If It Takes A Scandal (Marriage by Bargain Book 4) Read online

  “Fits of rage?” Corin asked. “This is all your doing. You’re like a fox. You’re sly and manipulative. You are in need of a good hunt.”

  Stephen gasped and looked at Brad as if he’d never been more insulted in his life. “Can you believe what he just said to me?”

  “You are sly and manipulative,” Brad said.

  Stephen straightened his frock coat and lifted his chin in the air. “I don’t need to stand here and be insulted. I have other places I can be right now.”

  But before he could leave the room, Brad intercepted him and dragged him over to one of the chairs. After he made Stephen sit, he said, “Tell me what you did to Lord Durrant.”

  “I’ll tell you what he did,” Corin interrupted. “He lied to me. He said my friend wished to have a word with me in the den last evening at Lord Edon’s ball. The only reason I believed him is because my friend has discussed investment opportunities with me in the past when we attended balls. But when I got there, Lord Worsley wasn’t there, and that traitor,” he gestured to Stephen, “spilled a drink on me in order to get me out of my frock coat and breeches. Then he revealed the truth of why he lured me there. Lord Worsley’s sister, Celia, paid him to get me into the den so that she could slip into the room. Once she had me alone, she would cry scandal, thereby forcing me to marry her.”

  Brad grimaced. “Marriage to Celia?”

  “Yes. Celia Barlow, the most annoying lady in all of London. Now you can see why I was desperate to avoid the trap that she and that fox set out for me.”

  “And you did avoid it,” Stephen piped up.

  Brad shot his brother a pointed look. “You’re not helping the situation.”

  Stephen sighed and leaned back in the chair.

  “I didn’t end up being trapped with Celia,” Corin admitted. “So yes, that part he did manage to get right. But he worked something out with Lady Hedwrett instead. When he returned, he was with her, and she was holding my clothes. Then she forced me to the floor and tried to have her way with me.”

  Stephen threw his head back and laughed. “Is that how you think it all happened?”

  Corin glared at him. “I don’t think it. I know it. Her hands were all over the place. Even now, I feel violated.”

  Stephen only laughed harder. “Lady Hedwrett is one of the best looking ladies in London. She can touch me wherever she wants whenever she wants.”

  Brad punched him in the shoulder.

  “Ouch!” Stephan rubbed his shoulder. “That hurt.”

  “Lady Hedwrett,” Brad hissed at Stephen. “You know very well I would have liked to have married her.”

  He shrugged. “She had no such interest in you. You’re better off without her.”

  “She had no interest in me, either,” Corin told Stephen.

  “I disagree,” Stephen replied. “With the way her hands were all over you, she wanted you. She didn’t touch Brad that way. She only took him by the arm, and that was because she had to. But you’re right, Corin. She wanted very much to make mad, passionate love to you. I advised her against it, but she insisted on being with you. It turns out she’s been secretly in love with you for a long time now.”

  “I don’t even know her.”

  “It was admiration from afar.” When Corin frowned, he added, “Don’t ask me to explain the way a lady thinks. It’s all a mystery to me.”

  Brad didn’t hide his disappointment. “She wanted to be with Lord Durrant when she was at my dinner party?”

  “Like I said,” Stephen replied, “the way a lady thinks is a mystery. Well,” he stood up, “I believe that clears everything up.”

  “Not so fast,” Corin said before he could head for the door. “I want my money and the pocket watch back.”

  “I already explained that I lost them last evening,” Stephen replied, speaking slowly, as if he were explaining it to a child. His voice returning to normal, he added, “I can’t give you something I don’t have. And as it turns out, I have nothing.” He glanced at Brad. “And I won’t get my allowance until next week.”

  Brad looked between Stephen and Corin then sighed. “Very well. I’ll take the money from Stephen’s allowance and pay you. How much does he owe you?”

  “Two and a half shillings and a pocket watch worth a pound,” Corin replied.

