Lady Guinevere and the Rogue with a Brogue - Julie Johnstone Page 0,104

to return the lands to me, but he refused. Then shortly after you first appeared in London as the celebrated new heir, your brother found me at White’s and offered me a wager that I could not seduce Lady Constantine, whom he himself had tried and failed to seduce.”

Asher narrowed his eyes. “Get up.”

Kilgore frowned. “What the devil for? We only just sat.”

“Because I’ve not properly thrashed ye yet. Ye deserve more blood dripping from ye for wagering to seduce Lady Constantine, my wife, and—”

“Your wife? I never bloody wagered I could seduce Lady Guinevere. You can look at the book at White’s yourself, and you will see the truth.” It was Kilgore who now narrowed his eyes. “Did Talbot tell you that lie?”

“Aye,” Asher said, fury flowing through him and another suspicion. “He also said I could check the books at White’s myself.”

“Damnation,” Kilgore swore softly. “I was deep in my cups that night, and I barely glanced at what he wrote. I took him on his word that we wagered over Lady Constantine only.”

“His word,” Asher said, bitterness filling him. Either Pierce had changed the wager at some time later or the original wager had been as he’d said and Kilgore had never bothered to look when he was sober. Either way, Pierce’s word was worthless. He’d been deceiving Asher all along. Lord X had been Pierce in his little story.

“You’re a fool for believing him.”

“A sodding fool, for certain,” Asher agreed, angry with himself.

“Your brother had dubbed Lady Constantine ‘the Ice Queen’ and was making a large show of it in the club. He challenged me specifically and said if I could seduce her, he would give me a tiny portion of my land back. I was desperate, and I am not proud of that decision.”

Kilgore paused, took a long swig of his drink, and then swept a hand through his disheveled hair. He looked miserable as hell.

“Let us say,” Kilgore continued, “that I succeeded in my pursuit, but if either of you ever repeat that, I will come for you. I will come for you like Satan comes for the souls of the damned.”

“I’ll never repeat it,” Asher assured him, and Beckford nodded.

“I—Well, things became complicated between the lady and I, and I was engaged in ways I did not expect.”

Beckford snorted. “Ladies have a tendency to complicate things.”

“Aye,” Asher agreed, thinking of Guinevere.

“I would have offered for Constantine, but…”

Asher understood. Kilgore was poor and prideful. He had a title but none of the trappings to go with it.

“I almost did anyway, but then I learned that she has a sizeable income from a deceased aunt, and it disappears if she weds; it goes to the next spinster niece.”

“Ah,” Asher said.

“Yes.” Kilgore sighed. “I could not in all good conscience render Constantine a pauper.”

“What of her dowry?”

Kilgore shook his head. “It’s passable, but my debts—” His jaw clenched. “I was stuck, and your brother gave me yet another offer.”

“Like the devil,” Asher bit out.

Kilgore arched his eyebrows. “Precisely. And I but a blind sinner. If I would kiss your wife on the balcony—you know the one—”

Asher wanted to hit Kilgore again, but instead, he said, “Aye, it’s burned into my memory.”

Kilgore scrubbed a hand over his face. “I am sorry.”

“I still want to hit ye.”

Kilgore nodded. “Shall I get up?”

Asher had to think about it for several, long moments. “Not yet.”

Kilgore inclined his head. “For the kiss, he would give me yet another tiny portion of my land back.”

“He’s masterful,” Beckford said.

“Aye,” Asher growled. “He learned how to be calculating from the best—our father. So ye kissed Guinevere that night, and…”

“And Elizabeth was to ensure you saw it. She was—” Kilgore paused “—enceinte and desperate for a husband that met her requirements. You were her choice.”

Rage beat through Asher. He had discovered afterward that Elizabeth had been with child, but he had never thought she had been involved in such an elaborate scheme created by his brother. “Why? What was Pierce’s purpose in this? Driving Guinevere and me apart did not change the fact that I was heir and he was not.”

“No,” Kilgore agreed, “but I’m not certain that was his main goal. He has never said, mind you, but he has made comments over the years, and the way he watches your wife…”

“Damnation.” Asher had been sodding blind. “He wants Guin. Why the hell not simply pursue her, then?”

“He might have, and she denied him? He might not have the courage? Who knows,” Kilgore said.