The Wedding Runaway by Katy Madison Page A

explain , but found Keene behind her. " Did his wife die in a fire? "
    Keene nodded. " He tried to pull her out , but a beam fell on his forehead. His servants barely pulled him out alive. "
    Lydia drew in a shuddery breath. " I didn ' t know. All he said was that she died three months ago. I didn ' t mean...anything by it. " But now that she understood the situation , she could see how what she said could have been deemed an insult or worse , an accusation of murder.
    " Don ' t know how I shall pay five thousand pounds for that damn horse ," muttered Keene. " I only meant to go to three. Where do you live? "
    " Not far. I can walk. "
    " Fine. We shall walk. "
    " I—you— "
    " I am your second in this affair. Victor suggested I explain the procedure to you. He said he would name conditions , so as your representative , I will offer to him the only condition he needs to meet is to offer apology for striking you. "
    " I don ' t care if he apologizes. I don ' t want to fight. " Lydia caught Keene ' s expression of consternation. " Him. I don ' t want to fight him. He has been very k-kind to me. "
    " Yes , well, do not fret about it. All shall turn out well , you ' ll see. "
    Lydia didn ' t see how. In either case her friendship with Victor was destroyed.
    ~*~
    Victor paced back and forth in the Sheridans ' drawing room. The room had once been green with crocodile-legged furniture , now the room was ivory and gold with a touch of burgundy here and there. Something horrible had once happened in this room , but for all his questions , Tony would never reveal the exact details. Actually , that whole night had been rather eventful.
    Sophie had been on the roof rescuing the Sheridans ' son while a certain Lord Algany fell and broke his leg. During all the commotion, the man who ended up marrying Victor ' s half-sister Margaret had been shot.
    One of these days Victor would get the whole story. Tony entered the room , his limp held to a minimum. They exchanged greetings and condolences and caught up on the past few months since they had last seen each other.
    " Felicity is sending out invitations. She always feels she is obligated to start off the season with a small gathering. Let me get her , I ' m sure she ' d want to see you. "
    " Oh , no , don ' t bother her. I know she is probably elbow deep in ledgers. "
    Felicity ran all the businesses left to her by her first husband. To fill his time , Tony had started conducting discreet investigations for the upper Ten Thousand while his wife made money hand over fist. " Are you doing any investigations? "
    " Nothing I could speak about. " Tony smiled. Lines crinkled around Tony ' s unearthly pale eyes.
    Victor would swear Tony could look straight through a man and see parts of his soul. Now that he was here , Victor was reluctant to ask for Tony to second him as if the whole episode with Leonard would disappear if he did not think of it.
    Tony gave him an enigmatic look and said , " Do you need something looked into? "
    How had he known? " I would like you to learn why my mother-in-law is in Newgate. "
    " There probably is a public record. Maybe newspaper accounts. "
    " Yes , well, I shouldn ' t like to be seen making the inquiries. "
    " I ' ll be discreet. What else do you need? "
    " Very well , I need your services as a second. "
    Tony blinked and leaned back. " Of course , you may always count on me to stand by you. What about Keene , or do you mean to fight him again? "
    " He is pledged to my opponent. And I ' ll need the use of the pistols. You do have them still , do you not? "
    " Yes , got them back after they were stolen the last time. You don ' t really want to use them , do you? It ' s like opening a Pandora ' s box. "
    " I know they are inaccurate. That is what I want , just to stand there and aim at each other and miss. I just want to scare a certain young gentleman who is too...above himself for his own good. " Victor winced as he said that.
    " The real danger is the curse.