Page 48 of The Rogue's Last Scandal
Chapter 14
“You sayyou will be willing to talk to my fiancé?” Graciela asked the banker.
He tapped the pads of his fingers upon the open file.
Mr. Gibson roused like a sleeping giant. “You’ve already discussed Miss Kingsley’s business with Carvelle.” It was a growl, latent with violence. “Really, McCollum?”
“As her fiancé—”
“Wait.” She planted her palms and leaned across the desk. “You will discuss my financial affairs with the man I am to marry? Is that correct?”
“In extenuating circumstances—”
“Which these most certainly are.” She glanced to Charley and prayed his locked jaw did not bode an unwillingness for more play-acting.
The banker’s face was equally grim. He opened his mouth.
“Very well,” she said firmly. “It has not been announced.” She grasped Charley’s hand. “But my guardian, Lord Shaldon, has given his approval. Mr. Charles Everly and I are engaged to be married.”
Charley experiencedthe absence of air that must precede a swoon. The only firm sensation was the grip of Graciela’s slim fingers, and the only thing he could see beyond the black dots was the desperate pleading in her eyes. He focused there, willing himself to breathe.
He was a man. Men did not swoon. Not even over an unplanned engagement. He had survived worse moments.
And the warmth in her eyes, the twin pools of emotion there, made him want to cast off his coats and dive in to rescue her.
He laughed at his own ridiculous poetry. “My dear.” He clamped his other hand over hers and turned to the stiff banker. “Do you know, McCollum, I cannot even put my arm around my lady for the pain it causes her. I would have called out both Kingsley and Carvelle, if I thought they had any honor to challenge. And if my lady did not object to dueling.”
He would, however, make them pay, and enjoy that process.
She was blinking hard, her eyes shining, and it sent a warm buzzing through him. He touched a finger to her smooth cheek.
“Now, McCollum, we will know the condition of my fiancée’s finances, or the Earl of Shaldon will hear about your cooperation with the villains who subjected her tobeatingsand an attemptedrapein order toembezzleher funds. Perhaps the next news sheet will even mention her bank. Do you want that?”
All the color drained from the jowly face. Why on earth Bink had picked this bank and this banker, he couldn’t imagine.
“McCollum’s Bank does not embezzle.” He exhaled loudly. “I do truly run an honest business. I have done my best to safeguard the lady’s funds and counsel moderation. Please, Miss Kingsley, be seated.”
They all sat. McCollum reached for that file again and pulled out an account sheet.
“You have Miss Kingsley’s records ready upon your desk.” Yet he’d said he would have to call for Bink’s.
Under his neckcloth, the banker’s throat jumped. “Kingsley and Carvelle called on me early today. Before the bank opened.”
Bink caught his eye, looking grim. “To withdraw funds.”
“Aye.” McCollum rubbed his jaw. “It was three quarters of the balance, they wanted. They brought me that news sheet also, as if I hadn’t already seen it and made the connection. They said that Miss Kingsley had been taken and they had received a ransom request. In fact, I saw the ransom note.”
“It is a fake.” Graciela’s voice shook. “Or...” She looked to him. “Who would do this, Charley?” She looked away, and shook her head.
His heart lurched.Not I.A ransom note had not been part of their devious plan to undercut Kingsley. “Three quarters of the balance. Why not ask for all?”
“Did you give it to them?” Bink asked.
“No.” He slid the paper across the desk. “I told them such an amount would take a few days. Miss Kingsley’s trust is quite large, and the money is invested, you see.”
Charley took the sheet and scanned it, his head pounding wildly. Graciela’s wealth was substantial, even with the series of escalating withdrawals. She was a significant heiress, a prize ship worthy of a pirate king or a smuggling lord. Lord Kingsley might have murdered his wife and married her. A mere quarter of the remaining amount would sustain a lord for years to come or make a man a potentate in some parts of the New World. How the devil had her father amassed that fortune?
He handed her the paper and watched her study it.
