His Reluctant Lady (9 page)

His eyebrows rose. “Does that impress
you?”

“
Well, I wasn’t aware they
let just anyone into the club.”

“
They don’t.”

She suspected he got in because of his
relationship to Lord Clement and his friendship with Ethan but
decided not to point it out. “So you wish to have an interesting
conversation? Why don’t you tell me something interesting that’s
happening at White’s?”

“
A gentleman’s club isn’t
suited for a lady, even to discuss what happens there.”

She resisted the urge to grimace. She’d
get nowhere if she tried to force information out of him. Forcing
her expression to remain pleasant, she offered a shrug and moved
the horse away from him. “All right,” she replied, making sure he
detected the disappointment in her voice. “I suppose you’d rather
engage in idle chatter just like your guardian and my
sister.”

“
Now wait a minute.” He
urged his horse closer to her. “I didn’t mean we should talk about
the weather and horses. I thought we could talk about
you.”

“
I already know everything
there is to know about me.” She shrugged but then allowed her eyes
to light up. “I don’t know about you.”

“
I didn’t think you were
interested.”

“
Prove I should
be.”

“
Pardon?”

“
Up to now you’ve been
adamant in pursuing me,” she said. “No matter what I’ve done to
push you away, you keep chasing me. So I’m going to give you a
chance. Prove that you’re interesting enough for me to consider for
courtship.”

He chuckled. “I don’t want to court
you. I want to marry you. But you’ve made it no secret that you
have no such inclination to marry me.”

“
And yet you’re so certain I
will marry you.”

“
Because I excite you and
you like to get excited. Beneath your hard exterior, you’re a lady
of passion who’s dying to be freed. Society’s restraints haven’t
done you any favors. You’re a lady stuck in a gentleman’s world,
limited to the rules of the Ton. It must frustrate you to no end to
see gentlemen getting away with things you wish you could
do.”

She gripped the reins.

His gaze lowered to her hands. “I see I
struck a nerve.”

She swallowed and forced her hands to
relax.

“
If you marry me, I’ll allow
you freedoms other gentlemen wouldn’t. I want to see that fire in
you burn bright.” When she didn’t respond, he said, “All right.
I’ll concede to your challenge. You want to know something that
only the gentlemen in White’s know? I’ll share a confidence with
you. Lord Davenport has made a bet with Lord Pennella. The wager?
The hand of Miss Giles. Whoever marries her first owes the loser
his estate.”

Her jaw dropped and she made eye
contact with him. “An entire estate for a marriage?”

“
Now I don’t seem like such
a bad gentleman, do I? I’d never make a wager on you.”

She couldn’t believe it.
Poor Miss Giles. Agatha would hate it if someone made such a bet on
her. Posting this in the
Tittletattle
would be a service to
Miss Giles. She needed to know what Lords Davenport and Pennella
were up to. Then she could send both earls off in disgust and find
one who wouldn’t treat her no better than an object.

“
So, my lady,” Mister
Robinson began, bringing her attention back to him, “have I proved
myself to you?”

“
As loathe as I am to admit
it, I suppose you’re not as boring as most gentlemen I’ve come
across,” she replied.

His eyes twinkling, he said, “Finally,
the lady pays me a compliment.”

Though his comment amused her, she
shrugged.

Lord Clement and Sophie pulled back
their reins and Agatha and Mister Robinson stopped beside them.
“Well, this is where we started,” Lord Clement said. “It’s been a
most enjoyable afternoon.”

“
It certainly has,” Mister
Robinson replied, his gaze sending an unexpected thrill straight
through Agatha, which she quickly suppressed.

“
I’ll be hosting a dinner
party in a week,” Lord Clement added. “Lord and Lady Roderick will
be there.”

“
And Lord and Lady Edon?”
his ward requested.

“
Since they’re friends of
yours, I don’t see the harm in inviting them.”

“
It’s no secret Ladies
Roderick and Edon are friends. They’ll have a more pleasant time if
they can talk.”

“
Yes, I suppose that’s
true.” Lord Clement turned his attention to Agatha and her sister.
“Will you be joining us?”

Even if it meant Agatha would have to
spend time with Mister Robinson, she wasn’t about to waste this
opportunity for her sister. Lord Clement was definitely interested
in Sophie, and her sister couldn’t do much better than him. With a
nod, she said, “We’d be honored to attend, my lord.”

Lord Clement’s smile widened in relief.
“Good. We look forward to it.”

After Agatha and Sophie rode away from
Hyde Park, Agatha studied her sister’s face. “Things are going
remarkably well for you and Lord Clement.”

“
I suppose…”

“
But what? He’s not Lord
Dabney?”

“
I’m no longer pining over
Lord Dabney.”

“
That’s good.” And a relief,
but she realized her sister was discontent for a different reason.
“What’s troubling you?”

“
He’ll never be able to go
dancing.”

“
So?”

“
I like dancing.”

“
You can still dance.
Married ladies dance with other gentlemen.” Though she nodded,
Agatha sensed it wasn’t enough. “Is something else troubling
you?”

“
No.”

She opened her mouth to ask her sister
to share her misgivings but decided her sister didn’t want to talk
about it. Finally, she said, “If there’s anything you have
questions about, regarding marriage or anything, I’ll do what I can
to answer them.”

Sophie nodded and the two continued on
in silence.

Chapter Eight

Five days later as Christopher entered
White’s, he found a group of men roaring with laughter in the
center of a room.

