Wicked Wager

by Mary Gillgannon

  Lily gasped, then approached James, her expression placating. “It’s all right, James. He hasn’t threatened me or hurt me. And you can’t blame him. He’s so distraught over Penny leaving.” She leaned over and whispered something in James’s ear. He gave her a startled look, then turned back to Marcus. Slowly, his expression changed from angry to pitying. Marcus’s sense of doom returned.

  “So you know the truth, too,” said Marcus. “Everyone knows but me. It seems devilish unfair. Don’t you agree, James?”

  James nodded. He looked at Lily. “I’m sorry, but I have to tell him.”

  Lily looked alarmed. “I really don’t think you should.”

  “No. I think it’s better he knows.” He met Marcus’s gaze steadily. “She found out about our wager, Marcus. She knows if you fall in love with her, you have to give her a choice in whether she marries you.”

  She knows about the wager. And having guessed I am in love with her, she realized she was free. And so she left me.

  “I’m sorry, Marcus,” said James. “I never intended for her to find out. But at least this way you were spared the…unpleasantness of asking her to marry you and having her turn you down. She was obviously trying to be kind.”

  “Kind! You think this was kind! I’ve been going through hell the last few hours!”

  “At least you know she’s all right. I know that was weighing upon you.”

  This was all a nightmare. He could hardly grasp it. If anyone had told him this morning that Penny didn’t love him and didn’t want him in her life, he would never have believed it.

  A sudden thought came to him. “How long has she known about the wager?”

  “I’ve no idea,” answered James. He looked at Lily questioningly. “Lily?”

  “A-a while, I’m afraid.”

  Marcus released his breath slowly, feeling as if he’d taken a blow to the stomach.

  Thinking back, it did seem to him her behavior had changed about the time of the bet. She’d purchased her provocative clothing from Madame Dubonet, then one thing led to another and they ended up making love.

  “I’m sorry, Marcus,” James repeated. “I had no idea things would turn out this way. I thought as you fell in love with Penny, she’d fall in love with you.”

  Marcus sought to regain his usual reserved, detached outlook. “I don’t need your pity, James. I made a mistake. I made a wager I couldn’t afford to lose. It’s not something I do a lot, and it won’t happen again. The thing is, Penny may be ‘off the hook’, so to speak, but Withersby isn’t. He still owes me, and I mean to collect in some way, even if it’s only by making him miserable the rest of his life.”

  Thinking about Withersby’s scheming, Marcus felt the hot, bitter anger surge through him. He welcomed it. It was so much better than the misery he’d been feeling a moment before. “Indeed, I think I’ll go find him now.” He gave a slight bow to Lily, then started for the door.

  “Wait!” she called.

  Marcus turned around. “What is it?”

  Lily’s eyes were pleading. “Perhaps it would be better if gave yourself time to cool off before you go out.”

  “Don’t tell me you think Penny actually cares what happens to Withersby. I can’t believe she’s that foolish.”

  “No. No…it isn’t that. It’s…” Lily glanced at James, as if looking to him for aid. “We-we don’t want you to do anything you’d regret. Do we, James?”

  “Regret?” asked Marcus. “I doubt I’m going to regret anything I do to that wretched little weasel.”

  “But you might. That is…” Lily looked at James again. “Tell him not to seek out Adrian, at least not right away. Please.”

  James was frowning. “Well, I don’t see the harm in it.”

  “What if he challenges him to a duel?” Lily demanded. “What if he’s killed?” She looked at Marcus. “Even if you win the duel and Adrian dies, you’ll end up losing. You know duels are illegal. You might end up having to leave the country. And if that happened, Penny would…”

  “Penny would what?” Marcus demanded.

  “I-I’m certain she would feel very bad about it.”

  “Would she now? She doesn’t want me to be killed or forced to flee the country, but she wants no part of me otherwise. Is that about the size of it?”

  “I-I suppose so,” said Lily, her voice quavering.

  “Well, she has no say in the matter. I’ll do whatever I damn please.” Marcus stalked out of the room. As he swept past Vincent in the foyer and went out the door, he nursed his rage. Curse Adrian Withersby! And curse his devious little minx of a cousin!

