Once More, My Darling Rogue by Lorraine Heath

Author:Lorraine Heath
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Historical Romance, Victorian, Fiction
ISBN: 9780062276247
Publisher: Avon
Published: 2014-08-14T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 15

As the hansom rattled through the streets, Drake cursed himself. He’d nearly told her everything, everything he knew about her and who she was, everything she’d once known about him. But telling her meant ending the farce. Ending the farce meant her leaving his household.

He’d been quite arrested by her tonight. Her courage, her determination. Her description of laughter. He wanted it. Balling a fist, he pounded it against his thigh. He did not want to be intrigued by her, did not want to get to know this woman who lived in his residence. He wanted to be rid of her. And he would be as soon as he had a better grasp of how she’d come to be in the river.

The driver pulled the cab to a stop in front of Dodger’s Drawing Room. For the first time in his life, Drake was not focused on his responsibilities here. He always worked from dusk until dawn and beyond. Phee was serving as a distraction he could ill afford. His obligations, his life took place within the walls of the gaming establishment. Beyond it, his life entailed eating, sleeping, existing. It was only at Dodger’s that he truly lived.

But he’d never laughed uproariously within those walls.

Suddenly he had an insatiable desire to laugh until his sides ached.

The hatch above his head opened and he handed up the money to the driver, who then released the latch on the door. Drake leaped out, charged up the steps, and crossed the threshold into the building that had the power to destroy and rebuild. Fortunes were lost here. Fortunes were made.

He’d taken only three long strides inside when he knew—knew—he was being watched. Jerking his gaze up to the shadowed balcony, he was unable to make out any form or figure, but he knew Jack Dodger was up there. The man’s presence was so bold and powerful that it could be felt even when he wasn’t visible. In his day he’d managed Dodger’s with an iron fist, and on occasion he returned to stretch his muscles. Tonight was apparently one of those occasions.

By the time Drake reached his office, Jack was sitting behind the desk pouring whiskey into two glasses. Even now, dressed in the finery of a gentleman, Jack had the look of the streets about him. Gray feathered through the dark hair at his temples. His eyes were dark, alert, assessing.

Drake wasn’t about to take the chair in front of the desk, to place himself in a subservient role. He was the overseer here, and while Jack might be the majority partner, the public face behind Dodger’s, Drake was now responsible for its management. Taking the offered glass, he walked over to the window and gazed out. Jack intimidated many, but not him. Like the man at the desk, Drake was a product of the streets. He was not one to be frightened, cowed, or bullied.

“I wasn’t expecting you,” Drake said.

“That’s the whole point, to see how things are managed when one doesn’t know that I plan to stop by.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.