Page 23 of The Defiant One
"What do you mean, she asked to try it?" raged Somerfield. "How dare you accuse my innocent young sister of such vulgarity!"
Andrew met the other man's glare with hard eyes. "I daresay your sister is no longer innocent, and I must wonder, indeed, whether she ever was."
Somerfield's cheeks mottled with outrage, and at that moment, Celsie finally raised her head. Pushing herself up on one hand, she blinked and looked weakly around her, her expression one of confusion and slowly dawning horror. "Good heavens . . . what happened?"
"You ravished me," snapped Andrew.
"I what?"
"I said, you bloody well ravished me."
"You'll die for that accusation, de Montforte!" howled Somerfield, advancing with drawn sword.
The duke sighed and casually snared the earl's sleeve once again. "Given the circumstances, Somerfield, I do think it wise to retreat to the library so that you may calm down, and our young lovers here can recover both their wits and their dignity. Andrew? If you and Lady Celsiana would meet us downstairs in a quarter of an hour, I'm sure that reasonable satisfaction can be had for all parties involved."
"I daresay that reasonable satisfaction has already been had by at least one of them!" roared Somerfield, glaring pointedly at Andrew.
"Really? Well, it wasn't me, I can tell you that much."
Somerfield went for his sword yet again, and this time Lucien's eyes lost their amused glint as he seized the earl's arm once more. "Really, Somerfield, you are beginning to annoy me. It would benefit us all if you would demonstrate a little self-restraint. Now come along. I trust that some cognac will steady you and allow you to address this matter in a mature and rational way."
Steering the hot-tempered earl from the room, he strode toward the door, and it was only as he crossed the threshold and paused to look back over his shoulder, one brow raised and a faint smile on his lips, that Andrew caught the telltale gleam of satisfaction in those fathomless black eyes.
And then he was gone.
"Bastard," Andrew muttered beneath his breath — and in that moment, he would have wagered everything he owned that Lucien was — in some way, for some reason — behind this entire debacle.
~~~~
The "mature and rational" way that Lucien suggested, once Andrew and an upset, embarrassed, and very, very angry Celsie were seated in the library, was an immediate marriage.
Lucien gazed thoughtfully at the pair, sitting as far apart from each other as the placement of chairs would allow, neither looking at the other, both quietly furious. "Regardless of the circumstances that led to the act, Andrew, there is no denying that you have ruined the girl," he said, pouring another glass of cognac and handing it to his now fully clad brother. Andrew adamantly refused to take the glass and sat staring mutely out the window, his jaw clenched, his eyes blazing as Lucien continued. "You have robbed her of her virginity, her innocence, and any chances of making a successful marriage. Therefore, I think you owe it to her to do the right thing."
Andrew leaped to his feet. "I will not marry her!"
"And I will not marry him!" cried Celsie, also leaping to her feet.
"Sit down, both of you," said the duke, irritably. "Lord save us, you'd think I just sentenced the two of you to the gallows, the way you're carrying on."
"I said, I am not marrying her," Andrew repeated hotly.
"And I said, I am not marrying him!"
"Well, then," said Lucien, smiling and gazing calmly at the earl. "What do you suggest we do, Somerfield?"
"He ruined my sister! If he's any sort of a gentleman, he'll do the right thing!"
"I wasn't the one who told her to take the damned solution!"
"But you were the one who damn well invented it!"
Celsie could feel herself losing her already frayed control. "Gentlemen —"
"And you were the one who allowed her to take it!" Gerald continued.
"Gentlemen —" Celsie bit out, louder this time.
"And furthermore, you were the one who was lying stark naked beneath her," thundered Gerald, advancing on Andrew with fists clenched. "Your brother's right — your judgment is to be questioned, and so, by God, are your motives!"