  ****

  Vauxhall Gardens was busy this night. Normally, Penny would have enjoyed the sight of elegantly dressed nobles strolling along the graveled walkways and the street vendors selling pastries, nuts, oranges and flowers. But tonight, her attention was focused on Adrian as she followed him through the crowds. He finally neared the rotunda where the orchestra was playing. When he halted, Penny did also, taking a position behind a cart selling meat-filled pies.

  She waited, thinking that the mystery man would have to appear soon. Several times a well-dressed man seemed on the verge of approaching Adrian, but then moved past. As the performance ended and the crowd thinned, Adrian remained by himself, frowning and looking around in an irritated manner. The mystery man was obviously late.

  As time went on, it looked to Penny as if he was very late. Perhaps he’d changed his mind. But what did that mean? The only way she’d find out was to talk to Adrian.

  “About time!” Adrian exclaimed as she approached.

  “Where’s my intended?” she asked in ironic tones.

  “He isn’t coming.”

  Penny took a step back. “What do you mean, he isn’t coming?”

  “I mean, he couldn’t be bothered with this nonsense.”

  “I told you, I’ll only meet him in a public place.”

  “What are you afraid of, Penny?” Adrian asked, his expression sneering. “That I’ll drag you off and force you to marry some disreputable blackguard?”

  “Frankly, yes.”

  “Don’t worry. I promise you, the man who’ll soon be your husband is a decent enough fellow.”

  “You may think so, but I’m allowed to have my own opinion.” Penny set her feet and faced him challengingly. “I’m willing to meet him only on my terms.”

  “He lives quite a distance away. Are you certain you want to wait here while I take a hansom to fetch him?”

  “What’s my alternative?”

  “You could come with me. Or follow me, if that would make you feel better.”

  Penny sighed. She didn’t want to stand there for hours by herself. “All right. We’ll hire two vehicles.”

  “I don’t have that much blunt on me,” said Adrian. “Are you willing to pay?”

  “Yes, I’ll pay.”

  There were several hansoms waiting in the street outside the gardens. Penny followed Adrian to them. She gave him some money from her reticule, and he went to make the arrangements. While she waited, she wondered if she was being silly to worry he might drag her away and force her to wed this man.

  Adrian returned, and they got into their separate vehicles and started off. Penny watched out the window. To her surprise, she realized they were headed to Mayfair, where the wealthiest of London resided.

  A short while later, the hansom ahead of them halted. Penny’s driver did the same. Adrian got out and spoke to his driver, then strode to the door of a large, well-appointed townhouse. Penny felt puzzled. Adrian had told her the man he wanted her to marry needed money. If he were low on funds, how could he afford to live in a place like this? Then again, Marcus had told her the titled upper classes often didn’t pay their bills.

  A butler answered the door and Adrian spoke to him. The butler appeared to nod, then disappeared into the house. Adrian came to the hansom where Penny was and opened the door. “He should be out in a few moments.” He climbed in t
he vehicle and sat beside Penny.

  “What are you doing?” she asked.

  “Come now, surely you don’t expect to have him meet you in the street.”

  “I suppose not.” Penny turned to watch the house. When she glanced back at Adrian, she saw he had his handkerchief in one hand and a small bottle in the other. “What are you doing?” she asked. The next moment, she grew alarmed. But by then, Adrian had grabbed her and pressed the cloth against her mouth.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Penny woke to find herself lying on narrow bed in a small drab room. Her wrists and ankles were bound with strips of cloth. Adrian sat in a chair across from her, watching her with a smug expression. “How does it feel now? To have your whole fate and future in someone else’s hands? To be helpless?”

  Although her head ached and her stomach was unsettled, Penny forced herself to sit up. She swung her legs over the side of the bed so she could face Adrian with some dignity. “So, what is my future? Are you going to try to force me to marry this unknown man? Last I heard the woman does have to give her consent, even at Gretna Green.”

