Free The Danbury Scandals by Mary Nichols

young fellow, if you
throw in the rigs as part of the stake.’
    ‘Done.’
    They shook
hands and left the table together. ‘Give you a ride home, me boy?’ the Duke
offered.
    Mark laughed.
‘Thank you, Cousin, it will give me a chance to see what I’ll be getting when I
win.’
    ‘If you win,
young fellow. If.’ Arm in arm, they went downstairs and out of the front door.
A footman offered to fetch his carriage, but His Grace waved him aside. ‘Get it
ourselves.’
    As the two men
reached the stables, a groom came out leading a riding horse, a great, restive
bay which threw back its head as if wanting to rid itself of the hand that held
the snaffle. ‘Easy, easy, ol’ fellow,’ the groom soothed, then, seeing the
Duke, he added, ‘I’ll have yours harnessed in a shake, Your Grace.’ He tethered
the horse and turned to go back to the stables, passing a man coming out.
    Mark stopped in
his tracks when he saw who it was. ‘You!’ he said, taking a step towards him.
‘You dare to stay around here!’
    ‘I have no
quarrel with my hostess,’ Adam said calmly, going to pass him. ‘Nor yet with
you, if you would but believe it.’
    ‘You, Sir, are
a coward,’ Mark went on. ‘And if that will not make you fight I shall continue
to say it all over the country until you do.’
    ‘Hey, what’s
afoot?’ His Grace asked, looking from one angry man to the other.
    ‘It is a private
matter,’ Adam said.
    The Duke
laughed. ‘Lady, was it?’
    ‘This
gentleman...’ Mark’s voice was heavy with sarcasm ‘...has insulted a lady for
whom I have a high regard. I called him out, but he will not fight.’
    ‘Strange, I
would not have put him down for a coward,’ His Grace said. ‘Markham said he had
served with distinction in the war.’
    ‘Yes?’ Mark
sneered. ‘In whose army?’ He smiled suddenly as an idea came to him; there was
a way to kill two birds with one stone. He turned to Adam. ‘If you haven’t the
stomach for a fight, will you accept another kind of challenge?’
    ‘I will accept
any challenge which does not involve the unnecessary shedding of blood.’
    ‘A race. Have
you cattle and a curricle?’
    ‘No, but I can
get them.’
    ‘Five miles,’
Mark said. ‘Where and when to be decided. Do you accept?’
    Adam smiled.
‘With pleasure. And I’ll back myself to the tune of a thousand guineas. That
should make it worth the effort.’
    ‘Done,’ said
Mark, not daring to think what might happen if his plans went awry and he lost.
‘Though you will understand if I prefer not to shake hands on it. You will
learn time and place by letter.’
    ‘You may
contact me with the details at the home of my lawyer, Mr Robert Rudge, at
Adelphi Terrace.’ Adam bowed to the Duke. ‘Your Grace.’ Then he strode over to
the bay, unhitched it and leapt into the saddle.
    He did not feel
like returning to Robert, with whom he was staying; he needed to think. He set
off to ride on the heath until his anger cooled.
    It was directed
more at himself than Mark Danbury. He had been a fool to allow himself to get
into a situation where he could not defend his honour, and all because of a
girl. He smiled to himself. But what a girl! He hadn’t meant to kiss her again
but simply to talk to her, to try to explain his dilemma. Instead... Sacre
Dieu ! Why did she have to be a Danbury? Why, when he had almost decided to
leave well alone and return to France, did he have to meet her? She made him
feel light-hearted in a way he had not felt since his happy childhood had been
shattered by the Terror. He forced himself to think about it, to remind himself
of why he had come to England.
    He remembered
Louis Saint-Pierre, the only father he had ever known, pleading with Maman to take the boy to England. ‘I have made provision for you there,’ he had said.
‘Go to Joseph Rudge and I will join you when I can.’
    She had refused
and then the Committee of Public Safety   - what a misnomer! - had sent men to arrest them,