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.“Bring another for my friend,” he said.James nodded in acceptance and the footman moved off to procure another single-malt Scotch.“I thought you were away with the lovely Angelique Beauchamp on a country idyll.Back so soon, Captain?”“I thought I told you never to say her name again.”“So you did.I don’t suppose you’ll shoot me?”“Not just yet.”“More’s the pity.” Carlyle drank deep.“Ah, well.I suppose I have no desire to get shot this close to my wedding.”“When is the happy day?”“Tomorrow morning at St.George’s, ten o’clock sharp.” Victor drained his second glass of bourbon in fifteen minutes and signaled for another.“And may God have mercy on my soul.”Victor leaned back into the leather of his armchair.“As a friend… though I suppose we are not truly friends, are we, Captain? But who is truly friendly in this benighted world? As a friend, I tell you that if you have come back to shore seeking Angelique, you seek her in vain.She has traveled with the rest of the bored ton to the wilds of Derbyshire to see a play.”“A play?” James was sure that Carlyle was either completely foxed or simply trying to lead him astray, but for some reason he waited to hear him out.“Shakespeare, worse luck.Can you imagine anything more ghastly than A Midsummer Night’s Dream in Derbyshire?” Victor shuddered as if someone had just danced on his grave.“I have always preferred Much Ado About Nothing,” James said.“Indeed?” Carlyle shuddered again.“I prefer to be shot in the head rather than see or hear one word of Shakespeare.Comedy or no, it is sure to be a disaster.”Carlyle tried in vain to straighten his mussed cravat.“The Earl of Pembroke is playing Oberon.Can you imagine? Raymond Olivier, a peer of the realm, performing in the market square like a mountebank.Good God.” Carlyle drained the last of his bourbon and signaled to the footman for yet another.“I wish I’d thought of it.If I could stand the stuff, I’d have done it myself.Set tongues wagging for a year at least.”Victor downed his last bourbon in one long gulp.“Nothing for it but to marry tomorrow.If I were a praying man, I suppose I’d ask for clemency.”“A stay of execution?” James asked.“Just so.Ah well, marriage is one bullet we all must face at one time or another.” Carlyle suddenly looked cheerful.“Perhaps she’ll die tonight, and I won’t have to marry her at all.”“Or perhaps you will, my lord.”Carlyle laughed, and this time his laughter held a tinge of bitterness.“Little hope of that, Captain.”James rose to his feet, bowing to the man who had saved him a week of wasted travel.“There is always hope, my lord.I suppose I must thank you for the information regarding the Countess of Devonshire’s whereabouts.But don’t mention her name again.”“Ah, no doubt I will forget the beautiful Angelique and all else, Captain.That is the beauty of drink.”Carlyle raised his empty glass in salute as James strode from the room.He was off to his hotel, and then to the livery stable to hire a horse.He could not take Spartacus without Smythe’s consent, and he wanted to be on the road too early to consult with Angelique’s man of affairs.He hoped to be riding north to Derbyshire before the sun was up.At the door of the barroom, he took one last glance back at Viscount Carlyle.Victor was still conscious, if only barely.James had no idea how the man hoped to go to his bride at ten the next morning, nor what state the poor woman would find him in.What the hell Angelique was doing in Derbyshire was a mystery he would soon solve.He did know that once he reached her, he would ask her to marry him.He had no idea what her answer would be the first time he asked, but he would stand by her, and keep asking, until her answer was yes.Act III“But manhood is melted into curtsies, valor into compliment… He is now as valiant as Hercules that only tells a lie, and swears it.”Much Ado About NothingAct 4, Scene 1Twenty-eightAngelique took her time getting to Derbyshire.Traveling with a young girl and a maid, with all their baggage as well as hers, called for a slower pace.She did not know what she might find in Pembroke Village, but she was fairly certain that she could trust Lord Pembroke to guard Arabella at least until Angelique arrived.She knew she was running away from the realities of her shipping concerns.She knew that she would have to deal with Hawthorne and the damage he had done to her business.But for once, she was setting business concerns aside and looking to her friend’s safety first.If Angelique had been a romantic, she would have considered the possibility that Pembroke might offer to protect her friend for the rest of her life.Angelique rarely thought kindly of marriage, for any institution that stripped a woman of all her worldly possessions and left her at the mercy of a virtual stranger bore more of a resemblance to highway robbery than a sacrament.But her time with James Montgomery had changed her views on marriage.She had begun to think in their weeks together that it might be possible to know a man well enough to trust him with her life.Where this mad idea had come from, she was not certain.Perhaps it would pass as so many feverish imaginings did.But as she rode in her well-sprung traveling chaise with Sara beside her, Angelique found herself remembering things about James Montgomery that had nothing to do with madness.She remembered their affinity in bed.She found she could not sleep at night for longing for his touch.But it was the time they had spent together in company that she remembered most.She thought of the times James had held his glib tongue and let her deal with Sara as she saw fit.She had never known a man to support a woman with the silence of his presence.A few weeks were not enough time upon which to judge a man.Even if he had offered for her instead of leaving for the open sea, she could not have married him.She could not lose control of all her assets, for too many people depended on her.Even if she were foolish enough to take a risk with her own life, she could not risk the vulnerability of her dependents.And then there was the fact that she loved him.In the past, love had only served to wound her.Geoffrey had used her love against her.Anthony had thrown her love back in her face
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