  Adrian approached and brought his gloating face near hers, immediately assaulting her with the potent odor of gin. “There is no other man. I have another plan. A far better plan.”

  “What is it?” she asked.

  “I’m going to make Revington pay a ransom for you.”

  “What?” Penny recoiled in shock. “Why would you think he’d be willing to pay a ransom when you had me break things off with him?”

  “Well, he’d better. Otherwise…” The look in Adrian’s blue eyes turned cold and sinister. “Otherwise, you’re going down with me. If I can’t have Horngate, or be properly compensated, you won’t have it either.”

  “What do you mean?” asked Penny, although she suspected she knew the horrible answer.

  “Because you’ll be dead, you stupid bitch!”

  Penny flinched. She’d known Adrian resented her, but she’d never guessed he felt such hatred. Perhaps it was because he was drunk. The cheap gin seemed to be rotting him away from the inside, leaving only a soulless, bitter shell.

  She wondered if there was any way to reason with him. “Is that why you had me break things off with Revington, because you wanted an excuse to kill me?”

  His expression turned sullen. “I had another plan, but it fell through. There was a man, but he refused to go through with it. He didn’t want to be leg-shackled, even to gain control of Horngate.”

  “So, you did lose Horngate a second time.”

  Adrian nodded. “This fellow wasn’t quite as easy to fool as Revington. He said he would have his blunt, or it would be my neck in the noose. In a manner of speaking, at least. I suspect he’ll find a far more painful way for me to die.” A muscle twitched in Adrian’s jaw, as if he was contemplating the end he might face.

  A moment later, Adrian appeared to throw off his anxiety. He glared at her. “But I won’t let that happen. I’m going to force Revington to pay ten thousand pounds to keep you alive.”

  Penny gasped. “Ten thousand pounds? That’s a fortune! I’m sure Revington doesn’t have that kind of money!”

  “But he does.” Adrian bobbed his head. “He does. I know about the blunt he’s won over the years. Thousands of pounds, fleeced off everyone from green boys to dukes and earls. And he’s a cheeseparing bastard, too. Scarce spends any of his brass…until he got hooked up with you. That’s why I know he’ll pay the ransom. A man who spends money like Revington has on you is surely in love. Although why he fancies such a skinny long meg, I can’t imagine.”

  Penny took a deep, shaky breath. She had to make Adrian see reason. “Perhaps Marcus was in love with me. But I ruined all that when you forced me to break off with him. I hurt him and hurt his pride, and I don’t think he’s the sort of man to forgive that.”

  “Oh, I think he will. And I’m a far better judge of character than you.” His eyes turned flinty. “If he doesn’t, then I’ll carry through with my threat.”

  “Which is?”

  “I’ll inform Revington that if he doesn’t pay up, I’m going to kill you. If I don’t get the money, you’re the one who’ll have an ‘unfortunate accident’.” He jerked his head toward the window. “It’s two stories down. I doubt anyone could survive a fall like that.”

  Penny’s churning stomach clenched even tighter. Once she wouldn’t have believed Adrian capable of such a thing. But no more. It seemed he truly despised her.

  But Marcus wouldn’t know that. When he got Adrian’s note, he would think he was bluffing. Either that, or he wouldn’t care.

  Adrian gave her another cold, sneering look, then sat down at a small table in the corner of the room. Uncorking a bottle of ink, he dipped his pen into it and began to write.

  When he finished, he stood and waved the parchment to dry the ink. “Now we’ll find out if my assessment of Revington is correct.”

  “How will you get the note to him?”

  “I’ll pay some little street rat to take it to his door.”

  He pulled something from the pocket of his jacket and approached Penny. Seeing the handkerchief in his hand, she shrank away. “What are you doing?”

  “What do you think? While I doubt anyone in this wretched neighborhood would heed your cries for aid, I’m not taking any chances.”

  “No, please! I promise I’ll be quiet!”

  Adrian made a disgusted sound. “I’m not that big a fool.”

  As he started toward her with the handkerchief, she cried, “Please don’t leave me tied up and helpless! What if I have to use the necessary?”