  The pocket watch had much more value than that, given that it had been something his father had handed to him on his deathbed. His father had inherited it on his own father’s deathbed. The pocket watch went back five generations, and the eldest son was the one who received it. He had hoped to give it to his eldest son someday.

  “There’s no way that pocket watch was worth a pound,” Stephen argued. “It was old and had a small chip in the back.”

  “There were diamonds embedded in it,” Corin said.

  “Really? I didn’t notice those.” Stephen frowned. “I can’t believe I let something of that much value go for a mere groat.”

  Corin bypassed Brad and grabbed Stephen by his frock coat. “A groat?” He shook him. “You gave up my pocket watch for something worth so little?”

  Stephen coughed and glanced over at Brad. “Aren’t you going to help me?”

  Brad crossed his arms. “You are irresponsible, Stephen. I don’t know what to do with you.”

  “Get him off of me,” Stephen pleaded with Brad as he tried to pry Corin’s hands off of his frock coat.

  With a groan, Brad went over and separated Corin from Stephen. Turning to Stephen, he asked, “Who has the pocket watch? We’ll get it back.”

  “I don’t know,” Stephen replied as he made a big show of straightening his coat. “Well, this is just great. I have a wrinkle now. I can’t leave the house with a wrinkle in my clothing.”

  “Why don’t you let me kill him?” Corin asked Brad. “I have a feeling I’ll be doing us both a favor.”

  “He’s my brother. I can’t do that to him,” Brad said. “Though I admit, it’s tempting.”

  Stephen scowled at Brad.

  “I’ll pay you the full amount of everything he lost,” Brad told Corin. “It’ll come out of his allowance.”

  “Do you mean that you won’t pay me anything until the debt’s been paid off?” Stephen asked.

  “That’s exactly what I mean,” Brad said. “You have behaved irresponsibly, and you need to deal with the consequences of your actions.” He turned to Corin. “We’ll take care of this in the den.”

  With one last glare in Stephen’s direction, Corin followed Brad out of the room.

  “I know it’s not my place to interfere in someone else’s business,” Brad began, “but my brother is not the most honest gentleman in London. I think he’s lying to you. When Lady Hedwrett came to my dinner party, she behaved honorably. I don’t believe she is the way my brother made her out to be.”

  “She was touching me in places she had no right to,” Corin replied. Even now he could feel her hands on his penis. Would he ever live down the humiliation of being nothing but a plaything for her amusement? He shuddered. “It was inappropriate, and I cannot forgive her for it.”

  Brad stared at him. “She really did that?”

  “Yes. If you don’t mind, I’d rather not think about it.”

  Brad nodded. “I understand.”

  They walked the rest of the way to the den in silence.

  ***

  Later that day when he was home, Corin stared at the money in his hand. Brad had made good on his word, even adding extra to make up for the loss of the pocket watch. But the money felt empty in his hand. He would rather have gotten the pocket watch back. Sighing, he put the money into the pouch and then placed it in his desk. He had just locked the drawer when a knock came at the door of his den.

  “Come in,” he called out.

  The butler opened the door. “Lord Worsley wishes to have a moment of your time.”

  “Send him in.”

  As the butler left to do so, Corin stood up and grabbed two glasses and poured brandy i
n them until they were full, though there wasn’t enough brandy in the world to make him feel better.

  It wouldn’t change anything. He had still been tricked into marriage. The lady he was to chain himself to for the rest of his life was a conniving creature. And he lost an important family heirloom because of her. Deciding not to wait for Anthony, he drank half of his glass. The brandy might not help, but it did dull some of the aggravation.

  Corin set Anthony’s glass of brandy on the other side of the desk, sat back down, and put his feet up.

  Anthony came into the room and stopped as soon as he saw him. “You look terrible.”

  Corin glanced over at him. “I feel worse than I look.” He gestured to the glass of brandy he had set out for him. “Partake in my sorrows.” Then he picked up his own glass and finished the rest of it.

