A brief silence had fallen after Josh had spoken, and it was Royce who eventually broke it. A sardonic smile on his mouth, he said to Dominic, "It seems that we are about to become more than just friends."
His lips slanting into a derisive smile of his own, Dominic nodded his dark head. Glancing at Josh, he stated coolly, "Naturally, I will marry her."
"You will not!" Melissa said forcefully, her eyes wide with astonishment. "I have no intention of marrying anybody, and certainly not you!"
Gray eyes gleaming cynically, Dominic regarded her flushed features. What sort of game was she playing at? he wondered. He had agreed to marry her, so what more could she want? Thinking that she was overplaying the outrage just a bit, he drawled wearily, "Oh, come now, my dear, wasn't that the point of all this?"
"Don't be ridiculous!" she snapped, rising from the bed in one graceful motion. Grabbing her cloak from the chair, she faced her uncle and demanded furiously, "Take me home! I don't want to spend another moment in the same room with him!"
Levelly, Josh stared back at her. "That's unfortunate ... since you are going to marry him. After tonight's happening you have no other choice."
Melissa blinked at him, hardly able to believe what he said. "You cannot be serious, Uncle!" she finally got out when she realized that Josh did not seem to share her feelings about the situation.
"He's very serious," Dominic replied dryly. "There is s no other solution. If word of what occurred here were to be bandied about, our reputations, yours in particular, would be ruined." Sneeringly, he finished, "But I'm sure you knew that before you came here."
Furious at his insinuations, Melissa spun around and slapped his mocking face with the open palm of her right hand. "That's a lie!" she spat, golden-brown eyes blazing. "I don't want to marry you-you conceited lout!"
This was all that was needed to cap a thoroughly infuriating situation, and her hand had hardly connected with his cheek before Dominic's fingers closed painfully around her shoulders. Shaking her violently, he snarled, "Well, believe me, I don't want to marry you either-a more hottempered, ill-mannered shrew I've never met!"
Josh intervened hastily, fearful that all his plans were about to come tumbling down around him. Jerking Melissa away from Dominic, he said quickly, "Royce, get Dominic out of here for a moment or two. I wish to speak to Melissa alone."
"Intending to remind her of what a catch she's on the verge of throwing away?" Dominic remarked snidely.
Moving indolently across the room, Royce murmured, "Be a good fellow, Dom, and put on your boots and come with me." He smiled angelically. "We'll drink a toast to your betrothal. "
Dominic sent him a look, but then a reluctant grin crossed his mouth. Without a word, he swiftly pulled on his boots, buttoned his shirt and dragged on a coat. A second later, Melissa and Josh were alone in the tiny room.
A hint of despair in her eyes, Melissa demanded almost fearfully, "You don't really mean to try to force me to marry him, do you?"
Her obvious distress at the idea worried Josh. He was a kind man and he had never wanted to hurt Melissa. But she had to be made to see reason. Stifling the faint pangs of his conscience, he said heavily, "Melissa, dear, you really have no other choice. You must marry Mr. Slade. You have disgraced yourself, and the only way out of this shameful affair is for you and Mr. Slade to marry. This is not the way I would have preferred your betrothal to come about, but I'm afraid that I must insist upon your doing the honorable thing."
Melissa's mouth tightened, and with Dominic's insulting words burning in her brain, she was not in any sort of mood to think rationally. Besides, she insisted stubbornly to herself, nothing had happened! Josh was using this unfortunate situation to further his own gains-well, she wasn't about to let him sacrifice her happiness just so he could get his hands on the money from the trust! Her chin raised pugnaciously, she stated grimly, "I am not going to marry Mr. Slade and you cannot make me!"
Josh regarded her sadly. "But I can, my dear," he finally said in a tired voice.
"How?"
"Simply by exercising my right of authority over your brother. Your father's will named me joint guardian, and while I have allowed you to have full control, if you defy me in this I shall have no choice but to remove Zachary from your, ah, lascivious influence."
