“I’m not playing,” he said again.
“You have no choice. You have no idea where the young men are. When is the last time you saw either of them? Are they in a crimping house here in London? Bound for Southampton? Or already on ship ready to sail out of Liverpool? They’d be gone before you could beat their whereabouts out of me.”
“Let me try,” he ground out as he tried to free himself again.
Remick chuckled. “I know you aren’t afraid to test your skills against mine. But if you care so little for your cousin and Mrs. Feld’s cousin, I’ll take my leave. They’ll return one day. If they survive the voyage. But remember, it takes years to work off a gambling debt on a ship.”
Zane was at a crossroads like no other. He was damned if he did and damned if he didn’t. The man was right. Crimping wasn’t against the law. Robert and Harper legally owed their gambling debts. The man was using that to force him to play. The man had no vendetta to settle, he just wanted to add one more gambler to his list.
“The clock is ticking. If no one hears from me by dawn, it will be too late.”
“You bloody rotten guttersnipe.”
“That’s where you’re wrong. I live for playing cards and matching my skill against others’. I’ve been planning this for several days. Once I realized Mr. Browning was your cousin and his friend the widow’s, the idea came to me. Both men were so eager to learn all my secrets. It was easy to get them into debt and it didn’t take long. Being American, I don’t have the title of earl, but I know how to be a gentleman. We’ll play each game for one hundred pounds. If you’ve won enough hands to pay off their debt by midnight, I’ll tell you where they are. There’s no time to waste. You need to sit down now.”
“How do I know I can trust you?”
Remick grinned and sniffed. “I’m a gambling man. I always pay my debts. But if it will make you feel better, I’ll let your friend put it in writing. Keep everything legal. I’m not really after sending the young men to Singapore. It’s you I want to defeat.”
Zane had no choice. He had no damn choice. He thought to send Harry to tell Brina what had happened, but no, he couldn’t. This was something he’d need to explain to her himself and make her understand why he had to break his promise to her. He couldn’t leave that to another man.
“Reserve the private room upstairs.”
“No, no,” Remick said. “Right here in the gaming room. So everyone can see that every game is fair.”
Zane turned to Harry. “See that there’s a table for us in the gaming room and bring over a fresh deck of playing cards.”
Chapter 25
Brina stepped down from her carriage in front of Zane’s home. Thankfully, Adeline hadn’t questioned her when she said she wanted to take her own carriage to the earl’s house. It was scandalous. A widow arriving alone to a bachelor’s dinner party.
But tonight, Brina didn’t care.
It would be a late evening. She would be one of the last to leave and she didn’t want Lyon and Adeline to wait around for her. She wanted time to be alone with Zane as they were last night.
She’d done a lot of thinking since he’d left her bed in the early hours of morning. And because of his gentle concern and insights, she had come to terms with her fears of marrying again. Just as she had put away the hurt of losing Stewart and all the debilitating emotions that had followed. Sharing her burden of guilt for her past feelings seemed to lift it from her. Zane was right. She was young and devastated. It was time to forgive herself.
And she had.
She was ready to begin a new life of feeling free from her past, and she was going to start by telling Zane tonight she would accept his proposal at the ball.
That had her smiling and humming all day.
Her dark rose-colored gown had been made especially for this evening. A simple high-waisted gown with long, sheer sleeves. At the last fitting she’d had the seamstress add an overlay of white sheer silk so the color wouldn’t look so stark. She’d also had the neckline lowered more than usual, but not so low eyebrows would be raised at the party. Her only jewelry consisted of an ivory-circled amethyst on a white ribbon at her throat.
“Good evening, Fulton,” she said when he opened the door. After handing off her cape and reticule, she followed him to the drawing room to find it empty. She was a little early, but not much. She thought for sure Zane would be down, ready to greet his first guest. No matter. She would take a peek at the table to make sure her written instructions had been followed.
The dining room looked warm and inviting. It wasn’t large, but the staff had managed to seat twenty-four chairs around the table. A wide gilt-framed mirror bracketed by crystal candle sconces hung over the fireplace. On one wall hung a large tapestry of a classical garden with a waterfall scene. The other had a life-size wall painting of a man who looked as if he could have been Zane’s father or the first Earl of Blacknight. His hair was as black as Zane’s, though longer. He had the same classically handsome features with dark blue eyes that held a hint of devil-may-care humor and a twitch of mischief showing around the corners of his mouth.
The long rectangular table was almost the length of the room and covered with white linen. A single silver candlestick had been placed in front of every otherchair down the center of the cloth. Woven throughout the candlesticks were bits of greenery and small English tea roses.
The china and crystal gleamed even though the candles hadn’t yet been lit. That would come closer to serving the first course. Zane would be at the head; she would be seated to his left as he’d instructed. As his hostess for the evening, Patricia would sit at the other end.
Brina smiled. It was going to be a good evening for Zane. And tomorrow evening would be even better. When he asked for her hand, she was going to give it to him in front of his family and everyone. He had proven he could be a gentleman, but she was going to marry him because she loved him more than she could have ever thought possible.
Only a few weeks ago, she swore she could never love or marry again. Zane’s gentle but constant pursuit had changed her heart. He had challenged her, made her laugh, made her happy. He helped her understand she no longer needed to feel such heavy guilt for the anger and selfishness that had festered in her for so long after Stewart’s death. Grief caused terrible feelings. They shouldn’t be compounded by continuing to relive them. She could never be good enough or ever do enough beneficial things to make up for what she’d felt at those terrible times in her life. All she could do was forgive herself.
And she had.
