The Mistletoe Wager

by Christine Merrill

  ‘Perhaps you were mistaken, Elise. For if he did not speak of them, they could not have been too bad.’

  The tall blonde became so agitated that she crumpled the straw in her hand and threw it to the floor. ‘I was in no way confused about the facts of the matter. They referred to him by name, Rosalind, on the front page of The Times.’

  That did look bad. ‘Surely you do not hold Harry responsible for a bad decision?’

  ‘I would never do such. I am his wife, or wish that I could be. Mine is the breast on which he should lay his head when in need of comfort. But when he returned home, do you know what he said to me when I asked him about his trip?’

  ‘I have not a clue.’

  ‘He said it was fine, Rosalind. Fine!’ Elise repeated the last word as though it were some unspeakable curse. ‘And then he smiled at me as though nothing unusual had happened.’

  She paced the room, as though reliving the moment.

  ‘So I went to get the paper, and showed him his name. And he said, “Oh, that.” He looked guilty, but still he said, “It is nothing that you need to worry about. It will not affect your comfort in any way.” As if he thought that was the only thing I cared about. And then he patted me on the hand, as though I were a child, and said that to prove all was well he would buy me another necklace.’

  She sagged onto the settee beside Rosalind and stared at the straws littering the floor. ‘How difficult would it have been for him to at least admit that there was a problem in his life, so that I did not have to read of it in the papers?’

  ‘He probably thought that you were not interested,’ Rosalind offered reasonably. ‘Or perhaps there was nothing you could do to help him.’

  ‘If I thought it would help I would give him the contents of my jewel case. He could sell them to make back his investment. They mean nothing to me if all is not well. And if that did no good, then I would help him by providing my love and support,’ Elise said sadly. ‘But apparently he does not need it. And if he thinks to keep secret from me something so large that half of London knows it, then what else is he hiding from me?’

  ‘It is quite possible that there is nothing at all,’ Rosalind assured her, knowing that she might be wrong. For she had often found Harry closed-mouthed about things that pained him greatly. It was quite possible that Elise’s suspicions were well grounded. She wished she could slap her foolish brother for causing his wife to worry, when he could have solved so many problems by telling her the whole truth.

  ‘And when I told him, in pique, that I quite preferred Nicholas to him, for he at least had the sense to know that I was capable of reading a newspaper, Harry smiled and told me that I was probably right. For Nick had finally come into his inheritance. And at that moment, he had the deeper pockets. But Harry said he could still afford to buy me earrings to go with the new necklace if I wished them. So I left him and went to London. And he bought me a whole new wardrobe.’ The last words came out in a sob, and she stared at Rosalind, her eyes red and watery. ‘Is that the behaviour of a sane man?’

  Rosalind had to admit it was not. It made no sense to open his purse when a few simple words of apology would have brought his wife running home. ‘He was trying to get on your good side, Elise. He has always been slow to speak of his troubles, and even slower to admit fault. It is just his way.’

  ‘Then his way has succeeded in driving me away from him. Perhaps that was what he was trying to do all along. He certainly made no effort to keep me. I said to him that perhaps I was more suited to Nicholas, and that our marriage had been a mistake from the start.’

  ‘And what did he say to that?’

  ‘That he had found our marriage most satisfactory, but that there was little he could do to control how I felt in the matter.’

  ‘There. See? He was happy enough,’ said Rosalind. She picked up the ornament from the floor and offered it back to Elise, thinking that the metaphor of grasping straws was an apt one if this was all the ammunition she could find to defend her idiot brother.

  Elise sniffed and tossed the straw into the fire, then took a sheet of paper and absently snipped and folded until it became a star. ‘He said it was satisfactory. That is hardly praise, Rosalind. And the way he smiled as he said it. It was almost as if he was daring me to disagree.’

  ‘Or he could have been smiling because he was happy.’

  ‘Or not. He always smiles, Rosalind. It means nothing to me any more.’

  ‘He does not smile nearly so much as he used to, Elise. Not when you are not here to see. Harry feels your absence, and he is putting on a brave front for you. I am sure of it.’ There was truth in that, at least.

  ‘Then he has but to ask me to return to him and I shall,’ she said. ‘Or I shall consider it,’ she amended, trying to appear stubborn as she busied herself with the basket of ornaments, putting the little candles into their holders.

  But it was obvious that, despite initial appearances, Elise would come running back to Harry in an instant, if given any hope at all. And Harry was longing for a way to get her back.

  Rosalind considered. While neither wished to be the first to make an overture, it might take only the slightest push from a third party to make the reconciliation happen.

  And so she began to plan.

  Chapter Seven

  Harry watched Tremaine retreating to the library. Merry Christmas, indeed. Apparently the miserable pest had seen through the trap and was trying to wriggle out of it, like the worm he was. But his hasty departure would solve nothing, and his forestalling of the bet would anger Elise to the point that there was no telling what she might do. If she got it into her head that she was being rejected by both the men in her life, she might never recover from the hurt of it.

  Thank the Lord for fortuitous weather and stuck wagons. It would buy him enough time to sort things again, before they got too far out of hand. And if it gave him an opportunity to deal out some of the misery that Tremaine deserved? All the better.