"Lascivious!" Melissa breathed, incensed, the furious expression on her face making Josh take a nervous step backward.
But he was determined, and telling himself uneasily that Melissa could be made to see reason, he said firmly, "Yes, lascivious! I didn't want to say anything in front of Dominic, but, child, what you did tonight is scandalous, and you should be thankful that he is willing to marry you."
Melissa thought she would explode with wrath. Thankful! Ha! Insulted would be more like it, she reflected indignantly. If Josh thought for one minute . . . "I won't let you browbeat me into doing this! I will not marry Dominic Slade!"
Josh shrugged. "Very well, then, don't. But don't come crying to me when I remove Zachary from Willowglen and when I refuse to let you see him."
"You can't do that!" k "I can," Josh replied in a hard voice. "I can and I will." When Melissa still stood glaring at him, obviously not believing what he said, he explained quietly. "If you do not do as I say, I will go to Judge Hartley in the morning, and as much as it will pain me, I shall tell him of tonight's doings. " He cocked an eyebrow at her. "After that, do you think he will allow you to have control of Zachary? Of course," Josh added fairly, "it will be for only two years. When Zachary is twenty-one, I cannot stop him from living where he wishes, but until then . . . "
With a painful thump of her heart, Melissa realized sickly that Josh meant every word he said. He would take Zachary away from her-her father's will gave him the right. She swallowed back the sudden tears that clogged her throat. The two years didn't matter, but the loss of her reputation did, and she could just imagine the gossip and speculative stares that would follow her once tonight's event became common knowledge. That it would become common knowledge was a foregone conclusion, especially when Zachary was removed from her care-even if Josh swore the judge to silence.
Her face pale, Melissa looked away from Josh. Zachary would hate living at Oak Hollow, hate having Josh supervise his activities-he might even hate her for being the cause of his removal from Willowglen. Another, more terrifying thought occurred to her: Zachary might even challenge Dominic to a duel, feeling that Dominic had dishonored his sister and brought shame to all of them. Miserably conscious of the trap closing in on her, Melissa frantically sought some other solution. There was none. Unless she married Dominic Slade, she would be labeled a fallen woman, her brother would be taken from her and whatever dreams or hopes they'd had for the future would be destroyed. It was unlikely that any reputable horse breeder would wish to deal with a woman whom scandal had marked.
It wouldn't matter what she did with her life; there would always be those who would whisper behind her back, those who would refuse to let their wives, daughters and even sons associate with her. Bitterly she acknowledged the unfairness of it all-she would be condemned, but Dominic Slade would be allowed to walk blithely away from the incident untouched, perhaps even gaining the admiring stares of some of the gentlemen.
Realizing that she had no alternative, Melissa met Josh's stern gaze and said crisply, "Very well. I will marry Mr. Slade. " A surge of angry pride brought a militant sparkle to her topaz eyes and she vowed huskily, "But I promise you-Mr. Slade will not find me an obliging wife!"
Chapter Twelve
"OBLIGING" was not a word that Dominic had ever associated with the provoking Miss Seymour, and he certainly did not apply it with regard to tonight's unfortunate affair.
Seated in one of the darker corners of the main room of the tavern, Dominic had few doubts that his bride, and there was never any question in his mind that she would marry him, would prove to be very disobliging! She might have put on an excellent performance about not wanting to marry him, but he
grimly assumed that it was just another example of her contrary nature. And even though the prospect of marriage brought him little joy, there were two things of which he was quite confident-that he was going to thoroughly enjoy exerting his husbandly rights and that his cantankerous, willful, disconcerting and utterly fascinating bride-to-be would never bore him. That thought brought a rueful smile to his mouth, and seeing it, Royce asked, "A little more resigned to your fate?"
