interest to me, nor I to them. Then too, I have a certain reputation for trafficking with the demimonde, and the most protective of parents would not turn a sweet young thing over to my keeping. I need a woman who is practical, and experienced enough in the ways of the world that my peccadilloes will not dismay her. She must be of suitable rank and willing to marry immediately. I believe Lady Leah meets those criteria, and we appear compatible in the ways that matter.”
Wilton laughed shortly. “If you think so, I’ll not dissuade you.”
“You’d accept a match between us?”
“You are in a hurry, aren’t you?” Wilton took a leisurely sip of his tea, pinky extended just so.
Go ahead, fool, enjoy your moment of power.
“I made a promise to my father,” Nick said. “He has been patient with me for years, but his health is precarious, and if I delay now, there will be mourning to observe.”
“Are you asking, then, not just for permission to court, but also permission to marry?”
Nick studied his hands. He wasn’t quite up to making them tremble, except possibly with the need to choke the life from Wilton in the next two minutes. “I am asking for both, if the lady will have me.”
“Her wishes are of little concern to me,” Wilton said, “but trouble yourself over them if you must. What terms do you have in mind?”
“Given the haste with which I make this request,” Nick said, “I suggest we get down to specifics now. I might be called to Belle Maison at any moment.” Forgive me, Papa. “What specifics do you offer?”
The earl arched an eyebrow, and Nick conceded the man had balls.
An apologetic smile was Nick’s next feat of histrionics. “I believe a dowry is customary?”
“Oh, really, dear boy.” Wilton let go the most irritating laugh. “You cannot expect me to pay to have you take her off my hands, not when I’ve been keeping a roof over her head these many years long past her come out?”
As if Leah’s brothers hadn’t supported her in Italy out of their own pockets, as if she hadn’t served as Wilton’s unpaid housekeeper, as if Wilton hadn’t begrudged her every groat…
“There are many ladies who do not find a match in their first few years in Town,” Nick pointed out. “I was under the impression Mr. Lindsey had taken some interest in his sister’s welfare.”
“A jaunt overseas.” Wilton waved a hand. “What makes you think I wasn’t footing the bill for both of them?”
Offensive in every sense of the word, but a question and therefore not quite a lie.
“I cannot claim to have any knowledge of your family’s personal arrangements,” Nick said evenly. “Are you suggesting Lady Leah is to have no dowry?”
“She most assuredly is not,” Wilton snapped. “I am guessing, Reston, that your father’s circumstances have robbed you of the natural prudence a man in your position should show. Let me speak to you as a father, though, when I tell you she forfeited her dowry years ago, when she brought scandal and shame to this family. She made her bed, so to speak, knowing full well I could not countenance the option she chose. If you want her, you’re welcome to her, but you will pay for the privilege.”
“I will pay?” Nick knit his brows in the expected display of consternation, and he took a long, perhaps worried-looking sip of his tea.
“You will.” Wilton smiled evilly. “You’ve boxed yourself in with your promise to your papa, young man, and Leah can get you out of that box, if I allow it.”
Beelzebub’s pizzle, the man was unnatural. “So what are your terms, my lord?”
“Your own finances are reputed to be improving, Reston.” Wilton’s pinkie finger was back in evidence. “If you are provided an instant countess, they will likely continue to grow, particularly as you take your seat and gain influence in government. For that privilege and Leah’s role in it, you will compensate me a certain sum.”
He named a figure, and Nick rendered in return a virtuosic display of restrained, gentlemanly dismay.
“If I provide that sum,” Nick said after a suitably awkward silence, “you will approve of a marriage by special license?”
“If you provide the sum prior to the wedding, yes.”
“I see.” Nick nodded, and nodded again as if thinking furiously. “Well…”
“Well.” Wilton rose. “Why don’t you have your solicitors get to work on it, and when you have a draft of something, have them send it along to mine. I