The Pretenders (14 page)

“Say yes, Deb. Please say yes.”

Outside the thunder boomed. One of the horses whinnied nervously and pawed the wet, pebbly ground.  The other shifted his hindquarters in sympathy.

“I don’t think this is a good idea,” I whispered. ”Suppose in a few years time you find someone you really love?”

He said positively, “I will never care for another girl as much as I care for you.” He bent his head to kiss me again, and this time his hand came up between us to touch my breast. My breath ratcheted in my throat, and my nipple stood up hard against his palm.

Lightning flashed and he looked down at me, a dark angel momentarily illuminated against the gloom of the cave. His eyes were glittering.

“Say yes,” he commanded me again.

“All right,” I heard myself saying. ”I’ll do it“

As we waited out the rest of the storm in Rupert’s Cave, Reeve talked cheerfully, making plans for our immediate future. I struggled to answer in a normal voice, scarcely hearing what either of us said.

All I wanted was to get back to the privacy of my own room so I could think about what had just happened between us.

Eventually the storm blew over, and we mounted our horses to head back to the manor.

Reeve was silent as he rode next to me. The horses splashed through the puddles left by the heavy rain, and Reeve’s face disclosed nothing as he watched the path in front of him.

For the first time in my life, I felt awkward with him. For the first time, I didn’t know what to say.

We were almost at the house when he said, “I’ll find Bernard and tell him what we have decided.”

I wet my lips. “You’re certain you want to do this?”

He nodded his dark head decisively.

“I want to take charge of my own life, and if this is the way I have to do it, then this is what I’ll do.”

I said, “I think two weeks is too short a time. It doesn’t even give us time to call the banns, for heaven’s sake.”

“We can always get a special license,” Reeve said a trifle impatiently. ”Bernard is right, Deb. If we’re going to do this, there’s no point in dragging it out“

We parted in the front hall, Reeve to go in search of his cousin and me to run upstairs, to change my clothes and to clear my brain so I could think about what had just happened out at the cave.

Susan lay in wait for me, and I let her help me out of my drenched riding clothes and into a muslin afternoon dress. Then I dismissed her and went to sit in the window seat of my bedroom and stare out at the drenched turf. The sun had come out and the leftover raindrops on the thick green grass sparkled like a field of diamonds.

I shut my eyes and once more felt Reeve’s lips on mine, felt the heat and hardness of his long body pressed against me. I drew a deep, uneven breath into my lungs. I felt that my life had been steered into a new path without my consent, and I was frightened.

I had always felt safe in my friendship with Reeve. Since his father’s death he had come to Ambersley eight or nine times a year, for a few days at a time, and it had been enough for me to see him for those short periods of time. We had ridden together, laughed together, even gone out shooting together.

We had been friends.

Then this afternoon he had kissed me in the cave, and suddenly everything was different.

I had had admirers before. As I had once told Reeve, it was true that I was tall and had no money, but I had had admirers. I had never encouraged them because they had always seemed to me to be uniformly colorless and boring.

It had never before occurred to me that for years I had unconsciously compared all the men I met to Reeve.

I was terribly, terribly afraid that I was falling in love with him.

I was falling in love with him, and I was going to marry him.

I said out loud, “
God, what a disaster
.”

Reeve was not marrying me because he loved me. He was marrying me to get control of his inheritance. He had made that perfectly plain.

The kiss in the cave, which had been so earth-shattering for me, had probably meant very little to him. I knew very well that Reeve must have kissed dozens of women in his life. He liked kissing women—as he had liked kissing me.

Deb, darling, you are definitely not a little girl anymore.

He was right. I wasn’t a little girl anymore. I was a woman who was finally aware of her own emotions. And those emotions had me terrified.

I would not have been so frightened if I had thought that Reeve loved me back. In fact, if I thought that, I would probably be feeling quite glorious right now.

But he didn’t love me back. He thought I was a “great girl.” He would never like any girl better than me.

I remembered my words to him. What would he do if he ever met a girl whom he really loved?

I went and flung myself on the bed, my arm over my forehead to shade my eyes. There was no point in torturing myself like this, I thought sensibly. The deed was done. I was going to marry Reeve, and I would have to deal with the situation as best I could.

We both would.

Oh well
, I thought resolutely,
now Reeve will definitely be able to afford to buy me one of Lady Weston’s hunters
.

Somehow, the thought was not as comforting as I had hoped it would be.

I CAME DOWNSTAIRS HALF AN HOUR LATER TO LOOK
for Reeve to discover if he had had a chance to talk to Lord Bradford. When I asked the butler for my fiancée’s direction, he told me that he was in the long gallery with Robert.

The long gallery was the place where the dance had been held the previous evening, and I hurried along the hallway, terrified at the thought of Robert and Reeve alone in the same room together.

The sound of men’s voices reached my ears as I approached the door.

“Such a sporting fellow as you are, Cousin, must be up to all the rig in fencing,” Robert’s voice said.

“I have been known to take a turn or two at Angelo’s,” Reeve returned smoothly.

“Why don’t we try out the blades, then, and see which of us is the better? The rugs and the furniture have not yet been restored to their proper places.”

