The Earl's Scandalous Wife (3 page)

“And what would that be?”

He gestured behind her, so she glanced over her shoulder where two gentlemen talked.  “I’m trying to find my cousin—the one with the cane—a wife.  You said you were
Miss
Leighton, as in you have no husband?”

She paused for a moment to study the gentleman who leaned on his cane.  Dark brown hair, broad shoulders, a nice smile.

“He’s the Earl of Clement,” Mister Robinson continued.  “I can’t promise he’ll keep you captivated by stories of his interesting life because his life is really far from interesting.  However, I can promise you that he’ll be faithful and treat you with the utmost respect.”

“Why isn’t he already married?” she asked.

“He blames his cane.”

“That’s ridiculous.  There’s nothing wrong with a gentleman who has a cane.”

“That’s what I keep telling him, but he’s adamant that being born with one leg a mere inch shorter than the other is enough to make ladies run away from him in absolute fright.”

She chuckled at his joke.  “Is that all that’s wrong with him?”

“He’s also boring.  I did mention that, didn’t I?”

“Yes.” She glanced at Lord Clement again.  His friend laughed at something he said.  “He doesn’t seem boring.  That gentleman talking to him is laughing.”

“Oh, Lord Roderick.  He’s equally boring, I’m afraid.  The two can put an entire room of ladies to sleep, but if you have a tendency to daydream, you can smile at him and think of whatever you want while he rambles.  I’ve done it many times in the past, and he never caught on that I was only pretending to pay attention to him.”

“Is there anything else wrong with him?” So far, he sounded
very wonderful, especially compared to the Duke of Leavenshire.

Mister Robinson t
hought over it and nodded.  “No, that’s the worst of it.”

She bit her lower lip and considered her options.  She needed to secure a marriage, and she needed to secure one tonight.  Surely, a gentleman of Lord Clement’s standing had ladies lined up to marry him.  She didn’t have the luxury of waiting for him to court her and propose marriage, not when she would have to conte
nd with others who were interested.  And right now, he was her only prospect.

Turning back to Mister Robinson, she asked,
“And what about you?  Are you looking for a wife?”

“I’m already married to that
gorgeous lady over there.”

She followed the direction he
indicated and saw a beautiful lady who was talking to a couple of other ladies.  She then turned her attention back to Lord Clement.  If she couldn’t have Mister Robinson who had seemed quite amiable, then she supposed she better go with Lord Clement. “Will you introduce me?”

“I’d be happy to.”

When the dance ended, he led her over to his cousin who was insisting his friend use some type of maneuver on the chessboard.  Had she played chess, she would have understood why his friend commented that it was a wise move, but as it was, she knew nothing about the game so had to settle for a polite smile as Mister Robinson cleared his throat.

The two turned toward her, but her eyes settled on Lord Clement.  He had deep
blue eyes that hinted at enthusiasm for life, something the Duke of Leavenshire lacked, something her mother had told her was very important in a gentleman.  If her mother was still alive, she’d never allow her brother to pawn her off on someone as awful as the duke.

But that was not going to even be an issue now that she was going to marry Lord Clement.
  All she had to do was figure out a way to become engaged to him.  What scandalous activity could she do?

“I thought you left London with y
our wife yesterday,” Lord Clement told Mister Robinson.

“Yes, well, we delayed
going there,” Mister Robinson replied.  “I have something I need to do first.  Speaking of which, I’d like to introduce you to...” He smiled.  “Forgive me, but what was your name again?”

“Miss Leighton,” she repli
ed, her heart pounding in her chest.

“This is Miss Leighton.  Miss Leighton, this is my cousin Lord Clement and his only friend
in the world Lord Roderick.” Glancing at Lord Clement, he chuckled.  “I’m only kidding, of course.” Turning back to her, he shook his head in a way that indicated Lord Roderick really was Lord Clement’s
only
friend.

She bit her lower lip so she wouldn’t laugh. 
Mister Robinson had a splendid sense of humor.  Since Lord Clement was his cousin, perhaps he was the same way.

“It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance,” Lord Clement said with a bow,
Lord Roderick following the same sentiment with a bow of his own.

“Perhaps you’d like to become wild and toss aside that cane of your
s so you can share a dance with her,” Mister Robinson told his cousin.

“I’d like to dance,” she offered, her desperation prompting her to be bolder than she knew she should be.

