“Do we have an agreement, Miss Doyle?”
* * *
That was her necklace that Lord Kilsyth dangled from his long fingers and now she must earn it back?
Oh, she’d like to bargain further but the necklace was too important. Yes, it was valuable, but she’d never sell it. It was all she had left of her parents, her family, everything that once was before her brother lost it all. She couldn’t take the risk or she might be forced to wait two years until she reached her majority to get it back. Even then, Kilsyth might claim it as his own since it had been won in a game of chance.
“Miss Doyle?” Kilsyth questioned as if he was already confident of her answer.
He had her and he knew it, which irritated Eve to no end. “Aye,” she finally agreed. “I’ll study hard and become a bluestockin’ and change the opinions of gentlemen everywhere.” Did Kilsyth think so little of his gender? It had been her experience that those who were considered wallflowers were more painfully shy than anything else, and the bluestockings of her acquaintance had little patience for the uninspired conversations from the gentlemen of theton. Perhaps it was the opposite gender that was the problem and not the females of their acquaintance.
Kilsyth grinned. “See, that wasn’t so difficult, now was it?”
In truth, it wasn’t, but she’d need to keep her wits because Kilsyth was the type of gentleman who might roll right over anyone in his path—which currently happened to be her. And, he was only asking for one month. She could tolerate Kilsyth for that long. Once his experiment was done and she had the necklace, there was no need for her to remain.
“You are forgetting one matter in changing the opinions of gentlemen,” Pickmore warned.
“What could that be?” Kilsyth was actually perplexed. Or she assumed that was the cause of his eyebrows to lift with the downturn of his mouth.
“Her dowry, of course. While not as large as many, she still brings ten thousand pounds.”
“Yes, yes.” Kisltyh shook his head. “Some gentlemen would only need that bit of information to pursue her and that could skew the outcome of our experiment.” Then he looked to Eve. “We mustn’t let anyone know there is a dowry. You’re as poor as a church mouse if anyone should ask.”
“I doubt they’d ask me.” She hadn’t been raised in such a backward manner that she didn’t already know that such discussions took place between a woman’s guardian and the gentleman who might be in pursuit of her. Never was the woman herself asked, which seemed to prove the point Kilsyth was making and the attitude he wished to change.
“Of course, you are correct.” He rubbed his chin in thought. “I do not like being dishonest, Pickmore, but in this case, we must not be forthcoming either. Besides, when people learn I won her as a ward in a game of chance, they won’t expect Miss Doyle to bring anything with her but the clothing on her back.”
“A perfectly reasonable assumption, of course,” Pickmore agreed.
Now that the wager had been set and she knew what her part was to be, Eve grew impatient as she grew hungry. “When do we begin?”
“This afternoon.”
Eve stood again. “Will that be all?”
“No, that is not all.” Lord Kilsyth then walked to the opposite corner of the desk and lifted a few books and presented them to her. “You shall study these until then. I want you to read from the very beginning to the very end, no skipping any chapters or topics. You’ll be tested at the end of the week.”
Eve took the books, her hands unintentionally grazing his, sending a shock of awareness through her being. So, surprised, she quickly glanced down, not wishing for Kilsyth to read the unexpected confusion in her eyes and squinted her eyes to read the titles of the books. At that, she frowned, blocking from her mind the strange warmth in her hands. “I’ve read these before. When I was a child. It’s what me governess used.”
“Well, the grammar didn’t take, as you still can’t pronounce ag, let alone theo’s you’ve butchered.”
Oh, if she’d just put her mind to proper pronunciation as her sister had, Eve wouldn’t be needing to learn to speak again but could spend her time in this library in a far more pleasant manner, such as reading the vast variety of books.
“I’ll just take these to the table by the window as that is where you will work for the next month.” Kilsyth removed the books from her grip and thankfully managed not to touch her fingers again.
“Might I at least break my fast before I begin?”
He straightened and looked at her in confusion. “You’ve not eaten?”
“Not since last evenin’.”
“Well, we can’t have that.”
Thank goodness. At least she’d be spared a few moments before she had to settle into her studies.
“I’ll have cook prepare something.” He pulled back a chair. “Now, run upstairs and get your spectacles so you can get to work. Sustenance will be delivered when it is ready.”
“I’m ta eat in here? The library?”
