The Mistletoe Wager

by Christine Merrill

  And his fears had proved true. For after only a few days in her company his life had been turned upside down. There she stood at the front of the room, with a false smile on her face, acting for all the world as if she did not even notice him. Which was a total falsehood. He could feel when they were together that she was attracted to him, and he had a good mind to go up there and drag her back to the library, to give her a demonstration of the flaws in his character. No matter what she might claim, once the door was closed it would take only a few moments to prove that her character was no better than his. And afterwards he would have her out of his system and could go back to London in peace.

  At the front of the room, Rosalind continued to explain the rules in an excessively cheerful voice that gave the lie to everything he had just seen. ‘First we must choose who is to guess and who is to help with the clues.’ She scanned the crowd. ‘I must stay here, since I already know the answer, but I will need two helpers.’

  Elise came to her side immediately, and looked hopefully across the room to Harry.

  Harry began to rise unsteadily from his chair. Very well, the two would play nicely together, just as Rosalind wished. But that did not mean that Nick had to waste his time watching over them. He began a subtle retreat towards the door, hoping that Rosalind had forgotten her original plan after his outburst in the library.

  But she was ignoring Harry, and had turned her attention to the doorway. ‘Mr Tremaine. You as well, I think.’

  So she still meant to involve him in this? He turned back into the room and saw the dark look on Harry’s face before the man collapsed back into his seat with an easy and devious smile. Whatever Rosalind had planned, the results were not likely to be as she expected. Nick strode to the front of the room, conscious of all eyes upon him.

  ‘The rules are simple,’ Rosalind announced to the group gathered before her. ‘I have a riddle, and the answer is a three-syllable word. If you cannot guess the word from the riddle, we will act out the parts to help you. Here is the riddle:

  Vows are spoken, True love’s token, Can’t be broken.’

  She passed a folded piece of paper to Elise, and then to Tremaine.

  Elise frowned.

  Nick read it, then stared at Rosalind. ‘This is a four-syllable word. Not three.’

  She gritted her teeth. ‘It does not matter.’

  ‘I think it does if you mean people to guess the answer.’

  She glared at him. ‘And if I do not care for them to guess too quickly,’ she whispered, so that Elise could not hear, ‘it does not matter at all.’

  She had that wild look in her eye again, that she normally used on mistletoe. And she was turning it on him. He glared back at her. ‘You are right, it does not matter.’

  ‘Here, Elise,’ Rosalind said, smiling too brightly. ‘You must take the first clue.’

  Elise read the clue again and stepped forward. She stooped to lift an imaginary object and then remove from the ground another, which appeared to be a key. She made a great show of placing it in a non-existent lock and opening an invisible door to step through. There were the expected calls of, ‘Doorknob,’ ‘Enter,’ and Harry’s muttered, ‘Leave.’

  ‘Don’t be an idiot, Harry,’ Rosalind whispered, loud enough so that everyone could hear. ‘It is clear that she is coming back.’

  ‘Clear to you, perhaps,’ he responded, looking more sullen than Nick had seen him all week.

  Elise frowned in his general direction, and then went back to her play-acting. She pretended to look back over the threshold and notice something on the ground, to go back to it and stare down and carefully wipe her shoes.

  Whereupon Harry announced, in a clear voice, ‘Husband.’

  Elise’s glare was incandescent, and to stop the outburst that she knew was coming Rosalind announced, ‘I should think it is obvious. The answer is-’

  Nick put his hand over her mouth, stopping the word. ‘You cannot make the riddle and give us the answer,’ he announced, giving everyone a false grin. ‘Where would be the fun in that?’

  ‘Door,’ announced someone in the crowd.

  Elise pointed to her feet.

  ‘Feet.’

  ‘Shoes.’

  ‘Dirt.’

  ‘Mmmmmmm,’ said Rosalind, around the edges of his fingers.

  At last someone shouted, ‘Mat.’ And he could feel Rosalind, sagging in relief against his hand. He released her.

