A Little Bit Scandalous (14 page)

Millie paused there and seemed to be collecting her thoughts. Caroline could just picture Roe begging his father. She’d only met the Duke a handful of times, but by all accounts, he had been a most formidable man. The servants still gossiped about his vile moods and evil temperament. And Millie herself had occasionally made a comment about her deceased husband. But surely Roe blamed his father and not himself?

Then Millie sighed and continued. “When the news came that your brother had died, I thought we’d lose Roe as well. Then he found out he was assigned your legal guardian. Somehow that gave him the strength to fight the disease.”

Caroline realized tears rolled down her cheeks. Not just for the loss of her brother, whom she’d simply adored, but for the fact that Roe had punished himself for so long for such a thing. He couldn’t control his father and what the man did; Roe had been too weak himself to fight. Christopher had always been on the sickly side and there was no guarantee that the intensive care that Roe had received would have cured Christopher. Before she could respond to Millie or ask any further questions, Roe stepped into the room.

“Caroline,” he said with a nod. “Mother.”

“Monroe,” Millie said, not missing a beat. She picked up her embroidery again. “How are you this fine day?”

He frowned at her, but then ultimately gave her a smile. “All is well, Mother. Caroline, a word, if you will.”

Caroline set down the cards.

“Don’t leave on my account,” Millie said.

“This is not a secret,” Roe said. “I have given Mr. Lamb a large sum of money. Much to my chagrin, I believe you will need to return to Rodale’s this evening.”

Caroline’s heart thundered. “Yes, of course. Did you discover anything else in your inquiries?”

“I did. My solicitor got back to me on that other orphanage and it would seem that there is one in Liverpool closing, but it is only because they are moving to a larger facility there. None of the children are being displaced.”

Caroline frowned. “How did he not think you would look into such matters when he asked for such a huge amount of money?”

“Evidently no one has ever followed up on his claims before. They take him at his word and hand over the bank notes.”

“Luckily the two of you are so suspicious,” Millie said never looking up from her embroidery. “You make quite the team.”

“Yes, well, suspicion will get us only so far, especially if we want to convince the rest of the board members. We need proof he is gambling with the orphanage’s money, proof that neither of us can get if we approach him as ourselves. Caroline, I wanted to make certain you were interested in donning Grey’s disguise once more to play cards with Mr. Lamb,” Roe said, ignoring his mother. Then he paused. “I will make certain you have a new shirt to wear.”

Caroline knew she blushed, since she felt the heat pooling in her cheeks, but she ignored it. “Yes, I will play him. Are you so certain he’ll go to Rodale’s and not a different hell?”

“I am. I had Justin send out invitations to a tournament tonight. He’s been personally requested. He won’t be able to resist that,” Roe said. “And the money I gave him, I had it marked so we’d know if he was using those funds for the game or not. It isn’t a perfect plan as we know he also visited Lady Winguard, so he could be using her monies. But it could provide some additional evidence.”

“Perfect,” Caroline said.

“Very well. I shall be ready to leave around quarter of ten.”

“I shall meet you in the entryway,” Caroline said.

Once Roe had left the room Caroline still stood where she was. She’d intended on speaking with him about Christopher, but they obviously needed to resolve the issue with Mr. Lamb first. Besides, she wasn’t quite so certain what she’d say.

“There is no shame in wanting something more than life has afforded you,” Millie said. Again she did not look up from her embroidery. “It seems to me that when two people are so well suited, well, it’s a shame when they’re too proud to admit it.”

Caroline opened her mouth, but no words came out.

Millie looked up at her.

“But how did you—”

Millie smiled. “I’m old, dear, not blind. I know desire when I see it.”

“Yes, well, it is one-sided, I can assure you,” she said. There was no use in denying her feelings for Roe. His mother, of course, would understand Caroline’s draw to him. She loved him, too.

Unfortunately, it was not
pride
keeping them apart. There were times—many times—when Caroline had wished she had been too proud to declare her love for Roe. But instead she’d blurted it out time and again. She had thrown herself at his feet not once but several times. And each time he’d rejected her.

No, if pride was the problem between them, it was her lack of pride, not an overabundance of it.

“It is not pride that keeps him away, I assure you,” Caroline said with chagrin. “It is disinterest.”