  “There’s no necessary in a place like this. You’ll have to piss in the pot under the bed like a regular wench.”

  “I can hardly do that when I’m tied up. Please…who knows how long you’ll be gone?”

  He gazed at her sullenly. “Very well, I’ll untie you and let you take a piss. But then I’ll tie you up again.”

  As Adrian knelt to undo the bonds around her ankles, Penny decided to make her move. As soon as her ankles were free, she thrust her knee upward, trying to strike his jaw. But she was too stiff to move quickly and he jerked out of the way in time.

  “Damn bitch! Try that again and I’ll knock you senseless!” His bloodshot eyes fixed on her, dark with malevolence. “I should just tie you up again and leave you to piss yourself.”

  “No! Please! I promise I won’t try anything.”

  He gave her another threatening look, then pulled the chamber-pot from under the bed.

  “There. Do your business.”

  “I can’t possibly manage with my hands tied.” She held out her wrists and gazed at him pleadingly.

  He jerked his head toward the window. “There’s no reason I shouldn’t toss you out right now. Revington won’t know you’re dead. He’ll still pay the ransom.”

  His expression was so filled with loathing; Penny feared he might truly do it. “What if Revington wants some sort of proof you have me and that I’m safe? Do you really want to risk killing me until you’re certain?”

  Adrian stared at her. Finally, he reached out and untied her wrists. He moved swiftly to the other side of the room. Half turning away, he said, “Do what you have to do, and hurry.”

  Since her need was real, she complied. As soon as she finished, he came over and seized her wrists. She stood stiffly while he tied her again, wondering if she should make another attempt to get away before he retied her ankles. But without a weapon to incapacitate him, it seemed futile. Better to wait until he’d left and see if she could wriggle free and escape. But when he fastened the handkerchief over her mouth, she wished she’d tried harder to get away.

  ****

  “This just came for you, sir.”

  Marcus glanced up as Bowes entered the room and his heart beat faster. Maybe it was a note from Penny. Maybe she’d explain why she left. But as soon as he saw the handwriting, his heart sank. It wasn’t from Penny. Opening the pa
cket, he perused the note. With each line, his anxiety deepened.

  “Bad news, sir?” asked Bowes.

  “You could say that.”

  No wonder he’d felt something was wrong ever since Penny disappeared. Curse Withersby! He’d always known Penny’s cousin was a greedy, unprincipled bastard. But this… Was he so depraved he was willing to kill her?

  Marcus couldn’t take that chance. “Have Jeremy bring round the phaeton.”

  “Very good, sir.”

  As soon as Bowes left, Marcus went to the escritoire and pressed on a pin beneath the drawer to open the secret chamber. He took out the small key and went to the safe, hidden beneath a picture on the wall where he pulled out several bags full of coins. He reached for a stack of banknotes, then stopped. What was he doing? He couldn’t give Withersby his whole savings without some proof he had Penny and that she was safe.

  His stomach clenched at the thought of Penny being hurt or in danger. Did Withersby actually mean to kill her? Or was this a bluff?

  He replaced the sacks of guineas and relocked the safe. Before he did anything, he had to talk to James.

  ****

  He arrived at James’s townhouse, and Vincent took him to the drawing room to wait. James entered, looking decidedly unlike his usual self. “What is it now, Marcus? Did you come to harass poor Lily again?”

  “I’m sorry about that, James. But I’ve found out I had good reason to be worried. Look at this.”

  He held out the ransom note to James, who quickly skimmed the contents.

  “What do you make of that?”

  “I’m not certain what sort of game Withersby’s playing,” James responded. “Or, how big of a fool he thinks you are. Penny’s his cousin and his only claim to the estate. If she dies, the property will pass on to another relative, some grandnephew of Penny’s mother, who’s still a child, I believe. I researched all this when you first got involved with Penny.”

  “So, you think his threat to kill her is a bluff?”

  “He probably thinks you believe he’ll inherit if she dies.”

  “But what if you’re wrong about it being a bluff?” Marcus asked. “What if he truly means to do her harm?”