Chapter Fourteen #3
From behind him, Penny snorted. “That assumes there is an uncommon variety of trollops out there. Perhaps I’m one of them.”
“Terrible girl.” Then the older woman’s eyes rolled back in her head, and she slumped to the library floor.
“Shit.” Birchfield glared at him. “Help me move my mother to one of the sofas.”
“Of course.” Cornelius sprang into action.
He scooped up the dowager’s feet while Johnathan lifted her beneath the arms. Between the two of them, they moved her dead weight to the closest leather sofa and made her as comfortable as they could.
“If you want me to apologize for what you just saw, I won’t.
We are both consenting adults, and she is a widow. ”
Viscount Middleton cleared his throat. In the illumination coming into the room from a sconce in the corridor, his face was red with either anger or embarrassment.
“What sort of betrayal is this, Birchfield?” He shoved a hand through his hair.
“I refuse to marry your sister if she is this fast, and I don’t want used goods besides. ”
“Good heavens, what a nodcock.” Penny peered around Cornelius’s shoulder. “If you thought I was an innocent, you’re an arse. I’m a widow. What do you think that has entailed?”
Middleton frowned. “Be that as it may, I don’t want his cast offs.”
“Well, good luck with that, then,” she shot off, because she could never curb that tart mouth he adored. “From the gossip, the major has been with a good percentage of the female members of the beau monde.”
The viscount glared at Birchfield. “I’ll have the dowry couriered to you tomorrow. Good night.”
Throughout the odd exchange, Cornelius bit the inside of his cheek to prevent laughing at the Drury Lane affair.
“Middleton, wait!” As Birchfield strode to the door, the viscount never broke stride. Then the earl turned on Cornelius. “How dare you destroy her chances of making a decent match. I told you to stay away from her!”
Before he could defend himself, another couple drifted into the room. Unfortunately, it was their host and hostess of the evening, both looking concerned and confused.
Birchfield ignored them. “I ought to call you out for what you’ve done.”
“Oh, do stop, Johnathan.” Penny stepped around Cornelius. “I’m a widow, so therefore I can’t be ruined. Beyond that, I know my own mind, and now that I have the freedom to do so, I’m doing things that benefit me.”
“Like whore yourself out to a man who has made it a priority to fuck half the women in London, eligible or not?”
“Language, Birchfield,” she said, with eyes flashing blue-gray fire as she propped her hands on her hips.
“Not well done of you, Birchfield.” A wave of heated anger welled in Cornelius’s chest. “What is between the lady and me is none of your business.”
The earl rounded on him with his hands curled into fists. “I told you my sister was not for you!”
This was ridiculous. “That’s too bad, because I’m quite a decent fellow, and I thought that, as your best friend, you could see that.”
“Penny is too good for you!” Then Birchfield sprang at him with such force that they both crashed to the floor while Penny moved over to the sofa where the dowager had just come ’round from her faint.
For the next few minutes, blows and punches were exchanged between him and Birchfield.
His fists found purchase more than a few times, and the earl returned the volleys until they’d both have bruises on the morrow.
When his bottom lip became busted and the metallic taste of blood flooded his mouth, it only enraged him more, so he retaliated by landing a facer to his best friend.
The familiar crunch of cartilage followed, for Birchfield’s nose was broken.
“Stop this at once, both of you!” Penny attempted to separate them, but they paid her no mind. She stamped a foot. “This is juvenile.”
“Enough!” Birchfield landed Cornelius a punch that knocked him onto his back. He staggered to his feet and peered down at him with blood dripping down his face. “Keep your damned hands off my sister,” he demanded, in a winded voice.
Pain moved through his head and body as he sat up. “I can’t do that.”
“Why the hell not?” Birchfield held his folded handkerchief to his streaming nose.
Cornelius didn’t know if it was the fight, what he’d shared with Penny, the drama of the evening, or the fact it was Valentine’s Day, but it was time for a few truths to come out.
“Because I’m almost certain I’m in love with her.
What’s more, I believe I have been in fits and starts since I left to serve out my commission. ”
“What?” Birchfield stared.
“What?” The dowager collapsed against the decorative pillows as she watched the proceedings.
“What?” Shock threaded through Penny’s utterance as she fell to her knees at his side. With a hand to his forehead and concern in her eyes, she asked, “Are you quite well? Did he scramble your brains just now?”
“No.” A chuckle left his throat, but pain went through Cornelius’s head. “Truth to tell, this is the sanest I’ve been in many years.”
Would that be enough to usher in the next phase of his life? With her? Only time would tell.