Page 35 of The Rogue's Last Scandal
“The bank,” he said. “The bank where the funds are being held. You’ll not want to leave all your money here.”
With her next breath, her emotions cleared. “Yes.”
Shehadbeen pondering running. It was good she had him to think this through logically.
“Do you know which bank your father was using, Miss Everly?” Bink asked.
“He did tell me. It was a Scottish name.” She pursed her lips. “Mack…Mack…” She shook her head. “Mack-something.”
“McLintoch,” Penderbrook said. “Or, MacIntosh is Bank of Scotland, is he not? Oh, but I believe he’s in Edinburgh. As well as…might you be mistaken? Kinnear and Sons—”
“You’ve done a study of Scottish banks, have you, Pender?” Charley asked.
Pender was looking for a position, any position. And the lady was frowning prodigiously at his friend’s doubting.
“I am not mistaken.” She waved a hand, juggling the sleeping child. “I will visit them all. McLintock, MacIntosh, Mac—”
“McCollum’s,” Bink said.
Gracie blinked and nodded. “It might be.”
Bink drummed his fingers on the table. “It might well be.” Plates and utensils rattled as he lumbered to his feet. “There’ll be no need to visit them all. We’ll go there first thing tomorrow morning.” He excused himself and left.
Charley stood also and signaled to Penderbrook. “I must go change my coat and cravat.” He flicked a spot of dried gruel from his shoulder and bowed to Graciela. “Ladies.”
Penderbrook hurried out behind him.
“Where are we going?” Penderbrook asked.
“Weare not going anywhere.Iam going to change coats, as I said.Youmay proceed to the next bank on your list of prospective employers.”
His friend’s cheeks reddened, and Charley laughed, slapping him on the shoulder. “I’m roasting you. Of course, you must have a position like a regular gentleman, somewhere in the government. We’ll both talk to my father when he returns. Meet me at White’s later tonight.”
Penderbrook hesitated and nodded. “You’re a friend indeed, Everly. I’ll keep my ear to the ground. Until later.”
Charley hurried to his room, changed, and left the house, before either of the ladies could track him down and demand to come with him.
The approaching hackneysqueezed down the mews and stopped at the door where Charley waited. He pulled his cap low and put down the steps, dipping his head like a faithful retainer. Swathed in a gauzy mantilla, the lady stepping down gripped his fingers and tugged him inside the dark stable.
She glanced around the empty stable and pulled his head down and kissed him, a long press of her mobile lips on his, totally without passion on her part, stirring none on his. When she squeezed his arm and stepped away, she glanced over her shoulder at her coach and shut the stable door.
“That was convincing, Duquesa,” he said.
The mantilla slipped back to reveal a tiny bonnet perching atop her golden coiffure. Blue eyes dancing, she smiled. “Perhaps someday, Charles Everly, it may be a real kiss.”
His thoughts flew to Gracie’s petulant mouth, and he reeled them back, forcing a grin. “You must take care. You’re playing a dangerous game. And what would your father say if he knew how you were carrying out his mission?”
“He will not care. He knows I will not allow that pig into my bed. As long as I am discreet…” She shrugged.
“Your men are outside?”
“At either end of this street. We may take our time. He will think, when he learns of it, that you have tupped me here. I shall attach a few pieces of straw.”
“I fear we don’t have that much time. You are blocking the mews at a busy of time of the day.”
She slid a hand up his arm and smiled. “It would not take long.” With a quick squeeze, her demeanor changed. “But now, we must get to our business.” She withdrew a paper from under her redingote.
Charley turned the letter over and studied the plain seal.