I remembered that one of the short walls of the long gallery was hung with a selection of crossed fencing swords, and at these words I increased my pace to almost a run. At this point I heard Harry’s voice and realized that, mercifully, he was in the room with Reeve and Robert.

Harry objected, “I say, I don’t think that is such a good idea, Robert
You
haven’t had the opportunity to fence with Angelo, and you know how annoyed you get when you lose at anything.”

As I reached the door to the room Robert was spinning around to glower at his brother. “Oh yes, I have fenced with Angelo, and I can tell you, Harry, that I have no intention of losing to Reeve!”

Reeve said, “Oh, you’ll lose to me, Robert. I grant you’re a good shot and a bruising boxer, but you’ll lose to me at swordplay.”

Robert’s face turned a dark red. “We’ll see about that, Cousin,” he snarled.

Reeve was standing next to the short wall to my right, with a sword already in his hand. He gestured now to the array of fencing swords that decorated the wall of the gallery, and said to Robert, “Choose your weapon, and we’ll see who is the better of us two.”

As Robert strode to the wall and selected a sword, Reeve began to peel off his coat.

Harry, who was standing in front of a picture of one of his ancestors, halfway between the door and the sword wall, said urgently, “Reeve, I don’t think this is a good idea.”

I stepped into the room and spoke up firmly. “I agree with Harry. I don’t like swords. Someone is liable to get hurt.”

Reeve spared me a glance. “Oh, are you here, Deb? The foils have tips on them. There’s no need to get into a pelter.”

He moved away from the wall to the center of the polished-wood floor as he spoke and waited while.

Robert flung off his coat. The dull red of Robert’s face had been replaced by a set white look that made me feel extremely nervous.

I thought a duel was a disastrous idea, but short of flinging myself between Reeve and his cousin, I didn’t know what I could do to halt it.

“Do something,” I appealed to Harry.

He shrugged, his eyes glued to the two men in the middle of the floor. “Nothing to be done now, Deborah. It will be all right. The foils have buttons.”

At this moment the two men raised their swords, saluted each other, and the fight began.

To my great relief, it soon became obvious that Reeve was by far the better swordsman. Robert attacked with an almost animal-like ferocity, but Reeve fought with a calm pace and a dexterity that constantly kept Robert from breaking through his guard. Every attack Robert launched was baffled by a return thrust.

I stood beside Harry and watched tensely. Even though Reeve was clearly in control, I didn’t trust Robert and couldn’t rid my mind of the fear that Reeve was in danger.

As the two men moved up and down the gallery, Reeve’s breathing remained normal, but Robert was panting, and sweat was beginning to soak his shirt. He was obviously growing more infuriated by the minute at not being able to break through Reeve’s guard, especially since Reeve did not even appear to be exerting himself very much. Robert was forced to acknowledge a number of hits, and as he did so his fury kept steadily rising.

Finally Reeve said, “Had enough, Robert?”

“No, damn you,” Robert snarled. He wiped the sweat from his forehead with his forearm. ”I’ll beat you yet. I’m out of practice is all!”

Reeve laughed.

The laugh triggered an almost maniacal reaction in Robert, and he launched himself upon his cousin like a madman.

It was then that I saw that the button had become detached from Robert’s sword.

Robert saw it, too, and instead of pulling back, he increased the ferocity of his attack.

“
Reeve! Look out!”
 I screamed in terror.

But Reeve had seen. Faced with the full extent of Robert’s violent fury, his own sword came to life in a way it had not before. In a matter of thirty or so seconds, Robert found the length of his sword grasped tightly in Reeve’s left hand and the button of Reeve’s own foil pointed directly at Robert’s throat.

He was disarmed.

He stood there in the center of the room, his chest heaving. “Damn you!” he said. “Damn you to hell, Reeve!”

“It’s about time someone taught you a lesson, Robert,” Reeve said coldly. ”Your family has made excuses for your behavior for far too long.”

The blood hatred between the two men was so strong it could almost be smelled in the denuded long gallery.

Harry said, “Reeve’s right, Robert. That was unpardonable.”

Robert threw the hilt of his sword in Reeve’s direction. “You’ll be sorry for this,” he snarled, and rushed out of the room. So blinded by rage was he that he almost crashed into me as he went by.

I looked from Reeve to Harry.

“Is he insane?” I said incredulously. ”He saw that the button had come off his foil.”

Harry looked uncomfortable. “It was very bad of him, Deborah, but Robert sometimes has these fits of blind rage. There is no real harm in him. He just… does not think, sometimes.”

“No real harm in him?” I echoed. ”He just tried to kill Reeve!”

“He didn’t mean it,” Harry insisted. He moved forward to take the foils from Reeve, so that Reeve could go to retrieve his jacket.

As Reeve came back toward Harry, sliding his arms into his sleeves, he said, “Well, he looked bloody serious to me.”

Harry sighed. “He’s jealous of you, Reeve. He’s been jealous of you ever since we were children.”

Reeve had been straightening his neckcloth with long, careless fingers, but at Harry’s words his fingers stilled. He frowned. “Why on earth should Robert have been jealous of me when we were children?”

