AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“He will be.Your list opened my eyes to all the single bachelors still in need of wives.I tend to forget about all the earls, viscounts and barons who are hidden away on their estates counting sheep during the Season.I even had to decline a few nobles.Again, thanks to your discerning eye.”
“I’m not going to lose everything tonight, am I?”
“Only what you put on the table,” she said flippantly.“Now tell me, Matthew, who are you?No more raised brows or innuendo.I’m doing this partly because of the duchess and partly because I did earn a hefty piece of income from you already.”
Matthew sipped his drink.“You probably don’t remember.”
“Of course I don’t remember, numpy.Why would I ask otherwise?”Alice was dressed in satin with ruffles and lace, but she also wore a full-length lemon cloth pelisse that resembled something Lady Jersey wore the other night.Same modiste, no doubt.
“Jezebel Hardy is my mother.”
Alice was preparing to take another drink, but she stopped, mouth agape.“Jezzy is your mother?You’re Dukey?”
“The same.”
She set her glass aside and took a deep breath.She softened in a heap of womanhood.“My God.Dukey.My little Dukey.”She would have reached out and pinched his cheek if they were sitting closer.
“Jezzy might disagree with you.”
“How is your mother?I haven’t seen her in years.Years!She is still alive?”
“Yes.Living in Dover.She’s married to the Earl of Albourne.”
“She deserves whatever she can get.And you?How in the hell did you make it from emptying chamber pots to London’s most notorious moneylender and gossipmonger?”
“We don’t have to discuss chamber pots again.I’m a financier and newsman.It’s all how you frame it.I choose to frame my life in the best possible light, just like you do here at Dante’s Hell.”
“The Marquess of Dane may have started the establishment, but it’s mine now, with its own circles of hell” She finished pouring her drink.“It couldn’t have been easy, back then.”
“Life never is.What time do the games start tonight?”
“Ten.I’ll need to relieve you of your diamonds once the game is down to the final two players.”
“Naturally.Take care of them, Alice.They are irreplaceable.”Men lied to her every day.He wasn’t any different.
“The buy-in will be collected at the onset of the game, in exchange for tokens.The money will be kept in a safe.”She pointed toward the tall iron chest in the corner of the room.
“How many are playing?”Matthew asked.A keen sense of excitement worked its way through his blood and up his spine.New projects always did that to him.And he was just a little too happy to finally dish some well-deserved justice to Sandhurst.
“Eight.”
“That’s a hefty payout.”Aside from the announced cut of fifteen percent for the house, the winner would walk away with one-hundred and seventy thousand pounds and the Isis Diamonds.
“It will more than make up for any losses you might incur, in the open, at the table.”
“Except if I lose the diamonds.”Matthew took a deep breath.If he lost the real diamonds, Rose would be shocked and angry.Losing the fake diamonds could make him look the fool.But he had to have the prize for all to see, to even make the night possible and to tempt Sandhurst to the table.
He was about to find out how much courage he had, outside of a whisky glass.But Alice wouldn’t allow her reputation to be tarnished when this gambling soiree had the possibility of turning into something even more financially rewarding.
He wanted another whisky, but having a clear head seemed much more important.
Matthew finished his drink then thought of the note Sandhurst had written to the gang on Cato Street.It was no longer prudent to keep the letter hidden.He hoped Liverpool could be motivated to do something about his hidden nemesis.But when?There was always the possibility Sandhurst would be so outraged that—
The Ormulu clock on the mantel dinged merrily, completely unaware of the high stakes its toll demanded.
“Shall we,” Alice asked.Before they reached the bottom tier, she withdrew her arm.“For the rest of the evening, we don’t know each other.”
Matthew was very pleased that the men who were in deep financial trouble, like Easterling, hadn’t found a way to participate in the hopes of winning a sizeable kitty to relieve their suffering.He hoped Alice had chosen wisely.
