deep breath. “I always thought, until I spoke to Jean-Jacques a few days ago, that you had got everything that was due to you.” He gazed at Christopher. “Did you at least get the bank draft?”
Christopher met his gaze. Slowly he shook his head.
Henry groaned and closed his eyes. “God damn him.”
Christopher was silent.
When at last Henry opened his eyes again, he forced himself to meet Christopher’s gaze. The man’s face was quite unreadable. He’d changed in that respect, Henry thought. He used to wear his heart on his sleeve.
“What did Parkinson say to you?” he asked.
“Not much,” Christopher admitted. “He gave me fifty pounds and told me I had to get out by the next day.”
“What?” Despite everything, Henry was still shocked to hear that.
“He wasn’t unpleasant about it. Simply factual. He said you were finished with me, and I was to leave.” He tilted his head, eyes narrowing as he tried to remember the long-ago conversation. “I think I said, ‘But we have a contract.’ He laughed at that part. As though I’d lost my mind. And then he said—and this part I do remember quite well—‘People like you do not have contracts with dukes.’”
Henry stared at him in horrified disbelief. “But we did,” he breathed. “And he knew that I fully intended to honour that agreement. Back then, he knew all my business.”
“Back then?” Kit echoed. “Doesn’t he work for you anymore?”
“He died years ago,” Henry replied. “Soon after it was discovered that he’d been stealing money from me, and from my father before me. My father had taught me to trust him, and Parkinson himself had never given me any reason to doubt him.” He paused, then added, “I’m only surprised you took no action against me. Isn’t that how these things normally work?”
Christopher flushed and turned away. He muttered, “I was a fool back then. I wouldn’t let Mabel—Madame Georgette, that is—do anything to you. The money from Parkinson was enough to pay her most of her cut, so she agreed to leave you be.”
Henry’s gut clenched. “You gave her the fifty pounds?”
Christopher sighed. “Yes. Like I said, I was an idiot. Later I wished I hadn’t been so stupid, but at the time I was convinced it was the right thing to do.”
Henry was almost afraid to ask the next question, but he made himself do it. “And what did you do after that? How did you manage?”
Christopher shook his head.
“Please tell me,” Henry pleaded. His voice was hoarse.
Christopher’s face, when he turned back to face Henry, was furious. “I was a whore! What do you think I did?” He shook his head. “Anyway, what do you care, Henry? You left. You had no intention of returning and you didn’t return. You never checked up on me once, till now, or likely gave me a second thought. It’s all water under the bridge.”
“I did think about you,” Henry said in a low, driven tone. “Too often, in truth, when I ought to have been thinking of others.”
“I understand,” Christopher interrupted tersely. “You had to put your family first. It’s not as though I didn’t always know that was the case. What eludes me is why you are here now, all these years later, when, to be frank, it’s too late for apologies.”
“I want to make it up to you.” Henry reached into his coat and drew out the papers Reid had drawn up for him. “Here,” he said, thrusting them into Christopher’s hands.
Christopher opened up the folded pages and stared down at the lines written there, his brows pleated in confusion. “What’s this?”
“My solicitor wrote it up. It explains that I’ll either transfer the Paddington Green house over to you with the sitting tenant so you can collect the rent, or pay you the equivalent value. You’ve only to decide which you prefer. And of course, I’ll pay you the three hundred pounds you ought to have had, and the back rent you’ve missed.”
Christopher thrust the letter back towards Henry, the neatly written pages shaking in his grip. “I don’t want that,” he said angrily. “Not any of it!”
For a moment, Henry could only stare at Christopher, shocked. Then, slowly, quietly, he said, “We made an agreement. You must allow me to honour it, Christopher, I shall be wretched if you don’t.”
Christopher stared at him in astonishment. “I must allow you to”—he broke off, giving a harsh laugh—“I think you’ll find that I can do whatever I please, Henry! You didn’t give two hoots