Page 4 of A Gamble on the Duke (The Gambling Dukes #4)

“And you need money,” Kineallen pointed out. “This is a business arrangement. Nothing more. We’ll come together for functions when I need a hostess, and then in a few weeks when the Season is over, we’ll part ways. ”

Part ways—him with a tale of a woman he once courted, and me with several hundred pounds.

It was stupid. It was ridiculous. It was the most idiotic idea I had ever heard.

It would be a risk. A gamble on a duke.

I stuck out a hand. “You’ve got a deal.”

Kineallen

“You need a woman to be courting.”

Did she have to sound so dismissive?

I shifted in my chair. I knew how ridiculous it sounded. I was a rich duke with more money than sense, surely. I had at least five women in my pocketbook who I could call on who would jump at the chance to wander about the place on my arm. I didn’t have to make this so complicated.

But it would get complicated. The Right Honorable Rachel Plinkley, Miss Emma Thorpe, the widowed Mrs. Laura Bessington—they were all perfectly pleasant ladies. They all cared about me—wanted a commitment from me. Wanted marriage.

I couldn’t handle that.

“And you need money,” I said, trying to focus. This was not about emotions. This was about practicalities. “This is a business arrangement. Nothing more. We’ll come together for functions when I need a hostess, and then in a few weeks when the Season is over, we’ll part ways.”

Even I could hear how odd this was. Who actually did this? No one. It was the sort of foolishness you’d read about in a novel, not in real life.

Miss Shenton was staring at me with a frown, that little line between her eyes far too distracting. Fine, she needed more convincing. I could do that—I was a pretty convincing gentleman.

I cleared my throat.

A hand was stuck out over the table. “You’ve got a deal.”

I stared. “A what?”

Miss Shenton grinned, frown gone. “A deal. You’re right, this is most strange, but I need money and as long as there’s not going to be anything intimate between us…y’know.”

I think I was still stunned, because I grinned. “I do know.”

“Well, then there you go,” Miss Shenton said with a shrug. “It’s a deal.”

I could hardly believe it. I’d readied myself to push her, encourage her with as much money as I could spare, which was a great deal. The leader of the Gambling Dukes was able to draw a significant income, and I’d barely spent mine.

It all seemed too easy.

“You said yes rather quickly.”

Miss Shenton grinned as she picked up a fork and started diving into the food like she hadn’t eaten in a month. “Now who’s suspicious?”

I flinched.

Because she was right. It all seemed too easy—far too easy. Was she a courtesan, perhaps? Or someone who has already been paid to gain insight into our practices—our competitors would do anything to unravel the plans I had to make our club one of the most powerful, most successful .

Putting a delightfully attractive woman in my path to entirely distract me from the upcoming wagers? It was diabolical.

It was just the sort of thing I would do.

“Don’t you want to know why I need to ask you, a relative stranger, to be the woman in question?”

Miss Shenton shrugged, her mouth full. God, had she never eaten in her life? “Are you secretly in love with a man?”

I shrugged. “No.”

“A criminal?”

“Not in the slightest.”

“Have you ever hurt a woman?”

I hesitated.

Miss Shenton froze. “You haven’t, have you?”

“Not on purpose,” I said, hating that she was drawing the truth from me like this.

And it was true. It had never been on purpose.

“The women I have previously…well, been entangled with, shall we say…I can’t promise them anything.

I have no wish to be married, and they knew that from the beginning.

At least, I told them from the beginning.

They didn’t seem to remember that after a few months. ”

She grinned. “So what you’re telling me is that ladies keep going on being inconvenient and falling in love with you?”

She laughed as she swept a golden curl past her ear.

I stiffened. Not just because it was completely outrageous to accuse me of that, but because she was incredibly beautiful, and that shift made her bodice tighten, just for a moment, over her breasts.

“Look,” I said coldly. Back to business. “I have some guests coming in the next few days. I need to wine and dine them. Impress them.”

Miss Shenton tilted her head to one side. “And you need a hostess for that? Why?”

I sighed. “He’s an old fashioned sort of gentleman, one from the last century. He thinks gentlemen in their thirties who haven’t settled down, or at least who aren’t on the way to being married, aren’t serious about growing up. Aren’t serious about business.”

