Queen of Diamonds by Barbara Metzger

Author:Barbara Metzger [Metzger, Barbara]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: FICTION
ISBN: 9781611871326
Publisher: Untreed Reads Publishing
Published: 2011-06-27T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

Harry did not become the laughingstock he feared.

The sporting gentlemen, at least, appreciated a good fight. The bored husbands and fathers liked anything that could enliven an evening at the opera. The scandal sheets celebrated anything that sold newspapers. They termed Harry Viscount Vengeance, and pictured him as a warrior angel, complete with wings. Or an eagle, launching itself over the private boxes of the opera.

Harry preferred the angel, he supposed. He liked best the cartoon of a black-haired Blind Justice, with a beauty mark.

When he went to his club, after staying in his rooms at the hotel for most of the next day while his bruises turned from purple to yellow, he found himself welcomed with a camaraderie he had never known.

He was a hero now, one of their own, not the vicarish chap who made the other members feel inferior with his righteousness. Damn if Harking was not up to every rig and row, hunting for his diamonds, a Diamond on his arm.

Harry stopped denying that Madame Lescartes was his mistress. No one would have believed him anyway, the way she leaped to his defense, or the way he leaped to hers when someone spoke her name with disrespect. He ensured that the gentlemen spoke politely about her simply by inviting anyone who considered doing otherwise to a bout of fisticuffs. No, not at Gentleman Jackson’s—that was too civilized for the new Harry—but in the nearest alley. After seeing him in action at the opera, the blood lust and the brute strength, no one took him up on the offer. Madame Lescartes? Lovely female, talented too. Maybe they would send their womenfolk around to her shop.

Sympathy was on Harry’s side anyway. Martin was known in town, and not liked. Too many people had lost to him at cards under doubtful circumstances. Too many others had waited too long to be paid for Martin’s losses. Play and pay, that was what the men admired, not cheat and chisel.

“I always knew he was a dirty dish,” Lord Cholmondely pronounced.

“Bad breeding,” another gentleman declared.

“Poor sport.”

Unfaithful on his wife? Feh. Letting tradesmen and tenants go begging? Bah. But holding a sword to an unarmed man? For shame! Harking was doing the world a favor by ridding it of that trash.

Harry could not like being the center of gossip, nor the skewed values that made him a hero. He did not like his own behavior, either, though, so he could not censure anyone else’s.

Still, now everyone he knew was on the lookout for Sir John Martin.

Unfortunately, Harry had been the last to see the scum scuttling through the crowd, Martin’s nose leaving an untrackable trail of blood. Lord Harking would have to go to Bow Street.

* * *

Queenie was not shunned either.

The morning after the opera she expected cancelled orders, missed fitting appointments, and an empty store. Instead she was busier than ever. The courtesans wanted their gowns, and a glimpse of Harry. Camden’s sister wanted to look like a queen. Other ladies simply wanted a good look at Lord Harking.

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