“Don’t be so certain of that. I’ve seen the way he looks at you.”

“He’s made it perfectly clear that he does not want a life with me.”

“Yes, well, sometimes men don’t know what’s best for them.” She went back to her embroidery. “Perhaps he needs a little push in that direction.”

Caroline waited for Millie to say something else, but she sat silent, pulling her needle through the fabric. “Meaning?”

“Seduction, dear. Sometimes a girl must take matters into her own hands.”

Roe couldn’t very well go and play in the back room with Caroline. They’d risk Mr. Lamb getting suspicious. So he did the very best thing next to himself observing—he asked Justin to spend some time monitoring the game. And since they’d set up a tournament, it wouldn’t appear odd for Justin to stand watch. They’d been in there for over an hour now and Roe grew restless. He sat in the carriage outside, waiting for Caroline to finish. He’d given her the exact sum of money he’d loaned Mr. Lamb and then suggested she try to win it all back.

He knew she could do it. She was an excellent player, but damnation, he wished he were in there with her. Sending her in on her own grated against every protective instinct he had. Never mind that he was sitting right outside the whole time. Never mind that she was in Rodale’s, the safest gaming hell in London. Never mind that Justin himself was standing over her. It still irked Roe that he couldn’t watch over her himself.

Mr. Lamb was no fool. He was quite skilled at scamming and manipulating people out of money and persuading them to believe whatever lies he fed them.

Boomer, his aunt’s manservant, had been unable to accompany her tonight so Roe had felt it was necessary to have someone in there to keep an eye on her. Someone who knew who she was.

Twenty minutes later, Justin slid out the back door and stepped into the carriage. “I think we might be in trouble,” he said.

“Why is that?” Roe asked, ignoring the wave of nerves that assailed him. “Where is Caroline?”

“She’s fine. I have Mr. Clipps watching her for a moment until I return. But I think Nigel Lamb suspects something. He’s watching her too closely this evening.”

Roe swore. “This was a bad idea, I should have simply accused him of stealing the money from the orphanage and left it at that. To hell with proof.”

“You need the proof if you want to ensure he doesn’t wind up in another position of authority where he can pilfer funds from children. Tonight I’ve documented precisely how much he’s spent. He’s losing, too. Badly. He’s already dropped nearly five-hundred pounds. And Lamb is definitely using the bills you marked. I’ve seen several of them move across the table.”

“That’s about half of what I gave him. Bastard.”

“Caroline, on the other hand, is winning.” Justin smiled. “She’s quite good.”

“Indeed. I taught her.”

“Serves you right then that she’s so talented.” Justin held up a finger in protest. “But let me tell you, this disguise of hers is causing trouble at my house. My wife is begging me for a pair of trousers and has used Caroline as an excuse. If the two of them start a new fashion trend of women wearing pants, we’ll both lose our heads.”

Roe tried to laugh, but the truth was he was so damned worried about Caroline he couldn’t muster up the humor. “So you believe this will be enough to prove he took the money?” he asked.

“The documents I can give you, plus the monies you gave him, your solicitor will have record of that, correct?”

“Yes. I’m waiting on the final report from my solicitor regarding Lamb’s personal finances. At first glance it seems he doesn’t have enough money, but they found a second account at a different banking institution. Once I can prove that he doesn’t have that kind of money to gamble with, it will give the investigators enough evidence to look into matters further,” Roe said.

“Good.”

“Go get Caroline. I want her out of there before that bastard figures out her secret.”

Justin nodded. “I shall have her out to you in a moment.” He disappeared back into Rodale’s.

The minutes that followed seemed to crawl by. It was as if he could hear each second tick off. Finally Caroline slipped inside the carriage.

“That was too risky,” Roe said.

“Justin said he thinks we’ll have enough evidence to bring it to the police,” she said with a grin.

“Yes, but he also said that he thought Mr. Lamb was getting suspicious of you. Did you notice?”

She shrugged. The carriage pulled away and headed back in the direction of his townhome. “He seemed a little focused on me tonight. Perhaps he likes boys.”

“This is no time to jest, Caroline. I need to ensure your safety.”

“Well, I’m safe. And I won nearly everything he lost.” She tossed him a bag that jingled full of money. “We can give this back to Dover House. Perhaps we should wait until we find a new director to care for things though.”

