Redemption (4 page)

“I
am not making a fool of myself.
Lizzie was making a whore of herself cavorting with the likes of
you,” Julian countered. “Everyone knows you are the golden boy of
the
ton;
the
rogue all the women want. I just didn’t think that she would throw
herself at you like a common whore. I know nobody wants to offer
for her, but really.”

“Don’t
you dare speak to her or about her like that,” Ben ordered. He
crossed the distance between them so fast that everyone took a deep
breath and stared in amazement as Ben grabbed Julian by his cravat
and practically lifted him off his feet. “Don’t you ever let me
hear you speaking about her in such a way again.”

Julian
sniffed dismissively but couldn’t hide the worry in his gaze as he
looked a little uncertainly down at Ben.

“I-I
don’t believe you two have had a formal introduction. Y-You don’t
usually move in her circles, McArthur. You don’t have permission to
approach her.”

“I
haven’t disgraced her,” Ben replied. “Lizzie is to be my wife. It
is a personal and private matter between her and me.”

Lizzie stared at Ben in disbelief, and wondered if he knew
what he was doing. Although she tried to keep her face impassive
because of the avid witnesses, she couldn’t hide her worry. While
it was wonderful to hear him announce to the world that he wanted
to marry her, and he had said the words calmly enough, she knew
from the shocked disbelief on his face earlier that he had thought
she had been Melissa and he was merely being chivalrous. It was one
thing to realise she was only accepted by the
ton
because people pitied her for
her association with Julian. It was another matter entirely to find
herself forced into marriage to Ben purely because of a terrible
misunderstanding and her own weakness.

“Well
done, my good friend,” Potterton declared enthusiastically as Ben
practically threw Julian back onto the ground and turned his back
leaving Julian to struggle to regain his balance.

Determinedly ignoring the undercurrent of tension, Angus
clapped Ben on the back, his smile of pleasure wide. “You couldn’t
ask for better.”

“Thank
you,” Ben replied, somewhat bemused at his own
ingenuity.

He saw
the stunned horror on Lizzie’s face and once again regretted not
having a few moments to speak with her privately to explain
matters. Right now, he daren’t look at her too long for fear that
he would fall to his knees and beg her forgiveness for upsetting
her so much.

If only
he had taken a few moments to talk to her while they had been alone
in the folly before the kisses started then she would understand
what was going on.

If only
he could shut Julian up, he might be able to salvage the situation
in a way that would benefit them all.

Unfortunately, from the look of snide satisfaction in
Julian’s beady eyes, that possibility was looking less and less
likely. It irked him to think that Lizzie had to go home with the
wrong impression about what had happened, especially with her
step-brother scorning her, but there was little he could do right
now. Not unless he went so far as to throw Lizzie over his shoulder
and carry her all the way back to McArthur House so he could talk
to her in private and ruin her completely. He knew that even if he
asked Angus if they could use his study Julian would insist on
being involved in any conversation that took place, and any
conversation with Lizzie would be anything but private.

Although
it annoyed the hell out of him, he had no choice but to allow
Lizzie to go home and calm down a little. He would call by
Pendlebury House in the morning, and wild horses wouldn’t drag him
out again until he and Lizzie had the conversation they should be
having now.

“You,
sir, have besmirched the family name. I demand restitution,” Julian
declared with all the pomposity he could muster.

“Restitution?” Lizzie cried. “For what?”

She
couldn’t believe her ears. Had Julian really asked for money?
Surely he couldn’t be that desperate, could he? She stared at her
step-brother and felt a wave of horror sweep through her as she
realised that was indeed what Julian was after. He hadn’t just
asked for money, but was determined to destroy her reputation to
get it apparently. Given how her step-brother had started to sell
various heirlooms from around Pendlebury House to fund his
profligate lifestyle of late, she had no doubt he would sink that
low.

She
realised then that his financial crisis that everyone was currently
whispering about really was as desperate as people
claimed.

Before
Julian could list his demands, Melissa stepped away from the crowd
and crossed toward them. The contemptuous glare she swept over
Lizzie made her once beautiful face change into something malicious
and cruel. The accusatory glare she turned on Ben would have made
even the hardest warrior cower, but he merely stared
disinterestedly back, completely unaffected by her
scorn.

Desperate to leave, Lizzie glared at Julian. “You haven’t
once thought of the family name when you have frequented Madame
Hubert’s brothel, Julian Pendlebury. You don’t think about the
family’s reputation when you hock the family heirlooms to pay for
your sordid gambling. You ruin the family name whenever you step
out of the front door at Pendlebury House because your behaviour is
so questionable.” She tipped her chin up defiantly when Julian
stepped forward threateningly. Her eyes defied him to lie and deny
it in front of so many people but he didn’t. “If any of the hosts
feel sorry for me, it is purely because they know I am, well, sort
of related to you. It isn’t my behaviour that causes them to pity
me; it is my association to
you.
”

To her
surprise, Ben gave her a smile that was warm and gentle. Her shock
increased when, in a silent show of support, Angus Potterton came
to stand on the other side of her. The silent show of support from
both gentleman of good standing against Julian silenced the murmurs
of the crowd of onlookers, and seemed to flummox Julian himself for
a moment.

“How dare you cast aspersions on the family name to try to
cover your own behaviour?” Julian snarled. “You are the one who has
just been in a compromising situation with
him.”

“You are
angry because you know I am right,” Lizzie challenged. It took
every ounce of fortitude she possessed to tip her chin up and glare
back at him, in spite of the tell-tale blush on her
cheeks.

“I ask
you to behave with more discretion,” Angus demanded of
Julian.