It had been one of the most galling conversations I had ever had. Still, I should haven’t have been so impulsive as to offer to invite him to the woman I was courting.

The woman who didn’t exist.

“So…you need a prospective wife.”

“A false prospective wife,” I pointed out sharply. There was absolutely no way that I was going to let this get complicated. The last thing I needed was complicated. “I think if you’re serious about accepting?—”

“Would I be eating your luncheon if I wasn’t?” Miss Shenton said with a grin.

I smiled, despite myself. “No.”

Right, I could do this. I could do this. How hard would it be? It was just like hiring anyone else that I would need for the club. I have no issue in hiring servants, so why would this be any different?

Miss Shenton grinned and my manhood lurched.

That was why.

“Rules,” I said aloud. Yes, that would help. Rules. Not just to keep her heart away from me, but the rest of her. “I think we should have some ground rules.”

“No kissing,” Miss Shenton said immediately.

I tried not to let my irritation show. What, did she think I couldn’t control myself ?

I pushed down the disappointment I felt. This was business, Kineallen. Nothing more.

“Fine, but some small displays of affection will be necessary,” I said quietly.

Miss Shenton nodded. “Hand holding, hand on my waist—maybe kisses on the cheek?”

“Fine.” This was all so surreal, but I forced myself to push through. “You’ll need to be attired suitably well. I’ll sort that out. I’ll move you into the apartment above mine—your own bedchamber, of course.”

“Of course. But won’t—I mean…wouldn’t it be scandalous for you and me…well.” Miss Shenton flushed. “To be living together.”

I shrugged. “I shall give it out that your father has had to go away on business—in fact, I’ll move you into the guest bedchamber in my townhouse. We can say that you have been given into my care.”

Miss Shenton nodded slowly. “Well…I suppose so.”

So far, so good.

“I'm not always going to know in advance when I’ll need you—we’re entertaining the Earl of Tuxford on and off for a month, but the schedule isn’t exactly written in stone. Do you think your employer will let you take…I don’t know. A week off?”

She chewed her lip, still examining me closely as though weighing me up. It didn’t make any sense to me. That clay shop could hardly have much custom.

“I suppose so,” Miss Shenton said eventually. “But if I'm constantly running across London after you, it’s going to get pricey.”

I frowned.

“I mean, if I'm wearing a fancy gown or something, I don’t want to be looking for a hansom cab past midnight on the way home or?—”

“Oh, I shall have a carriage and coachman at your beck and call,” I said, waving a hand. God, if I could spend several hundred pounds on her company, I was hardly going to let her traipse about town.

“And just who is going to know about this?” Miss Shenton said quietly.

“I mean, I have no family, no real acquaintance in London, no one to ask questions. But you—you said that you had three close friends who were married recently. And then there are the other members of your club. Your servants. People who are going to ask questions.”

I hesitated.

She had a point. I hadn’t thought of that. Georgiana would want to know all about any woman I bothered to introduce to a potential member, and as for Lilah…

I shuddered. “I think we just pretend that this is real.”

“As in, you are actually courting me?”

Nodding, I added, “No need to make this complicated. Let’s just try to keep it as simple as possible. We met, we liked each other, we’re courting.”

Miss Shenton was tilting her head again. Did she know how attractive she was?

I shook thought from my head. Damnit, Kineallen, get it together. This woman was off-limits, not even kissing was allowed.

And that was a good thing. No point in her catching feelings.

“And there will a contract, I suppose.”

“Of course,” I replied, inclining my head. “I would not ask you to take on such a risk without some sort of legal protections.”

Her smile was warm. “A gamble on the Duke of Kineallen, I suppose. ”

I suppose it was—which was rather apt, considering my founding membership of the Gambling Dukes. “Any other rules you want?”

Miss Shenton considered for a minute, placing her knife and fork down. “You really want to go ahead with this? I mean, I'm sure a duke like you has plenty of women who would jump at the chance to?—”

“I don’t want a woman who is going to fall in love with me,” I cut across her, perhaps a little too harshly.

And she met my eye and grinned. “Well, no concerns there. Right. Let’s…let’s do this.”