“God’s truth, but you’re adept at it.” Griffin’s tone was all admiration as he sat back and rubbed his chin with his knuckles. “You told me you possessed no happy talents.”
“Obviously we define that differently.” She swept her hand across the table, gathering all the cards, including the faro layout, then set the deck in front of him. “You appear to have an understanding of my usefulness. I should like to begin as soon as possible, tonight if you will. I imagine it will require some time for me to acclimate myself to the routine everyone else in the hell abides by, but I shall endeavor to do so as quickly as possible.”
Taking a short breath, Olivia went on quickly before Breckenridge could insert a comment. “While I remain hopeful that my brother will return soon, I recognize that I must also be practical. I have expenses and no means of meeting them. There are debts I must repay, and I am depending on you to appreciate that. If you will not allow me to leave, then it remains that I have to find some manner of supporting myself here. You would not deny me that opportunity, would you?”
Griffin poured a second cup of coffee. This time he ignored sugarandcream. “I find myself staring up at you again.”
Olivia dropped to the wing chair behind her, resuming her perched posture as Breckenridge rubbed the back of his neck. He let his hand fall away, sipped his coffee, and made a disagreeable face. “You take cream,” she said. “You forgot the cream.”
He grunted softly, added cream, and tasted the coffee a second time. The crease between his eyebrows softened. “You said quite a lot,” he told her. “Shall I begin anywhere or is there some particular you would like addressed first?”
Olivia felt as if her chest were being squeezed. If he was going to allow her to work at his faro table, he would have just said so. She prepared herself to hear his objections and prayed she would not humiliate herself by showing the depth of her distress. “Begin where you like,” she said, and was glad of the confidence in her voice.
“Tell me about these expenses you say you have. What are they?”
“I have a home in Jericho Mews,” she said. “Or rather, I live with Alastair there. Or did.” Impatient with herself, she blew out a puff of air. “The household staff needs to be paid. So does the greengrocer. Mr. Fox will not extend any more credit for meat if I do not pay the bill in full this time. Even in my absence there are things that must be done. The servants—and there aren’t so many of them as you have—need to eat. I cannot simply ignore them because I’m here.”
“Your brother does not seem to share your finely honed sense of duty, else he would be seeing to their wages, their needs, and your honor.”
“If he were able to do anything differently, he would.”
Griffin noted that what she offered was neither a defense nor an indictment. It was, in truth, a simple statement of fact. “I could arrange for you to close up the house and let the servants go.”
Olivia could not help herself. She recoiled. “No!” When he stared her down under arched eyebrows she remembered herself. “No,” she said, this time with considerably less heat. “It would not be a simple matter for the staff to find other employment, and I…I like the house and would not want to see it empty.”
“Then your brother owns it?”
She shook her head. “You cannot recoup the debt he owes by taking it from him. He rents it.”
“So there is rent to pay as well. You did not mention that. Now I understand why you do not want it empty. You would lose it.”
“Yes.”
“I begin to see why your brother wanted you here. It seems he meant for you to have a place to live when he took himself off.”
Olivia did not try to deny it. She was no longer certain that Breckenridge was wrong.
“What are you proposing again?” he asked.
“That you permit me to work for you.”
“That’s not possible.”
“Of course it’s possible. I showed you that I know faro. I can deal vingt-et-un also, and I know when the house must stand or take another card.”
“I’m quite sure you do, but I run honest games here, and you, my dear Olivia, are a most excellent cheat.”
Confused, she asked, “If you have no use for the skill, then why did you insist on knowing if I could force the cards?”
“Because it intrigues.” He shrugged. “And entertains. You are perhaps the best I have ever seen.”
“I thought you wanted me to cheat, else I wouldn’t have shown you.”
“Yes, well, now you know I do not, and it is your misfortune to be so very good at it that I could not possibly trust you. You may not credit it, but my reputation, such as it is, is important to me. For all that I am something of a pariah in certain fashionable circles, in the underworld of gaming hells, I am credited to offer a fair deal. However one wishes to interpret that phrase, it remains true. I expect the same in return, and that is known as well, particularly by those who’ve crossed me.”
“Like Alastair.”
“Exactly like Alastair.”
