Page 3 of A Stranger’s Gamble

Chapter Two

Olivia could scarce believe it, but her husband had just confirmed the rumor that their close friend Adam Scott, the new Marquess of Monthemer was destitute. She shifted her gaze from her friend Lady Charlotte Cassilis, who sat on the divan opposite her in the parlor, to their husbands, standing at the parlor hearth where a low fire burned.

“I knew his father gambled away his estate outside of Edinburgh before shooting himself last year, but what of his property in Aberdeen?” Olivia asked her husband.

“The old marquess lost all but the entailed estate in Inverness,” Nicholas replied.

Her heart tugged. “How does a man lose so much in a card game?”

Charlotte shook her head. “How could Lady Fleming allow Adam’s father to gamble away everything in her gambling hall? She was to marry Adam.”

“Charlotte, I have asked you not to engage in gossip,” Alistair said.

“So, you have,” she replied without rancor.

“I’m impressed Adam was able to keep the details of his financial difficulties quiet this long,” Nicholas said.

“Why did you not tell us, Nick?” Olivia demanded. “We have had him for dinner at least three times this last six months and seen him at parties, and I had no idea.”

Nicholas lifted a brow. “I should think that obvious, my dear.”

“Because men do not discuss financial matters with women,” Charlotte said with a roll of her eyes.

Olivia looked at Charlotte. “He must marry.”

Nick narrowed his eyes. “Olivia—”

“Oh! I know the perfect girl,” she exclaimed.

Charlotte’s brow creased, then her eyes lit. “You don’t mean…”

Olivia nodded. “Yes.”

Charlotte clapped. “How absolutely perfect.”

“It is not our place to interfere,” Alistair said.

“Alistair is right,” Nick said. “Besides, Adam may not wish to marry.”

Olivia slanted her husband a sideling glance. “Do not act as if marriage is a man’s doom.”

“Come, love. You know full well that I consider marriage to be the sweetest of prisons.” He took two steps, grasped her hand, and brushed his mouth against her fingers. Despite five years of marriage and two children, she shivered. The man need only look at her with that fire in his eyes and she melted.

But she had power over him, as well. Olivia tilted her head and looked at him from beneath her lashes. “Do you not want the marquess to experience the same sweet prison you do?”

“She’s got you there,” Alistair said.

Charlotte arched a brow and pinned him with a stare. “Do you disagree with Nicholas, sir?”

“Not in the least.” He leaned a shoulder against the mantle.

“Oh, but our husbands are charmers, are they not?” Olivia asked. “But we shan’t be distracted.” She raked her gaze down her husband’s long frame. “No matter how pleasing they are to look upon.”

Or how much they please us.

Nicholas settled beside her on the sofa. “Love, fate brought me to you. Perhaps, one day, Adam will be as fortunate. Alistair is right, we simply cannot interfere.”

“He is not consorting with Lady Fleming, again, is he?” Charlotte asked.