Page 97 of His Scandal
“Those men were the Langston brothers,” Edmund continued. “I recently started following them, though I did not connect them to you. Did they admit that they’re the ones who’ve been hounding you?”
“Yes.”
“Did they tell you why?”
“They said I’d seduced their sister Elizabeth, and that they were going to make me marry her.” He hesitated. “I knew immediately that they meantyourElizabeth, but I didn’t admit it. I would never implicate you.”
Emmeline gaped at him, realizing how easily he’d lied to the Langstons.
“Don’t you see, Alex, this wager has gone too far!” Edmund said.
There was a horrible silence as she fought to understand their words.Wager?
“Edmund—” Alex began.
“They mistook you for me,” Edmund said heavily. He gave Emmeline an apologetic glance. “Forgive me for saying such crude things in frontof you, Lady Emmeline, but you deserve to know what kind of man I am.” He glanced back at Alex. “I let it go too far. What was supposed to be a kiss ended in…seduction. What I don’t understand is why they think you’re me. If Elizabeth told them this much, why didn’t she explain it all?”
Emmeline slumped down heavily in the chair, trying to work through her confusion. Shouldn’t she be relieved that the culprit wasn’t Alex? But how could she feel better, when he practically admitted it could have been him? And what was this wager that played with women’s lives?
“I’ll insist that Elizabeth talk to me,” Edmund was saying. “She shouldn’t bear any dishonor for my actions.”
“Are you ready to marry her?” Alex asked.
“If that is what she wants.”
Alex nodded, then turned to look at Emmeline intently. She returned his stare with a coolness that surprised her.
“Edmund, would you mind waiting out in the taproom? Em and I need to talk.”
Edmund bowed toward her but didn’t quite meet her eyes. Alex closed the door behind him and leaned back against it, watching her.
When she didn’t speak, he said, “I don’t supposed you’re relieved to know it wasn’t I who compromised the girl?”
She slowly stood up. “But it could have been, couldn’t it?”
“I don’t make it a habit to seduce maidens.”
“Then what is this wager?”
Was Alex actually blushing?
With a grim voice, he said, “Edmund and I had grown rather bored. A scandal was expected of me—hell, I expected it of myself—so we proposed a private wager. We each picked out the target for the other.”
“Target?” she whispered, feeling her throat squeeze tightly around the word.
“It was only a kiss,” he insisted. “We bet on who could be the first to kiss a maiden. For him I picked out Lady Elizabeth, and for me he chose…”
His words died away and Emmeline finished for him. “Blythe.”
He nodded slowly. “Yes.”
A fury like she’d never experienced began to bubble in her veins. “You deliberately toyed with my sister’s affections, all for a kiss.”
“I only did what any other man there was trying to do, and that was to get to know her.”
“For a selfish purpose!” she shot back, advancing on him. “She is looking for a man to spend her life with, and you were someone she considered, because she was flattered by your attentions. But all you wanted was a kiss! Or was it more?”
“Em—”
“Edmund did not stop with a kiss, so surely you, the great master of scoundrels, would not have stopped there, either.”
“I promise you, I was not interested in her like that. I don’t need to compromise young girls when there are so many women whowantto be compromised!”
Emmeline, feeling her face drain of blood, swayed with dizziness. “You mean women like me,” she whispered, her wide eyes fixed on him.