  She looked out at the other guests and announced, ‘And now the next word. Tremaine, you must do this one.’

  He gave a deep sigh and turned to face the crowd, making a great dumb show of pouring wine from a bottle into a glass. He drank from his imaginary glass, then held it up to the light to admire it, held it out to the crowd and deliberately ran his finger along the rim.

  ‘Wine.’

  ‘Drink.’

  ‘Drunkard,’ shouted Harry. ‘Inebriate. Wastrel.’

  Rosalind put her hands on her hips. ‘It is not the person you are supposed to look at, Harry. It is the thing in his hand.’

  ‘Philanderer,’ Harry supplied, ignoring her guidance.

  Nick took an involuntary step towards him, before regaining his temper and pointing to the imaginary glass in his hand.

  ‘It starts with an R,’ Rosalind supplied, and gave an encouraging look to the audience.

  ‘Rascal. Reprobate,’ Harry answered. ‘Rake.’

  ‘Now, see here…’ Nick threw down his imaginary glass and balled his fists.

  Rosalind muttered, ‘Rim,’ under her hand, until a member of the audience took the hint and shouted it.

  Nick stalked back to where she was sitting. ‘I have had quite enough of this. I wish a resolution to these issues as much as you do. But if it means that I must stand before the entire room while your brother attacks my character for the amusement of the other guests-’

  She answered, making no attempt to whisper, ‘Oh, really, Tremaine. Stop protesting and play the game. After all, you did steal the man’s wife.’

  ‘He did not steal me,’ Elise announced. ‘I went willingly.’

  Tremaine and Rosalind turned to her and whispered in unison, ‘This is none of your affair.’

  She held up her hands and said, ‘Very well, then.’ And took a step back.

  ‘Elise is right,’ Tremaine muttered back. ‘The current problems are none of my doing and all of theirs. I am an innocent bystander.’

  ‘Innocent? Oh, that is rich, sir. The picture of you as an innocent!’

  ‘And now I suppose we are talking of what occurred the night we met? As I remember there were two involved, and not just one. And if that event had not transpired, then today it would be Harry attempting to steal Elise away from me.’ He stopped. Perhaps that was exactly what would have occurred. For he could much more easily imagine Harry stealing Elise than he could imagine himself exerting the effort to take her away.

  ‘As if Harry would ever do such a thing. Look at him.’ Rosalind held out a hand. ‘He is the picture of innocence.’

  They paused in their whispered argument to look out at Harry, who smiled and offered a wave.

  ‘And there you go again with your twisted notions of guilt and innocence.’ Nick looked at Harry again. The man appeared to be harmless, just as he always had. But, from the first, there had been a resolute glint in his eye that did not match the mild exterior.

  ‘He is wondering what we are arguing about.’ Rosalind flashed a bright, false smile in the direction of Harry, and nudged Nick until he did the same. ‘So, let us go back to the game for now. We will continue this discussion when there are not so many people present.’ There was something in her tone that said they would be doing just that, as soon as the guests were out of earshot.

  He nodded in agreement and thrust the last clue to Elise. ‘Here, take this.’

  ‘I think it is Rosalind’s turn,’ Elise responded meekly.

  ‘Take it,’ Rosalind said with finality, transferring her anger t
o Elise. ‘The last clue.’ Rosalind gestured to Elise as she walked to the front of the room.

  ‘I certainly hope so,’ Nick replied, then looked at the other guests. ‘But it is a two-syllable word.’

  Rosalind slapped his arm. ‘I said it does not matter.’

  ‘And I beg to differ.’

  ‘Shh.’ Elise stared at them, hands on hips, as though she were viewing a pair of unruly children, and they fell to silence.

  Elise mimed reaching into her pocket and removing something.

  ‘Handkerchief?’ someone supplied.

  Tremaine glared into the crowd. ‘And how many syllables might that be?’

  Elise held the object up between her fingers, then made a great show of opening it and reaching inside.

  ‘Bag?’

  ‘Reticule?’

  ‘Purse.’