  Anthony sat across from him but didn’t take the drink. “I know Celia is responsible for this, and I am punishing her for it.”

  “So you’ve already said.”

  “Well, I hope this isn’t something that’s going to come between us. We’ve been friends for a long time, and I don’t want that ruined because of something she did.”

  “It wasn’t all her. Lady Hedwrett had a part to do with it, too.” He paused and added, “I think word is getting around London that I’ve fared very well in my investments. Every lady out there wants to get her hands on my money. You know how greedy a lot of the ladies are. They spend money faster than a gentleman can make it.”

  “Not every lady is Celia.”

  Corin rolled his eyes. “I’ll admit that your wife is the exception. But most ladies are too happy to spend the money their husbands worked long and hard to make.”

  “Is that what you’re worried about in marrying Candace?”

  Candace. Right. That was her name. Corin didn’t know why he kept forgetting it. It must be because he resented her for getting him into this mess. He rubbed his eyes. “If it was up to me, I wouldn’t marry her at all, but if I want to do any investing in the future, I need to marry her because everyone assumes I wanted to be in that den with her.” He lowered his hand and looked at his friend. “There are too many businessmen who would never forgive me if I didn’t follow through with my obligation to her.”

  “London is a fickle place. For all the talk of propriety, there’s so little of it.”

  “As Warren often bemoans,” Corin added, thinking of how right their mutual friend was.

  “There might be a solution to your problem. Not every married couple lives in the same townhouse. Some prefer to live apart. No one condemns them for it.”

  For the first time since the scandal, Corin felt a spark of hope. “They do?”

  Anthony nodded. “Lord and Lady Havenfield live in separate townhouses. The Duke and Duchess of Writherspoon even live in separate countries. There’s nothing saying you and Candace have to be together. Though you’re married, it can be in name only. As for money, you can offer her a monthly allowance. When she spends everything, then she must wait until the next month to get more money.”

  He straightened up in his chair. “That’s a good idea. Why didn’t you ever do that with Celia? She spends more money in a day than most ladies do in a year.”

  “I know I should have, but I always felt bad for her. She wanted so much to get our parents’ attention, but they were too busy living their lavish lifestyles in London that they didn’t pay much attention to her. I used money to compensate for how lonely she’d been.”

  “Yes, but she turned out spoiled because of it. I know you were trying to be nice to her, but it didn’t do her any favors.”

  “I realize that now. It’s why I’m making up for it. I’ll be marrying her off to the first gentleman who’s willing to have her.”

  Corin should probably be glad that he wasn’t on the hook for marrying her, but it was little consolation when he knew he had to be with an equally horrifying lady instead.

  But Anthony did have a good idea. If he lived apart from Candace, then maybe he could live his life as before. He could do his own thing and protect his money. Then the marriage would at least be bearable. With any luck, he could talk Candace into it.

  “I’m glad you came by today,” Corin said. “Thanks to you, I don’t have to dread my upcoming marriage as much as I did before.”

  Anthony smiled with relief. “Good. I worried you wouldn’t want to speak to me after what Celia did.”

  “All I learned from last night is that there are a lot of ladies who are willing to take advantage of innocent gentlemen.” He filled up his glass with more brandy then lifted it to Anthony. “Here’s hoping your plan works.”

  Anthony lifted his glass in return, and giving each other a nod, they drank their brandy.

  Chapter Four

  Candace’s stomach was tied into a bunch of knots as she stood in the vicar’s residence. Corin had sent her a curt missive instructing her to come here for the wedding ceremony. Since she didn’t have any desire to go to his townhouse, she sent a reply agreeing to the arrangement.

  Thankfully, Anna and Jason had come. Candace was the only person who knew the truth about Jason. That his real name was Alastair, and that he had been the sickly twin of Jason when both boys had been born. Right after Jason’s death, Alastair had come into Anna’s life, and he had stepped into the role of her husband. The two were happy. There was no denying that. And they had a three-year-old son and a one-year-old daughter together. For the sake of secrecy, Anna and Candace had agreed to call him Jason instead of Alastair, and that was how Candace thought of him.