“Me
behave with discretion?” Julian
blundered on self-righteously. “I am not the one taking advantage
of harlots in your garden. Why, if my good friends hadn’t noticed
them out of the window Heaven only knows how far this would have
gone. Can I take it you consider their behaviour
acceptable?”

“No,
sir,” Angus replied. “But your actions are not acceptable in any
way either. I shall not have you disgrace yourself, or your sister,
in this manner in my house.”

“That
man has debased my sister,” Julian countered. “You saw it with your
own eyes.”

He
turned back to look at the remaining crowd in a silent plea of
support, but nobody moved or spoke. His supporters from earlier
seemed to have vanished into the ether because everyone carefully
kept their gazes averted.

“I saw
no such thing,” Angus snapped.

“We were
celebrating our engagement. If we became passionate then it proves
our marriage will be a happy one, doesn’t it? I make no apology for
finding my future wife utterly desirable,” Ben drawled in a husky
voice.

“You
what?” Melissa snarled in a voice that could have frozen
ice.

“I am
engaged, Miss Bradwort. Do you not wish to congratulate me?” His
declaration was made in an attempt to kill two birds with one
stone. Not only would it serve his purposes to get Lizzie to fully
understand his interest in her was more than superficial, but he
could hopefully also get Melissa Bradwort to accept that her
affections toward him were not wanted.

“
Congratulate you?” Melissa spat. “For offering for
that?
”

“We are
to be married as soon as it can be arranged,” Ben snorted, his
anger building.

“Why? Is
she with child?” Melissa snapped scornfully.

Gasp of
shock rippled around the garden. Lizzie closed her eyes, and jumped
when she felt Ben’s hand claim hers.

“Don’t
judge everyone by your own base standards,” Ben snapped.

“I do
not give my permission for you to marry her,” Julian snarled,
cutting off anything else Melissa was about to say. “We will have
no such debaucher in the Pendlebury family.”

“You are
not in a position to give me permission to do anything, Julian. You
are no longer my guardian and, as such, I don’t need permission
from you to do anything in my life,” Lizzie declared
flatly.

“I am
your guardian,” Julian challenged. “I am the head of the Pendlebury
family. You will do as I say.”

“Pendlebury
family
?” Lizzie cried in disbelief.
“There is only you and me. I can look after myself. You are the
head of nothing, Julian. As of my birthday last month you ceased to
be my legal guardian. We are not even directly related. You are my
step-brother through marriage; nothing more.”

“How
dare
you do this?” Melissa demanded of Ben when everyone appeared
inclined to ignore her.

“How
dare I what?” Ben sighed. “This is a private matter, Miss Bradwort,
and certainly nothing to do with you. Please leave.”

“I am staying,” Melissa challenged. “I want to know what is
going on. You were due to offer for
my
hand.”

Ben
looked at her with theatrical disbelief. “I have never given you
any indication that I am interested in you in that regard, Miss
Bradwort. If you have developed such lofty expectations then you
are certain to be disappointed because I have never considered you
suitable for the position as my wife, nor indeed ever
would.”

“You
were courting me,” Melissa protested. “Everyone expected you to
offer for my hand, not take advantage of that little money
grabber.”

“How was
I courting you?” Ben scoffed. “I have danced with you once in the
past six months and that’s all. That hardly constitutes a
courtship.”

When she
opened her mouth to argue, Ben’s face settled into a cold mask of
fury. He watched in satisfaction as she immediately took a hesitant
step back and closed her mouth with a snap.

“You
little trollop,” she whispered to Lizzie through clenched teeth.
“How dare you do this to me? Julian is right. You are nothing but a
whore.”

“Shut
up,” Ben raged. When Melissa made no attempt to go back into the
house, he grabbed her arm and marched her unceremoniously toward
the ballroom where he practically threw her through the door. Once
inside he turned on her, and learned forward menacingly until their
noses were almost touching.

“I have
never considered such an uncouth, undisciplined, spiteful madam
such as yourself to be my wife. Indeed, I should consider myself a
very unlucky man indeed if I were ever to find myself burdened with
someone so cruel. I consider it a mercy that I shall now be spared
your affections. Don’t you dare ever speak about my fiancé like
that again, Miss Bradwort. You should have to be of the most
sterling of characters to cast aspersions on anybody else, and
everyone knows you are most certainly not that.”

With one
last vile look at the onlookers he stomped back outside, and
slammed the door closed behind him with sufficient force that
everyone remained completely silent for several moments before the
hostess desperately signalled for the music to begin so everyone
could dance. When conversation eventually resumed, it was slightly
muted and somewhat less enthusiastic dancers who took to the
floor.

Before
Ben could find his way back to Lizzie, Angus had already started to
usher people back to the ball and he lost her temporarily in the
crowd. By the time he found her again, she was being marched around
the side of the house toward the waiting carriage, and he had
little choice but to watch her disappear into the night.

CHAPTER
TWO

Once at
Pendlebury House, Lizzie slammed through the front door and stormed
across the hallway. She positively trembled with rage. She didn’t
bother to wait to find out if Julian was going to try to scold her
again. He had attempted to lambast her several times in the
carriage but she had told him to shut up each and every time he had
opened his mouth. In the end he had slouched into sullen silence,
but had continued to shoot daggered looks at her throughout the
entire journey.

She wasn’t entirely sure whether to be angry at the
ton
for pitying her,
Julian for humiliating her like that, or herself for letting Ben
take such liberties in the first place. If she had stopped him
right at the very beginning then none of this evening’s horrible
events would have happened. Either way she wasn’t going to take any
more of his pious bullying.