“I was referring to you involving me in your scandalous wager in the first place. Not the conditions I attached to it.”
“Of which you said you had another. I can hardly wait to hear what the next one is.”
Brina glanced over at him. She had really gotten to him with her unprecedented requirements. That pleased her. Much as she would like to deny it, he was immensely compelling when upset with her.
“The one I haven’t stated is the most important.”
“Maybe to you,” he mumbled and picked up a filled glass from a server who passed by.
The orchestra returned playing, and the people continued talking in their hushed whispers as they dispersed. She had no doubt who they whispered about. But she couldn’t worry about that right now. She had to finish what she’d started.
They stopped in a corner, and he handed her the champagne. “I don’t know what else you could want from me.”
“Humility would be nice,” she answered.
“That might prove as difficult as giving up an afternoon game of cards is going to be.”
“Which is why I’m certain in the end, I will win this wager. However, let’s look at the facts. If you should somehow miraculously win, you would get me and the money from the gentlemen’s wagers you placed at White’s. I’ve been told it’s considerable.”
He nodded confidently. “After tonight, it could quite possibly reach to the stars.”
She shrugged as if it hardly mattered but actually concurred. “I have the conditions set forth for you, but we need to talk about what I get if you lose.”
“An earl for a husband,” he answered quickly and without an ounce of boasting.
She scoffed. “What possible value could there be for me in something I don’t want?”
His head tilted in question for a moment before a flicker of admiration sparked in his expression. “I agree. You should be entitled to something of your choosing if you win. What do you want from me?”
“Nothing,” she whispered softly, knowing it to be true.
His eyebrows quirked upward as he considered her question. “No. It’s only fair you receive something I can give you.”
When he said that, she remembered the kiss he’d given her as a thank-you. Her heartbeat quickened. He’d held her so tightly, she felt treasured, kissed so briefly but so thoroughly, she couldn’t erase it from her memory.
Heat flushed her cheeks.
To cover the sudden, unbidden sensations, she quickly said, “Since from the beginning you made this wager a public one, we will end it the same way. I want everyone to hear your apology when you lose.”
“What else?”
Brina blinked. “Nothing else.”
“You have almost half a dozen conditions for me to follow in the next four weeks. Surely you want more than anI’m sorryif you win. Money? Jewels? Land? There must be something.”
“No. No, I don’t,” she said earnestly. “Money or land? What kind of person do you think I am?”
He leaned back to study her. His expression turned gentle, almost comforting, and he slowly nodded. “A good one. I know you wouldn’t ask anything for yourself, but I thought you might ask something for your school or the sisters.”
She appreciated he realized he’d misjudged her motives and had no trouble admitting it. The boarding school was well-funded. She could have asked him for money to aid the sisters’ work at Pilwillow Crossings. They could always use more donations. But being benevolent to a charitable organization would be too easy for him. It would require nothing of him but giving money.
He needed to do something that would be difficult for him.
Only one thing would do.
“I want nothing from you other than a public apology for getting me mixed up in this terrible scheme of yours and upsetting my life without any care for what it woulddo to me or how it would make me feel to be a part of your questionable behavior.”
It might seem unimportant or perhaps even unnecessary to him or others, but it was important to her. Instead of the peaceful life of serving others she’d expected to live when she returned from France, she now had to train a man on proper behavior befitting an earl and head of his family. And knowing how to sayI was wrongandI’m sorrywere two of the first things he needed to learn.
