Page 34 of To Defend a Damaged Duke
“It’s barely past breakfast!”
“Yes, but the most extraordinary one of my life!”
Benedict attempted to glare at him, challenging when less than an hour earlier the man had lent him his pocket square to dab at his eyes.He turned back to Tommy instead.
“Lord Francis is aware of Lyndon’s underhand dealings,” he explained, not seeing much point in dragging it out.It wasn’t as if things could become any more humiliating.“And the…ah…information he is holding over me.”
“Like a veritable sword of Damocles,” Francis supplemented.“And he’s dangling it by a single hair!”
Regarding Francis properly, Tommy seemed bemused.“Allof the information, Your Grace?”he enquired in a pleasant tone.
“He is abreast of my uh…proclivities, yes.”Benedict felt himself turning the colour of a beetroot; he was relieved the library was devoid of a mirror.
“I say!”chortled Francis.“Abreastis a rather interesting choice of words, don’t you think, Benedict?Seeing as, you know, us fellas don’t exactly have—”
“Ah, good.Here’s the tea tray,” butted in Benedict as Johnson reappeared.“Do take a seat, Mr L’Esquire.And Francis, don’t feel obliged to stay.”This last bit he added with a pointed expression, which Francis overlooked.
“You are probably wondering, Your Grace, why I’m here so soon after last night’s contretemps.”Tommy made himself comfortable on the chaise before helping himself to the milk jug.“It’s with more unpleasant news, I’m afraid.”
Oh God.“I’m not sure I can stomach any more.”
A fresh surge of ice-cold fear coursed through Benedict, only tempered by a prickling disappointment on registering that Tommy hadn’t come calling for something else.
“It seems Lord Lyndon is planning a two-pronged attack,” Tommy continued.“You may recall when we spoke at Epsom that we touched upon your stable’s recent poor form at Newmarket?The blacklegs registered unexpected heavy losses, which my man Sidney brought to my attention.”
“He has many talents,” observed Francis, not entirely without malice.
“He does indeed,” agreed Tommy coolly.“One would do well not to cross him.”He took a sip of tea.“Fortunately, he is on our side.”
“What has my stable’s poor form got to do with Lyndon?”This time, Benedict did manage to glare at Francis.“He has never shown the slightest interest in horseflesh.”
“He does, however, have an interest in blunt, if I’m not mistaken?”Tommy smiled gently, his expression soft.
With a smile like that, if he’d informed Benedict that Lyndon had blown his beloved stable sky-high with gunpowder, he’d have accepted the news with equanimity.
“And Lord Lyndon is short of it,” Tommy added.
“Not as short as he should be,” commented Francis.“We were only discussing this recently, weren’t we, Benedict?He seems to have a limitless supply of ready funds he’s drawing from somewhere.Though…oh…”
He screwed his nose up again in that way he had.Isabella must have once informed him it was endearing.“Goodness, he’s…he’s nobbling our horses, isn’t he?”
“Hewas,” Tommy corrected in a careful manner, affording Francis even more attention than previously, and no wonder.Francis had jumped to the meat of the matter much quicker than Benedict.Perhaps because Francis was focusing his entire attention on the words spilling from Tommy’s mouth and not the mouth itself.
“You have a new stable boy, Your Grace,” Tommy continued after another sip, “who is perfectly competent, except also a bit of a rogue.He was employed by Lord Gartside, until Gartside’s hasty departure from theton, and picked up a few bad habits.One of which is accepting coin from people with vested interests in wishing a particular horse to run poorly.To ensure it happens.”
Benedict groaned with despair.“You’re going to inform me that Lyndon has been paying him for his talent.”
“Yes.”Tommy inclined his head.“I’m afraid so.With hindsight, it makes perfect sense.Your brother has enjoyed a surprisingly good run of wins at my blackleg stands recently—he’s been betting heavily on the second favourite in every race in which a horse running in Ashington colours was the losing favourite.”
“That’s why he’s so flush in the pocket,” exclaimed Francis.“Bravo for working it out, sir!”He paused, worrying his lip before regarding Tommy suspiciously.“How on earth did you?”
Tommy gave an elegant shrug.“It was all Sidney’s work.Gartside had pulled that trick on more than one occasion, and Sidney put two and two together when he strolled down to your stables to speak to Joe Jonas and spotted the lad.”
Francis raised a sceptical eyebrow.“What, and the boy kindly sketched a diagram while explaining his underhand methods over a pot of tea?”
“Sidney’s approach yields results, my lord.”A note of warning crept into Tommy’s voice.“I suggest you don’t pry too carefully.”
“It matters not how he came upon it,” stated Benedict, coming to Tommy’s defence.“That stable hand shall have his marching orders within the hour.”