Dominic grimaced. "Yes. But I'll admit that I'm not particularly enamored of the idea and that if she were any other female except your cousin, I would have found some way out of the tangle!" He turned serious. "You do believe me when I said that I didn't realize who she was, don't you? I am capable of many things, but not, I hope, of deliberately seducing a relative of one of my most intimate friends!" '
"I believe you," Royce answered without hesitation. "And I'm sorry that Melissa's actions have created this situation." He frowned. "I wonder what in the hell she was doing in your room."
Cynically Dominic drawled, "Oh, come now! We are both men of the world. You know damn well what she was up to-neatly springing a trap for an unwary foolme! "
Reflectively Royce stared at his glass of ale. It could be. He and Melissa had been close when they were younger, but there had been little contact between them for the past several years. What did he really know of her? Her situation certainly did lend itself to desperate schemes. Perhaps Dominic was right; perhaps she had seen a chance to snare a rich husband and had coolly seized it. It wouldn't be the first time that a marriage had been engineered by a calculating female. He didn't want to believe that of her, but in the face of no other evidence to the contrary, he couldn't see any other logical explanation for her having put herself in such a damning position.
Sighing, he remarked, "Well, at least you'll get something out of it. As her husband, you'll have Folly to control and you won't have to bother with the nonsense of being a partner in connection with the stallion." A gleam in his eyes, he added slyly, "And from what I saw when I entered the room tonight, you are not exactly immune to my cousin's considerable charms. You might even find that you'll enjoy being married to her."
Dominic scowled. "Not bloody likely! As for the horse, I've already agreed to buy half the animal, and whatever else I do, I will keep my word on that. She'll get her damn money and I will honor the bargain that we struck this afternoon." He grinned. "I'm not saying that I won't occasionally, er, overrule my `partner,' but I'll not come the heavy-fisted husband with her."
"Just as well," Royce replied, grinning also. "Melissa would more than likely comb your hair with a stool if you applied too much of a curb to her activities. She is not going to be a meek, biddable bride."
"No, she isn't," Dominic murmured with an odd smile. "And I am sure that I will rue the day I ever laid eyes on her, but I think I shall also enjoy taming her to my hand."
70
A companionable silence fell, and for several moments the two young men sat there, quietly drinking their ale, each one busy with his own thoughts. Suddenly, something occurred to Dominic and he chuckled aloud. At the sound Royce looked up at him.
"I was just thinking," Dominic began, "that there is going to be one person who will be over the moon about the results of tonight's doings-my brother's wife, Leonie! She had been scheming to get me married for years, and when she learns that I am at last going to be leg-shackled, she will be beside herself with elation. She will," he added with a wry grin, "be quite certain that she willed it to happen!" Seeing the expression of curiosity on Royce's face, he explained, "Before I left Chateau Saint-And-6 to come to Baton Rouge, she laid a curse on me-that I would find a female who would lead me a merry dance."
His eyebrows raised quizzically, Royce asked, "And you think Melissa will do just that?"
"Precisely that!" Dominic replied with feeling. "Marriage is not something that I ever contemplated, but if I had been hanging out for a wife, I definitely would have wanted a congenial and submissive one-not the vixen I am to be saddled with!"
"While you have my sympathies," Royce said dryly, "I think you are not as opposed to this marriage as you would have one believe. In fact, I have the greatest suspicion that you are actually viewing the prospect with some pleasure! "
Dominic smiled that odd smile again. "Perhaps." Then he added dulcetly, "After all, marrying her will gain me ' Folly."
Royce snorted and the two began to talk of more practical things, such as when the wedding would take place and where. Between them they decided that the middle of August would be the earliest date and that Melissa would probably want to be married from her home-if it could be refurbished in time for the event.
"If not," Royce said lazily, "I'm sure that Oak Hollow could be substituted. Nothing would give my mother more pleasure."
Once the initial plans had been made, Dominic became bored with the subject, and glancing at his gold pocket watch, he murmured, "Shouldn't we rejoin my bride-tobe and your father? I think that we have been gone long enough for Josh to have convinced her of the wisdom of marrying me. Not," he finished darkly, "that I believe she needed much persuading!"