“
You’re in trouble now,” a
gentleman told Lords Davenport and Pennella. “This is going to be
all over the Ton by this evening.”

Curious, Christopher made his way to
Ethan who was sipping some brandy. “What’s going on? Did Miss Giles
find out about the wager?”

Ethan shook his head. “Not yet, but she
will before the day is up.”

“
But why? Is someone going
to tell her?”

“
They don’t need to. It’s in
the
Tittletattle
.”

“
The
Tittletattle
? But how did it get in
there?”

Lowering his voice, Ethan
said, “Someone from this establishment had to have told someone at
the
Tittletattle
.”

Christopher considered the
ramifications of what he’d just learned. “Who would have told
someone from the
Tittletattle
such a thing?”

“
Your guess is as good as
mine,” he replied with a shrug. “Whoever it was, let’s just hope
Davenport and Pennella don’t find out…especially Pennella. You know
he doesn’t take kindly to betrayals. Fortunately, neither of us
have to worry about it.” He gestured to Lord Roderick who was
playing chess with Perry. “It was probably him. You know how much
he protested the wager, saying it was morally reprehensible to bet
on a lady.”

Somehow he doubted Lord
Roderick had anything to do with this, even though he argued at
great length about it. He glanced at the paper Davenport was
reading, his face as white as a sheet. “I take it he has a copy of
the
Tittletattle
?”

“
Yes, but you can find
another one on that table if you wish.”

He turned and saw the stack
of scandalsheets. His eyes widened in surprise. There seemed to be
a copy for every member of White’s. He went over to the table and
selected a copy, further surprised when he realized the wager made
the top headline. Beneath it read,
Lord
Davenport has made a bet with Lord Pennella. The wager? The hand of
Miss Giles. Whoever marries her gains the loser’s
estate.

His eyebrows furrowed as he
read it again. The wording was much too similar to what he used
when he revealed the matter to Lady Richfield at Hyde Park. His
gaze went to the name of the person who reported it to the
Tittletattle
. Gerard
Addison. What were the chances that Lady Richfield and Gerard
Addison were the same person? Considering how soon the gossip
appeared in the
Tittletattle
and the way it was worded, it was more than a
coincidence. He glanced around the room to make sure no one
suspected him of telling Lady Richfield about the wager.

Ethan came over to him. “You want to
play some cards?”

He folded the
Tittletattle
. “I thought
you didn’t gamble anymore since Catherine’s father forbade
it.”

“
I don’t but I still like to
play cards.”

“
All right,” he replied,
tucking the
Tittletattle
into his pocket.

***

“
You have a visitor, my
lady.”

Agatha glanced up from her writing, her
eyebrows furrowed. She wasn’t expecting anyone. “Is it my sister?”
she asked the butler, setting her writing in her desk drawer then
rising to her feet.

“
No. It’s Mister Robinson.
He said you were expecting him.”

“
No, I’m not.”

Before she could tell the
butler to send him away, Mister Robinson appeared in the doorway
and said, “I have an important message from Mister
Addison.”

Her heart stopped as she
glanced at the butler. Her gaze went back to Mister Robinson who
stepped halfway into the drawing room and crossed his arms. So he’d
seen the tidbit in the
Tittletattle
and realized she was one of the contributors. She
couldn’t tell if he was upset or amused. His expression seemed to
be a mixture of both. Tapping her nails on the desk, she debated
the best way to proceed. If she wasn’t careful, this wasn’t going
to end in her favor.

“
I assured your butler and
footman that you’d want to see me,” Mister Robinson added with a
penetrating stare, “given the circumstances.”

Taking a deep breath, she managed to
smile at the butler. “You may leave us.”

The butler bowed and left.

She waited for a few tense seconds
before she strode to the door and shut it, ensuring their privacy.
When she turned around, Mister Robinson was only a couple inches
from her. Gasping, she jerked back, her backside hitting the door.
“A warning would be nice,” she said.

He leaned forward, his arms on both
sides of her, sufficiently trapping her. She pressed her back
against the door, but he was still too close to her. Despite her
apprehension, she made eye contact with him. If she was going to
face the consequences of her actions, then she’d do so with her
head held high.

“
You found out my secret,”
she said, hoping she sounded braver than she felt.

“
I told you about the wager
between Lords Davenport and Pennella in confidence,” he softly
replied, his voice alarmingly void of emotion. “Do you realize how
much trouble you’ve caused?”

She couldn’t tell what he was thinking
by studying his face. Clasping her hands behind her back, she
squeezed her hands to help relieve the tension in her body. “What
will you do?”

A slow smile spread across his face.
“I’m going to give you a decision. Either you marry me or I tell
everyone you’re Gerard Addison.”

Blast it! He was surprisingly conniving
and even though she would lose no matter which option she chose,
she had to admire his ability to pin her down. “If I marry you,
then you won’t tell anyone I’m Gerard?”

“
Your secret will go to the
grave with me.”

“
I don’t suppose you’ll give
me time to think about it?”

“
You have five
seconds.”

“
I meant more time, as in a
couple days.”

He kissed the tip of her nose and
chuckled. “Four seconds.”

She gritted her teeth. She
had no choice. If word got out about her association with
the
Tittletattle
,
her reputation would be ruined. “Fine. I’ll marry you.”

“
I thought you’d choose that
one. You are, after all, an intelligent lady.”

“
And you’re a persistent
gentleman.”

“
Who eventually wins when he
wants something bad enough.”

There was no denying that.
“And apparently, you read the
Tittletattle
.”