A Little Bit Scandalous Page 0,4

with a common archeologist?

Of course, Cabot was the best there was. The man wasn’t in London very often, but he was nursing an injury and had been home for nearly three weeks. Roe had tried several ways to contact the man, but to no avail. Damnation if he didn’t need Cabot since the men currently working for Roe were having no luck finding Constantine’s Shield. In fact, the men seemed no closer to it than he and Christopher had been nearly a decade before.

They had become interested in the artifact during a holiday stay at Cambridge and too much time in the library there. Christopher had found mention of it in an ancient text. Legend stated that before going into battle, Constantine had a dream that Christ instructed him to imprint the Greek letters for “Christ” on his shield and it would protect him. The following day, Constantine ordered the symbol printed on all the shields of his soldiers. But the first one made, Constantine’s Shield, was said to be specially marked and would be the most valuable. So had begun their quest. Someone would eventually find it; it was one of the most sought-after antiquities. But unless it was Roe, then his name would not be attached to the discovery, and he owed the man at least that. Had Roe not been so hell-bent on discovering the blasted thing, he and Christopher might not have taken that fated trip to Persia. It had been his bloody idea and he had to live with that.

Finding the damned antiquity would at least make it seem as if some of it had been worth it, worth Christopher’s life. Roe would go himself, go back and dig in that God-forsaken sand until his hands bled, but he didn’t deserve the pleasure of discovering the artifact himself. So he stayed in London, played cards, and funded whatever he could to make certain the shield was eventually found.

Perhaps the card playing would work to his benefit in this one situation, though. Cabot enjoyed the game, and Roe had tried once before to invite the man to join his table, but he’d declined. Cabot favored playing in the back room at Rodale’s, the room where the commoners and workingmen played.

The carriage stopped in front of Justin’s townhome and Roe made his way to the front door. A surprised-looking butler greeted him and led him into Justin’s study. It was on Roe’s tongue to make a sly remark to the butler when Justin walked into the room.

“Just now coming home for the evening?” Justin asked.

“Why is it that everyone assumes I do not know what morning is?” Roe took a seat across from Justin’s desk.

“You have such a strong aversion to mornings and daylight hours in general that I was beginning to wonder if perhaps you’d become a vampire.” Justin sat and offered his brother a genuine smile.

“An interesting notion, but no.” Roe sat back in the chair, extending his legs out in front of him. “I suspect I could be quite a good vampire, though.”

“Indeed.” Justin’s hand clasped together on the desk. “Now, what is it that you need?”

“What would you say if I asked for money?” Roe asked.

Justin’s brows rose in surprise, then folded in on a frown. “That seems unlikely, but if you need money, of course I would give it to you.”

“I don’t need any money.” They’d had this discussion a handful of times over the last several weeks, but Roe felt certain he could convince Justin to give him entrance. “I want to play the boy. The one in the back room.” Roe had started hearing rumors about a young man, known mostly as “the boy” who was on quite the winning streak. It was said he was the most skilled player at Vingt-et-un, other than Roe himself.

Roe had asked to play the boy on a few occasions, but Justin had not agreed, but now he knew that Cabot was in that back room as well and this might be the best opportunity to gain a face-to-face meeting with the man. He’d didn’t require his brother’s permission. He could do as he pleased. But he knew that the men who played in that backroom did so partially to get away from their employers, aristocrats the likes of him. Playing there would likely cause a disruption, so he’d sought Justin’s approval thinking that would ease the breach into that sacred space. The time had come to truly convince Justin, though. It was important