Royce nodded and the two men rose and began to walk across the room. The area was dimly lit and Dominic looked idly around. It was only when they had reached the door that he saw someone he knew. Freezing, he stared hard through the smoke-filled gloom, recognizing instantly the elegantly attired gentleman sitting in the corner by himself-Julius Latimer. Dominic made an instinctive movement in that direction, but Royce, having just then spotted Latimer himself, quickly grasped his arm.
"Stop, you fool!" Royce hissed in Dominic's ear. "I know you would like nothing better than to throttle the bastard, but at the moment you have no grounds to charge over there and challenge him to a duel."
Knowing that Royce spoke the truth, unpalatable though it was, with an effort Dominic stilled the rage that had erupted within him at the sight of his enemy sitting there so calmly. Latimer had not seen them, and from the expression on his face it was obvious that the man had other things on his mind than an old enmity. A black scowl darkened his blond handsomeness, and briefly Dominic wondered who or what had caused Latimer such fury. There was an air of savage anger which fairly radiated from him, and from the manner in which Latimer slammed his tankard of ale on the scrubbed pine table, it was apparent to even the meanest intelligence that something had displeased him greatly. After one more glance, Dominic allowed Royce to hustle him from the room. Latimer would wait-there were more pressing matters to attend to tonight. He had a prospective bride waiting upstairs in his room, and with a quickening step he left his old enemy behind.
On the surface, Dominic might have seemed to have accepted his fate rather tamely, especially considering his oft-expressed contempt for the married state, and although there was a part of him that didn't find the idea of being married to Melissa Seymour too arduous, he did deeply resent the means she had used to trap him. Admittedly, there were aspects of the coming marriage that intrigued him, but he was not overjoyed at the prospect, nor did he expect his wedded life to be anything but a damn nuisance once his inexplicable passion for his bride faded-and he was still convinced that it was only a passing caprice on his part. He didn't like Melissa; she did not, he was quite confident, like him; he had never planned to marry, and if he had ever seriously contemplated marriage, it wouldn't have been to someone like her! Dominic might smile and jest about this evening's debacle and its ruinous effect, but inwardly he was furious.
He could not deny, however, that there was something about Miss Seymour that had caught his attention from the very first, and it was equally undeniable that when he kissed her, when he touched her, when she came into his arms, something utterly incomprehensible happened to him. He was suddenly possessed by a yearning, primitive desire-everything faded from his mind but the intoxicating sweetness of her lips and the seductive lure of her slender body. That type of uncontrollable passion was something new to him, and it b
oth excited and galled him. Consequently it was with a mixture of anticipation, anger and speculation that he entered his room. Standing just inside the doorway, he stared coolly across the room at the conniving creature who had brought about his downfall.
Melissa was seated primly on the only chair, her hands stiffly folded in her lap, her worn cloak covering the delectable charms that Dominic remembered far too well for someone who assured himself that all he felt was rage and disgust for her actions this evening. She met his stare with one equally cool, the topaz eyes icy, the soft coral lips held tautly and the set of her narrow shoulders making it abundantly clear that she was not pleased with the situation. Still pretending not to want to marry him, was she? Dominic thought cynically.
Josh beamed at him and said happily, "Ah, there you are! You'll be pleased, I'm sure, to learn that Melissa has seen reason and is aggreeable to the match."
Dominic wasn't surprised at her capitulation. Why else, he wondered sourly as his gaze traveled over her set features, had she come to his room tonight, if not to snare a wealthy husband? Yet even as those thoughts crossed his mind, he was conscious of a feeling of unreasonable disappointment. It would appear that his suspicions about her were correct, and he admitted for the first time that he had been hoping that she would prove not to be such a calculating female. Testily he said, "Well, I'm delighted that's settled! Now if we can come to some understanding about the actual wedding and such, we can put this less-than-pleasurable evening behind us." Not looking again at Melissa, he added, "Royce and I have been discussing the matter and, under the circumstances, -we feel that the middle of August would be a likely date for the wedding."
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