  ‘Harry.’ Rosalind came bustling out of the drawing room and stopped her brother before he could escape. ‘What is really going on here?’

  ‘Going on?’ He made sure his face showed nothing but innocence, along with a sense of injury that she should accuse him of anything. ‘Nothing at all, Rosalind. I only wished to entertain some members of my set for the holiday, and I thought…’

  His little sister set her hands upon her hips and stared at him in disgust. ‘Your wife is here with another man. And you do not seem the least bit surprised. As a matter of fact you welcomed her new lover as though he were an honoured guest.’

  ‘In a sense he is. He is the object of a bet I have made with the other gentlemen. I guaranteed them that I could make Tremaine wish me a Merry Christmas.’

  ‘Why on earth would you do that?’

  He grinned. ‘Perhaps my common sense was temporarily overcome with seasonal spirit.’

  Rosalind frowned at him. ‘Or perhaps not. Perhaps you have some plan afoot that involves ending the separation with your wife. Or did you bet on her as well? And what prevailed upon the odious Mr Tremaine to accept your challenge? I do not understand it at all.’

  ‘Then let me explain it to you. I told Tremaine that I would facilitate the divorce Elise is so eager for, if he would come down to the country and play my little game. I knew he would take the information straight to Elise, and that she would insist they attend-if only for the opportunity to come back here and tell me to my face what she thought of the idea. I expect she is furious.’

  ‘And you think by angering her that you will bring her closer to you? Harry, you do not understand women at all, if that is your grand plan.’

  ‘But I know Elise.’ He smiled. ‘And so far it is going just as I expected it to.’

  ‘If you know her so well, then you should have been able to prevent her from leaving in the first place. Do you understand what you have done to her to make her so angry with you?’

  He was honestly puzzled as he
answered, ‘Absolutely nothing. As you can see from the house, her wardrobe, her jewels, she can live in luxury. And if this was not enough I would go to any lengths necessary to give her more. I treat her with the utmost respect. I do not strike her. I do not berate her in public or in private. I am faithful. Although I have never denied her her admirers, I have no mistress, nor have ever considered a lover. I want no one but her, and I am willing to give her her own way in all things.’ He gestured in the direction of the library. ‘I even tolerate Tremaine. What more can she ask of me? There is little more that I can think to give her.’

  Rosalind paused in thought for a moment. ‘You spoil her, then. But you must cut her off if she means to belittle you so. If she has a taste for luxury, deny her. Tell her that you are very angry with her over this foolishness and that there will be no more gifts. Tell her that you wish for her to come home immediately. That will bring her to heel.’

  ‘Do not speak that way of her.’ He said it simply for he did not mean to reprove his sister, since she got enough of that at home. ‘Elise is not some animal that can be punished into obedience and will still lick the hand of its master. She is a proud woman. And she is my wife.’

  ‘It seems she does not wish to be.’

  ‘Perhaps not. But it is something that must be settled between the two of us, and not by others. And perhaps if you had lived her life…’

  Rosalind laughed. ‘I would gladly trade her life for mine. You will not convince me that it is such a tragedy to be married to an earl. Even in separation, she lives better than most ladies of the ton.’

  He shook his head. ‘You should understand well enough what her life was like before, Rosalind, and show some sympathy. For her parents were every bit as strict to her as your father has been to you. I met her father, of course, when I offered for her. Her mother as well. It would not have been easy for her if she had been forced to return home after the disaster with Tremaine. The man betrayed her, and so she broke it off with him. It was the only reason she was willing to consider my offer.’

  Rosalind bit her lip, as though the situation was unusually distressing to her. ‘A broken engagement is not the end of the world. And you saved her from any repercussions. It could not have been so horrible to have you instead of Mr Tremaine.’

  He shrugged. ‘Perhaps not. I have endeavoured to make her happy, of course. But in losing Tremaine she lost any dreams she might have harboured that her marriage would be based in true love. Her parents did not care what happened to her as long as her brother was provided for. It was for him that they came to England. They wished to see him properly outfitted and to give him a taste for travel. Her presence on the trip was little more than an afterthought.’ He remembered her brother Carl, who was as sullen and disagreeable as Elise was charming, and gave a small shudder.

  ‘Before I came into the room to speak to her father I heard him remonstrating with her before the whole family for her refusal of Tremaine. He called her all kinds of a fool for not wishing an unfaithful husband. Told her if her mother had seen fit to provide a second son, instead of a useless daughter, then the trip would not have been spoiled with tears and nonsense. Her father swore it mattered not to him who she might choose, and that if she wouldn’t have me then he would drag her back home by her hair and give her to the first man willing to take her off his hands.

  ‘When I entered, and she introduced me, I assumed he would show some restraint in his words. But he announced to me that if the silly girl did not take her first offer she must take mine, whether she wanted it or no. He complained that they had spent a small fortune in launching her at what parties were available to them in the winter. They had no wish to do it again in spring, when she might be shown to her best advantage and have a variety of suitors. She stood mutely at his side, accepting the abuse as though it were a normal part of her life.’

