The Wedding Runaway (14 page)

~*~

As they stood in the yard at Tattersall's, Victor hadn
'
t really decided what his best course of action would be. He only knew that Leonard didn
'
t appear to like horses.

The boy wore new chocolate-brown pantaloons with a fawn jacket. His jackets still fit too loose to please Victor
,
but perhaps his tailor was worried the boy
'
s shoulders might broaden. Last night Victor had rewarded Leonard
'
s appearance in a light-blue superfine jacket with black breeches and shoes
,
rather than boots
,
with a trip to his gentlemen
'
s club. There the boy had won enough to purchase a decent horse for town use
,
if he wanted one. Watching the cub gamble and win filled Victor with pride.

Keene had joined them today and looked around for Mr. Ponsby
,
the owner of the horse Sophie wanted. Leonard had developed a distressing habit of sidling into Victor every time they came near to one of the horses to be auctioned this afternoon.

"
Do you see a horse you like?
"
asked Victor.

Leonard looked around, his gaze darting from one horse to the next.
"
That one
,"
he finally pointed to a swaybacked nag that would never manage more than an amble.

"
Lenny
,
that horse looks ready for the glue-rendering plant.
"

Leonard turned his big blue eyes on him as if astonished horses came to such an ignoble end. What did he think happened to them? One never saw them drop dead in the street. Well
,
almost never.

Nevertheless, Victor walked him over to the horse and showed him how long the teeth were.

Leonard shoved his hands in his pockets and nodded.

Victor pulled him away
,
so as not to talk disparagingly in front of the owner.
"
Not much bottom in this horse.
"

"
I guess not.
"

"
Wedmont
,
how are you?
"
said an acquaintance of Victor
'
s.

Victor nodded and introduced his young American friend
,
Mr. Hall
,
as he
'
d done several times before. After a few minutes where Leonard said little to nothing, they went on.

Victor looked around the yard. One horse attracted a lot of attention. Keene stood to the side looking at the crowd with his mouth twisted wryly to the side. Hard to say how many of the lookers would actually bid on the horse
,
until the auction began.

Victor crossed the yard.
"
Can
'
t say that Sophie doesn
'
t know how to pick her horses.
"

Keene nodded.
"
The next thing is she
'
ll want a smart pair and a fast curricle to race around the countryside.
"

"
See
,
cub
,
look at the chest on that horse.
"

The crowd around the horse thinned
,
and they stepped forward to get a closer look. Keene ran a hand over the flank.
"
Nice lines
,
Ponsby.
"

The large beefy man holding the bridle of the horse took one look at Keene and said
,
"
I don
'
t want Sophie on Waterloo.
"

Waterloo? But then his sire was Salamanca, so Victor supposed the name made sense.
"
I
'
m interested in the horse for my young friend here
,"
Victor said and stepped forward.

Leonard looked at him as if he
'
d gone mad. The horse took exception and sidestepped
,
nickered and tossed his head.

"
Come on
,
cub. Look at his teeth.
"

"
Careful
,
he
'
s spirited
,"
warned Mr. Ponsby.

Leonard stepped forward
,
reluctantly. The horse flattened his ears. As Leonard reached up, the horse nipped at him.

Leonard squealed and grabbed Victor
'
s arm, ducking behind him.

Lenny brushed against him. A rush of sensation drained the blood from Victor
'
s head.
"
Bloody hell
,
Lenny
,
quit acting like a lily-livered pudding heart.
"

"
I don
'
t want a horse
,"
mumbled Leonard as he backed away with his eyes on his feet. Unfortunately, he backed into a man leading another horse across the yard. Leonard swiveled around and stared as if horrified by the horse.

Victor couldn
'
t tell which one was more startled, the horse or Leonard. Victor grabbed his arm and pulled him back to his side.
"
It isn
'
t for you
,
it
'
s for Sophie
,"
he hissed.
"
For God
'
s sake, play along.
"

When Victor pulled him back
,
Leonard leaned into him again. Heat fired his blood. Bloody hell
,
no. Then he watched Leonard
'
s big blue eyes filled with tears. He shoved him away.
"
Quit...
"
Words to describe what was happening escaped him.
"
Don
'
t you dare cry like a baby.
"

Emotions swamped him
,
running through Victor like a herd of stampeding horses. He wanted to comfort Leonard
,
he hated that he wanted to comfort him
,
he despised himself for these rampant odd insane feelings that raged through him. And everything was happening with half the gentlemen of the ton surrounding them.

