Page 81 of Once More, My Darling Rogue
“The club that I manage—Dodger’s Drawing Room. Is the name familiar?” he asked.
She shook her head. “Should it be?”
“It’s quite well known. You knew I oversaw it. I just thought—” He shook his head. “Doesn’t matter. Anyway, it’s owned by three partners. One of those partners is the woman who took me in and raised me as her own.”
Blinking she released a startled laugh. “A woman owns a gambling hell?”
“She was once the bookkeeper. Thirty years or so ago, London was very different, darker. Before that, more different, more dark. The three partners survived the streets, became successful. I owe her my life. I owe all of them for what I now hold. But I believe the purpose of tomorrow’s meeting is to decide the club’s fate, and I fear that they might decide the time has come to close it.”
“What will you do if that happens?”
“I’m not sure. I hope to persuade them otherwise.”
“And if you can’t?”
“I shall open my own establishment. Begin anew.”
“I can’t imagine all it would take to start over.” She furrowed her brow. “Although I suppose in a way I am.”
“I’ll have an advantage, though, if I must start over. I already know everything involved, everything I’ll need to do. The notion of beginning again rather excites me. I’ve long wanted to own my own place, but my loyalty is to them. That’s why I need to organize my thoughts, to convince them there is still money to be had, and that I can keep them in the flush.”
“You’d sacrifice your own dream for them?”
“I doubt I’d be around to dream at all if not for them.”
How could he possibly think he was anything like his father, a man who had ended his life at the end of a noose? “I know I don’t remember you from before, Drake Darling, but I know you now and I can say with utter confidence that you haven’t a shred of your father in you. Your loyalty to those who have helped you along the way, your kindness to me ... You are a man who deserves all the good in life. I hope you acquire it.”
“You humble me, Phee.” He cradled her cheek. “You are a distraction I can ill afford.”
“Will you return before your meeting?”
“Afterward.”
Leaning in, she kissed him deeply, thoroughly. When his arms closed around her like tight bands, she broke away and scooted off his lap. “That was for luck,” she told him with a grin. “Whatever you need to accomplish at your meeting tomorrow, you will succeed. I have full faith in you.”I love you, she almost added. Could she love him when she had known him only a short time? Did she need her memories to know him fully? She didn’t think so.
She started to leave him, had only taken three steps when he called out to her. She turned back to him.
“You, Phee, are an incredible woman. I’m not sure I ever realized that before.”
“Perhaps you’ll give me a day off then.”
He laughed deeply, richly. “Perhaps I’ll do more than that and take you to the seaside.”
“I’d like that very much.” Smiling brightly, she walked from the room. Even if she had all her memories, she doubted she’d recall a moment when she’d been happier.
Chapter 20
Their meetings were always held at a square table in a corner of Jack’s library. Drake assumed it was their rendition of a round table. No head. No foot. They each had a side. They were all equals. From the moment he’d become the manager of Dodger’s, he’d had a place at this table. When he was seventeen, he’d thought he’d be here forever.
Jack Dodger sat across from him. Frannie Mabry was to his right. The Earl of Claybourne to his left. More than thirty years had passed since they opened Dodger’s. Not much had changed in all those years. A few games added. Women no longer worked on their backs. But for the most part, it was as it had begun, and that, Drake realized, was the issue at hand.
After Phee had left him the night before, he’d returned to the club, stood in the balcony, and organized his thoughts among the clatter and clicking of vices being enjoyed by men of quality. He couldn’t see Dodger’s going away, not when business was thriving. But he did believe some adjustments were in order.
Jack lifted his glass of whiskey, beginning the meeting as he always did: with a salute. “To Dodger’s and the life it has given us.”
They clinked their glasses together. Dodger’s had given Drake a good life. He wasn’t a partner, but his income was derived from the profits, and they were extremely handsome.
“I called this meeting,” Jack began, “because times are changing and I don’t know that I’m willing to change with them.”
