through the park, each wearing or carrying a king’s ransom in jewels, coins, or even deeds.”
Louis shook his head. “You have learned nothing from France.”
“Not a thing,” said Killarney, oddly cheerful considering the topic, “but I insist that we steal any capes or greatcoats that our targets are wearing. I’ll happily pay anything for the warmth alone, so you can count that toward the total.”
“I don’t think that’s in the rules of the wager,” countered Conway.
“Nonsense! We must earn a thousand pounds apiece, and so that must include the value of any goods we acquire. I’m in the market for a greatcoat, and if I’m willing to pay a monkey for it, then a monkey goes to the total we manage to steal.”
The two of them began to squabble the point, but this was too much for the duke to handle.
“Damn and blast it, if you don’t both hold your tongues this instant, I’ll shoot you dead and claim a market value of five thousand pounds per corpse!”
“I say, there’s no need to be like that,” said Conway, puffing himself up with indignation.
“We’re almost at the road,” said William, deciding to intervene before a new argument began. “We must be quiet if we are not to alert any of the coachmen to our presence.”
“You could have just said that instead of threatening us,” Conway told Roehampton, sniffing at the end of his sentence.
Dook just shook his head.
William wondered if any of the rest of their group were starting to sober up as well. He’d gone along with the preparations for the bet with inebriated enthusiasm, glad to have a distraction from thinking about Amelia. On the short ride into Hyde Park, the cold weather had begun to gnaw at his bones, his head had started to ache, and the sheer ridiculousness of the bet they’d made had begun to dawn on him.
“Louis,” he said quietly, so none of the others could hear. “Did the bet specify whether we had to steal money or whether goods counted to the final tally?”
The chevalier opened his mouth to answer, paused, and then closed it again.
“I do not know what it said, now I think on it,” he eventually replied. “Roehampton, what did Fellowes state about the money we had to steal?”
It was the duke’s turn to look thoughtful. Louis had not kept his voice down, unfortunately, so Conway and Killarney had heard the question. They all brought their horses to a standstill and regarded each other in silence.
“Did…did anyone actually read the terms of the wager?” William eventually asked, rubbing at his eyes and wishing that his brain would stop pounding against his skull.
“Dook always takes care of such things,” said Killarney with a vague wave of his hand, but Roehampton was not about to accept blame so easily.
“I thought you were watching him write out the terms. You stood right by him!” he complained. “Besides, William is the responsible one! He’s always there to keep us out of trouble!”
“I was drunk!” replied William as his companions all turned to stare at him expectantly. “And you all signed before I had a chance to, so honor meant I had to sign without questioning anything, or else I was insulting all of you.”
“So, we do not know what counts toward the final tally,” said Louis slowly. The silence stretched out for a few moments before he threw back his head to let free a raucous laugh. “I am so glad to be your friend! Life will never be boring in your company!”
Killarney, on the other hand, looked slightly green. “Good God, I don’t have the five thousand to pay if we lose. Everything is mortgaged to the hilt until my marriage, and I had hoped to put off becoming leg shackled to Miss Carter for another year at least.”
“You think that’s bad, I’m not even in charge of my own fortune for another year,” muttered Dook. “The odds of my uncle releasing the funds to pay for a lost wager are close to none. I’ll have to sell one of the horses to meet the obligation, blast it all.”
“We are not going to lose the bet,” said William sharply, calling the attention of his friends back to him. “I got us into this mess, so I will get us out of it as well, if for no other reason than I refuse to let Lord Fellowes win so much as a groat from us, do you understand?”
They stared at him mutely, which he decided