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“A little.” The man gulped again. “I regret to say… I cannot pay at this time.”
“How much does he owe?” James turned his focus on Michael. His friend reached for a table nearby and opened up some papers, revealing a total sum that he passed to James. “God’s wounds,” he muttered. “I pray you do not have a family, sirrah. I’d hate to hear of a family dependent on your poor fortunes now.”
“I do have a family, Your Grace,” the man said meekly. “Two young-uns and one that’s old enough to be taken from school.”
James cursed under his breath. He could see Michael was equally aggrieved at this news, shaking his head and muttering under his breath.
It would not be the first time James had demanded money from his customers. Frequently, some of them needed a helpful reminder that his business wasn’t a charity. It was their own doing if they got themselves into such trouble that they couldn’t pay him back. Merely the year before, James had seen one customer go to debtors’ prison, not only incapable of paying James but his other creditors too. That man was alone though, unmarried, and without a family depending on him.
James thought back to the moments when he was at university, learning as much as he could. He’d been absorbed in his studies the day a letter had arrived from his father, telling him of the dire circumstances the dukedom was in. That was many years ago, but he hadn’t forgotten that night. The world had come crashing down around him in that moment, and life had been different ever since.
I’d hate for that to happen to this man’s children.
“I cannot let any customer of mine not pay, sir.” James lowered the papers to the table and slowly turned back. “Equally, I have no wish to bankrupt a man and his family. So, I will propose a deal for you. A payment plan. You will pay the gambling hall back your debt but in instalments. I hope you have a fair job, sirrah, for you will need it. In the interim, you are banned from the gambling hall.”
“Banned? But I could win my money back. One good hand, that’s all I need, Your Grace!” Mr. Waters’ desperation made James’ lip curl in disgust as he exchanged an uneasy glance with Michael.
“Gamblers always think the same. The luck of the next hand will save them, they think. Take my advice, we make our own luck in this world; we don’t win it.” The latter words were harsh enough to urge Mr. Waters to flinch in his seat. “Come, to your feet. I’ll show you to our clerk where your payment plan can be drawn up.”
James and Michael led him to an adjoining room where they left him with the clerk preparing the paperwork. Once done, James and Michael left with them both hurrying to the carriage that awaited them in the streets of Covent Garden. Darkness had fallen, and the only light spilled out of the gambling hall windows and from the one lantern the driver of the carriage carried.
“Do you think he’ll pay?” Michael asked as they climbed into the carriage, and James hastily lit the lantern that swung from the roof of the carriage.
“He will, given time; he must. Or in the end, we’ll have to report him.”
“Ruthless, James.”
“It’s necessary.” His voice was calm as he sat back and looked at his friend’s face. “If we’re too charitable to one customer, what’s to stop us being too lenient with them all? I won’t let us fall into bad ways.”
“So disciplined,” Michael laughed. “You remind me of one of my old school masters. We were never allowed a word out of turn. It’s a wonder I like you.”
“Ha! I am not so bad.” Though James knew the truth… his discipline sometimes came across as callousness. Michael was his closest friend, and for all the teasing, they would never abandon one another. They both knew what it was like to suffer at the hands of a father with financial trouble. “I have my rules, that is all. No liquor, no gambling, nothing that could risk me.”
“You have one weakness though,” Michael said as the carriage moved away, jerking with rickety wheels over the cobbles in the road. “Women.”
“Women? Hardly.” James laughed deeply at the idea, knowing exactly what Michael was referring to. His reputation as a rake seemed to be growing, not out of intention, but it was a natural thing. The ladies he’d been with had always known his offer – a night of passion, nothing more. “They are not my weakness. I am as disciplined in that regard as I am in any other.”
“Truly?” Michael chuckled at the idea. “You do not allow yourself a glass of port, but you allow yourself women? You must admit, your discipline faulty in that regard.”
“Indeed, it does not.” James shook his head. “Allow me to explain, my friend. I do not have a rule of no women, no. My rules are different. No love, that is simple. No affection, no courtship, no marriage, nothing of that kind.Thatis my discipline, and it has served me well.”
“No love, eh?” Michael seemed intrigued by the idea, his smile growing. “I wonder if it really is possible to discipline one’s heart the way one can control a drinking or gambling habit.”
“It’s possible. Believe me.”
CHAPTER1
“Do you know what I’m thinking?”
“Quite frankly, Lord Rutherford, I shudder to think.” Marina’s words didn’t appear to affect Baron Rutherford at all. She might as well not have spoken for all the good it did. He leaned toward her, quite ignoring the fact they were at Lord Frampton’s ball with many witnesses to watch them together, and he whispered in her ear.
“I am thinking of what our first night will be like together when we are married, Marina.” The suggestion made her blood boil.
Turning her back on the Baron, she reached for the nearest drinks table, clutching to the edge of the table to keep herself standing. It was stacked high with crystal glasses and champagne bottles that never quite seemed to be full, for people were so eager to drink. Marina barely noticed the fine decorations. She ignored the napkins that had been shaped into swans and the myriad of candles thrust into ornate crystal holders. She reached for a tall glass of champagne and drank it quickly.
If I am to go through with my plan tonight, I will need all the courage I can summon.
Yet Baron Rutherford followed her, stepping so close that his arm brushed her waist, and she jumped away from him.
