“A weight, then. A burden of significant proportion. That is what you would have had me believe. And you wanted rid of the responsibility for her. She took much more than she gave, do you recall saying that? Her presence in your home forced you to live in reduced circumstances, set you outside your father’s good graces, and made your mother critical of you at every turn. You had no liking for any of it.”
Alastair flushed, but he accepted the words she threw back at him because he remembered very well that they had once been his own. His deep shame made him mute.
“You wagered recklessly, Alastair, and you lost. Youwerelost. You did not apply to your sister for help after Breckenridge relieved you of your ring. You came to me. How sad you were. Pathetic, really. And I took pity on you, helped you get it back. Two birds with one stone, because you never objected to shedding yourself of your responsibilities to Olivia at the same time.”
Alastair stiffened as this last dart hit center, but he found his voice. “It was wrong of me, Alys. Olivia stood for me as I was never able to stand for her. She didn’t hesitate; that’s what Breckenridge told me when he dragged me off to face her. I was so cowardly that I fought him to avoid her.”
He judged that Mrs. Christie had settled herself enough that he could turn his back on her. He went to the drinks cabinet in the adjoining sitting room and poured himself two fingers of scotch. When he looked up, raising his glass, he saw that she had followed him. “Would you like one?”
She shook her head. “You walked away from me.”
“So I did. Trading barbs such as we have made me thirsty.” He regarded her over the rim of his crystal tumbler. She had left the mirror in her bedroom, but it only made her marginally less dangerous. “I take it you are not yet finished.”
“I’m not, no. And I don’t need your permission to continue, so, pray, do not insult me by giving it.”
He merely sipped his drink.
Alys thrust her chin forward. “I never thought Breckenridge would accept her as your marker. I thought his mistrust of women ran too deep for that. A miscalculation on my part, and a serious one as it turned out. He kept her and put me out.”
“Do not delude yourself, Alys. He would have put you out anyway. Your association was nearly at an end, else you would not have looked me over so carefully.”
She did not deny it. “It is about choice. Mine, not his. Your sister provoked him to do it.”
“That is hardly likely. It is fairer to blame me. Did you not tell me Breckenridge suspected your fine hand in helping me take back the ring?”
“A suspicion only.” Alys shrugged. “I could have persuaded him to see it differently. Olivia’s presence made him unreasonable.”
Alastair recognized the futility of argument. This time when he made no reply it was of a purpose.
“I want the ring back,” Alys said.
“So you have said. You will have to apply to Breckenridge for it, though that supposes he actually knows he has it.”
“What do you mean?”
“I did not precisely place the thing in his hand. Ever the coward, I suppose. Neither did I return it to his desk where it might sit unnoticed for weeks. I put it in his son’s room.”
Mrs. Christie’s breath hissed between her teeth. “He hasn’t recognized the brat. The betting books favor the child being his wife’s bastard.”
“Be sure to tell him that when you ask for the ring.”
She ignored that. “What possessed you?”
“I told you. Cowardice.”
“Madness is more like it.”
Recalling that he’d nearly broken his neck stumbling over the infantry, Alastair was inclined to agree. “I’ll claim the ring when I can pay the debt. It is what I should have done at the outset.”
“Sir Hadrien will not be pleased to learn what’s become of it.”
“I don’t suppose he will, but he’s a practical man and will accept it is better lost to the viscount than to you.”
Mrs. Christie did not hesitate. She closed the distance between them and laid her hand hard across Alastair Cole’s cheek. She watched his eyes water with the sting of her slap, but he made no move to retaliate. Desirous of goading him further, she raised her hand again. This time he caught her by the wrist.
“I am not opposed to striking a woman,” he said. “But that is not what you had in mind, is it, Alys? Do you think I don’t know what you want?”
“The ring,” she whispered. “I want the ring.”
