Page 50 of The Counterfeit Scoundrel
“Splendid. Now is as good a time as any to negotiate the terms for your services, I should think.”
She didn’t want him to pay her. She simply wantedto ensure he didn’t hang. On the other hand, he could well afford the expense, and as a businesswoman, she needed to save altruistic endeavors for those in need of charity. “I don’t negotiate. I have set fees.”
“I have a policy of never paying set fees. I always negotiate.”
She scoffed. “Even when your life is at risk?”
“Always start as you intend to go.”
“Is it your intention, then, to be a difficult client?”
“It’s my intention to be a client you won’t soon forget.”
As though she could ever forget him.
She again indicated the chair in front of her. He studied it as though it was the enemy before finally dropping into it.
“You don’t like sitting on that side of a desk,” she said.
“No. It’s not a position of strength. On the other hand, it doesn’t matter where I am in this office, my strength outweighs yours.”
“Don’t be so certain.” She announced her fee.
He offered double.
She furrowed her brow. “I’m incredibly flummoxed to discover that you don’t understand the principle of negotiation.”
“I understand the principle perfectly. What you don’t understand is the value I place on my life and my ability to continue to breathe. I don’t want you being approached by someone with a more interesting case and deciding to skip off in pursuit of it.”
She was struck by two things: his attempt to make light of his predicament and the very real possibility that he was in fact worried. “Am I to deduce by yourconcerns that you believe there is a chance they might decide you did the poor fellow in?”
“Unfortunately, I was rather testy with the inspector, and as you so succinctly pointed out, I have no proof I wasn’t there.”
“I suppose if I say I’ll take two-thirds of what you offered, you’ll accusemeof not knowing how negotiations work.”
“If you take anything less than what I offered, then you absolutely have no idea how negotiations work. Always take the best proposition, especially when the gent making it can well afford it.”
“Very well, that portion is settled. However, I have some conditions that must be met before I’ll agree to work on your behalf.”
His eyes narrowed until they mirrored a sharp-edged blade, a look he’d no doubt perfected to slice to ribbons another man’s objections before they were fully uttered. There was a terrifying aspect to it, and if she hadn’t spent a little over a fortnight in his household, she might have shown some alarm, but she kept her face passive, hoping, on this matter at least, he couldn’t read her thoughts. “Surely during your other negotiations, you’ve found more than money has been on the bargaining table,” she said sweetly.
A muscle in his cheek ticked. Finally, he gave a little nod of acquiescence. “What would those conditions entail?”
“Firstly, we must be completely honest with each other from this moment forward.”
“Were we not before?”
The audacity, to ask such a question as though he didn’t already know the answer.
“I am well aware that you were putting on a performance in your bedchamber whenever I walked in. Perhaps even at the Fair and Spare, since you’d already suspected my purpose in being in your residence.”
“Not at the Fair and Spare.”
And in your carriage, were you performing then?She had to bite her tongue to keep from asking, not certain if she really wanted the truth of it. “I have to be able to trust my clients, and they must trust me if I’m to deliver what they require.”
“What do you perceive that I require?”
“To be proven innocent.”
