Page 47 of The Society Catch
‘But you are going to fight him,’ Joanna stated, cold gripping her heart.
‘Yes.’
‘And if he kills you? Do you think I want that on my conscience, Giles Gregory?’ She found she was standing toe to toe with him, glaring up into his face. Behind her Alex and Hebe had fallen silent.
Giles laughed contemptuously. ‘Kill me? I hardly think so.’
‘Oh, you arrogant, infuriating, pig-headed…’ Joanna struggled to find a bad enough word and finished, ‘Man!’
Giles’s laugh turned into one of pure amusement. ‘I will admit to the last charge. Ouch! Stop that.’
Joanna, infuriated beyond words, had begun to hit his broad chest with her clenched fists. ‘Please, Giles, do not do it. He isn’t worth it.’
Giles caught her pummelling fists in one hand and held them just tight enough to stop the blows. ‘There is nothing to worry about.’ Joanna looked up at him. His expression was so gentlethe breath caught in her throat.
‘Please,’ she whispered.
As he bent his head to catch the word Hebe said sharply, ‘The risk to Joanna’s reputation is too great. There is no saying who he told that he was coming here. He reappears in Town with, I presume, a bruised face and the next day her cousin’s husband and his friend descend and call him out. Do you think the gossips will have any difficulty putting that puzzle together and making a very pretty picture of it?’
Giles raised his head and looked across to Alex, then at Hebe. His grasp remained tight around Joanna’s trembling hands. At last he said, ‘You may be right. I just hate to think of him getting away with this.’
‘He will not,’ Hebe said with conviction. ‘The word will go round that he is not to be trusted with young ladies. Believe me. I will see to it. Soon he will find that he is not welcome to pay his addresses when he seeks a wife of the eligibility his pride demands. No-one will know quite why, just that his perfect reputation will be ever so slightly tarnished. He will hate that.’
‘Good,’ Joanna said, her voice sounding distant even to her own ears. Something very odd was happening. Surely she was not going to faint? She never fainted. Even that dreadful night at the Duchess of Bridlington’s ball she had not fainted. Even this afternoon in the stable block she had only been dizzy.
She came back to consciousness to find herself being carried in Giles's arms. He seemed to be climbing. ‘Where am I?’
‘On your way up to bed.’ He glanced down at her and his arms tightened. Joanna fought the instinct to wrap her arms around his neck and bury her face in his chest. ‘You fainted.’
‘I never faint. Where is Hebe?’
‘Downstairs making up with Alex. She sent Starling for your maid to meet you in your chamber, so there is no need to worryabout the proprieties.’
‘I was not,’ she protested. ‘Giles, please promise me not to fight Rufus.’
‘Very well, I promise. Why are you so against it? Surely you don’t think I would either kill that fool or let him kill me, do you?’
‘I have caused you more than enough trouble,’ she mumbled against his shirt front.
‘You have certainly caused me trouble,’ he agreed. ‘Can you stand? I had better set you down here.’ He put her on her feet outside her chamber door, bent and kissed her forehead lightly. ‘Whether it is more than enough trouble remains to be seen.’ On which enigmatic note he strode off down the corridor.
Chapter Twenty Two
For three of the residents of Tasborough Hall breakfast the next morning was an uncomfortable meal. Hebe was pale with dark shadows under her eyes, but although Alex tried to insist she go back to her room she protested that she was too restless to settle.
Alex ate with a darkly severe eye on Joanna who was convinced he blamed her for the previous day’s alarms and arguments and therefore for Hebe’s discomfort. Uncomfortably torn between meeting his judgmental gaze, flustering Hebe by looking at her and appearing to fuss or catching Giles’s eye, which for various reasons she was reluctant to do, Joanna kept her gaze on her plate.
Only Giles appeared to be in good humour. Seeing the reddened and grazed knuckles of his right hand Joanna assumed he was pleasurably satisfied at having delivered such a devastating blow to Rufus Carstairs. Men, she gathered, set a lot of store by that kind of thing. At least he did not appear to be fretting over not challenging him to a duel.
Joanna had lain awake half the night worrying that Giles might slip away up to London, even if Alex could not for fear of upsetting Hebe. He had promised not to call Lord Clifton out, but she was certain there were ways in which he could turn the tables and publicly provoke Rufus into issuing a challenge.
And during those long, restless hours Joanna had found her memory was all too vivid and awake. Rufus’s assault hardly troubled her but, what kept her tossing and turning was the memory of Giles’s body sheltering hers, his anger for her, the tenderness in his eyes as he looked at her cradled in his arms. And that enigmatic remark as he had left her outside her room; almost as though hewantedher to cause him more trouble. But that was absurd.
Hebe crumbled a roll and said, ‘That is a very fetching habit, Joanna. I like the pale reveres.’
Thankful for something to talk about she replied eagerly, ‘Yes, it is nice is it not? Mama sent it. The skirt is lined with the same colour as the reveres so it shows a little when I am mounted and the hat and veil areverydashing.’
‘Is it not too hot to ride today?’
