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far more money than he’d anticipated, even if Lucien Howe never repaid a farthing of what he owed her. Was a hundred thousand pounds worth dealing with an irate, possibly incensed, viscount? Or at worst, if the damned loan was forgiven, eighty thousand pounds?
Gerard was pretty confident the answer would turn out to be, for better or for worse, yes.
Chapter 6
On the third day after Lady Howe had made her proposition, Gerard went down and told the landlord he needed the private parlor for the evening and was expecting guests. The man gave him a knowing look, as if Gerard would be entertaining a bevy of courtesans or similar creatures, and promised to make the arrangements. When he showed Gerard to the room after dinner, there was a bottle of wine waiting with a pair of glasses, a crackling fire, and the drapes drawn. Gerard thanked him, poured a glass of wine, and sat down to wait.
Hour after hour crept by. The fire burned down, and the wine disappeared. By the time the faint sound of a church bell chiming ten filtered into the room, he had almost decided she wasn’t coming. Combined with the wine, this put Gerard in a grim temper. She had thrown down her gauntlet with its tempting prize at the end, begged him to consider it for three days, then not even sent word she wasn’t coming back. The landlord brought another bottle of wine, and Gerard filled his glass again. If she didn’t arrive by eleven, he was going to bed, and at first light he would be on his way, focused once more on the rather pressing business he’d put aside at her instigation.
Of course, it might not be her fault. Perhaps she was being kept under lock and key, strictly watched, and had no chance to come to him. That was fairly melodramatic, even for a miserly, stiff-necked chap like Lucien Howe apparently was. Perhaps the solicitor reported back to her, unflatteringly, about Gerard and his prospects. Perhaps she changed her mind about her proposal to marry a man she didn’t know—or a man on the verge of scandal and disgrace. Or a man who visited her solicitor for an exact accounting of her fortune before deciding whether or not to take her as his wife. Reflection, aided by the wine, mellowed his mood somewhat. There were so many reasons why she shouldn’t return, Gerard was mildly startled when the door opened at last, and her frumpy servant peeked in. She scowled when she saw him but stepped back out of the doorway, so Lady Howe could come in.
As before, she was hidden in a plain dark cloak, the hood enveloping her face. She stopped short when she saw him lounging in the armchair, one boot on the fender, his coat and waistcoat unbuttoned.
“I was beginning to worry,” he drawled, when the silence grew taut and uncomfortable. “I thought you’d changed your mind.”
She pushed back the hood. “Why would you think that?”
He shrugged. “You were the one who insisted I delay for three days. That’s plenty of time for a lady to change her mind. Of course, since I agreed to consider your proposition, it would be only polite to return, even if merely to tell me personally that your offer was no longer good.”
She stared at him, her mouth flattened in a tense line. “Please, Captain, do not waste my time or yours. Have you an answer for me?”
Gerard pushed off the fender and stood up. The bottle of wine humming through his veins magnified the urge to unsettle her, to exert some control over the situation. To let her know just what she was getting in him while she still had the right to slap his face and walk away. He glanced at the older woman, hovering in the shadows behind her mistress. “You may go.”
The servant woman puffed up like an angry hen. Lady Howe blanched. “I would like Mrs. Dennis to stay.”
“And I would like some privacy,” he said in a silky voice. “If she doesn’t go, I will.”
Her eyes darted from side to side, but she nodded at her servant. “Wait outside, please, Birdie.”
With one more black look at Gerard, the woman left, pulling the door to behind her. He ambled across the room and pushed it shut the rest of the way with a bang. He ignored the startled exclamation from outside the door and turned to his future bride. She raised her chin and held