Wallflower (Old Maids' Club, Book 1) (35 page)

A practiced sneer covered Oglethorpe’s
face. Noah’s hand itched to strike him until he could never sneer
again. That or until it was made permanent.

“
And if I choose not to
take your
advice
?”

Inside Noah’s head, a cacophony of
retorts warred with each other for dominance. He’d beat Oglethorpe
to a bloody mess of flesh. He’d rip his heart out through his
throat and toss it into the Thames to be eaten by the fish. He’d
pummel him in the stomach until he begged for his
nursemaid.

None of them came close to being
sufficient.

“
Then I’ll see you at
dawn. Do you prefer pistols or swords?” Where on earth had that
come from? He’d never handled a sword. Pistols weren’t much better.
But it was the only solution.

Oglethorpe raised a brow and a
half-smile settled over his features. “Lord Devonport wishes to
duel? How very risqué. Whatever will his mummy and precious sisters
think of their little mollycoddled milksop?”

“
They’ll think he’s the
man of honor and decency he’s always been, Oglethorpe,” Leith cut
in, “unlike the ignoble excuse for a gentleman you are.”

Turning shrewd, narrowed eyes on
Leith, Oglethorpe pursed his lips. “Indeed,” he replied. “If
Devonport didn’t have friends such as yourself, he might find
himself an effeminate fop, from the influence of all the females
surrounding him. But no matter. If he wishes to burden them with
the job of cleaning him up once I’ve embarrassed him, who am I to
argue? Eggerley, might I borrow your dueling pistols?”

The burlier dandy nodded. “I’ll be
your second, if you’d like.”

“
And I’ll second
Devonport,” Leith said.

“
That’s settled then.”
Noah tried to slow the flow of blood racing through his system so
he could hear himself think. “I’ll see you at Hyde Park at
dawn.”

Before he could change his mind, Noah
spun and left White’s, with Leith on his heels. When they got
outside, only Claremont stood waiting for them. No carriage.
Shelton and Raynesford were both gone.

“
We’ll have to hire a
hack,” Claremont said congenially. “Lady Kibblewhite and Lady
Plumridge came upon us as the carriage came around and asked Owen
if he would mind giving them a lift to Shelton Hall. They wanted to
call upon Tabitha this afternoon. While he was helping them into
the carriage, Toby realized he’d forgotten his hat and went back to
retrieve it. When he came back out, he looked as angry as I’d ever
seen him. He climbed inside with Owen and the two older ladies, and
they were off before I got an explanation.”

All the blood drained from Noah’s
face.

“
Bloody hell,” Leith
murmured beside him.

Shelton had heard. How much he heard
was anyone’s guess.

“
We’d better go,” Noah
said. “Before Shelton murders my bride.”

~ * ~

A crash sounded in the front entryway.
“Where is she?” Toby roared. “Tabitha. Tell me where she is before
I rip you in two.”

Tabitha’s eyes widened as she looked
across the drawing room at Elaine. “What has gotten into him?”
Little Lily bounced happily on Tabitha’s lap, oblivious to the fact
that her uncle was a stark-raving lunatic.

Elaine just shook her head slowly back
and forth.

Livingston’s muted voice mumbled
something Tabitha couldn’t make out mere seconds before the
double-doors flew back, clattering and banging against the wall.
Toby barreled through them with Owen close behind. For some reason,
Lady Kibblewhite and Lady Plumridge followed them, their thirsty
eyes drinking in everything before them.

Tabitha wasn’t granted much time to
wonder at their presence, however. Toby reached her side and pulled
her bodily up by the arm. If not for her hurried reaction, pulling
the little girl close, Lily would have fallen to the
floor.

“
Is it true?” Toby
demanded, glaring down into her eyes. Owen came over and took his
daughter from Tabitha even as Toby shook her.

“
Is what true?” Tabitha
hadn’t been the only one to ask. The two swarming vultures each
chimed in at the same time.

