Read Online Simply Scandalous by Tamara Lejeune - Free Book Online Page A

neat in your person.
I also was cursed with red hair-"
    "Were you, by God?" Swale exclaimed in astonishment.
    The Duke smiled smugly. "Didn't know that, did
you, sir? That is because I have always been properly
ashamed of my head. I always cut as much of it off as
possible and put the rest under a wig so as not to
offend anyone. Good God! Look at you. It nearly
touches your shoulders."
    "I am," said Swale expansively, "what I am."
    "I have always been told," his father said coldly, "first
by your mother and then by your sister, that there are
hidden depths to your character and that one day I
shall be proud to call you my son! That day has not
yet arrived. I have heard things, things which put
me to the blush."
    Swale's scowl deepened. It was only the Fifth Commandment that held his tongue in check.
    "You have nothing to say to me, sirrah?"
    "Sirrah!" cried Swale, unable to contain himself any
longer. "You sirrah me? My own father! You don't
mean to say you believe all this nonsense?"
    The Duke raised one of the two slender brows
painted on that morning by the steady hand of his valet. "I am told by creditable sources that you were
involved in a curricle race yesterday morning?"

    "Yes, obviously, I was," said Swale sullenly. "The
whole world knows it."
    The Duke brought his fingertips together. "And
who was your opponent?"
    "I had rather not say," Swale replied with a touch
of hauteur.
    "Did you or did you not compete against a female?"
his father demanded. "A female called Miss Juliet
Wayborn?"
    "I hardly call that a female," said Swale, rather surprised that the creature in question possessed a Christian name. "More of a fiend in human shape."
    "Is it true, sirrah, that you have been beaten by a
mere female?"
    "Dammed unnatural female if you ask me," Swale
muttered, the nettlerash returning to his face. "A
damned, dirty trick is what I call it! What does Wayborn mean, sending his sister out in his clothes?"
    "It is popularly believed," said the Duke dryly, "that
you hired two men to break his arm."
    "I don't believe his arm is broken at all. I heard the
man was put to bed suffering from nothing more
than a touch of influenza. That is precisely what I
said in my note."
    The Duke's frown was very stern. "What note?"
    "The note I sent 'round with the monkey that the
bloody female threw at me."
    "You damned fool! " said his father, and a bit of nettlerash peeped through the powder and paint so
carefully applied by his valet.
    "You don't expect me to keep his beastly money," said
Swale, shocked. "By strict rules, I was the winner, but,
really, after all ... I sent a note to Wayborn, wishing him a swift recovery from the influenza. Naturally, as soon
as he is recovered, I intend to shoot him. I daresay he
thought it a pretty fine joke, sneaking his sister past me,
but I don't go in for that shabby sort of thing."

    "I have had speech of Mr. Norton, the surgeon," said
the Duke in an icy voice, "and I am satisfied that Mr.
Wayborn's arm is broken. There is also a head injury."
    "And I expect you believe that I hired the ruffians
who injured him too," Swale said bitterly. "My own
father! Why the devil would I do such a thing? I was
looking forward to racing Cary Wayborn. I had as good
a chance as any man in England of beating him."
    "You! " scoffed his parent. "You couldn't beat Cary
Wayborn's baby sister, and you expect me to believe you entertained hopes of triumphing over the
man himself?"
    "That's hard," Swale observed belligerently. "And
anyway, the Wayborn doxy bloody well cheated. She
bloody well came to a full stop in the middle of the
bloody road. To keep from ramming her, I had to
swerve around. Bloody devious! I ought to have known
then I was racing a damned, interfering bloody female!"
    "Do you swear to me that you had nothing to do
with the attack on Mr. Wayborn?"
    Swale was incensed. "Do I swear?"
    "Yes, sir," said his father. "Do you swear?"
    "You are asking me," said