Fortune's Son by Emery Lee

Author:Emery Lee
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub, pdf
Publisher: Sourcebooks, Inc.
Published: 2011-01-10T23:00:00+00:00

Twenty-Six

Virtue for Honor

Philip elbowed his way through the hazard room with a mind to locate the object of his obsession and make whatever amends he could for his earlier surly behavior. If she had exercised good sense and deigned to take his advice, he would find her with the dowagers playing at whist or loo.

Giving her the benefit of doubt, Philip meandered into the blue salon, where those not whispering the latest on-dits hidden behind ornately painted fans frowned in concentration over their cards. He surveyed the chamber filled with vibrant silks and the white powdered wigs adorning old beaux and grande dames, cerused and patched in the prevailing fashion. Finding no sign of the woman he sought, he groaned in vexed frustration and doggedly went forth to the nefarious gold room.

***

With hands clenched and breath bated, Sukey awaited the next flip of the cards.

“Four wins, seven loses.”

“King wins, six loses.”

The tallière continued in an almost soothing monotone, but with every call of the cards, Sukey’s pulse rose and abated like an incoming tide.

“King wins, ace loses.”

Disbelieving her ears, Lady Messingham stood mutely, as if stunned. The croupier swept away the five hundred guineas she’d wagered on the ace, half her winnings lost in one fell swoop!

“So very unfortunate how your luck turned, madame,” the tallière’s voice oozed false sympathy. “But should you wish to recoup your loss, a simple request of credit is all that would be required.”

“But I have lost five hundred guineas,” she said. “To win it back would require doubling my current wager.”

“Then you wish for an advance of a thousand?” The tallière presented the marker as benignly as an offer of refreshment.

The compulsion to reclaim the fortune that had slipped elusively through her fingers was overpowering. Her hammering heart filled her ears, but dismay at her loss overcame any remaining good sense. Her attention was so engaged that she failed to notice Philip’s appearance as she scribbled her initials.

His expression bespoke a gathering storm. “Just what the devil do you think you are doing?” he demanded, but didn’t await her reply. “Take your payout and leave the table now, my lady.”

“How can you ask it of her, Drake?” George protested. “She’s had but one bad card the whole night. Even you have never had such a run of luck.”

With eyes blazing, Philip spun around to deliver a lambasting to her failed guardian. “I expressly asked you to look after her, George, not bloody encourage her! Surely you know better than most that luck is easily manipulated for the unwise and unwary.”

George glared. “And what is that remark supposed to mean!”

Ignoring him, Philip’s attention shifted between the dealer’s resentful glare and his lover’s pale-cast visage with an uneasiness he couldn’t explain. His initial, rapid assessment had cast the tallière as just another mincing popinjay, and probably a sodomite to boot, an unbidden thought that made his anal sphincter reflexively tighten. But the banker had looked upon Sukey with a lingering and predatory interest that couldn’t be denied.

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