Owen handed Lily off to Elaine and
then came back, loosening Toby’s grip on Tabitha’s arm before her
twin could pull it off altogether. Tabitha rubbed herself where his
hand had been. It probably wouldn’t leave a mark, but it had hurt
like the dickens.

“
Is it true that
you
had relations
last night at Vauxhall beneath the fireworks? In a blasted
field?”

His words clenched her stomach. It
tightened into an icy ball. How did he know? Had Noah said
something? Had someone seen them? Oh, damn and blast, she was
stupid. Such idiocy to stop thinking, even for a moment, and just
act.

“
I think,” Owen said
placidly, “this is neither the time nor the place for this
discussion.” He gestured with his eyes toward the two
gossipmongers, hanging on every word and waiting to
pounce.

Toby shrugged his brother’s hand off,
never taking his burning eyes from Tabitha’s. “I don’t care who is
listening. I want answers. Is it true?”

Lying would serve no
purpose. The wedding was already scheduled for tomorrow morning.
Even if the two old dragons ran off and spread the word, the
scandal would hardly warrant more than a week’s worth of
on-dit
at most. They
were practically married already.

Tabitha nodded. “Yes, it’s
true.”

“
Bloody hell,” Toby
muttered and started pacing. “I’ll kill him. I’ll tear every finger
and toe from his body one at a time and let the rats have at him.
No, that’s better than he deserves.” Nothing like taking things a
bit too far. What else ought she to expect from her brother,
though? Tabitha sighed.

“
Watch your language,”
Father said from the doorway. “There are ladies present, and your
niece too, in case you’ve forgotten. And explain to me why there is
such a commotion going on in my house.” He crossed his arms over
his chest and waited. His posture lent him an authoritative
air.

Well, this was uncomfortable. Still,
she might as well come out with it. Father would find out from Toby
or Owen anyway. It might be better for her if he heard the truth
from her own lips. She opened her mouth to speak, but Toby’s voice
cut across her.

“
Oglethorpe ruined Tabitha
last night at Vauxhall. Ruined in the deepest sense.”

“
What?” Father
roared.

“
Oglethorpe!” Owen cursed
beneath his breath.

“
Oh, my. Oh, dear me.”
Lady Kibblewhite looked positively gleeful. Before Tabitha could
explain, the Ladies Kibblewhite and Plumridge dashed out of the
drawing room faster than she had imagined they were capable of
moving and were gone, waving over their shoulders and calling out
something about forgetting an appointment as they left.

Elaine sucked in a breath, but stayed
quiet. Lily said something incomprehensible to anyone but herself
and giggled.

What? Tabitha shook her head.
“No—”

Father stopped her with his hand in
the air. “Silence.” He glared in her direction. “Toby, how did you
come to learn this?”

“
Oglethorpe was boasting
about it at White’s. Trying to collect on some bloody bet or
something. And when I asked Tabitha, she confirmed his
claim.”

“
No, that’s
not—”

“
Elaine,” Father
interrupted Tabitha again, silencing her with a wearied stare,
“please take Tabitha upstairs to her chamber. Stay with her there
until I come for her. We have to decide what is to be done. Leave
your daughter with her nurse.”

Tabitha had to make him understand.
She didn’t know what Oglethorpe’s game was. But it would all be so
much better if they all knew the truth. “But Father—”

“
Enough, Tabitha.” He
looked wounded. His eyes begged her silently to comply. She hated
to ever disobey him, to cause him more heartache. “Not another word
right now. You’ve already done more than enough.”

Elaine’s gentle touch prodded her
forward.

Like a sheep being herded to pasture,
Tabitha took several steps before coming to a stop. “No. I’ll not
be banished to my room like a misbehaving child.” Father’s
expression was thunderous, but she pressed on anyway. She would not
cower in fear before him. Not before any of them. “I did have a
liaison at Vauxhall last night. But it was with Noah, not with Lord
Oglethorpe. My blasted fiancé. And since our wedding is set for
tomorrow morning, I don’t see that it is anything for any of you to
get so upset about.”

