He started to lead her onto the dance floor, but she paused to whisper, “Find me after you’ve dispatched this fellow. I don’t think he needs to be introduced to me.”
Montgomery didn’t recognize the older man who was walking straight toward him until he said, “I’ve sent for my seconds.”
“Lord Halstead, I presume?”
A curt nod. “We shall settle this tonight.”
The man was in his fifties and of diminutive stature, at least a half foot shorter than Montgomery. There was no anger in his expression, just deadly resolve. After four written demands for a duel and now this fifth one, Halstead obviously felt a duel was mandatory given the situation, whether the reason for it was true or not.
But Montgomery’s resolve hadn’t changed, either. He wouldn’t kill a man over something he had only pretended to do. And yet he still couldn’t give up the absolute truth to the fellow.
So he said in a low tone, “Let me propose this instead, a test of marksmanship tomorrow. You can even bring your seconds, and we will shoot at targets, rather than each other. If you win, I’ll agree to a true duel then and there. If I win, we can put this nonsense behind us.”
Halstead hadn’t looked angry before but he certainly did now. “You want me to audition for a duel with you? By God, I should challenge you again for that slur on my marksmanship!”
“You can kill me only once.”
“To my regret, but I’ll have my once. You’ll be hearing from me—”
“Can we not do this again?” Monty said in an earnest whisper before the older man marched off. “I didn’t bed your wife, man. I only tried to. What a man does when he’s foxed shouldn’t lead to anyone dying. And I do vaguely recall being rebuffed by her.” And then with a note of regret in his voice, he added, “But if you insist—?”
There was a very long pause before Halstead said, “Perhaps not.”
Montgomery was a little incredulous as the man walked away from him. Bloody hell, it was that easy? Maybe he should try that excuse on Lord Chanders tomorrow as well and see if his luck held. It still wasn’t the truth, but it preserved George’s supposed innocence, and the respective wives’ fidelity. Drink was the scoundrel instead of himself!
He caught up to his sister and whirled her onto the dance floor. “I’m feeling much better,” he said with a grin.
“Nasty business all solved?”
“Very likely.”
“How many more must be placated?”
“Just one. But don’t believe a word you’re hearing, Claire—just don’t defend me, either.”
“We thought you were more discreet,” she huffed.
“We?”
“Father has been in London all this time since you and I last spoke. D’you think he’s gone deaf and wouldn’t hear these rumors?”
“How angry is he?”
“Very.”
He sighed. “You were correct, I am discreet—unless there’s a reason I ought not to be. Trust me. You will laugh about this nonsense someday.”
She raised a brow. “That’s it? I’m to make do with a promise of an explanation—someday?”
“You could remember that I’m your favorite brother—”
“Who says you are?”
“And you know me very well, so you must have already concluded that there is more to this than silly rumors.”
“Who says I have?”
He gave her a tender look before kissing her cheek. “I do, because I know you very well, too—except when it comes to your husband. Shall we discuss him again?”
