Page 49 of To Tempt a Troubled Earl
“Is that so.” Gartside’s lips pursed as he peered at Kit, much like one might a bug under a microscope. Kit resisted the twin urges to both avert his eyes from Gartside’s piggy scrutiny and to gabble. If his card-sharping days had taught him nothing else, it was that fast-flowing words were a ready sign of duplicity. Instead, he met the odious man’s regard with a level one of his own and tried not to fidget.
“You are fond of the finer things in life, I believe.” Gartside’s eyes flicked up and around the well-appointed library. “Good tailoring and horseflesh and so forth.”
Blushing on cue was beyond Kit’s acting repertoire, so he settled for lowering his gaze to the carpet. “I admit to those weaknesses, yes.”
Gartside inhaled in a noisy sniff. “Good. In which case, sir, I have a proposal for you.”
He spun around to face Jasper, who eyed him impassively. “You, man. Leave us.”
As if of his own choosing, Jasper strolled out, taking his time.
With another harrumph, Gartside returned his attention to Kit. “You have one minute to accept or decline. If you decline and word gets out of my offer, then I shall be left with no alternative than to suggest that it wasyouwho made the offer tome. And I shall report you to your superiors. Do I make myself clear?”
Kit dug his nails into his palm as he fought a desire to punch the air. “Crystal, Sir Ambrose,” he answered in a steadier voice than he imagined possible.
“Humph.” Gartside gave a brisk nod. “Very well. Two hundred pounds will be delivered direct to your pocket by my manservant tomorrow evening if you can provide me with your word that I am to be selected as Rossingley’s business partner. Another fifty when the deed is done.”
Kit’s dull nagging headache vanished.Two hundred pounds? A gentleman could run a small household on that for a year and not feel the pinch. That was a larger sum than he’d seen in his life. A thrilling fire coursed through his veins as he pictured what all of those pound notes would look like, heaped in a pile. Or thrown up in the air with abandon. Even his broken ribs were quiescent.
“What say you, sir?” added Gartside with a jerk of his wobbly chin.
Kit made himself count to ten, determined not to let his excitement, almost too big to be contained, overpower his intelligence.Two hundred pounds. This was it! Bar a small portion for his sister, the remainder he’d hand over to Lando so that Gartside’s ill-treated tenants might survive the winter. Vindication for his sister and every other poor chit the man had abused was so close he could almost taste it.
The sum Gartside offered was even bigger than they’d imagined. So pompous, so arrogant, yet the man was a fool of the highest order. Kit felt like punching him for being so stupid. To be on the safe side, he extended his count to thirty.
“I say…I say that you will make an excellent business associate for the eleventh Earl of Rossingley’s cotton ventures. Sir.” A smile of immense relief, itching to break out, spread across his face. Fortunately, misinterpreted by Gartside.
“Then we have a deal.” Darting forward, the baronet vigorously pumped Kit’s hand, forcing him to stand. Kit’s hiss of pain as an equally hearty backslap threatened to topple him went unnoticed by Gartside, too busy congratulating himself on his excellent deal. “I knew you’d see reason, Angel. Spotted you as a man of sound mind the minute I clapped eyes on you.”
“I’m…thank you. Flattered to be sure.” And then, as Kit felt obliged, he added, “Can I offer you some refreshment, a toast perhaps?” His eyes watered.Please decline. Every single one of his ribs had felt that backslap and his legs had suddenly liquefied, although that might have been secondary to the two hundred pounds bribe.
Lando had been right, this odious baronet’s character was the instrument of his own downfall. Gartside’s ruination was so close, Kit almost smelled it in the air.
“No, Angel. I shall be on my way,” Gartside answered curtly, his tone making no bones about the fact that socialising with Kit was far beneath a fellow of the upper orders such as himself. Thank God. “We shall reconvene on Rossingley’s appointed schedule. Whereupon I anticipate some excellent news.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
KIT HAD NEVERentered Lando’s bedchamber, though the hidden door in the panelling had tempted him more than once. Being invited into this private space was being granted permission to unveil another even more intimate layer of the man.
Muted, classical simplicity was very much à la mode in and around theton. The clean, sleek lines of Grosvenor Street’s reception rooms were replicated at White’s, at Rossingley, and had even reached the home of Kit’s former employer, Sir Brandon Gower, out in the provinces.
The fashion had bypassed Lando’s sumptuous bedchamber. As Kit stepped farther into the room, his dazzled gaze flitted like a butterfly from flower to flower. Far above his head, gilded hunting scenes ran amok across the plaster ceiling in lavish detail fit for a king’s drawing room. Below, his boots sank into the richly patterned fitted carpet as though standing on a mattress made of goose feathers. The white marble chimneypiece was wide enough to home a small family, the inferno merrily blazing away within sufficient to warm an entire village. Red silk walls and opulent upholstery complemented cream-and-burgundy silk bed hangings, themselves enriched with panels of delicate ivory-coloured embroidered flowers. The bed was a warm hug, an inviting haven of indulgence, steeped with pillows, throws, rugs; every item beckoning him closer.
Naturally, all of this passed him by in the blink of an eye because of…Lando, naked, in a huge claw-footed tub facing out towards the park. Shrouded in fragrant steam, he idly sponged a long pale arm while enjoying the view. Unable to tear his eyes from an entirely different view, Kit reached out a hand to steady himself, sucking in a deep inhale. What a glorious scent. What a glorious sight!
“I sense you bring excellent news, darling.” A ripple accompanied Lando’s greeting as the arm sank underwater. In proportion with the vast bedchamber, the bath easily hid his body, leaving only his head and shoulders visible, his blond locks damp and curling at his nape, resting on a cushioned pad. Around his neck looped a heavy rope of pearls.
“W…what?”
The thick pearls circled his long neck twice, glistening. Two droplets of water trickled down his cheek.
“I said, you must have excellent news. Your fists are hanging by your sides and unclasped.”
“Yes.” Kit’s limbs took on a loose, fluid quality. “Forgive me, I was…”
With a tilt of his chin, Lando indicated to the fireplace. “Pritchard has towels warming. Would you be kind enough to pass them? The water is cooling.”
“Of course.”
