The First Proposal - Chasity Bowlin Page 0,37
down flat. Pity he will lose that bet,” Daphne finished with a smirk.
Algernon could feel his heart pounding. Fear, cold and sharp, coiled inside him. “Persephone, I never placed such a bet. I swear it.”
“I don’t care,” she replied. “Whether you did or you didn’t, it doesn’t change how I feel for you. I love you and I want to be your wife.”
The relief was so intense, it simply swamped him. When he could catch his breath, he replied, “And I love you. You can keep all three rings. We’ll buy you one for every finger if you life.”
She laughed at that. “Overly generous and hardly necessary. One ring will do… especially if it is accompanied by a special license. I want us to be married as soon as possible.”
“No!” Daphne shouted. “No! You don’t get to have what you want! It’s not fair!”
At that moment, the french doors leading onto the balcony opened and Olivia, Burke and Lady Deerfield entered. Lady Deerfield’s glacial stare landed on Daphne Fennelworth and Algernon almost pitied her.
“You, madame, will never show your face in society again,” Lady Deerfield stated. “If you do, every terrible vicious thing I’ve learned about you here tonight will be revealed. As for Lady Habersham, I will deal with her. I’ve never heard of such mean spirited, selfish, conniving behavior before in my life! Much less to one’s own relation. Normally, I would caution any couple against a marriage by special license as it tends to create its own sort of gossip, but under the circumstances, if it will get this poor girl out of your horrid clutches sooner, I am all for it, I say!”
Daphne said nothing. Apparently, while not fully embraced by the upper echelon in society, even she knew who Lady Deerfield was. “Lady Deerfield, I know this must all seem very strange to you, but you must understand that it is not at all as it seems—.”
“I think, Mrs. Fennelworth, that it is precisely as it seems,” Lady Deerfield interrupted, holding up her hand. “I will not hear another word from you. In fact, I do believe that Lady Holland should have you removed from this house at once, before you have an opportunity to do any more harm. But first, I will know about this bet… If you did such a thing, Algernon Dunne, it will go badly for you indeed.”
“He didn’t,” Burke replied. “I placed a bet—without ever naming the intended betrothed—that Algernon would be refused.”
“And who took that bet?” Lady Deerfield demanded.
“I’ve no notion. I put it on the book at White’s,” Burke admitted. “There may be no takers.”
Lady Deerfield wagged her finger at him. “You know better, Holland. But I’ll leave it to your wife to deal with you.”
“Why are you all against me?” Daphne wailed. “All I wanted was to keep Persephone with me!”
“Not with you, Daphne…. under your thumb,” Persephone snapped. “It’s a different thing altogether.”
Lady Sheffield motioned for Westerhaven, “Have your driver bring the carriage around to the garden gate via the mews. We will take Mrs. Fennelworth home and leave by that route to avoid a scene.”
“I’ll make a scene!” Daphne threatened. “I’ll scream so loudly every person in Mayfair will know I’m being abducted against my will!”
Lady Deerfield stepped forward and without a word, raised her gloved hand and slapped Daphne’s face. “Pull yourself together. Things will go badly enough for you without bringing yourself total ruin! Have you no thought to how your behavior will reflect on your children in the future?”
Daphne cupped her cheek and wailed. Like a child in a tantrum, she simply bawled. Disgusted, Lady Deerfield turned away from her. “Heaven help those poor children.”
Within minutes, Lady Sheffield, with the help of Lord Holland, was bundling a still weeping and wailing Daphne Fennelworth through the gardens and toward a waiting carriage. Lady Deerfield had returned to the ballroom with the promise to remain quiet about things for a day or two, until the marriage could be conducted. Olivia simply smiled at them and sailed out of the room, leaving the two of them alone in the library.
“It’s so quiet,” Persephone remarked. “I hardly know what to think.”
“It’s blissful,” Algernon stated. “You and I in a darkened room.”
“Yes, well, it was only you and I in a darkened garden the other night and you sent me away,” Persephone stated. “And I still cannot fathom why.”
“Because it hadn’t been my intention to seduce you… and I felt I was very much on the verge