  Harry clenched his fists at the memory, even after several years. ‘If I was not convinced beforehand that she needed me I knew it then. How did they expect her to find a husband with the season still months away? My offer was most fortuitous.’ He remembered the resignation with which she had accepted him, and the way she had struggled to look happy as he took her hand. ‘And she has been most grateful.’

  ‘Then why is she not living here with you, instead of at Tremaine’s side in London?’

  ‘While it was easy enough for her to break the engagement, it has been much harder to tell her heart that the decision was a wise one. And at such times as there is trouble between us, she cannot help but turn to him and wonder if she made a mistake.’ He sighed. But he made sure that when he spoke again it was with optimism. ‘But, since I can count on Tremaine to be Tremaine, if she thinks to stray, she always returns to me, sadder but wiser.’

  ‘Is he really so bad, then?’

  He made note of the curious look in Rosalind’s eyes as she asked the question, as though she was both longing for the answer and dreading it.

  ‘He is a man. No better or worse than any other. I imagine he is capable of love if the right woman demands it of him.’

  A trick of the morning light seemed to change his sister’s expression from despair to hope and back again. So he said, ‘But Elise is not that woman and never has been. He was unfaithful to her, you know.’

  ‘Perhaps the thing that parted them was an aberration. Things might be different should they try again.’ Rosalind’s voice was small, and the prospect seemed to give her no happiness.

  He gave her a stern look. ‘I’m sure they would be happy to know that their rekindled love has your support. But I find it less than encouraging.’

  ‘Oh.’ She seemed to remember that her behaviour was of no comfort to him, and said, ‘But I am sure she could be equally happy with you, Harry.’

  ‘Equally?’ That was the assessment he had been afraid of.

  Rosalind hurried to correct herself. ‘I meant to say much happier.’

  ‘I am sure you did. But I wonder what Elise would say, given the chance to compare? Until recently I could not enquire. For at the first sign of trouble, she rushed off to London to be with Nicholas Tremaine.’

  Rosalind eyed him critically. ‘And you sat at home, waiting for her to come to her senses?’

  For a moment he felt older than his years. Then he pulled himself together and said, ‘Yes. And it was foolish of me. For I knew how stubborn she could be. It is now far too late to say the things I should have said on that first day that might have brought her home. She has ceased arguing with me and begun to talk of a permanent legal parting. But despite what I should have done, or what she may think she wants, I cannot find it in my heart to let her go. There will be no offer of divorce from me, even if Tremaine can remain stalwart in his hatred of Christmas.’ He frowned. ‘Which he shows no sign of doing.’

  He cast her a sidelong glance. ‘This morning he seemed to think he could lose easily and escape back to London. But it does not suit my plans to let him go so soon. If there is any way that you can be of help in the matter…’

  Rosalind straightened her back and looked for all the word like a small bird ruffling its feathers in offended dignity. ‘Is that why you invited him here while I am hostess? Because if you are implying that I should romance the man in some way, flirt, preen…’

  He found it interesting that she should leap to that conclusion, and filed it away for further reference. ‘On the contrary. I mean to make Christmas as miserable an experience for him as possible, and keep him in poor humour until Elise is quite out of patience with him. I was thinking something much more along the lines of an extra measure of brandy slipped into his glass of mulled wine. Enough so that by the end of the evening his mind is clouded. While good humour may come easy at first, foul temper will follow close on its heels in the morning. But the thought of you forced into the man’s company as some sort of decoy?’ He shook his head and smiled. ‘No, that would never do. To see my only sister attached to such a wastrel would not do at all.’ He watched
for her reaction.

  ‘Half-sister,’ she answered absently.

  He pretended to ignore her response. ‘No, I think he should have more brandy than the average. I doubt laudanum would achieve the desired effect.’

  ‘Laudanum?’ She stared at him in surprise. ‘Are you seriously suggesting that I drug one of your guests?’

  ‘Only Tremaine, dear. It hardly counts. And it needn’t be drugs. If you can think of a better way to keep him off balance…’

  ‘But, Harry, that is-’ she struggled for words ‘-surprisingly dishonourable of you.’

  ‘Then, little one, you are easily surprised. You did not think I had invited the man down here to help him in stealing my wife? I am afraid you will find that I have very little honour on that particular subject. So I did not follow Elise to town to compete for her affections? What point would there have been? Look at the man. More town bronze than the statues at Westminster. He has so much polish I swear I could shave in the reflection. I did not wish to go to London and challenge the man, for I doubt I could compare with him there.’

  Harry rubbed his hands together. ‘But now we are on my home turf. He knows nothing about country living, or the true likes and dislikes of my wife. And he has no taste at all for the sort of simple Christmas diversions that bring her the most joy. It will take no time at all for him to wrongfoot himself in her eyes, and his disgrace will require very little help from me. When that happens I will be here to pick up the pieces and offer myself as an alternative, just as I did before. If you wish to help me in the matter of persuading Elise to return home, then I wish to hear no more talk of bringing her to heel. Help me by helping Tremaine to make an ass of himself. I will see to Elise, and things will be quite back to normal by Twelfth Night.’