“Oh,” Lord Clement glanced at his cane, “I can’t.”

“W
on’t dance,” Mister Robinson corrected.

“Can’t.
  One leg is shorter than the other.”

“By a mere inch.  They make shoes that
enable him to walk evenly without a cane.”

“I walk just fine.”

“Which is why he insists on having a cane.”

She watched
as Lord Clement sighed in exasperation at the way Mister Robinson teased him.  Hoping to ease things for Lord Clement, she said, “I think a cane is quite distinguished.”

“You do?” Mister Robinson asked, not hiding his surprise.

“Yes, I do.” She looked at Lord Clement. “If you’re not comfortable dancing, perhaps you’d like to talk?” She swallowed the lump in her throat.

“There you go,” Mister Robinson told Lord Clement.  “You can talk.  All you need to do is open your mouth and words come out.”

She bit her tongue so she wouldn’t laugh at Mister Robinson’s joke.

Lord Roderick groaned.  “Mister Robinson, have you nowhere else you can be?”

“I brought over a lady to talk to my cousin.  That is a lot more than you’re doing for him,” Mister Robinson replied with a huff.

“That’s enough,” Lord Clement said before Lord Roderick
could respond.  “Miss Leighton, I’d be happy to talk to you.  Where’s your chaperone so we can do so?”

Her chaperone?  She scanned the ballroom and saw her brother who was dancing with a lady.  Turning to Mister Robinson, she asked, “I don’t suppose your wife would care to chaperone?”

“I suppose I can track her down.  I’ll return shortly.”

As he stepped away, she excused herself from Lord Clement and hurried after Mister Robinson and stopped him.  “You’ll think my request an odd one,” she said in a low voice so
no one could overhear her, “but I am in dire need of a husband.  Can you send your cousin outside where I’ll be waiting for him?”

His eyebrows rose in interest.  “Do you mean to create a scandal?”

“Well…” How much did she dare tell him?  Would he even agree?

“
Why Miss Leighton,” he grinned, “I think you’re just the kind of lady my stuffy cousin needs.  Find your way to the veranda, and I’ll have my cousin go out there alone.  Then my wife and I will stumble upon you two.  Does that work?”

Taking a deep breath to settle her nerves, she nodded.  “Thank you.”

Chapter Three

Paula couldn’t believe she was doing this.  She swallowed and took a deep breath to help calm her pounding heart.  The veranda was blessedly quiet since everyone was in the ballroom.  It gave her a moment to compose herself.  She had to create a scandal.  Lord Clement might not be happy about it. All right, he definitely wouldn’t be happy about it.  If she was lucky, he wouldn’t scream at her.  Well, he wouldn’t scream, at least not in front of all the people.  And maybe by the time they got married, he would calm down to the point where he wouldn’t scream when they were alone.

She closed her eyes and steeled her resolve.  She could do this.  All she needed to do was kiss him when Mister Robinson and his wife came out onto the veranda.  That was simple enough.  Releasing her breath, she opened her eyes and looked up at the evening sky.  She always enjoyed watching the twinkling stars and seeing the way the moon changed each night.

But tonight, she had more pressing matters to tend to.  Once her nerves were settled enough, she edged behind a thick column and peered around it.

A minute later, Mister Robinson opened the door and gestured for Lord Clement to step outsi
de.  “I told you no one is out here,” Mister Robinson said.  “I will go inside and my wife and I will find Miss Leighton.  Then we can all talk.”

Lord Clement hesitated on the threshold of the doorway.  “I don’t know.  Maybe we should all come out here together.”

“What’s the need? As you can see, no one is out here.”

He tapped the golden tip of his cane and sighed.  “I suppose you’re ri
ght.  What’s the worst that can happen?”

“Miss Leighton won’t show up,” Mister Robinson replied, chuckling at his joke.

“I’m not amused.”

He cleared his throat.  “Of course not.  Nothing amuses you.” As Lord Clement stepped onto the verand
a, Mister Robinson added, “If anyone needs a lady who doesn’t take life so seriously, it’s you.  It’s the only way you’ll learn to enjoy life.”

“I enjoy life just fine.”

“Playing chess and discussing politics aren’t enjoyable.”

“That depends on who you ask.”

Rolling his eyes, Mister Robinson shut the door, leaving Lord Clement alone.  Paula gripped the column and watched as Lord Clement settled onto a bench just mere feet from her.  If she was going to do this, it was best to do it now.

