Page 56 of Seducing a Frigid Lady
For several seconds there was utter silence between them, Lionel staring into the fireplace and Max staring at Lionel. Then, without looking at him, Lionel said, “You shall be pleased to know Lord Montgomery, and I have come to an arrangement.”
“He said as much,” Max growled back at him as though he was speaking through gritted teeth. Lionel barely found the energy to scoff. Of all the people who had a right to be angry at their current situation, he did not believe Max to be one of them.
Again, there was silence, and Lionel felt Max quietly seeing beside him until he could take it no longer. Still staring into the flames, he hissed through his own gritted teeth, “Say what you wish to say.”
“Why did you not let me join you both in the study?” Max demanded, the words practically bursting from his lips. Lionel cringed.
“Your presence would have been a dangerous distraction in such matters,” he declared, still not meeting his cousin’s gaze for fear that the waves of emotions might suddenly come upon him again.
“You did not need to do as you did at all!” Max protested, sounding utterly incredulous to Lionel’s words. “Why did you not simply tell Lord Montgomery the truth?”
It was at that moment that Lionel finally did look at his cousin, twisting in his seat to meet Max’s angry, brown gaze, his eyes perhaps the only family resemblance that they had between them. “Because I do not entirely know the truth myself!” he declared in sheer frustration.
“Then you ought to have just denied it until Lord Montgomery finally dropped the subject entirely!” Max protested, his own frustration clear in the way that he tightened his hands into fists at his sides. Though his face had grown entirely red, Lionel did not think it was because his cravat was tied too tightly. The truth was that he had never seen his cousin quite too angry.
Lionel could not stop from scoffing openly this time. “You saw the man, did you not?”
He saw the way his cousin’s jaw clenched even tighter at his words. And when the man nodded, Lionel added, “I would not have offered you to him on a silver platter. What else could I have done?”
“We… we could have figured something out together,” Max said, sounding far less confident than he had earlier. “You did not have to sacrifice yourself as you did.”
“Max, Lord Montgomery’s even being here suggested that someone had seen Lady Caroline sneaking out to meetsomeone,” Lionel pointed out, raising an eyebrow and watching his cousin closely as he spoke. “If I had denied and denied it, he might have turned his attention to somebody else. You and I both know that out of the two of us, I am the better with a pistol.”
“It would never have come to that,” Max protested, shaking his golden head defensively. “Lord Montgomery would have worn himself down in the end.”
Though it was clear from the flush of his cheeks that Max was indeed the gentleman Lady Caroline had actually been meeting, Lionel did not regret his decision to protect his cousin. Having always been the older cousin, the one that protected them both from the rumours of theton, the one who always got them in and out of trouble, Lionel’s old instincts would not have allowed him to do anything else.
But having done what he had, there was one thing he needed to know for certain. “Do you wish to marry the lady?”
At his words, Max’s eyes widened with astonishment. The way his Adam’s apple danced suggested that he had gulped with fear at the very notion. “I… I have a great fondness, a love even, for Lady Caroline, but marriage…”
Just as I thought,Lionel realised, every muscle in his body tensing all over again. Even more so than ever, he realised he had made the right decision. He had always been set to marry a woman of high society, a woman of good breeding such as Lady Caroline, a woman he likely had no romantic interest towards. It was as his parents had always wished it. So why not sacrifice himself to stop his cousin and his best friend from being forced into something he would one day come to regret?
Miss Lloyd said herself she never intends to marry,he reminded himself. She had mentioned it more than once, and he had heard it said several more times from other members of theton, all men angry at the fact that they had been unable to secure the woman for themselves. If one hundred men had tried before him. Why should Lionel ever believe his attempt would be any different?
No, it was better to finally put a proud smile upon the faces of his parents after so many years of disappointing them with his lack of a good and solid marriage like their own. Lady Caroline would be a fine addition to their family and a fine mother to his children, he was sure of it, even if he did not entirely warm to the idea just yet.
Looking more than a little contrite, Max lowered his gaze and dipped his head before admitting, “I do regret not having stepped in this morning.”
“It does not matter now,” Lionel protested, shaking his head and running his fingers through his hair in exasperation. “Lord Montgomery saw Lady Caroline sneaking out and whether Mr. Kenyon and Miss Kendall saw her themselves or not have heard it on the grapevine somewhere, someone has seen her and whoever she has been meeting.”
Lionel did not say that he knew it was likely Max. It had been clear to him from the moment he saw his cousin’s face when confronted by Lord Montgomery’s accusations.
“And that means we have no way of knowing how many people already know of this scandal,” Lionel added, when Max merely continued to look regretful. “The best we can hope for now is damage control and if that means my finally doing what my parents have always intended for me, then so be it.”
Though he knew deep down he was doing the best thing for everyone. Whenever he closed his eyes, he could see Miss Lloyd’s horrified face as she had burst through the drapes between the parlour and the drawing room. Whenever there was a flicker of blue flame in the fireplace, it caused him to think of her striking blue gaze.
Though he was saddened by the sudden turn of events, he reasoned with himself that it was for the best. After all, what hope could truly have come from the tenuous relationship the two of them had been sharing?
“I do not even know if Lady Caroline wishes to marry,” Max said, the air around him growing tenser and tenser, talking to Lionel of his deep frustration. It took everything he had in him to remain there. Dealing with his own frustrations had been bad enough of late. He did not need his cousin’s as well.
“There is no way around this, Max,” Lionel stated firmly, deciding it was best not to leave any room for doubt. “Lady Caroline and I were given a duty the moment we were born, and it is past time we both lived up to it.”
Feeling sick at just how alike his father he was beginning to sound, he looked at his cousin and added, “Go to bed. We shall talk more in the morning.”
It was clear from the expression on Max’s face that he would not get any sense out of the man tonight, anyway. It was better to be alone with his thoughts than risk his cousin trying to worm a solution into his mind, especially one that could have no good come of it.
“Lionel, I…” Max began, sounding almost as though he wished to apologise. But Lionel lifted a hand, palm out, to stop him.
