Chapter Thirty-Three
“Oh, that is a shame,” he drawled, meaning every word.
With a heavy sigh, he started the regrettable process of disengaging his body from hers, righting his pantaloons, and reconfiguring her disguise.
She gazed at him, adoration and wonder in her eyes as he buttoned her pantaloons, retucked her shirttails, pressed the pillow into her chest, and retrieved the discarded waistcoat from the floorboards.
“Teddy, are you…worried about speaking to my father?”
He snorted and eyed her askance. “Hardly. I’m looking forward to giving him a piece of my mind, not to mention the would-be suitor who thought to steal my goddess wife.”
Her eyes softened with pleasure. He did so love bringing her pleasure.
He slapped his hands on his thighs and surveyed her. All that was needed now was the beaver cap, and she could at least venture to her front door without drawing attention. He swiped up the hat and handed it to her.
She swiped up her hair and pulled the cap onto her head.
“Shall we?” he asked, reaching for the carriage door handle.
Georgina nodded.
He vaulted out, set the carriage step for her, remembering at the last minute not to help her down. That might raise some brows.
Once on the street, she tilted her head back to look up at him. “Now what, my lord?”
He snorted at her attempt to lower the tenor of her voice. “Now, you will kindly point out Mr. Mealy’s residence.”
“But, shouldn’t I accompany—”
“No,” he said, with finality. “You will not join me. You will go straight to your front door, and then proceed directly up to your chamber to change into more appropriate clothing. Feel free to toss the suit you are wearing into the grate. You won’t be needing it again.”
She opened her mouth as if to argue, but whatever she saw in Teddy’s expression must have convinced her of the futility of the endeavor. Frowning, and with obvious reluctance, she pointed to the house directly across from her parents’.
He sent her an approving nod. “Excellent. After I witness you entering your parents’ home, I shall pay Mealy a brief, satisfying visit—and then call on your father. Oh, and Georgina?”
Her silvery gaze met his. “Yes?”
“Do not think for a moment you will attend your father’s and my meeting.”
With a huff, she flounced to her front door. Regardless of the male garb, she was all vexed female.
In the end, Mealy handed over Lord Belfry’s IOUs without a peep of protest.
Of course, he first listened intently as Teddy informed him of the salient facts.
Fact one, Teddy was leaving with Belfry’s IOUs, which he would purchase in full. Facts two, three, and four Teddy shared while removing his waistcoat and rolling up his shirtsleeves.
He was the Viscount of Helmsley and heir to the Earl of Ainsworth. He was a crack shot, held the boxing championship for three solid years during his tenure at Oxford, and afterwards was a regular at Gentleman Jack’s boxing club and a weekly visitor up to his military deployment.
Facts five and six, he uttered in a lethally soft voice. “It’s important for your continued well-being that you hear me and understand what I’m about to tell you. Are you listening, Mealy?”
Mealy, bug eyed, nodded.
“Georgina Belfry is now Georgina Arlington, the future Countess of Ainsworth, and my wife, and if one scrap of inflammatory rumor attaches itself to her name, Mealy, you will find that England is no longer a hospitable country in which for you to dwell. Do I make myself clear?”
Then he waited, half hoping the man would put up a protest so he could knock his yellowed teeth from his mouth.
He didn’t. Indeed, he practically prostrated himself at Teddy’s feet, such was his awe at finding himself in the presence of the Ainsworth heir.
Teddy had half expected the man to hand the IOUs over without asking for payment. Then he apprised Teddy of the enormity of the debt—at which time, Teddy nearly gave in to the desire to crush the man’s windpipe.
Mealy must have wanted Georgina very, very badly, and Belfry, well, he would deal with Belfry.
Rage simmering through his veins, he wrote out and signed his own IOU, and informed Mealy that his solicitor would arrive on the morrow to see the matter resolved.
He let himself out the door, crossed the street, and banged the iron knocker. Belfry’s door opened, and he was invited in.
A moment later the Belfrys’ aged butler showed Teddy to the drawing room where Lord and Lady Belfry received him. They both seemed overjoyed at the sight of him.
For his part, he was having a hard time behaving in a civil manner for what the two had nearly done to Georgina—in essence, selling her off to that cretin across the street.
“To what do we owe the pleasure, m’boy?” Belfry asked with a jovial smile.
Teddy managed a bland smile in return. “My lord, I have come to speak with you on a delicate matter. It would be best if we spoke privately.”
Lady Belfry, seeming slightly flustered, but ever the gracious hostess, vacated the chamber, closing the doors behind her.
Lord Belfry gave him a grave look. “Now, then, Theodore, what can I do for you, my only son’s closest friend?”
Teddy met his gaze with a steady eye and withdrew the IOUs from his waistcoat pocket.
Belfry did not appear to comprehend what he was seeing—at first. Then his eyes went wide and his breath snagged. “What is this?” he demanded.