  If only all stories had such happy endings. Candace had no delusions that she was going to find a gentleman who was as good to her as Jason was to Anna. She had been happy enough to settle for the life of a widow. She had been perfectly content living her own life the way she wanted to. And now that was about to be taken from her, unless she, Anna, and Jason managed to convince Corin to let her retain her freedom. Which was why she wasn’t going to give Corin any grief today. If she could somehow appease him, he might let her live apart from him.

  She closed her eyes and prayed he might do so.

  “It seems the bridegroom is late,” the vicar said.

  She opened her eyes. “He told me to be here this morning at this time.”

  “Yes, I know. He told me that, too,” the vicar said. “I was wondering if he makes it a habit of being late. If not, then something might have happened to him.”

  “I don’t know anything about his habits,” Candace snapped. “All I know about him is his title.”

  “This is a marriage borne of necessity,” Anna hurried to tell the vicar. “Neither the bride nor the bridegroom are all that happy about the match.”

  Candace secretly thanked her friend for interrupting. While Ian was alive, she never would have spoken in such a snappy way to someone, but something about having been under Ian’s thumb and then freed of him brought out a part of her that fought everyone and everything that threatened her freedom. And the vicar was about to have a part in restricting her to another husband. Not that it was his fault. It wasn’t. He hadn’t had a part in the scandal.

  She took a deep breath and released it. “Forgive me, Vicar,” she said. “I haven’t had much sleep in the past week.”

  In fact, she hadn’t had more than two hours of sleep each night since the scandal. Each time she closed her eyes, she relived every moment of her first marriage. It took all of her will to keep going. The only hope she had was that her second husband might consent to living in different residences.

  The vicar offered her a kind smile. “It’s all right, Lady Hedwrett. I understand.”

  Returning his smile, she went to Anna and waited with mounting dread for Corin to arrive. Mixed in with the dread was the spark of hope that maybe—perhaps—he had run out of the country. If such were the case, then all of her problems would be solved. The more time passed, the brighter that spark grew. But then at the half hour mark, Corin showed
up, looking disheveled with hastily put on clothes, a day’s worth of stubble on his face, and his hair barely combed.

  What had he been doing all night? Sleeping around with all the ladies who’d take him to bed? Getting drunk? Gambling? Candace gritted her teeth. He was no better than Ian. This only confirmed it. She was going from one miserable marriage right into another, and who knew if she’d be lucky enough to be a widow twice?

  “My apologies,” Corin told the group then directed his attention to the vicar. “I received word that my younger brother took ill, and I had to arrange for a doctor to go to him. I didn’t get to sleep until after four, and I woke up late. I came as soon as I could.”

  A likely story. Candace rolled her eyes and glanced at Anna and Jason to see if they believed such nonsense. Anna looked her way and shrugged.

  The vicar cleared his throat. “If we are all gathered together, I can begin the ceremony.”

  Corin nodded. “There’s no one who came with me.”

  Candace wasn’t surprised. For all she knew, there was no younger brother. He could very well be making the lad up.

  Knowing she had no choice, Candace went over to the vicar. But before he spoke, she turned to face Corin. “Before we begin, I have a request to make of you.”

  “I don’t think you’re in the position of making requests,” Corin replied, a sharpness underlying his words. He was struggling to remain polite but was having difficulty doing so.

  But Candace was not going to let his bad mood deter her. She would not let fear hold her back anymore. So keeping her tone firm, she said, “I want to live in separate townhouses.”

  Corin’s eyebrows rose in surprise, and he finally gave her a good, hard look, as if to determine how serious she was.

  Anna hurried over to her side. “Think of it, my lord. There are benefits to such an arrangement. Your marriage will still satisfy the scandal, but you won’t be restricted to the bonds of a wife. Your life will still be your own.”

  “It will be a marriage in name only,” Jason added.