Belfry did not appear to comprehend what he was seeing—at first. Then his eyes went wide and his breath snagged. “What is this?” he demanded.
“Your vowels—which I have purchased.”
The older man gaped, his mouth working, briefly. “I…I don’t understand.”
Teddy opted for the direct approach. He repocketed the slips, and folded his arms over his chest. “As it happens, a little over a week ago, I married your daughter.”
Belfry’s thick brows slammed together.
Teddy went on. “I informed Mealy as much. He, understandably, opted to sell me your debt.”
Abruptly, Lord Belfry’s expression turned nearly rapturous. “You don’t say? Well, I’ll be. I’ll be. M’son-in-law. And you purchased m’vowels.” He moved toward Teddy and wrapped him in a hardy embrace, slapping his shoulders with exuberance.
“There’s a few more items we should discuss,” Teddy said, voice frosty.
His cool tone must have alerted the baron, because he froze, then took a hasty step back, his gray eyes wary. “Say, why didn’t Georgina breathe a word of this marriage?”
Teddy cocked his head. “That is not important. Whatisimportant is this debt you owe me.”
Belfry’s mouth fell open.
Teddy’s temper flared, causing him to speak through gritted teeth. “You see, I do not take kindly to what you tried to do, selling my wife.”
“I beg your pardon? How dare you,” the older man erupted, with obvious affront.
“Oh I dare, sir. I dare. You see, I always envied Drake his family. The warmth and joviality and freedom.”
Belfry sniffed, and Teddy made for the large window, mainly to put distance between them. Georgina would not thank him for injuring his father-in-law before they’d been wed a month.
“Where you were kind, the earl was exacting on a good day, cruel on a normal day. Where you allowed your son to roam free, mine put me in a cage—the bars of which tightened if I dared make a mistake, or what he viewed as one.”
“I wasn’t aware,” Belfry said, not unkindly.
Teddy sent him a grim smile. “No doubt. But, then, paying attention isn’t exactly your forté, is it?” He paused as a thought occurred to him. “What is your daughter’s favorite flower?”
“What kind of question is that?” he sputtered.
Teddy went on. “What is her favorite condiment? Her favoritebeverage? What is hernom de plume, the book club she frequents, and her reason for wearing those spectacles she doesn’t need?” He hadn’t yet worked that out, himself, but he had no doubt her father had even less of an idea.
Lord Belfry blinked rapidly, as if Teddy addressed him in a foreign language.
“You don’t know, because you’ve always cared more for your own comfort and entertainments than your own flesh and blood. You allowed your son to manage things when he was alive, and then the task fell to Georgina—and if that were all, Lord Belfry, I’d still shake your hand and congratulate you on parenting the two most admirable, most essential people in the world to me.
“But attempting to barter Georgina off for your out-of-control gaming, and to a man as repellent as Mealy, no less? I could call you out for that,” he said through his teeth. “Instead, for Georgina’s sake, and for the memory of her late brother, your son, and for the kindness you extended me growing up, I challenge you to a bet—tomorrow night, at the Lyon’s Den.”
A sullen frown pulled at Belfry’s mouth. “As to that, I’m afraid the Black Widow has banished me.”
Teddy stalked toward him. “For Georgina, she’s made an exception. If you win, I’ll pay your IOUs in full and will agree to small, monthly gambling allowance. If I win, however, I’ll pay half, you’ll work off the other half, and agree never to gamble again.”
Georgina’s father looked initially intrigued. Now, he balked. “Work? That is preposterous.”
“You’ll work at the veteran’s hospital, sir, in honor of your son.”
He grunted, looking thoroughly displeased.
Teddy’s eyes narrowed. “You’ll accept the wager—or I’ll call the debt due and you’ll be destitute in an instant.”
He huffed, and his pallor went gray. “What game do you propose, Lord Arlington?”
