Lord Derrick drew his horse to a halt in the middle of the promenade, ignoring the protests of the riders behind them. “Why should she refuse to see you? I believe it’s customary for a lady to accept calls from her betrothed. Bloody hell, Huntington. What have you donethistime?”
Finn slid his friend a glance from the corner of his eye and heaved a silent sigh. He’d hoped to have this whole snarled mess resolved before he had to say a word to Derrick about it, but Miss Somerset had become a knot he couldn’t untangle on his own. He was going to need Derrick’s help to put things right, and even then, it wasn’t going to be easy. “We’re not betrothed. Not anymore. She jilted me.”
Lord Derrick jerked upright in the saddle. “The devil you say.”
His horse whinnied in protest at the sudden tug on the reins as Derrick made a sharp turn off the promenade and rode north toward the open ground near the Serpentine. Finn followed, bracing himself for the blistering lecture he deserved as he brought his horse alongside Derrick’s.
Lord Derrick didn’t waste any time. “Why, Huntington, would Miss Somerset jilt you? Whatever you did, it must be awful indeed for her to sacrifice the chance to become the Marchioness of Huntington.”
Finn stared at the river, watching as the last rays of the setting sun caught at the gentle ripples on the glassy surface. He’d done a number of awful things, any of which might have justified her jilting him, but none of them were the reason she’d actually done so.
No, she’d jilted him over a kiss, or more accurately, the lack of one. If he hadn’t seen her face when she said it he would have suspected her of lying, but there hadn’t been a trace of subterfuge in her clear blue eyes.
A kiss. She’d jilted him over a kiss.
“It’s that bloody wager, isn’t it?” Derrick’s mouth pinched into the same thin line it always did whenever the wager came up. “She found out about it, and she’s jilted you over it. I warned you, Huntington, but you insisted on acting the fool, and now the wager has turned into a curse on the three of you. Here’s Harley, caught cheating at cards and forced to flee to the Continent to save his neck. He won’t have Lady Honora after all, any more than you’ll have Miss Somerset, and now two lovely, innocent ladies are caught up in the scandals.”
“You forgot Lord Wrexley.” Finn spat the name as if he couldn’t get it out of his mouth quickly enough. “Hehasn’t appeared to suffer any ill effects from that wager.”
“Wrexley lost. He’s exempt from the curse.”
“There’s no curse, Derrick, though I’ll grant you it’s unsettling how quickly a win became a loss once we left the gaming tables.”
“Or a loss became a win. Think of it, Huntington. Now Wrexley has his choice of both Lady Honora and Miss Somerset, though I suppose his cousin doesn’t want him.”
“He doesn’t want her, either. He wants Miss Somerset.” A hard ball of anger lodged in Finn’s throat at the thought. He wasn’t pleased with her for jilting him, but that didn’t mean she should be saddled with a rogue like Wrexley for the rest of her life. No woman deserved such a fate.
Lord Derrick shrugged. “Wrexley knew going into the wager he could lose her just as easily as win her.”
Finn thought of Wrexley’s careless smile when he lost the wager. “Come, Derrick. You know Wrexley better than that. He knew if he won her I’d abide by the terms of the wager and step aside, but he isn’t an honorable gentleman. As soon as the cards hit the table he was determined to have her, whether he won or lost.”
“Maybe he loves her.” But even as he said it, Derrick looked doubtful. He knew Lord Wrexley almost as well as Finn did.
“Wrexley doesn’t love anyone but himself. He does want her, though, even if only to keep me from having her, and he wants her badly enough to sink to alarming depths to get her. That trick at Lady Fairchild’s, with Lady Beaumont…”
Understanding dawned on Derrick’s face. “Of course! He was the one who sneaked Lady Beaumont in. I can’t imagine why we didn’t think of it at once. He’s been to that house dozens of times, and knows every hidden alcove and nook in the garden.”
“Yes, and you and I both know he didn’t do it on a whim. Either he intended for Lady Beaumont to find Miss Somerset and whisper secrets in her ear, or else he thought he could lure Miss Somerset off to the gardens alone with him while I was occupied with Lady Beaumont.”
Lord Derrick looked appalled. “Dear God. You don’t think he intended to compromise her, do you?”
Finn had no idea whether Wrexley would go as far as to hurt an innocent lady. He only knew he didn’t trust himnotto. “Whatever his intentions, they weren’t honorable. He doesn’t love her, Derrick. If he did, he’d never manipulate her like that, or involve her in such a devious scheme.”
“Why, that bloody scoundrel.”
Finn nodded, his mouth tight. “He’s selfish, down to his very soul. Selfish, debauched, and reckless.”
Derrick ran a rough hand through his hair. “Christ, Huntington. I can’t understand how there’s never a whisper of gossip about him, given what an utter villain he is.”
“Oh, there are whispers. One just needs to know where to go to hear them. After that debacle at Lady Fairchild’s, I paid Lord Greyson a visit.”
“Greyson? Good lord, is he still alive?”
“Alive, and as sharp as ever. He doesn’t leave his house now, but he’s as cheerful and entertaining as always, and all his friends still come to him with the choicest bits of gossip. He was a dear friend of my father’s, and happy to receive me.”
“You asked him about Wrexley.”
“I hinted, yes. Delicately, of course. We’re both aware Wrexley’s not as spotless as he appears, but he does a bloody good job of hiding it from his aunt and cousin, and from most of London. Still, Greyson had one or two tales about him.”