She was safe now, but he’d put her in danger. He was a damned fool. How was he supposed to protect her if she moved into her townhome across town? The answer was clear—the only way he could protect her was for her to stay in his house. And the only way for that to happen was to marry her.

He didn’t want to do it, but… well, that wasn’t true. If he were honest with himself, he’d wanted a bloody excuse to marry her. He hadn’t really acknowledged that before this moment, but he knew it was true. He wanted Caroline more than he’d ever wanted another woman.

He knew she deserved better, a hell of a lot better than him. But his hands were tied. He couldn’t send her off to live on her own in London. And she’d said herself—though years ago—if she couldn’t marry him, she didn’t want to marry. So if he wanted her under the protection of a man, it would have to be him. His logic seemed faultless, but how could he trust his logic when he didn’t trust his motives?

They rode back to the townhome mostly in silence. Roe seemed irritated, but there was no reason for that other than he was suspicious of Mr. Lamb recognizing her. Lamb had been more attentive in tonight’s game, but she figured it might have been his way of trying to distract her.

She thought back on what Millie had told her earlier that day about seduction being the way to go. Her previous effort had failed, for the most part, when Roe had come to his senses. Perhaps she needed a slightly different tactic. Roe was competitive, that much she knew to be true. Tonight it had certainly irritated him when she had gotten to play, but he hadn’t. It seemed as if a friendly competition was in order. As they climbed the stairs into his townhome, she decided on the stakes. Every time one of them lost to the dealer, they had to discard a piece of clothing. It would put them on even playing grounds and then she could see what happened.

“Let’s go to the study,” she said.

“Do you need a drink, too?” he asked. He marched into the study and went straight for his decanter. He poured two glasses, took a healthy sip from one, then turned and handed her the other glass. He walked back toward his desk and leaned against it. He took a long sip of his brandy and closed his eyes.

Grimm came in the study and bowed to them both. He carried a silver tray and brought it over to Roe. “Your Grace, this came for you while you were out.”

Roe took the note and read it while Grimm left the room. He looked up at her with an odd expression, then gave her a smile. “You went to see Cabot.”

She shrugged. “I thought it might be worth it so I took a chance. What does he say?”

“He wants to meet. Says he’ll listen to my proposal, read through my research, and see what we can agree upon.” Roe’s face filled with such earnest gratitude that Caroline nearly had to look away. “I don’t know what to say.”

She waved her hand. “You don’t need to say anything. It was something I wanted to do.” She reached behind her and retrieved the deck of cards off the occasional table. “Shall we?” she asked, holding them up.

“For money?”

“No, let us think of different odds.” She didn’t want him to think she’d been planning this the whole way home. She took a seat at the table and shuffled the cards. “Favors?” she suggested, then countered, “No, there is nothing which I could do for you.”

He removed his great coat and came to sit across from her.

“That’s it.” She gestured toward his coat. “We play for clothes.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“When we lose, we must remove a piece of clothing,” she said. She took a sip of her drink and tried to control her breathing. “It could make things quite interesting.”

“Caroline, how could you suggest such a thing?”

She shrugged innocently. “Whatever do you mean?”

“You know perfectly well a game such as that would be scandalous.”

She arched an eyebrow. “More scandalous than a woman dressing as a boy to play cards in a gaming hell? Really, Roe, I feel you and I are far past the point of scandal.”

“Very well, then. It’s not acceptable either. Why would you suggest such a thing?”

She couldn’t very well tell him she was trying once again to seduce him. She had to dig deep for an excuse. “Perhaps I want the distraction. Tonight was more stressful than I thought it would be.”

She was surprised as she said the words that she wasn’t lying. There was a tremble in her voice that she hadn’t planned on.

“Caroline—”

“Of course playing at Rodale’s was exciting, but it was nerve wracking, too.” She looked up at Roe to see he was watching her carefully. “Please, I don’t want to go to my room and be alone straight away.”

He studied her for a moment in silence. But when he smiled roguishly she knew she’d won him over, even though he said, “I’m not certain that is a good idea.”

“Are you afraid, then? It’s understandable. I am quite good.” She gave him a sympathetic smile. “Probably wouldn’t look so good for me to be fully clothed and you to be sitting here completely disrobed.”