Harry replied soberly, “You were always my father’s favorite, and Robert has never forgiven you for that.”

At these words, Reeve’s mouth dropped open in astonishment. “Your father’s
favorite
! Have you taken leave of your senses, Harry? Bernard thinks I am the most irresponsible, worthless jackanapes of his acquaintance. Look how he has kept an iron grip on my purse strings for all these years. He never even trusted me to run my own properties!”

This last sentence was said with a great deal of wounded pride, and I found myself walking to Reeve’s side in wordless sympathy.

Harry looked at me, and then his eyes slowly returned to Reeve. He said, “Perhaps he has been a little too zealous in discharging his obligation as your trustee, but you know how Papa is. Give him a responsibility, and he is absolutely fanatical about carrying it through.”

I frowned. “But what did you mean earlier, Harry, when you said that Reeve was always your father’s favorite? Do you mean he favored Reeve above his own children?”

Harry rubbed his chin. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed how Papa is about the Lambeths, Deborah, but in his mind there is our family, and then there is the rest of the world. Reeve was destined to be the Head of the House of Lambeth, you see, and as such, Papa considered him as the sun that shone in the firmament of our world.” Harry gave Reeve a crooked grin. “From the time I first remember your coming to visit, when I was five years old, Papa would give us a long lecture about the importance of your future position. He drummed it into our heads that you were to have precedence over us in every single thing we did. He made that very, very clear. And he did it every single time you came to visit.”

Reeve stared at his cousin in horror.

“Are you serious, Harry?”

“Perfectly serious,” Harry returned.

“Good God,” Reeve said. He was clearly appalled. ”No wonder Robert hates me.”

“Robert’s sort of temperament did not react at all well to this sort of thing,” Harry agreed. ”It didn’t help, either, that you were taller than he was, and a better athlete.”

A little silence fell. I looked at Reeve. He was staring blankly at a picture on the far wall of a dark-haired woman in a green dress with two little girls gathered in front of her full silk skirts.

Reeve returned his gaze to his cousin, and asked grimly, “And how did your kind of temperament react, Harry?”

“Oh, it didn’t take me long at all to discredit all of Papa’s nonsense,” Harry said blithely. ”You were so oblivious to it yourself that it was hard for me to take your great position too seriously.”

“I am very glad to hear that,” Reeve said. He shook his head in slow disbelief. ”What in the name of God could Bernard have been thinking?”

“He can’t help it,” Harry said simply. ”He just has this exaggerated notion of the importance of the House of Lambeth. It’s why he doesn’t want me to be a doctor. He’s afraid it would demean our name to have a simple doctor in the family.”

I said to Harry indignantly, “Your father is positively Gothic.”

“I know,” Harry replied with a smile. ”But he would die for any of us, truly he would.”

Reeve said grimly, “It would be more useful if he simply trusted us to know our own business, Harry.”

“True, but that is not the way Papa’s brain works.”

I heard steps on the bare floor of the long gallery, and we all turned to see who had just come in. It was Mary Ann Norton. She looked at the two swords in Harry’s hands and a faint frown puckered her brow.

“Were you and Lord Cambridge having a duel, Harry?” she asked lightly.

“You know me better than that, Mary Ann,” Harry returned. ”Swordplay is not in my repertoire of tricks.”

She hesitated. Then, “I saw Robert rushing out the front door a few moments ago,” she said. “He looked… upset.”

Harry sighed. “Yes, well, as you have probably guessed, it was Robert who was dueling with Reeve. He lost, and you know how he is when he loses.”

She gave the exact sort of sigh Harry had. “I know,” she said. Her large brown eyes turned to me, and her expression changed to a radiant smile. “I have just learned from Lord Bradford that you will be getting married here at Wakefield in two weeks’ time. How exciting, Miss Woodly.” Her gaze moved to Reeve. An adorable dimple appeared in her right cheek. “I suppose Lord Cambridge just couldn’t wait.”

“That’s right,” Reeve said with a notable lack of enthusiasm.

I swung around to stare at Reeve. “Is that true?” I demanded. “Did you and Lord Bradford really decide upon two weeks?”

“Bernard said he will get a special license,” Reeve said. ”There’s no point in delaying matters, is there, Deb?”

“But we can’t return to Ambersley until after this dratted fair I am running, Reeve, and that is not for another three weeks.”

He shrugged. “So we’ll get married and remain here at Wakefield for a week before we go back to Ambersley. I don’t see any reason we can’t do that. Do you?”

I chewed my lip. “Well… I suppose not. I just don’t understand why your cousin is in such a hurry for us to say our vows.”

The two of us had been speaking as if we were alone, and now Harry cut in, “Good God, Reeve, did you and Papa really decide upon the wedding date without even consulting Deborah?”

Reeve said a little impatiently, “If Deb doesn’t like the date, she has only to say so.”

“I have said that the date is fine,” I snapped.

Mary Ann said hesitantly, “Excuse me, but I wonder if you have thought about your wedding clothes, Miss Woodly? Or have you brought your dress and the rest of your garments with you to Wakefield?”