The earl mulled it over for a bit, weighing whether forgoing the money was worth it for the sake of antagonizing his daughters.
“You can’t tell me what to do,” he tried, puffing his chest out.
“I would never dare to, Father. I only thought to prevent you from having to stay here; you always say how we drain you. I figured you might use the money to recoup some funds. You’ve always been so proficient at providing for your family at the tables. Few men have your skill at wagering.” There was some truth to that. At one point, the earl had made himself quite wealthy through betting. Unfortunately, his skill was eclipsed by his inability to quit while ahead.
“You are correct that time in the company of three such stupid girls is quite a waste for a mind such as mine. I’ve been damned toatrophy every time I enter my own home. A man isn’t meant to live as such!”
“Quite right, let me go and get the funds now, and I’ll be back in a trice!” Harriet hastened from the room and galloped up the stairs, hoping he wouldn’t harm either sister in her short absence. She retrieved the bag, but not before shoving three coins back into the boot. One for each sister at home.
Harriet raced downstairs and sneaked outside to find a hack. She offered the driver a coin if he’d wait a few moments. She returned to the kitchen to find her father at the table, eating the cheese the girls had just brought home.
“There is a hack outside for you. I’ve paid the man to wait. Once you get in the vehicle, I will give you the money.” Harriet prayed this plan would work.
“You’re quite the manipulative bitch, aren’t you?” Hamish asked, although with an odd touch of fondness. “If you’d been a son, you might have been worth something.”
He tucked his hat under his arm, grabbed the small bag he’d brought in with him, and the rest of the cheese, then stood. As much as he loathed to be managed by a woman, staying at home with his daughters had always been a last resort for him. And now he didn’t need to.
Harriet followed him and, as agreed, handed the money through the hack’s door, closing it and tapping twice to let the driver know to embark.
There was one thing taken care of. Now she simply had to figure out how to make three pounds last her sisters as long as thirty-fourpounds lasted her father. She hadn’t spoken with Alexander about an allowance, and she didn’t know when she might see him again to ask for one. Would asking paint her as a fortune hunter? Certainly, no one with even half a mind would mistake her for one. Before Alexander, she’d aimed to marry an academic!
Mr. Dawkins!Harriet had quite forgotten him in the shuffle of arriving home. Once the dictionary was finished, she might have a small bit of income. That decided it: She’d pay a call to him tomorrow and reveal herself.
It had been six days since he’d arrived home. She should have been here by now. Charleston would have sent word if anything happened. The man had a folding flintlock, no doubt they were safe. The carriage was not marked with his seal. What the devil had waylaid them? Had she discovered a new phrase? Another filthy word? Had she found a new person to talk to?
He shouldn’t have left her alone. It was unforgivable. What sort of manabandonedhis wife?
The sort that was going to ravish her if he didn’t.
Alexander paced around his study, doing his best to refocus his concern on his carriage and driver. Andnoton Harriet. He hadn’t wanted a wife! Ever. Definitely not a bluestocking wallflower who kept slips of paper with filthy words in her reticule, whose mouth drove him to distraction. Who did not want to fuck him.
He wanted to drink and dance and fence and philander at will; he wanted not to feel as if he was being monitored. More, he wanted towantto return to the beds and the balls of high society.
In faith, if she did not return to London, his problem would be solved. So why was he so uninterested in that outcome?
Not knowing what else to do, he marched to the door and grabbed his hat and gloves, mostly as an overture toward decorum. He arrived at Giuliana’s no less troubled.
He nodded to the butler as he entered, handed over his effects, and showed himself to the sitting room. Like any mistress worth her salt, Giuliana sailed into the room within minutes.
“I’m surprised to see you so soon,” she purred. Only a man who knew her as well as he did would hear the dismissal in her sultry greeting.
“First of all, I’m going to make you pay dearly for the chemise you lent my wife.” Giuliana bit back a smile. “I’m married, by the way,” he added.
“Good. I had hoped she’d pull it off. I liked her.”
“She’s quite … persuasive.”
“Yes, I know. Charleston told me.”
“What the devil did she persuadehimto—” Alexander began, before realizing something. “Charleston told you? He’s back? Back here?”
“He arrived four days ago.”
Alexander leapt to his feet.
“Where is she?” he bit out, frothing with worry, which—like many men—he masked with anger.
“I assumed she returned to your house.”