“
But you said—” Toby
spluttered, then searched the air for words. “You said it was
true.”

“
It
was
true, you blithering
blunderbuss,” Owen said. “You didn’t name names. You just asked if
she’d had relations at Vauxhall last night.”

Toby’s face dropped to the floor. “Oh,
damn.”

Father looked from one of them to the
next as Lily fussed in her mother’s arms. “What am I missing?” he
asked when no one spoke for a few minutes.

Elaine walked over to him and gestured
to the open doorway. “Lady Kibblewhite and Lady Plumridge.” The
gravity of the situation came over Father’s face like a sunset.
“Surely they’re off to tell everyone they can what they just
overheard. They didn’t stay long enough to discover the truth.” She
turned and looked apologetically at Tabitha. “I’m afraid, my lord,
that your daughter is well and truly ruined.”

“
I’m
not
bloody well ruined.”

“
Watch your language,”
Father said. “Elaine and Lily, at the very least, should not be
subjected to such profanity.”

Tabitha ignored her father
and barreled on with her objections. “And whether I am or not, Noah
will still have me. He won’t care what Oglethorpe has done, but
he
will
care
what
we
have
done. We’ll marry tomorrow morning, as planned.” She hoped. But now
was not the time to let her family see her doubts.

The anger seemed to dissipate from
Father by the moment, lifting off of him in waves. “I hope you’re
right.”

“
She’s right,” Owen said.
“Devonport is an honorable man, however deplorable his actions last
night may have been. He’ll not leave Tabitha to fend for herself
against this.”

“
To fend off Oglethorpe,
you mean,” Toby muttered. “He’ll still have to be dealt with. We
can’t allow him to besmirch her name further. Tabitha’s reputation
reflects upon the entire family.”

Owen looked pensive for a moment,
reflecting on his brother’s point. “He’ll have to be called out.
Will it be you or me?”

Oh, good grief. Tabitha
shook her head. It was a stupid, silly
lie
. There was no truth in
Oglethorpe’s claim. “Challenging the man to a duel will only fuel
the rumors and give his claims credence. It would be like admitting
he was right.”

Toby smirked at her. “You don’t get a
say in this.”

“
But she’s right,” Elaine
said. She looked as affronted as Tabitha felt, with her eyes
blazing and one hand planted on her hip.

“
Right or not, this is
about the principle of the matter,” Owen said.

Tabitha raised her hands in the air.
“Exactly my point!” She might have overdone it on the dramatics by
a bit.

Rolling his eyes, Toby turned to Owen.
“I’ll do it. And maybe I’ll do as good a job of it as Isaac did a
few years ago.”

Absolutely not. Tabitha couldn’t let
anything so utterly idiotic happen. “You will do nothing of the
sort. And I’ll murder you if you kill the man.” But what if
Oglethorpe killed Toby? “And you’d damned well better not get
yourself killed or I’ll never forgive you.”

Owen spoke over Tabitha. “I’ll be your
second.” He looked over to their father. “Unless you would prefer
to have that honor.”

Tabitha felt desperate. She needed Jo,
but Jo wasn’t there so Elaine would have to do. “Elaine, you have
to help me. They’ve got to see reason.”

Her sister-in-law stood there with her
mouth opening and closing, like a fish. Nothing would come out. She
definitely wasn’t as much help as Jo would have been.

Father cleared his throat and looked
between Owen and Toby. “I’ll trust you two to take care of this
matter. And Elaine, I’ll trust you to keep Tabitha out of more
trouble in the meanwhile. On that thought, I think I’ll send word
over to Josephine. Her assistance might be required, as
well.”

Thank goodness. If Jo came over, maybe
the three of them—the three with any sense—could come up with a
plan to stop all this bag of moonshine about dueling.

Chapter
Twenty

“
Oh, Lord Devonport, you
poor dear!” The noxious voice of Lady Kibblewhite flooded over Noah
and somehow pierced through the fog that had clouded his thoughts
since leaving White’s.