Page 13 of A Gentleman's Wager

“I never—”

“Shh!” Vaughan pressed a finger to his lips again. “I forgive you, Lucerne. You needn’t torture yourself with that sin. Now, about that brandy.”

“I have other guests I oughtn’t abandon.”

Vaughan waved away the remark. “They won’t demur over me stealing you away for one evening.”

“Perhaps,” Lucerne agreed. Maybe brandy would help and maybe it wouldn’t. It was certainly a relief to both be forgiven and to brush the past under the carpet. He got up and poured from a decanter he kept for his personal use. “There’s not much of any consequence to say. I’ve met my closest neighbours today.”

“Thrilling. An aged squire and his homely wench?”

“A brother, and his romp of a sister.”

“And how pray would you know that after one visit?”

Lucerne laughed, finding his sense of humour rising like a bubble from the centre of his chest when he thought of Bella Rushdale’s impish way of peeping at him. “She caught me swimming a few weeks back and took an ungodly interest in my arse?”

“Just your arse?”

“Perhaps one or two other parts too.”

The tension in his back eased away as he dove into the retelling of the tale, then listened to Vaughan’s travels through Italy and his arduous journey home. By the time the decanter was drained, all was as it ought to be, and Lucerne regretted being so foolish as to not have renewed their acquaintance earlier.

He’d forgotten how very much Vaughan made him laugh.

-7-

Bella

Wakefield returned the following day without Lord Marlinscar.

“Should I be writing to her aunt?” Joshua asked, when he happened on Bella lurking on the doorstep, while Wakefield and Louisa ambled about the garden together arm in arm.

“That would be pre-emptive, don’t you think, brother? He’s only called on her once. Yesterday doesn’t count. I should leave it until he’s been at least thrice and perhaps as long as a dozen calls.”

Joshua in his sparrow-like browns, considered this with a squint. “I’ve rather a feeling we’ll see him often, and out here on his knee afore long. I suppose I could overlook the connection until then, but you really ought to be over there with them, being all green and prickly.”

“I would,” Bella offered him her sweetest smile. “But I fear I’ve turned my ankle, and it’s ever so painful to move about.” She demonstrated by hobbling a pace or two and wincing as if her bones had shattered. “Besides, I can see them perfectly well from here.”

“Until they glide behind a bush.”

“Joshua Rushdale!” Bella dropped her mouth open wide in mock outrage. “I cannot think you’d suggest such impropriety from my friend.”

“Fie, it’s not her I’m concerned about.”

“So, you think the captain’s a rake.”

“I think he’s a man, and eager for what’s under her skirts and in her pockets.” He gave her an arch look, while she continued to fake shock. “Though I shall, naturally, deny this conversation ever took place, if you should be so crass as to allude to it in polite society.”

Bella looped her arm around his and gave him an affectionate squeeze. “So, only when surrounded by lechers, harlots, and rapscallions?”

“I should dearly like to know when you think you’ll ever be in the presence of those?”

“Based on what you just said, rather often, I should think.”

“Bella,” he sighed.

“Oops, need to go, it seems they’re heading for the hedgerow. What a good thing my ankle has miraculously mended for I’ve a burning urge to pick some blackberries.” She left him with a wave, only to turn about and call out to him while walking backwards. “What a pity it is that Lord Marlinscar doesn’t have a sister, my brother. We could marry you into the aristocracy.”