  She gave an approving nod, and then removed something from it and counted objects out into her hand.

  ‘Coins.’

  ‘Pounds.’

  ‘Notes.’

  ‘Money!’ shouted Harry, rising from his chair. ‘No surprise that this clue should come from you, Elise. For it is the only thing you care about, is it not?’

  Elise’s hands dropped to her sides and her eyes narrowed. ‘Harry, you know that is not true.’

  His chin lifted. ‘And I say it is. When I offered for you, your eyes fairly lit as I told you my income. And what were we arguing about the day you left? Now that Tremaine has come into his inheritance you are no longer at my side but at his.’

  There was a fascinated murmur from the crowd around them, as though they were finally getting the Christmas entertainment they had hoped for when accepting the invitation.

  ‘You still think this is all about money, then?’ Elise laughed. ‘And so you would like to think. For it removes any blame in this from you, Harry. You, who spent all these years trying to buy my affection. If you had been less quick to give of your pocket and more willing to share of yourself, then we would not be having this argument.’

  He stood up. ‘I have given you everything I can, Elise.’

  ‘And I say you have not. For Nicholas is the one who has given me love.’

  ‘Because it cost him nothing.’

  Nick took another step towards Harry. ‘First I was a drunkard, then a rake. And now I’m cheap, am I?’

  Rosalind pulled on his arm to draw him out of the line of fire.

  Elise stepped towards her husband. ‘Even though I chose another, he has given me love and faithfulness and honesty.’

  ‘Ha!’ cried Rosalind, unable to contain herself. ‘If you knew-’

  ‘Not now.’ Nick pulled her back. ‘It will not help, Rosalind, I swear to you.’

  Elise ignored the interruption. ‘But for one misstep. And that was years ago.’ She turned back to him and said, as an afterthought, ‘It was a mistake ever doubting you, Nicholas.’

  ‘No, it wasn’t,’ whispered Rosalind.

  But Elise had returned her attention to Harry. ‘And an even bigger mistake to marry you.’ She swept from the room.

  Harry dropped back into his seat, shocked into silence.

  Nick turned to Rosalind, gesturing wide to encompass the mess she had made of things. ‘There. See what you have done with your little game? She wants nothing to do with him now he has insulted her. I must go and see if I can mend the damage you have caused.’

  She reached for his arm. ‘That is the last thing you should do, Tremaine. Let them work this out for them selves. For it is your meddling that is the cause of half their problems.’

  He laughed and pulled away from her. ‘You dare to accuse me of meddling in the affairs of others, after the games you have had us playing? You have done more than I to tinker with something you do not understand. And a fine pass it has brought us all to.’

  He was following Elise out through the door, even if his mind was telling him Rosalind was right. He would be better off to wash his hands of the whole affair.

  ‘Go, then,’ Rosalind shouted. ‘Follow her, if her happiness means so much. Follow her, just as you always do. I hope it brings you what you deserve.’

  The words struck him in the back like blows, but his feet did not slow their pace. She was right. The last thing he should be doing was following another man’s wife down the hall to offer her comfort. If she was so in need of it then it was her husband who should provide it, not some other man.

  And it was not as if Harry would deny her. He had been quick enough to sense her distress when he offered for her, and it had been plain to see from the man’s enraptured expression after the wedding that his offer had had nothing to do with seizing an advantageous opportunity, and everything to do with his hopeless love for Elise.

  If Nick had had the sense to keep himself out of their way the couple would have been able to solve their problem on their own. But here he was, still insinuating himself into a situation he had no real desire to join.

  He stopped at the open door to the library and turned to make his retreat. But it was too late. Elise had caught sight of him. She gave a watery moan of, ‘Nicholas,’ and held a limp hand out to him.

  And, as he had always done, he sighed and went to her.

  ‘I swear what he said is not true,’ she sobbed. ‘It was never about your money. Or even about his. Perhaps at first it made a difference. It was nice that an earl had offered for me. And I thought, Oh, Nicholas shall be so jealous, when I accepted. For he could give me much more than you could back then. But mostly I was afraid that no one would want me at all.’

