Page 4 of Watching the Earl

Tamworth put something on a plate and brought it to him. “Your rout cakes.”

“I’ll be damned.” Philip took the plate and bit into the dense cake, the flavor of brandy and currant filling his mouth. For a moment, he simply savored the treat he wouldn’t be able to afford again. After he swallowed, he sneered. “Then again, I’m already damned.”

“Come, sit down and have some tea and more rout cakes. I’ve surmised that you didn’t just come here to let me know you lost your fortune. You could have let me find out once news hit of your sales. You know, if I had the blunt, I’d loan it to you.”

Too aware of how selfish he was being—again—Philip returned to the chair he’d vacated and set the plate down on the table. “You’re right. I did come to you. You’re intelligent, trustworthy, and have connections that are advantageous. I was hoping there might be a way to avoid anyone finding out that I have lost everything once I pay the debt. You don’t happen to still have my house in Town, do you?”

“I don’t. I had to sell it to convince Sophie’s father I could support her. Why?”

“I was hoping you could give it back to me. Then I could sell it and pay you back over time. That would at least keep a few servants about and most of the furniture. But that is a moot point, after all.”

“So you truly want to avoid losing everything that was your father’s? I had the feeling you were trying to erase him from your memory.”

The rout cake he’d just bitten into suddenly tasted like paper. What he was trying to do was erase what he’d done to his father, but that obviously wasn’t working either. And now, he’d lose every memory of his parents when all the furnishings were gone.

He finally swallowed the bite. “No. That wasn’t my intent. Every loss was deserved.” He clamped his mouth shut before saying too much.

“If you truly wish to keep as much of your possessions as possible, I may have a suggestion, but I promise it will not be easy and would change everything about your life.”

At the idea that he could possibly undo what he’d done, he leaned forward. “Tell me. I’ll do anything. It’s not as if my life since my father passed has been worth living anyway.”

Tamworth studied him, obviously trying to decide if he was being honest. What the man didn’t know was exactly how desperate Philip was to save what he could of his father’s legacy. How odd that he hadn’t appreciated it until it was lost, much like the former Lord Durham.

“I believe you. I just hope you’re being sincere because it will affect—”

“Man, don’t delay, if there’s a way, tell me posthaste.”

“Fine. My wife has a friend, a classmate from the Belinda School for Curious Ladies, who is in desperate need of a husband. The lady’s parents would pay a significant dowry to the gentleman who would agree to this position.”

“I don’t have time to woo and win a lady among dozens of anxious swains, Tamworth.” Disappointed, Philip sat back and reached for his glass, only to find it a cup with tea instead. He quickly put it down without drinking.

“Actually, this particular lady is in as much of a hurry as you are, and there are no other men currently at her door.”

Wary, as it sounded far too good to be true, Philip leaned forward once again. “There is something wrong with her.”

“No, not wrong. She was simply seduced by another peer who told her he would marry her and then married another.”

“Bloody blackguard. But if she believed him, she cannot be completely right in her head. Tell the truth. She’s not very intelligent?”

“Just the opposite. As I said, she attended the same school as my wife. The man was simply too convincing, and from what Sophie says, the lady’s mother encouraged the relationship, so she too was taken in.”

“So this lady is intelligent, but no longer a virgin. Is she with child?”

“Not that I know of, but it may be too soon to tell. Only the lady can answer that.”

“I see. Then I take a deflowered lady to wife, and possibly take her illegitimate child, and in return I keep my estate and all my possessions as well as what little honor I have. Does anyone besides the family and your wife know?”

“Just a few other classmates, so you wouldn’t want to delay if it is of any interest to you.”

Philip rose and walked to the window that looked upon the back of the small estate, but he didn’t see the landscape. What he saw was his home, a place he’d never given a thought about until he was sure he’d lose everything in it but the walls and roof—and soon those too when he could no longer maintain them. As he thought of Crestfield Hall, memories of growing up surfaced: his father teaching him to ride, his mother gifting him with a new toy at Christmastide, and his older sister running after him. All the things he’d forced into the recesses of his mind as if they didn’t matter. But they did.

What Tamworth offered was a lifetime payment to a woman he didn’t know and possibly a child that wasn’t his. It seemed fitting. Finally, he would have the punishment he deserved for his selfishness.

He turned and faced Tamworth. “I’ll do it. I will need to call on her to avoid suspicion of anything odd. We will also need the three weeks for the banns to be read, to make everything appear as usual. I believe Lord Claremont won’t think twice if I wait a month to pay him. It’s not as if I run into him often.”

“Do you not wish to know who it is first?”

He shrugged. “It doesn’t matter. But we may need to fabricate a story of how we met. Unless I’ve met the lady already?”