Page 15 of Grasp the Thorn
Bear raised his eyebrows. “I cannot dismiss you, because I did not appoint you. Your old school friend recommended I use you for a couple of tasks. Here. Ten pounds should cover it.”
“I cannot believe you are dismissing me over a light skirt.” Pelman took the money and tucked it inside his coat, then glared at Bear. “She must really have you gulled.”
“Goodbye, Pelman.”
“I rode all the way out here to check that you were well, just to find that you are taking that whore’s part against…”
Bear took a threatening step forward and Pelman scurried for the gate. Obnoxious worm.
By the time Mr Gavenor returned from seeing Mr Pelman from the premises, Rosa had restored the parlour to rights. Thank goodness, Father had slept through the whole incident. He was sleeping more these days, which she appreciated on the one hand, and worried about on the other.
“Where were you hiding?” Mr Gavenor asked with that amused quirk of the lips.
“Under the table,” she admitted, “with my work basket. And a very tight fit it was, too.”
“That was quick thinking,” he said.
To distract herself from the pleasure his approval gave her, she asked, “What did Mr Pelman want?”
“To find out whether I am bedding you,” he said bluntly.
Rosa felt herself turn scarlet, though with temper or embarrassment, she could hardly say. “The horrid cur! He thinks everyone is of the same stamp as him, the lecherous, arrogant, nasty fool. I am sorry to bring such insult upon you, Mr Gavenor.”
The amused twinkle reappeared. “Men do not consider themselves insulted if accused of attracting the attention of a pretty woman, Miss Neatham.” Then, with a frown, “I reproved him for the insult to you, however.”
“He asked me himself, you know,” Rosa admitted. “Starting when he first visited with the new baron, after Lord Hurley died. At first, I thought he was courting me. He was, I suppose, but not with marriage in mind. When he made his proposition, he was not pleased I said ‘no.’”
“The cad,” Mr Gavenor said. “Has he been bothering you ever since?”
“Not all the time. He took up with Penny Able, and then there was a widow who came here to live for several years. But after Father’s fall, he has kept returning. He refuses to believe I would rather die than be his mistress.”
Mr Gavenor’s lips twitched again. “He is a remarkably obtuse man. He refused to believe I was dismissing him as my agent.”
“You dismissed him? Why?”
Both blond eyebrows jutted toward his hairline. “You can ask? He has been persecuting you, Miss Neatham, and using me as an excuse for it. It is intolerable.”
Ah. When Mr Pelman involved Mr Gavenor in his campaign against Rosa, he ruffled Mr Gavenor’s male pride. Rosa had seen pride drive both Lord Hurley and her father. Men were odd creatures. “He means to drive me into a corner where I have no choice,” she said, “and I cannot understand it. Why would a man want a mistress who hates him?”
“He is too puffed up in his own conceit to believe you hate him,” Mr Gavenor said.
“He will have to accept it.” Rosa nodded firmly, determined to find some way to survive that did not include prostituting herself to her persecutor. “Even if I am driven to selling myself so I can look after my father, it will never be to Mr Pelman. Although, I have not the first idea how one goes about seeking a buyer for such a service.”
She gasped. “Oh dear. I cannot believe I said that out loud.” She hoped Mr Gavenor would not think she was asking him… Her cheeks burned with such heat she could barely look at the man.
This time, the quirk turned into a full grin, but Mr Gavenor just said kindly, “We will pretend it unsaid, then, shall we?”
“Please. I feel such a fool. Dinner must be nearly ready, Mr Gavenor. Shall we see?”
CHAPTER 11
After dinner, Bear sighed over his notes, which had become wet and then smudged in his pocket. Miss Neatham twisted her head to look at the ledger into which he was transcribing his findings.
“You have a neat hand,” she observed.
“It was beaten into me at school,” he told her. “Horrid place. I was never more pleased than when my mother decided to buy me into the military.”
“You went straight into the army from school?”