  Nick nodded and sat beside her, putting an arm around her shaking shoulders.

  ‘But once we were married it changed. He was so good to me, and so kind. I could not help having tender feelings for him. I felt very guilty about it at first. For it seemed like a final betrayal of what we had together. And that is why I have worked so hard to see that we remained friends.’

  ‘And I have always been your friend in return.’ He gave her a small hug. ‘For I did not wish you to think you had been abandoned, just because your future did not lie with me.’

  ‘But now?’ She shook her head. ‘I wonder if it has all been a mistake. Does he really care about me at all?’

  ‘I am sure he does.’ But why was the ninny tarrying? If he wished to keep his wife he must come and tell her so. ‘Perhaps he is not good with words.’

  ‘He was good enough with them back in the drawing room.’ He could feel her tense. ‘I think he has finally given me the truth of it, just as I wanted him to. But why did it have to happen in front of all those people? He thought me a fortune-hunter, and in secret he regrets marrying me. He is wrong. But I love him enough to want him to be happy, and to have a wife he respects. And a family. And that is why I cannot go back.’

  Nick held her as she composed herself, and silently damned her husband to seven types of hell. If he could not come and force some sense into his wife, then at least he might have given Nick more powerful ammunition to defend him. For after the debacle in the drawing room, her assessment of her marriage appeared to be accurate.

  ‘He cannot mind your spending too much. Even while you are away he supports you, does he not?’

  ‘He is obligated. And I have accepted it because I could not think of another way. But I certainly cannot take his money after what he has said.’ She paused, and then drew closer. ‘Whatever might happen in the future, I cannot live as a burden on Harry any longer.’ She paused again. ‘Nicholas, do you remember our discussion before we came to this house, and my promise to you?’

  ‘Vaguely.’ He felt a wave of disquiet.

  ‘When I said that if you did this for me there would be no more barriers between us?’

  ‘Yes.’ No. At least he did not wish to remember what he was sure she must be talking about.

  ‘I may never be free by the laws of the land, but my heart has no home.’ She paused again. ‘It is yours if you still want it.’

  After al
l these years, how could he tell her that he did not? She had expectations of him, just as surely as if he had offered for her. If her husband would not have her, then it was his responsibility to take on her care. Even if they did not marry, he could offer some sort of formal arrangement that would give her security. It would make her little better than a mistress in the eyes of society, but that could not be helped. Perhaps if they left London they could leave the scandal behind as well. But wherever he lived, it would mean that he could have nothing to do with Harry Pennyngton’s sister, for the sake of all concerned.

  ‘Of course, darling,’ he said, closing his eyes and accepting the inevitable.

  And he felt the relief in her, for she must have suspected by now that he did not want her either. He did not have the heart to tell her she was right.

  She looked up at him, obviously expecting something. ‘Is this not worthy of a kiss?’

  ‘Of course,’ he said absently, and kissed her.

  She was still looking at him in the same strange way. ‘A real kiss, Nicholas.’

  ‘That was not?’ He tried to remember what he had done.

  She was smiling sadly. ‘It appeared to be. But it was an attempt to save my feelings wrapped up in a pretty package. Can you not kiss me as though you mean it?’

  ‘Now?’ There was an embarrassing squeak in his voice that undid all his efforts at urbane sophistication. Kiss her as if he meant it? Now was as good a time as any. It was long past time. For how could one tell the person that the world had decided was one’s own true love that one longed for freedom to marry another?

  ‘Yes, Nicholas.’ Her lashes were trembling, and there was a hitch in her voice. ‘I can never go back to Harry. It is quite impossible. But that does not mean that I must be alone for the rest of my life. On my darkest days, I feared that there was some deficiency in me that rendered me unworthy of true love. Perhaps there was some flaw in my character that had left me without heart. At such times it has been a great comfort knowing that your love remained true after all these years. I would tell myself, If my husband does not want me, then at least there will always be Nicholas.’