But Matthew had bigger mysteries to attend to at the moment than why Drake was so determined to present himself as the worst of dissolute rakes before he finally wedded Lady Astrid.
“Tomorrow, I am going to start sorting through Falmouth’s finances,” he told Drake.“To see what I can recover for him.Would you like to help?”
For a moment, he thought Drake was going to say yes, then the other man shook his head regretfully.
“Unfortunately, I have other matters I must attend to.Let me know if you need some extra weight to lean on the bankers.”
“I will.”One did not look a gift duke in the mouth, after all, even if one was already a duke.Two dukes were better than one and all that.
They walked into the Pearl and Buck, and it took a moment for Matthew’s eyes to adjust.Despite the brightness of the day, the interior of the bar was dark, even in the front room where patrons were doing no more than eating and drinking.The windows were shuttered, only bits of light seeping in from the outside.
It was not very crowded, and they quickly made their way past the suspicious bartender to the much larger backroom.Here, the windows had heavy, dark curtains drawn over them, and the only light came from flickering flames in the lamps.There were more men back here, possibly having stayed overnight, some of them not even realizing it was midmorning already.
Matthew elbowed Drake in the side and nodded to a table in the corner where a group of four gentlemen were playing hazard.Cornwall sat with them, looking fresher than his companions, and Matthew would be willing to bet that he had recently arrived.
They did not make straight for him, so as not to cause alarm, but separated and sat down at two of the other tables instead.The crowd was a mix between noblemen and wealthy merchants or their sons.Names were not needed, though one of the men immediately got up after he sat down, obviously recognizing the Lord of Luck.
Matthew grinned, unbothered.
He did not stay at any one table for too long—doing so had a tendency to enrage the other players.Just long enough to win a handy sum at each before moving on.Anyone who did not recognize him would assume he was leaving before his lucky streak could end—not knowing that it would not.Anyone who did recognize him was grateful he only lightened their purses a little before leaving.
Eventually, he managed to end up at the same table as Cornwall, with Drake at the table beside them.The earl looked up as Matthew came to the seat beside him, a fleeting expression crossing his face that made Matthew think the earl meant to flee.
“Cornwall,” he said, clapping his hand on the man’s shoulder and grinning widely, keeping the earl in his seat as Matthew sat beside him.Seeing Matthew’s friendly demeanor, the earl seemed to relax.“How goes it?You missed the tournament at the Tramp’s Den.”
“I did.Business to attend at home.You know how it goes.”Cornwall seemed resigned to losing some of his money to Matthew.
The other two players seemed vaguely familiar, though he could not place either of them.They clearly knew each other, and they seemed to recognize him and, like Cornwall, were resigned to losing a few hands.They had likely noted that he did not stay in any one place for too long, so they might as well play, then they could continue on at this table once he left.Matthew could practically read their thoughts as he’d watched so many others make the same calculation.
“I do indeed,” Matthew replied jovially.“It’s been a busy Season.I just got married yesterday, you know.”
Cornwall jerked in surprise as he picked up his cards.“I did not.Congratulations.”
“Thank you.”Matthew looked at his own hand and smiled.He always smiled, so it did not really matter what the others thought.“This Season is full of ducal weddings.First Clarence, then Hereford, and now myself.I cannot help but wonder who will be next.”
“Care to make a wager on it?”one of the other men, a swarthy fellow with dark hair, asked and his companion nudged him in the side with his elbow.“What?He cannot be lucky at everything.There’s no way to know which of the tragic dukes will fall to the altar next.”
Cornwall winced at the mention of the tragic dukes, his head dropping to look at his cards, but it also hid his expression.Matthew pretended not to notice.He could tell Drake was listening closely at the next table, even if his attention appeared to be fully on the game in front of him.
“You might be surprised.”Matthew grinned, pulling out his coin and rubbing its surface.“Would you care to make the wager?”
The other man eyed him.His companion shook his head ruefully at the folly.
“Let’s focus on the game at hand,” the other man said after a moment.“No need to make wagers right now, I s’pose.”
Matthew shrugged, because it made no difference to him.He was curious which of his friends would be next, but without the wager, he was not certain his luck would work on informing him.
“Condolences for your father,” the swarthy fellow said.“I did not mean to be callous.”
“That is alright,” Matthew replied cheerfully.He was feelingquitecheerful and very much in debt to the swarthy fellow.How lucky that the man was bringing up the exact right things Matthew wanted to speak with Cornwall about.“It was a tragic accident, but I believe we’ve all since recovered.And it could have been worse.You were there, weren’t you, Cornwall?”Matthew already knew he had not been, but he wanted to see how Cornwall reacted.
The earl jerked, his face paling as his head snapped up so he could look at Matthew.
“I… What?”
Now the other two were looking at him with interest, too.
“You were there when the elder dukes died?”the swarthy fellow asked.Despite his apology to Matthew, he was obviously rabidly curious about the whole thing.Matthew could not blame him.He could not think of a single time in history when so many British dukes had been lost at the same time.
