Dangerous in Diamonds - Madeline Hunter [122]
Castleford looked at Latham. He did not glare. Daphne thought he appeared almost sad. “There is my word as well. This woman here is telling the truth at least.” He pointed to Margaret. “If she is, I would say they all are. I know her evidence is sound, because I saw him with her. I saw it happen.”
The entire room held its breath. Latham appeared in shock.
“He is lying,” Latham spit. “He only says this for his passing amusement. He is so depraved he thinks this is a joke.”
“I give my word as a gentleman that I saw him with her. I pulled him off her myself.” He looked at Latham. “And such a thing is never a joke. I am thinking that you never understood that.”
The bishops turned to Latham, dismayed. “Have you nothing to say? Are you going to let this stand?” the short, wizened one demanded furiously.
“He is weighing it,” Castleford said. “He does nothing without careful calculations.” He paced over to Latham. People scurried out of his way as he did. “If you say I am lying again, you know I must challenge you. Or you must challenge me soon, for impugning your honor. Either way, I think that we will meet.”
Latham stared with such hatred that if he were armed, Daphne feared something would have happened right then, in front of the world. Instead, face contorted and eyes aflame, Latham pushed past Castleford and strode from the chamber.
The noise of many conversations suddenly filled the air. Amid the tumult, Castleford came to Daphne. He looked at her in his most ducal way.
“I told you not to try to bring him down.”
“I had other thoughts on the matter.”
“I see that you did.”
“It was all begun before I learned of your own scheme. Even so, I decided that eighty thousand pounds was not enough punishment.”
“I expect not.” He turned his attention to Emma and Susan. “My other two tenants, I presume. You can tell me later how you knew where to find them.” He cocked his head and eyed her suspiciously. “Why do I think I will not like that story?”
Hawkeswell and Summerhays came over, sober despite the apparent victory. Castleford looked at them each in turn, then past them to the milling bodies. “Can you get rid of them? Those two over there are already laying bets on whether there will be a duel.”
It did not take long. Within twenty minutes all the guests had left the house.
Which left three husbands and one lover looking at Daphne and her friends most severely, with pending scolds in their eyes.
“Do you want me to kill him?”
The question came through the dark at Daphne, as the aftermath of passion slid away and the world returned too clearly.
If she were honest, she thought, she would admit that some form of that question, and all that it meant, had been with them since they left Bird Street and returned to Castleford’s home. It probably explained the way he had handled her, as if he sought to force her acceptance of his mastery.
“Do you want to kill him?”
“Oh, yes. Too much.”
She suspected it was the latter statement, not the first, that caused the turmoil she sensed in him.
“Perhaps there will be no challenge.”
“He either challenges me, or he all but admits it is true. A duel will not change minds, but it will keep mouths shut.”
“Then I am sorry that you learned of that meeting and intruded. It was my hope to avoid such a confrontation. I did not want to put you in danger.”
His hand went to his eyes. He shook his head and groaned with impatience. “Have some faith, woman. I am in no danger. He was always a bad shot. I would have challenged him years ago if he would have stood half a fighting chance in it.” He sighed. “I should have done it anyway. It would be best to have it over, I think. His reputation is destroyed now. No honorable man will call him a friend.”
“Then perhaps killing him is unnecessary.”
He shrugged and gathered her to him. “I think we should keep that house. It is well located. Discreet.”
She steeled herself. She had hoped, in vain of course, that they would not speak of afterwards