His dark eyes narrowed a fraction and pinned her where she sat before he gave up the pretense of outrage. A shout of laughter would not be suppressed. “Bloody hell, but it is that tongue of yours that is finely honed. How you managed to comport yourself with such decorum at the faro table is a fascination to me. I shouldn’t wonder that you bloodied your own mouth each time you stayed your tongue. Your admirers were not subtle in making their feelings known.”
“Perhaps it is that I am not averse to their attentions.”
Griffin chuckled, not so easily taken in. “Have a care, Olivia, else I will be moved to take up that challenge.” He observed her prepare to take exception to what he’d said, then suddenly think better of it. “Yes,” he said. “It was indeed the challenge of a practiced flirt, though in your case I will allow that you most likely stumbled into it. You are curiously direct in some regards and in other ways almost painfully artless. I cannot make sense of it, and I don’t suppose that asking you for an explanation will give me one.”
He shrugged. “It is of no matter. I enjoy a puzzle.” This confession did not seem to ease her mind, thus prompting his most diabolical smile. He thought he probably should not be enjoying himself quite so much, though how he had finally come to this pass was something of a puzzle itself. The threat to beat her may have been mostly an idle one, but hehadcontemplated turning her over his knee. Now he was amused by her and contemplating an arrangement that might serve them both.
Griffin decided that the sequence of events did not bear scrutiny. “Allow me to suggest the conditions by which you might deal faro in my establishment tomorrow night.”
“I am listening.”
“I insist upon your identity being protected. Your estrangement from Sir Hadrien is not sufficient to suppose that he will not cause me considerable inconvenience if you are harmed while in my care. That includes damage to your reputation and, by the connection of family, to his own. He may not cause trouble for me because he cares about you; he may do it because he decides I have caused trouble for him.”
“You are afraid of him.”
Griffin did not answer immediately, carefully considering his reply. “I believe I would admit it if it were so,” he told her. “The truth is more complicated than that. I am afraid of what he might cost me. He is an influential man, your father, and given to standing on the moral high ground. It is why I do not believe your brother will be successful in bending him to advance an allowance misspent on gaming and lady birds. The length of Mr. Cole’s absence seems to bear me out.”
“Very well, I concede that our father is not the sort of man one crosses lightly. What is to be done?”
“Changing your appearance is the obvious solution. I will have Mason purchase a wig for you. Several, in fact, of varying styles. Auburn, I think. Different than your coloring but not so dramatic that your eyebrows and lashes must be painted as darkly as you did this evening. You will apply color to cheeks and mouth but with a lighter touch than you used. If you look like a whore, you will be treated like one.”
Olivia glanced down at her hands. “They did not treat me like one tonight.”
“I imagine because they thought you were my whore.”
“Oh.”
“A consequence of being nearly attached to your side. There was most definitely a line drawn that no one crossed.”
“I did not draw it.”
“I did. Do not suppose you could have managed so well without me. You might have cut a few to ribbons with the sharp edge of your tongue, but there always would have been someone advancing. I believe I mentioned they were three deep.”
He had, and so they had been. “Your mistress used to stand at the tables. I heard someone remark on it.”
“She is my former mistress, and she didn’t deal. Her mere presence at a table encouraged betting.”
“Then she was a practiced flirt.”
“Precisely.”
“You were not moved to stand by her all evening.”
“Mrs. Christie knew what she was about. It is clear to me that you do not—at least not entirely.”
“So you will stand post while I deal the cards.”
“No.” He sighed. “I must move about the rooms, but you can rest easy that someone will be observing you. At the first sign of trouble, they will come and get me.”
The thought of constant observation did not make her easy in the least. “It is not in my mind to cheat you.”
“And it is not in my mind to allow you to be tempted. Nevertheless, the trouble I was speaking of is a gentleman’s unwelcome advance that puts you at the center of a brawl. Someone will be moved to proposition you and someone else will be moved to speak up on your behalf. I will have to eject half my patrons if I cannot put a period to the thing quickly.” His mouth twisted in a bit of a smile as he thought of Lady Rivendale hoping for some pugilistic entertainment. “Although there would be those willing to step aside so they might wager on the outcome.”
“So I will wear a wig and some modest paint and you will see to it that nothing untoward occurs. Is there anything else that must be done?”
“You must have another name, of course. I noticed tonight that you did not offer one.”
“I thought mystery served.”