Lord Clement jerked and turned toward her
as she approached him.  “Miss Leighton?  I didn’t see you out here.” He rose to his feet.  “We must get back inside before someone sees us.”

Her heartbeat picked up as she closed the gap between them.  “No one knows we’re out here.” In a bold move, she took his cane, slipped her arm around his, and urged him to sit.  From the position she chose, she had a clear view of the door but he didn’t.  Good.  With a smile, she set his cane on the other side of her so it wasn’t in his reach and clasped her hands around his.  “Your cousin, Mister Robinson, was telling me that you’re a very kind gentleman.”

“Oh, well, that was nice of him.” He made a move to grab his cane but she shifted to block him, and in doing so her breast brushed against his hand.  Pulling back from her as if he’d just touched fire, his face grew bright red.  “I-I’m sorry.  I didn’t,” he motioned to her breast, “mean to…you know.”

“I know,” she quickly assured him, surprised he should be so flustered.  Weren’t gentlemen supposed to try to
touch a lady’s breast when they were alone with them?  “It was an accident.  I understand.” Holding onto his arm, she continued, “I wanted to get a chance to talk to you.  Without any interruptions.  I thought I might learn more about you that way.”

He cleared his throat and scooted away from her, but she quickly scooted along with him.  He let out an uneasy laugh.  “We can talk at Hyde Park.  While we would need a chaperone, we could
ride horses further ahead.  That way we’d have a private conversation while not risking anything scandalous, like we are now.”

Before he could turn his head to the door, she cupped the side of his face in her hand and turned it back in her direction.  “You worry too much.”

“My cousin will be out here any minute.”

“But he told me he’ll be at least five minutes.  That leaves us a little time to talk.”

“I’m really not comfortable—”

“Like I said, you worry too much.  Now, tell me all about yourself.”

He stopped struggling to get away from her for a moment and stared at her.  “What?”

“What do you like to do?  What
are your favorite things?” When he didn’t answer her, she asked, “What’s your favorite color?”

“My favorite color?”

“I’m partial to purple myself.  Now, tell me, what color do you like most?”

“Um, red, I suppose.”

“You suppose?”

“I also like blue a lot.”

“What a wonderful combination,” she said, snuggling closer to him as she gathered the courage to kiss him.  “Red is passionate and exciting while blue is loyal and friendly.  I bet you’re a loyal friend who has a passionate and exciting streak hidden beneath the surface.  Am I right?”

“I never thought about it before.”

“I bet it’s true about you.” She took a deep breath.  “I think we could be well matched.”

“You can’t tell that by learning what colors I like.”

She noticed that
though he protested, he wasn’t trying to get away from her.  Either he’d given up and was hoping she’d release him or he realized he wanted to be close to her.  She hoped he wanted to be close to her.  There was something unbelievably sweet and charming about him that made her want to spend more time with him.

She glanced at the door and saw it open.  Mister Robinson stuck his head out and gave her a nod.  Taking that as her cue, she leaned forward and kissed Lord Clement.  He stiffened but didn’t push her away, probably due to shock. 
In fact, he didn’t even respond, so it was up to her to make it look good.  She wrapped her arms around his neck and continued kissing him.  Just when she thought he was starting to warm up to her, someone gasped.

Lord Clement stiffened once more
and looked behind him.  She followed his gaze and saw an amused Mister Robinson with his shocked wife.

“I don’t believe what I’m seeing,” Mister Robinson said, placing his hands behind his back.  “Can you believe this, my dear?” he asked his wife who seemed to be at a loss for words.  He turned back to his cousin and his grin wi
dened.  “Good for you.  You’re finally guaranteed a wife!”

“But this is a scandal,” his wife blurted out.

“Exactly!  Imagine my pristine cousin being caught out in the open engaging in such atrocious behavior.  I, for one, am so proud of you.  Congratulations, Perry.  You’re human after all.”

His wife turned to Mister Robinson, hands on her hips.  “Was this your doing?”

He placed a hand to his heart, his jaw dropped.  “Agatha, I am hurt, truly I am.  I had nothing to do with this.  This charming and witty lady came up with that kiss all by herself.”

Paula’s face flushed and she lowered her gaze, unable to make eye contact with any of them.

“No, it wasn’t her,” Perry said, reaching around her and retrieving his cane.  Rising to his feet, he added, “It was me.  She’s innocent.  I-I took advantage of her.”

