the driver. “You can go on. I’ll make my way home when I’m done.” After making his way to his favorite club.
“Yes, m’lord.”
When the carriage rattling over the cobblestones disappeared into the traffic, Griff leaned against a lamppost and studied the three story brick building across the street. Not a single light appeared within. It was completely shuttered, abandoned, and neglected. The affinity he felt for the place was ridiculous, but he wanted it with a desperation that sometimes caused him to make foolish decisions, to wager recklessly in his hurry to gain it. It was for sale, but he didn’t yet have the funds to purchase it.
But he had plans for it. He wanted to restore it to its former grandeur and turn it into a club whose membership would be denied to the firstborn sons in line for a title. It would be for the spares and their younger brothers and the young men with wealth who were not welcomed among the ton. It would be for the wallflowers, the spinsters, and the young ladies who were overlooked because of family scandal. It would be a place for the misfits of Society—or those who should be in Society—to meet, visit, dine, drink, and engage in forbidden pleasures. But first he had to gain the means to make it all happen.
With purpose to his stride, he began walking, his destination Dodger’s Drawing Room. He had money in his pocket, twenty-five pounds in gambling blunt, all that remained from this month’s allowance. When it was gone, his wagering for the month would be over. He never borrowed, never asked for credit. Too easy to fall into the trap of thinking it could be paid back with the turn of a card or the spin of a wheel. He either won with what he had on hand or he lost. The night before, he’d won two hundred quid at the gaming tables, then promptly lost it when he’d gotten greedy and bet it all on one spin of the roulette wheel. He’d furthered his stupidity by then turning heavily to drink in an effort to ease the disappointment. Instead, he’d merely ensured a rather rough start to his day. But that was behind him, and it was time to begin anew. Tonight he needed to win.
Griff didn’t favor four-card brag, but here he sat at the table because it was the blasted Duke of Kingsland’s preferred game. He would rather have gathered some winnings elsewhere first, but as he’d spotted the duke shortly after coming into the club and a chair had been available at the table, he’d decided to get the unpleasant task done with.
At great inconvenience to himself. Perhaps he should insist on a favor from Lady Kathryn. He would have to give some thought to what she could possibly give him that would be comparable in value to this irritation.
The ante was called for, chips were tossed into the pot, and cards were dealt. After studying his, Griff discarded the one he didn’t wish to keep. He cleared his throat. “So, Your Grace,”—as Kingsland was the only duke at the table, he didn’t have to clarify—“I saw your advert in the Times. What precisely are you looking for in a wife?”
“Quiet.”
The word was spoken brusquely, dismissively, and Griff decided he was going to remain in the game until he’d taken every farthing Kingsland had. He was not a child to be told how to behave, to be seen and not heard. When he was done with him, the duke was going to regret his insufferable attitude.
After casting aside a card, Kingsland turned his attention to Griff and practically skewered him with a pointed look designed to intimidate, which he had no doubt practiced since birth. But it had little impact on Griff because he’d weathered the same stare from his father more times than he could count.
“I want quiet in a wife. One who will not disturb me when I am concentrating on important matters. One who rarely speaks but knows when it is important to do so.”
“You are familiar with women, are you not?” Griff’s comment was quickly followed by several chuckles from the other four gents gathered at the table.
“I am intimately familiar with women,” the duke said.
“Then you are aware that asking a woman not to talk is like asking the sun not to shine. Besides, why seek silence when you could have pleasant conversation?”
“It’s not as though you have to actually listen to the