Free A Wedding Wager by Jane Feather

time if you tell me when.”
    “Oh, I don’t want to dispossess you, Margaret. Indeed, there’s no need. A few minutes’ conversation is all that’s necessary, just to clear the air, so to speak. I can meet him in the dining parlor downstairs.”
    “No, I won’t hear of it. You will entertain him in civilized comfort up here.” Margaret got to her feet and went to the secretaire. She flipped through the pages of a day book. “On Thursday, I can be out the whole day. Will Thursday do for you?”
    “I don’t need the whole day,” Serena protested. “Just an hour or even half an hour will be sufficient.”
    “I shall be out all day Thursday,” Margaret respondedfirmly. “You may set whatever half-hour you wish from eleven in the morning until late evening. In fact,” she mused, “I may not even return in the evening.”
    Serena was intrigued. “A new conquest?”
    “Possibly. We will see how he performs on Thursday. He has a small hunting lodge in Windsor Park, and since he is rather beautiful and even more wealthy, I am anxious to try his paces.”
    Serena laughed, feeling lighthearted for the first time in weeks. “You are incorrigible, Margaret. Very well, I’ll write to Sebastian and suggest he meet me here at midday on Thursday.”
    She rose to her feet as the dainty ormolu clock on the mantel struck five.
    “I must go back. We dine at six before the doors open at eight.” She set her hat on her head, adjusting the position in the mirror above a console table, then slipped her arms into her pelisse before turning to embrace her friend. “I can’t thank you enough, Margaret.”
    “Nonsense” was the robust response. “I would be of service to you in many more ways if you’d let me, you know that, Serena.” Margaret hugged her, then stood back, holding Serena’s arms, looking closely at her. “Why don’t you just pack your bags and leave, my dear?”
    “Not yet.” Serena smiled a little mistily. “But soon. There’s one particular piece of mischief that I must forestall first.”
    “Oh?” Margaret raised her eyebrows again.
    “He’s getting his hooks into an innocent with a verywealthy papa. I have to stop it, and to do that, I must be there watching the general, ready to step in. If I don’t, the poor child will end up like my mother.” Her face closed, and shadows crossed her eyes. “I can’t stand by and let that happen.”
    Margaret said nothing. There was nothing to be said. She knew only a very little about Serena’s and her mother’s life with General Heyward before the latter’s death of what Serena had described once as desperation. But what she did know was enough to convince her of Serena’s resolution now to prevent anyone else suffering the same fate.
    “Well, you know best, of course.” She accompanied Serena to the head of the stairs. “But don’t forget you have a friend and a roof here whenever you need either or both.”
    “Thank you.” Serena’s violet eyes filled with tears for a moment as she fought the temptation to throw everything to the four winds and cast herself upon her friend’s bosom. But now was not the time. She would be strong for a while longer.

Chapter Four

    Sebastian received Serena’s note early that evening. It was brief and to the point: I will await you at 12 St. James’s Place next Thursday at noon. Do not reply to this. S.
    Sebastian’s gaze lingered over each pen stroke. He knew her writing so well, and it never failed to set his pulses racing. They had written many letters to each other in the past, ardent pages of lyrical prose, rekindling memories of passionate nights and equally passionate days. Serena had never been shy about expressing her feelings, and how he had relished the frankness of her desire, the naked lust apparent in her sensuous descriptions of their erotic encounters. Now he looked at the bald sentence and felt oddly bereft. Where was she? That woman who had so inflamed him.
    When he thought of those