Page 82 of Once More, My Darling Rogue
“That would be foolish,” Drake said. Within this circle, he’d never hesitated to give his opinion on matters. They listened to him. They didn’t always agree, but they listened.
Jack arched a dark brow. “Would it?”
“If you want your profits to continue to increase, you must be willing to adapt.”
“Dodger’s has had a good run. Besides, adapting has never been my strong suit.”
Drake felt his stomach drop to the floor with the finality of Jack’s tone. “However, it is mine. Dodger’s caters only to the aristocracy. But more of our members are struggling. For many of them, the family coffers are not what they once were. Industrialization is changing everything. Those with the wealth now are not titled. They are visionaries. They are in manufacturing and railways and land. They are architects, inventors, builders. They are looking for validation, because for all their wealth, their blood is not blue, and that matters here. We open Dodger’s to them.”
Jack leaned back. “You’re rather passionate about this.”
“Yes, I am, because I understand it.” He glanced around the table. “You all should. We have an opportunity here to expand our resources, to perhaps make a difference and knock a few bricks off the wall that separates the aristocracy from the common man.”
“Don’t you desire something more than managing a gaming hell?” the duchess asked, her blue eyes earnest. He’d always loved the way she met his gaze head-on.
“I’m suited to it, and I enjoy it. The only thing I would want more is to actually own one.”
“Then why don’t you?” the Earl of Claybourne asked.
Drake glanced around the table. “Because I owe each of you for the chance you gave me to better my life. I’m not going to show my appreciation by going into competition against you.”
Claybourne gave Jack a pointed look. Jack merely shrugged. “I told you.”
Drake furrowed his brow. He didn’t have a good feeling about this. He liked even less the sense that something more was going on here than he’d thought. “Told him what?”
The duchess reached across the table, placed her hand over his, and squeezed. “Jack thought you were sacrificing your own dreams for what you perceived to be ours.”
“I’m not sacrificing anything.”
“Then you won’t mind that we’re ending the partnership,” Jack said.
The words contained finality. “You’ve already discussed it, made your decision?”
“We have.”
“You’re closing Dodger’s?”
Jack nodded. “I suspect it will cease to exist.”
Drake thought of all the hours he’d poured into it, all the labor, the effort. The plans he had hoped to implement. “I’ll purchase it from you. I have money set aside. Name your price.”
Jack looked incredibly pleased. “You owe me five quid, Claybourne. I told you he’d want it.”
“Why wouldn’t I?” Drake asked. “Unless your own sons would rather have it.”
“What would they do with it? They’re not from the streets,” Jack said. “They have no interest in the work it takes to run a place like this. Besides, we were all in agreement, from the moment you took over the reins, that if you had a knack for managing the place, someday we’d offer it to you. You have a knack, boy, and then some.”
“Then this meeting—”
“Was to see if you’d have it.”
“You couldn’t have been a bit more direct?”
“You should know me well enough to know I wouldn’t give it up without putting you through a little gauntlet. You’ve managed it well, but still I needed to be reassured you had the passion for it. You convinced me.”
Drake felt his chest expand with relief, his thoughts explode with possibilities. “What’s the price?”
“My share goes to you free and clear. Consider it your inheritance,” the duchess said with a smile.
