A Lady's Trust (The Rose Room Rogues #2) - Callie Hutton Page 0,27
the session she was quite confident.”
Dante nodded. “Good. We could use her tomorrow.”
“Already?”
“Yes. Miles must travel to his home in Yorkshire for his mother’s funeral. Marcus can step into his place and Amelia can take over the vingt-et-un table.” He raised his cut crystal glass to take a sip and stopped. “Unless you think she can’t do it. I don’t want to put too much pressure on the girl.”
“I think she can do it. Perhaps I can stay close to her for a little while to offer support.”
Dante grinned as only his brother could. “Stay close to her, eh?” He finished his drink and slammed the glass down onto the bar. “Whatever you need to do.” With a smirk and a slight salute, he strolled away, chuckling.
Blasted brothers. Why did he need them?
Stephen was busy handing out complimentary drinks to members, so Driscoll sauntered over to the vingt-et-un table to watch the game for a while.
Marcus was indeed competent, and dealt the hands with ease, and a touch of boredom. It was truly time to move him into security.
With training Amelia, he hadn’t done anything with the books, so he made his way upstairs to the office. He raised the flame on the gas lamp on the wall by the door and headed to his desk.
He pulled out two ledgers and drew the stack of IOUs toward him. Most of the members arrived with enough blunt to see them through the night, but there were always those who gambled beyond what they’d brought or didn’t have enough to begin with and thought they’d make it up at the tables.
Even though he and his brothers owned a gaming club, he’d never been a gambler himself. As a young man fresh from University, he’d done his share of gambling, drinking and whoring, but soon determined there was nothing to be had for him in such a life.
What he never understood was how a man could gamble away his fortune, and in some cases, everything he owned that wasn’t entailed. As a general rule, they would usually escort a man out of the building if it looked like he was getting in way over his head. But in the end, they were running a business and that business was gambling. If a man wanted to throw his money away, he would just as easily do it at another club.
Numbers did not interest him enough tonight. Not with the picture in his mind of Amelia warm and soft and lying in a bed only a few doors away. He slammed the book shut and left the office again.
Thank heavens the night was almost over.
Amelia turned in her bed, crossed her hands over her middle, and stared at the canopy overhead. By the looks of the sun coming through the window it must have been close to noontime. Although Driscoll had left her at her door a little after two o’clock that morning, it was nearer to five before she fell asleep.
She’d spent a great deal of time tossing and turning in the bed. At first her body was simply uncomfortable. She ached in places of which she was generally unaware. Her nipples were sensitive and the area between her legs was heavy and moist.
Then once that had passed, her brain deliberated repetitively on the kiss she and Driscoll had shared at the door.
I want you so much, Amelia. Do you have any idea what you do to me? I’m tortured with the idea of you sleeping here, so very near to my office.
She shivered each time those words replayed in her head. It troubled her immensely that, had Driscoll continued his assault, she might have invited him into the bedroom.
Whatever had she been thinking?
The last thing she needed was that complication. Her life had never been in such turmoil. She needed to remember her plan. Save money. Leave London. Start a new life. Driscoll Rose had no part in that plan. She still wasn’t absolutely certain that he, or Dante, would not turn her over to Randolph had they discovered her situation.
She was amazed at how her trust in humans had shrunk since her own stepbrother had offered her up as payment for a debt. Since her contact with men had been quite limited, she had no idea if that was the way most of them behaved. Until she was sure, she intended to stick with her plan, and put Driscoll far from her mind.