Page 23 of The Best Husband Money Can Buy

It was a Harley custom to have casual dancing the evening before Christmas Eve. Anthony had always enjoyed the event more than the grand Twelfth Night ball that would end the house party. For some of the younger guests, this would be the first public dancing of their lives. That had been true for Anthony a dozen years earlier. He smiled at the thought of how grown up he had felt then, when in fact he’d been the merest boy.

He joined the stream of Vaughns heading toward the ballroom, where a pianoforte was playing seductively. Emma would have been too young to dance at Harley during her last visit. He looked forward to introducing his wife to the polished dance floor.

A small hand touched his arm. He turned and found Cecilia regarding him with great tragic eyes. “Anthony, I must talk to you!” she said urgently. “In private.”

He hesitated. “It wouldn't look good for us to go off together.”

“No one will notice.” She touched his arm again, seeming on the verge of tears. “Please, Anthony!”

He glanced around, but didn’t see Brand. With so many people milling about, a brief absence would not be noted. “Very well, Cecilia,” he said without enthusiasm. “Where shall we meet?”

She thought. “The gallery.”

“You go ahead. I’ll follow in a few minutes.”

She nodded and headed down the passage that ran to the main hall. Anthony waited until she was out of sight, then followed at an unhurried pace. The gallery was a long chamber on the floor above. It served several purposes, from providing a walking area during inclement weather to displaying paintings and fencing foils.

When Anthony arrived, Cecilia was lighting more candles with a Christmas candle from one of the windows. She glanced up nervously at his entrance, then replaced her candle in its window fixture. In the soft light, she looked fragile and almost unbearably lovely, as petite and exquisite as a gilded marzipan holiday angel.

Wryly recognizing that he was not the kind of man who could stay angry with an attractive woman, Anthony said, “What did you wish to discuss with me, Cecilia? Is something wrong?”

She nodded, her eyes brimming with tears. “Will you talk to Brand? He has the absurd notion that you and I have been having an affair.”

“What!” Anthony stared at her, shocked. “Where did he get such a ridiculous notion?”

“I have no idea.” Tears began spilling from Cecilia’s blue eyes. “Oh, Anthony, everything has gone wrong and I don’t know what to do.”

According to Anthony’s mother, it was a gentleman’s duty to allow a lady to cry all over his best waistcoat if she was in distress. Recalling that Cecilia had always had a tendency toward melodrama, he put an arm around her soothingly. “Surely things aren’t that bad, Cecy.”

She clutched at him, weeping harder than ever.

Brand chose this inauspicious moment to enter the gallery. He stopped dead in the doorway, his face going dead-white. Then he strode forward, eyes blazing. “Damn you, Verlaine! I knew I’d find you with Cecilia in your arms!”

“If so, you’re cleverer than I,” Anthony said with exasperation. “She’s your wife, Brand. Let her cry over on your shoulder.” He disentangled himself from Cecilia, hoping that would defuse a potentially volatile situation.

No such luck. Brand stalked over to the rack of fencing foils and grabbed two of the weapons. “Tonight I’m going to do what I should have done nine years ago.” Grimly he flicked the protective buttons off the points of the foils, then tossed one of the weapons hilt first to Anthony. “I challenge you to a duel. Right now, right here!”

“For God’s sake, Brand!” Anthony exclaimed as he reflexively caught the foil. “It’s bad form for you to challenge a guest, or for me to accept. For that matter, if you’re the challenger, I get to choose the weapons, and I don’t choose swords.”

“We’ll do itnow!” Brand barked at he stripped off his close-fitting coat.“En garde!”

Beginning to feel seriously concerned, Anthony removed his own coat, keeping a wary eye on his angry cousin. “This is ridiculous! I’m damned if I know what I’ve ever done to make you determined to kill me.”

“Oh, you most assuredly will be damned,” Brand said in a voice like a whip. “Prepare yourself, Verlaine, because tonight justice will be mine.”

Then, as Anthony stared in stunned disbelief, the man who had once been his best friend lunged at him with glittering blade and murderous eyes.

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