

           
Bee's eyes grew wide and she sank
into a chair next to her.

           
"Kendal," Welles berated.

           
"Your interest in me was to
fulfill a promise to my brother?" she asked quietly.

           
"No," Welles said, while
at the same time Ben yelled, "Of course! What man would willingly subject
himself to ball after ball, night after night?
 
Dear God, the past month has been worse than the war!"

           
"Uh, Kendal," Milford
interrupted, looking over at Bee, "perhaps you didn't mean that quite the
way you intended."

           
"And now," Ben continued,
ignoring Milford and Welles, "you wish upon me the same fate as your
brother- being killed by a known murderer over a worthless woman!"
Frustrated, he threw his glass into the fireplace, where it shattered into
hundreds of small glass shards.
Dammit
, he wanted to
leave this room right now and find Surrey and beat him to a bloody pulp, then
if the man was still alive, he would call him out and shoot him. If only his
father and brother had not gotten themselves killed!

           
No one said anything for several
moments, Ben's labored breathing being the loudest sound in the room. "Worthless?"
Bee finally whispered.