On a deep exhale, she exchanged one set of clothes for another and cleared her throat when she was presentable. He turned and gave her another up-and-down. “That’ll do.”
She laughed, utterly bemused. She’d never met anyone like this man.
“Now, I know just the place to lift your spirits.”
Valentina wasn’t sure she liked the sound of that, but she could see she hadn’t much choice, either.
Through a maze of stinking, ill-lit alleyways and streets he led her, never once making a wrong turn. This lord who surely lived in Mayfair was too familiar with all the twists and turns of Southwark. More so than her, which wasn’t saying much. She hailed miles from these parts, just outside London.
Soon, they’d stopped before a building that had all manner of people flurrying in and out of its front door. “Here we are,” he said with a flourish.
“This isn’t a brothel, is it?” She’d assured Mama no brothels.
He laughed and shook his head. “Chaz’s is only a hell.”
“Ahell?” That didn’t sound any better.
“A gaming hell,” he said, digging into the interior pocket of his coat. “You see, Miss Hart, what you need is a few tosses of the dice.”
“I’m not sure that’s true.” In fact, she was certain it wasn’t.
“And you’ll do it with this.”
He extended a small pouch and pressed it into her palm. The pouch jingled. “Is this coin?”
“As good as,” he said.
“Pardon?” In her world, nothing wasas good asblunt. Only blunt was blunt.
“They’re markers, which you’ll use in place of actual money.”
“I cannot possibly accept this.” She tried to return the pouch.
He stepped back, hands up as if warding off plague. “You can, and you shall. Think of it as seed money.”
“Seed money?” It felt like real money to her.
“Whatever you win in Chaz’s, you can keep.”
That drew Valentina up short. “I cankeep?”
He nodded.
“My winnings?”
He smiled.
“All of them?”
“You have my word.”
And therein lay the problem. “I haven’t the faintest idea what your word is worth.”
“As a gentleman.”
She almost snorted. “In my experience, it’s the gentlemen you need to keep the closest eye on.”
Recent, painful experience. Experience that had led her to the Five Graces, in fact.