Leonard jutted his chin out.
"
If you would quit yanking me around.
"

Leonard had to go. There was no other answer for it.
"
Bloody hell
,
if you would act like a man. If you want to run away from home and pretend to be fully grown
,
then you shouldn
'
t behave like a scared little boy.
"

Leonard
'
s face drained of color.
"
What are you going to do?
"

"
I
'
m tempted to throttle you.
"
Victor could feel his hands clenching in rage.
"
Throw you in the Thames.
"

"
Toss me into a fire and kill me that way too?
"
Leonard taunted with a false bravado.

Victor saw red.

Chapter Six

Lydia stared. What had just happened? All the men stared at them. Even the horses in the yard at Tattersall's seemed to have turned inquiring brown eyes in their direction. Victor had slapped her with his glove. As a slap went it hadn
'
t hurt
,
but deep down inside she was bleeding.

"
Tell him what to do
,"
Victor growled.

"
He couldn
'
t have known
,"
objected Keene, who warily looked back and forth between them.

"
I told him just the other day. So tell him what to do
,"
repeated Victor.

"
You need to demand satisfaction
,"
said Keene to her.

"
I say
,
he
'
s too young for that
,"
said the giant of a man they called Ponsby.
"
Just let the lad apologize and be done with it. He won
'
t refuse
,
will you
,
boy?
"

Lydia looked at him and wanted to run over to him. His height and breadth reminded her of her older brothers. But she had no brothers here. She
'
d shunned their protection. She had to muddle out of this situation alone.
"
I
'
m sorry.
"

Victor shook his head.
"
He
'
s not too young
,
he claims to be twenty-one. Are you a man or a boy
,
Leonard?
"

Lydia straightened her shoulders. How could he turn so on her? He was angry
,
his scar bright red against his white-faced fury. She looked helplessly between Keene and Ponsby. She couldn
'
t look at Victor. His anger would make her dissolve into tears
,
and she knew that would disgust him. Somehow in this moment when her world was crashing in
,
his respect mattered to her.

"
Demand satisfaction
,
Mr. Hall. It will be all right.
"
Keene put a hand on his sleeve and his voice was soothing.

"
He apologized
,
Lord Wedmont
,
surely you can too?
"
said Ponsby.
"
And we can avoid this nonsense.
"

"
I will not. His implication offends my honor
,
not to mention my wife
'
s memory.
"

"
You said your marriage was hell
,"
she spit the words at Victor.

Ponsby ducked his head down
,
no longer her ally.

She had the sense that she had crossed a line that was very visible to the three men surrounding her
,
but invisible to women. But they all thought that she could see it too.
"
I don
'
t understand.
"

"
By the code of honor
,
one cannot accept an apology for being slapped
,"
Victor explained.
"
You have to demand satisfaction
,
and then we
'
ll name seconds and they shall enter negotiations to avert the conflict.
"

She was puzzled by his patient explanation. He sounded weary
,
resigned. Her heart was splitting in two.

"
Are you a man or a child?
"

Neither
,
she wanted to call out.
"
I demand satisfaction
,"
she whispered. She swallowed hard against the lump in her throat.
I cannot cry.
I will not
cry.

"
Very good
,
sir. Keene will stand your second. I will call upon Sheridan and name my conditions.
"
Victor wheeled about and said
,
"
Ponsby
,
if you will sell me that horse now
,
I shall write out a bank draft for five thousand pounds.
"

"
Ho
,
wait
,"
said Keene.

But Ponsby had already roared out
,
"
Done
,
my lord.
"

Lydia couldn
'
t take any more. She turned and walked rapidly toward the gate. She couldn
'
t let the tears blurring her vision spill.

Only as she reached the sidewalk outside did she make the connection between what she
'
d said and his anger. She turned to go back and explain
,
but found Keene behind her.
"
Did his wife die in a fire?
"

Keene nodded.
"
He tried to pull her out
,
but a beam fell on his forehead. His servants barely pulled him out alive.
"

Lydia drew in a shuddery breath.
"
I didn
'
t know. All he said was that she died three months ago. I didn
'
t mean...anything by it.
"
But now that she understood the situation
,
she could see how what she said could have been deemed an insult or worse
,
an accusation of murder.

"
Don
'
t know how I shall pay five thousand pounds for that damn horse
,"
muttered Keene.
"
I only meant to go to three. Where do you live?
"

"
Not far. I can walk.
"

"
Fine. We shall walk.
"

"
I—you—
"

"
I am your second in this affair. Victor suggested I explain the procedure to you. He said he would name conditions
,
so as your representative
,
I will offer to him the only condition he needs to meet is to offer apology for striking you.
"

"
I don
'
t care if he apologizes. I don
'
t want to fight.
"
Lydia caught Keene
'
s expression of consternation.
"
Him. I don
'
t want to fight him. He has been very k-kind to me.
"

"
Yes
,
well, do not fret about it. All shall turn out well
,
you
'
ll see.
"

Lydia didn
'
t see how. In either case her friendship with Victor was destroyed.