At that, Mister Robinson burst out laughing.  “No one will believe you’re clever enough to lure an innocent out here to kiss.”

“Christopher,” Agatha warned through gritted teeth.

“I like her,” he told Agatha, pointing to Paula.  “She’s exactly the kind of wife my cousin needs.  Finally, there will be some excitement in his boring world.  Now going to his dinner parties will be something we can both look forward to.”

Her face grew pale as she glanced at Perry.  “We have always enjoyed your dinner parties.  Christopher doesn’t know what he’s saying.”

Christopher rolled his eyes and said in a low, monotonous voice.  “Lord Roderick, I discovered a new chess maneuver today as I twiddled my thumbs in the library, waiting for dinner.  Care to hear it?” He pinched his nose and continued, “Of course, I do, Lord Clement.  Playing that dull game is the only thing that interests me. 
Well, besides giving that no-good Christopher grief.” Then he let out an evil laugh.

Agatha groaned. 
“This is what I get for not taking you out to the country when you wanted.” She walked over to Perry and Paula.  “Please forgive my husband.  He hasn’t gotten enough sleep and thinks everything he says is funny.”

“I don’t get enough sleep because you
keep me up all night, my dear.”

She closed her eyes for a moment then shook her head before o
pening them.  With a smile, she continued, “I’m sure this wasn’t what it looked like.  No one needs to know about this.”

Christop
her snorted.  “If we do that, he’ll never make it to the altar.  I’m telling everyone what I saw.”

“Christopher,” Agatha admonished, but he was already in
the ballroom.  With a sigh, she lowered her voice and told Perry, “I think he’s afraid that what happened with my sister will happen again.”

Paula studied Perry then Agatha, wondering what they were talking about.

“Why does he delight so much in scandals?” Perry muttered under his breath.

“Boredom,” Agatha quickly answered then laughed.  “
He bores so easily.”

Paula’s eyebrows furrowed.  She sensed that Agatha was covering something up.  Perhaps Agatha knew Christopher
had allowed her to be out here on the veranda alone with Perry and didn’t want Perry to find out?

“I suppose there’s no stopping him,” Perry said and looked at Paula.  “I’m sorry.”

“Sorry?” Paula asked.  Was he sorry he was stuck marrying her?

“You did nothing wrong,” Perry told her then offered Agatha an apologetic smile.  “
I admit that acting as unbecomingly as I did isn’t something I’d ordinarily do, but I came out here and…and…” He cleared his throat and twirled his cane.  “I was overcome by her beauty and acted inappropriately.”

So that wa
s what he was doing.  He was trying to make it so people would assume he was the one who took advantage of her in an attempt to protect her reputation as much as possible.  She breathed a sigh of relief.  Good.  He would marry her.  And that meant she didn’t have to marry the Duke of Leavenshire.

Not surprising, her brother rushed out of the ballroom and over to her, his face carefully controlled to hide his anger.
She knew he wouldn’t like the latest developments, but there was nothing he could do about it, especially since Christopher was telling everyone that she was caught kissing Perry, which was a smart maneuver on his part.  She couldn’t help but admire his quick thinking.

“What happened?” her brother asked, glancing from Perry to her.

“This is my brother, Mister Leighton,” Paula told Perry and Agatha.  “This is Lord Clement and—”

“I don’t care who they are,” he interrupted and pointed to the corner of the veranda.  “Get over there so I can talk to you.”

“No.” She crossed her arms.

His face grew red.  “No?”

“No.  I’m not under your authority anymore.  I’m under Lord Clement’s authority now since we are to be married.” What a relief it was to say that!

Perry winced.  “I don’t know if I’d use the word ‘authority.’”

“But it’s true,” she insisted.

“Can’t we say you’re my betrothed instead?  It sounds more pleasant
than saying you’re under my authority,” he said, his eyes meeting hers in such a gentle way that it made her very pleased she’d chosen him to replace the duke.

“Betrothed is just fine,” Agatha said then smiled at
Paula’s brother.  “Mister Leighton, I assure you that Lord Clement is an honorable gentleman.”

“Then what was he doing deflowering my sister on the veranda?
” her brother snapped, gesturing to Perry.

Perry balked at the accusation, and Paula couldn’t blame him.  A kiss was hardly as personal as making love.

Agatha laughed.  “Lord Clement was hardly deflowering her.”