Page 16 of To Tempt a Troubled Earl
“No. How was it?”
“It was…” Lando sighed. He might as well tell Robert everything. He’d prise it out of him eventually anyhow; he always did. “We can put our blackmail concerns to bed. Mr Christopher Angel has rather shown his hand in that direction.”
Robert raised a questioning eyebrow.
“He kissed me,” said Lando flatly. “I was…quite foxed.”
Robert snorted. “And he was quite brave.”
“Yes. He is brave. He…he doesn’t seem to be fooled by my…my exterior. In much the same way as it didn’t fool Charles.” Lando closed his eyes again. “Or you.”
“So you like him.”
“Possibly.” He paused. “I like his mouth, anyhow. Isn’t that enough for now? A man’s heart and his…his physical needs are not one and the same, Robert. One is quite capable of placating the latter without involving the former. As long as one retains the upper hand. Surely, you know that.”
Robert let out a guffaw and helped himself to another iced fancy. “It’s too soon in the morning to be hearing about your needs. Let me dampen them for you.”
He pulled out a piece of paper. “I have Will Blandford’s summary of his enquiries into the goings on at Gartside, in addition to my own. At the last count, Gartside has three by-blows roaming feral, sleeping in barns, and relying on the goodness of the village ladies.”
Robert could have been describing his own fate if his and Lando’s father had been such a man as Gartside.
“The rest of it is outlined here. Cottages requiring work with a description of repairs and the costs needed for each. Wages, crops, the deplorable state of the schoolhouse.” Robert stood to depart. “I can’t stay, I’m afraid. I have fields to plough.”
Handing the list to Lando, his eyes flashed with anger. “Take it. Fuel your plan with it. Whatever assistance you need, I’ll be only too happy to provide. And as for the by-blows, come the winter months and they need good food and beds, you know where I am.”
*
LANDO’S CONFIDENCE INhis ability to retain the upper hand with Mr Angel lasted for the length of time it took for his handsome guest to arrange himself in a chair in Lando’s majestic library, thank Lando for his generous hospitality—again—then fix that warm, honeyed gaze on his host. There was a strength in it, Lando decided, feeling decidedly weak by comparison, a penetrating intensity. Added to a lethal concoction of boyish charm and self-possession. And Lando admitted he was quite flayed open by it.
“I trust your sister is on the mend,” he opened, grateful for the barrier of his solid mahogany desk.
“Very much so,” agreed Angel. “Thus, we should not trespass on your hospitality any further. Already, you have done so much.”
Lando waved him away. “I have only done what your uncle would have wished. I believe, via a… um… circuitous route, we have established that.”
He swallowed, struck by a pang of guilt for referring to his beloved whilst entertaining lustful fancies for his nephew. Somehow, this dimpled, perplexing youth, with his whispered messages and his lush mouth, made any desires Lando held in that direction feel less like a betrayal of Charles’s memory and more a natural fork in the road dividing the past and the future.
“And to that end, I have a proposal for Anne,” Lando continued. “My dearest sister over at Horton is seeking a governess for her three daughters. Her husband, Sir Angus, is a kindly man, and a Member of Parliament. He rarely entertains in the country. In fact, he is rarely in the country himself. The family join him in London once in a blue moon, so you can be assured your sister will not be plagued by unwanted male attention. I take it she reads and writes adequately?”
“More than,” answered Angel promptly. “Her nose is forever in a book. She is also uncommonly skilled at the pianoforte and has a smattering of French.” His shoulders dropped with relief. “All she has ever wanted is a simple country life. She would be most grateful, my lord. As am I. I don’t know how I could ever adequately thank you.”
Lando could enumerate several ways, a few of them encompassing the sturdy desk currently separating his newfound unseemly desires from his grateful guest. Nobly, however, he stayed quiet, as befitted his station.
“Then that’s settled. I’ll have one of my chambermaids accompany her on the trip and stay with her for a time until Anne is totally at ease. I’m confident she will find my sister’s scholarly household to her liking.”
Angel rose to his feet. “Thus, my lord. I shall also beg to take your leave. My family must not trouble your generosity any longer.”
Gadzooks, no. “I…ah…I haven’t quite finished with you yet.” Heat rose up Lando’s neck; that sentence hadn’t come out the way he’d intended. “What I mean to say is that you and I have unfinished business.”
He wasn’t convinced that was any better, but at least Angel sat back down again. A curious smile played on his lips.
There was a pause whilst Lando formulated his next few sentences. The plan that had been assembling at the fringes of his consciousness had now, since his discussion with Robert, taken full bloom. It was a plan so bold he could hardly believe his underemployed, overindulged mind had conjured it.
“If I was a bit vague last night, it is because I have been thinking long and hard about what to do about Gartside,” Lando began with a nervous glance up at his guest.And nothing to do with too much brandy.“I have also been making discreet enquiries.”
He pursed his lips. “In my possession is written proof that your poor sister is not the only girl of whom the baronet has taken advantage. Furthermore, he is an appalling landlord, and loyal Gartside tenants are suffering—matters which I can also demonstrate. He has gambling debts and several examples of poor form around theton.And if he is not taken in hand, there will be nothing left to show for his esteemed father’s efforts. Sir Horace Gartside, a dear friend of my father’s, was a good, honest man.”
“So I gather. The dowager Lady Gartside was also kind, if oblivious to her son’s behaviour. Anne had a fondness for her.”
