Page 31 of The Last Chance
Miss Lovelace peeled creased clothes off the sofa, holdingone dirty stocking aloft. “I think the maid’s duties involve more than emptying chamber pots and cleaning the grates.”
Aaron glanced around the room in disgust. “Men who abuse their positions should be hanged. Owning a gaming hell is considered scandalous, yet they say this is a gentleman’s entitlement.”
“The hypocrisy is astounding,” she agreed.
“You can wait in the carriage if you prefer.”
A grateful smile touched her lips, the sort that might disarm him. “I have a strong constitution and will give you my full support. I owe you my life, Mr Chance. Heaven knows where I would be had you not come to my aid.”
The air between them sparked to life, the charged energy heightening his senses. He could smell her perfume and hear the cadence of her breathing. The many ways she might show her gratitude filled his tortured mind.
“I fear you’ve been used as a pawn in a game to dethrone me.” He needed to feel the fire of vengeance in his blood, not these unwanted stirrings of desire. “I’ll not rest until this dreaded business is behind you. On my oath, you will reopen your club and return to the life you love.”
She stared at him. “Will we go back to bickering?”
“We like bickering.”
“Do we? I’m not sure I can berate you now that I consider you a friend. It’s an unlikely friendship, I admit, but I have a newfound respect for you, Mr Chance.”
Could they be friends?
Could she be his trusted confidante? A person who understood the boundaries and knew a sexual relationship was taboo. A friend who expected nothing but his abiding loyalty?
“We are friends,” he agreed. “Friends are allowed to bicker.”
She smiled like she’d found gold at the end of a rainbow.
In that moment, he wished he could love her. That he couldmake her his priority over those he had sworn to protect. Wished he wasn’t so cynical, so brutal, so emotionally detached.
Parker burst into the room—snapping Aaron out of his reverie—dressed in a flamboyant green banyan. He had never been more glad of an interruption.
“What the blazes do you—” Parker stopped upon recognising Aaron. Unable to get the next words out, he gaped like a marionette without a puppeteer.
“You know why I’m here.” Aaron considered the man’s crooked nose and the purple shadows beneath his eyes. “You abused one of Miss Lovelace’s guests at her club on Thursday night. You left threatening to sue and have the place closed down.”
Parker raised his hand in surrender, revealing the bruise from being struck with a poker. “I drank too much brandy and acted the lark.” He jabbed a finger at Miss Lovelace. “I was the one abused. Abused by two of her ladies. They attacked me and chased me out.”
Miss Lovelace stepped forward. “You shook Miss Beckett quite violently. And you were not in your cups but quite sober, sir.”
“Be quiet, woman. That house of ill-repute you call a club?—”
Aaron was on him in a heartbeat. He grabbed the fellow by the throat and pinned him to the wall. “Speak to her in that derogatory tone again and you’ll suffer more than a broken nose. You’ll show her some respect.”
He released the fool, waiting while Parker caught his breath.
“You left in a temper,” Aaron continued.
Parker rubbed his neck. “A lady hit me with a poker.”
“A witness said you returned later that evening,” Aaron lied. It was easy to convince a reprobate he’d committed a cardinal sin. “You were seen creeping upstairs to seek revenge. A woman claims you attacked her during the soprano’s encore.”
Parker pleaded innocence. “She’s lying. I left The Burnished Jade and went to my club. A place barred to crazed females.”
“Brooks’s.” Aaron made it his business to know everything about the men who gambled at Fortune’s Den. “How strange no one can vouch for you there.”
“I played cards with Walmsley.”
“Walmsley was at Fortune’s Den until midnight. He lost his racehorse to Sir Albert Compton.” Aaron cracked his knuckles. “You’ve lied to me twice. Don’t make it a third time. I’m not a tolerant man.”
