“I have been hearing that since last November.”
“But is this thing with Darcy true? He and the colonel are vying for Miss Elizabeth Bennet?”
Hurst shrugged.
Wickham shook his head. “To imagine Darcy, of all people, falling in love!”
“Love? I said nothing of that.”
“You do not have to say it. Nothing less than love could induce him to be so undignified. I want in.”
“In?” Hurst quirked a brow. “It is a private little wager between friends. It is not open to just anyone.”
“Come, Hurst!” Wickham took another step closer, and Hurst’s nose wrinkled. Wickham smelt of cheap ale and desperation, two things Hurst hated. “Surelyyouhave some money on this?”
“What if I do? Saye started a book, obviously I threw in,” Hurst replied impatiently while looking at his horses. They were ready to move, and he did not like to leave them standing in the warm spring sunshine overlong. “If you have something in yourpocket, you would do best to pay the people you owe, including me. More wagers can only sink you.”
“Had I more of it, I would, but a fellow does need something to live on.”
“Thought you were getting married?”
Wickham gave a little huff and flicked one hand. “It went off.”
“She came to her senses, you mean. Or did her family put a stop to it? Ah, I understand now. They paid you to disappear. Hence the fullness of your pockets.”
“The point being that sure wagers will do better for us all. If I can increase the sum?—”
“That is the dream of every gambler, is it not?” Hurst enquired.
“This contest is one that will be easy to predict.”
“You think so?”
“Iknowso.” With a significant look, Wickham said, “Have I not known the gentleman in question my entire life long? And I am scarcely less friendly with the lady.”
With an inelegant snort, Hurst said, “Any man who thinks he can accurately know a woman’s mind is a fool. Besides, I do not think she likes Darcy. All they ever did was argue with one another.”
“Mark my words, he will have her.”
Hurst shook his head. “The colonel has a military man’s mind for strategy, and he is tenacious. He will not lose.”
“We must agree to disagree then—but pray do put something behind it, will you? You have my word, when I win, yours will be the first debt paid.”
Wickham’s voice had taken on a wheedling accent, another thing Hurst despised. He had enough of that from his wife and her sister. How he disliked consorting with these low types! It was always this arrangement and that, always granting a favour,always hearing this promise to pay and then another plea for more time. Excessively tedious. At once he was willing to do anything just to get away.
That said…he was clearly not going to get anything from the man otherwise. Might as well take what he offered, place the bet, and see what happened. “I want ten percent up front,” he demanded. “Not towards the wager itself—pay to play.”
Wickham frowned, so Hurst put a foot on the step that would get him into his carriage and said, “A good day to you, then.”
“Wait!” Wickham heaved an enormous sigh. “Five percent?”
Hurst turned back, hand on hip. “Has your time in the militia damaged your hearing? Ten. Not a farthing less.”
Another deep sigh ensued, but it was followed by the reluctant withdrawing of a purse from Wickham’s jacket.
Hurst received the purse, opened it, and counted. A nice sum, but nothing to be overly thrilled about, not for a man like himself. He removed his due, returned the rest to the purse. “And you arecertainyou want to put the money on Darcy? I am telling you that I have been in company with the pair of them. They are barely civil to one another.”
“Darcy will get what he wants—he always does,” Wickham insisted.