“Your vowels—which I have purchased.”
The older man gaped, his mouth working, briefly. “I…I don’t understand.”
Teddy opted for the direct approach. He repocketed the slips, and folded his arms over his chest. “As it happens, a little over a week ago, I married your daughter.”
Belfry’s thick brows slammed together.
Teddy went on. “I informed Mealy as much. He, understandably, opted to sell me your debt.”
Abruptly, Lord Belfry’s expression turned nearly rapturous. “You don’t say? Well, I’ll be. I’ll be. M’son-in-law. And you purchased m’vowels.” He moved toward Teddy and wrapped him in a hardy embrace, slapping his shoulders with exuberance.
“There’s a few more items we should discuss,” Teddy said, voice frosty.
His cool tone must have alerted the baron, because he froze, then took a hasty step back, his gray eyes wary. “Say, why didn’t Georgina breathe a word of this marriage?”
Teddy cocked his head. “That is not important. What is important is this debt you owe me.”
Belfry’s mouth fell open.
Teddy’s temper flared, causing him to speak through gritted teeth. “You see, I do not take kindly to what you tried to do, selling my wife.”
“I beg your pardon? How dare you,” the older man erupted, with obvious affront.
“Oh I dare, sir. I dare. You see, I always envied Drake his family. The warmth and joviality and freedom.”
Belfry sniffed, and Teddy made for the large window, mainly to put distance between them. Georgina would not thank him for injuring his father-in-law before they’d been wed a month.
“Where you were kind, the earl was exacting on a good day, cruel on a normal day. Where you allowed your son to roam free, mine put me in a cage—the bars of which tightened if I dared make a mistake, or what he viewed as one.”
“I wasn’t aware,” Belfry said, not unkindly.
Teddy sent him a grim smile. “No doubt. But, then, paying attention isn’t exactly your forté, is it?” He paused as a thought occurred to him. “What is your daughter’s favorite flower?”
“What kind of question is that?” he sputtered.
Teddy went on. “What is her favorite condiment? Her favorite beverage? What is her nom de plume, the book club she frequents, and her reason for wearing those spectacles she doesn’t need?” He hadn’t yet worked that out, himself, but he had no doubt her father had even less of an idea.
Lord Belfry blinked rapidly, as if Teddy addressed him in a foreign language.
“You don’t know, because you’ve always cared more for your own comfort and entertainments than your own flesh and blood.
You allowed your son to manage things when he was alive, and then the task fell to Georgina—and if that were all, Lord Belfry, I’d still shake your hand and congratulate you on parenting the two most admirable, most essential people in the world to me.
“But attempting to barter Georgina off for your out-of-control gaming, and to a man as repellent as Mealy, no less? I could call you out for that,” he said through his teeth.
“Instead, for Georgina’s sake, and for the memory of her late brother, your son, and for the kindness you extended me growing up, I challenge you to a bet—tomorrow night, at the Lyon’s Den. ”
A sullen frown pulled at Belfry’s mouth. “As to that, I’m afraid the Black Widow has banished me.”
Teddy stalked toward him. “For Georgina, she’s made an exception. If you win, I’ll pay your IOUs in full and will agree to small, monthly gambling allowance. If I win, however, I’ll pay half, you’ll work off the other half, and agree never to gamble again.”
Georgina’s father looked initially intrigued. Now, he balked. “Work? That is preposterous.”
“You’ll work at the veteran’s hospital, sir, in honor of your son.”
He grunted, looking thoroughly displeased.
Teddy’s eyes narrowed. “You’ll accept the wager—or I’ll call the debt due and you’ll be destitute in an instant.”
He huffed, and his pallor went gray. “What game do you propose, Lord Arlington?”
“The widow offers you a choice. A shooting match—my particular preference—a knife toss”—he slanted the baron a sharp glance—“or a riddle.”
The baron attempted to hide his grin at the last.
Teddy strode for the door. “We face off tomorrow at six, sir—or I call the debt due. Your choice.”
He yanked open the door, and Georgina tumbled inside. As he’d anticipated, she—and Lady Belfry—had been listening at the door. He caught her by the shoulders, then steadied her on her feet.
Most of the heat went out of him, beholding his soft, utterly feminine wife. “Did you hear all that, madam wife?”
She searched his face. “Mostly. Teddy, you know my father is a puzzle master. He’s bound to—”
“It doesn’t matter, love. However it turns out, I’m still the winner.”
The love, gleaming in her silvery eyes would have made bankrupting himself worth the cost. Luckily, it wouldn’t come to that. Not by a long shot.
He nodded at Lady Belfry, who gazed back at him with wide, stunned, eyes, then he took Georgina’s hand and pulled her in the direction of the foyer. There, he glanced around, nonplused. “Where are your things?”
“I beg your pardon?”
“You are my wife, darling. One night apart was quite enough. You are coming with me.”