He laughed. “Is that how you think things will go? All right, I shall take your odds. One piece of clothing for every loss against the dealer. And we rotate the deck.”

“Fair enough,” she said with a nod. “You think you might want to reconsider that coat now?”

He smiled. “Nice try, but I’m fully intending to win here.”

“Suit yourself. I’m looking forward to embarrassing you.”

“We shall see what happens. Deal the cards, Caroline.” He took another slow sip of his drink.

At least the exchange so far had seemed to lighten his mood some. She wasn’t used to Roe being quite so serious. It was unlike him, as he tended to be jovial most of the time.

She dealt the first hand.

She lost, going over with her total of twenty-six.

Roe raised one eyebrow.

She took off her boots and tossed them behind her. This could be a most interesting evening.

“This might not bode well for you,” Roe said as he passed her the cards so she could deal.

“I’d wager it’s worth the risk.” She dealt the cards and tried to keep her breathing under control. One thing she hadn’t counted on in this scenario was being able to focus on the game as the clothes began to fall.

He glanced at his cards, but nothing on his face changed. He knew how to control his emotions, his reactions, to protect his hand. It was one of the first skills he taught her and she’d found the skill was useful in other areas of life as well, especially when dealing with people that one was not particularly fond of.

“You’ve always been good at that,” she said.

“What?”

“Schooling your features so that your opponent cannot tell if your hand is good or not.”

“You do the same. Your face is indiscernible as well.”

“I should probably thank you for teaching me that. It is a skill that has come in handy a time or two outside of the game,” she said.

His brows rose. “Indeed?”

“Wilbur Riggins.”

“The Riggins live in the cottage down from Chanceworth Hall,” Roe said.

“Precisely. Their son. He’s been sweet on me for years. Proposed on more than one occasion. Hiding my true feelings was a skill I was quite grateful for in those instances. I never wanted to offend him.”

Roe chuckled. “Glad I could be of assistance.” He took a card, then flipped his over. Nineteen. She smiled broadly as she turned her hand over.

“Twenty. I win. Your turn to take something off.”

He loosened the cravat at his throat, and slipped that off. “I hate those bloody things.”

“Why wear them then?”

“I am a gentleman. It is what we do. We wear cravats, and eat at our clubs, and spend our lives lazing about enjoying our money.”

It was Roe’s typical tone, his sardonic words that spoke of indulgence, but there was something more there. Something deeper and more honest.

“You don’t have to live that way. Certainly there are other gentlemen who do other things with their lives.” She tried desperately to ignore the swatch of chest showing now that his shirt was unbuttoned.

“Ah, but they are mere barons and viscounts.”

Mere barons
. Like her father had been. Even Roe himself knew there was a difference between them. But she shook it off. “Not lofty dukes.”

He smiled at her, gesturing toward her with his glass. “Precisely.” He took the cards from her.

“You could do wonderful things with your money. There are so many areas that need changing here in London.”

“Are you suggesting I could become the Benevolent Duke?”

“It is a thought. Could be more entertaining than the alternative. I know it’s not at all something your father would do, or other dukes for that matter.”

“Interesting. A philanthropic noble. I could get use to such a notion.”

They played several more hands in silence, taking turns passing the deal back and forth. Unfortunately, after Roe lost his shirt, she lost count of the cards. She lost three hands in a row and in doing so lost her stockings and then her trousers, so she sat in her undergarments and the overly long shirt.

As she’d peeled off the trousers, Roe’s eyes had darkened as he watched her. If he knew she was seducing him, he never said anything. Perhaps he thought he could resist her. Perhaps he could resist her. She took a seat, crossed her bare legs over each other. Roe’s eyes slid down the length of her.

“I do love those legs,” he said absently.

She didn’t know what to say. She wanted to prance across the room and give him a good long look. Or perhaps she should simply climb up on the table and give him an up close look.

They made their way to the end of the deck and she was able to shuffle. Now she could keep a better count of what was going on with the cards. She doubted it, though. After Roe had lost two hands in a row—purely by luck, as her skill had seemed to disappear completely—he’d removed his boots, and something about the sight of his bare toes had her curling her own. Damnation, but he was so attractive. She wanted nothing more than to go and straddle him across his chair. Her cheeks flamed at the thought.