Page 17 of A Pearl Possessed

Derek jerked to standing and strode from behind his desk. He closed in on Col, who stood as well. "What are you playing at?"

"I just wanted to find out if you'd tell me the whole truth."

"Did I pass your idiotic test?"

Col gave him an assessing look. "Mostly."

"As long as we're being honest, I should tell you something important..."

This time Col seemed truly surprised. "Go on."

"I don't always have, um, relations with all of the women on our days together."

"Then what the hell do you do?"

"We talk?"

"Is that all?"

"It depends."

"On what?"

"Whether or not they want to beat me at cards."

When Col gave him a quizzical look, he hastened to add, "They all cheat."

Friday,8 September

Townhouse Number One, Grosvenor Street

Obadiah had decided the next time the earl deigned to visit Adrienne he'd keep well out of the man's way because, frankly, he had no idea what he'd do. He knew her job now was to cater to the whims of the man. He sort of understood why she'd left his protection, but that didn't mean he had to like the idea of another man bedding the woman he loved while he was paid to lurk around the house where the bedding was occurring.

The irony and pain festering within him all rolled together into a hard ball of jealousy and rancor lodged in his gut. His normal ferocious appetite had faded to nearly nothing. The earl's cook was so concerned, she sent him a message inquiring if he was taking his meals elsewhere. Until he read the note he had noidea he was missing meals. He hadn't sat down to a meal with the rest of the servants in the top floor dining hall for at least an entire day.

What he felt wasn't so much hunger as emptiness, a great, gaping emptiness at the thought of Adrienne in the arms of Framlingwood.

Before being called in to serve as Adrienne's bodyguard, he'd been well aware that she'd left him. However, he'd been unable to ascertain where she'd fled. His employer, Captain El, had finally forced him to stop demanding to know Adrienne's whereabouts. She'd assured him his former lover was "safe" and "happy."

She'd neglected to add the part about where she was also the mistress of a wealthy aristocrat. He sucked in a deep breath, told himself whatever had been between the two of them was over. He had a job to do, and he'd damned well better stop sniveling about broken promises and dreams. After another deep breath he'd convinced himself he was over Adrienne. She was no longer his concern.

And then he turned to look at the front door of the No. 1 Grosvenor Street townhouse just in time to see Lord Framlingwood turn a key in the lock and let himself in.

Obadiah clenched his teeth until he was afraid they'd break. He couldn't shout out a primal scream in the middle of the day in Mayfair dressed like a footman, so he did the next best thing. He slammed a fist into the solid stone pot housing an innocent arbor vitae bush next to the entrance of townhouse No. Five where he was standing watch. The bush shook wildly whilst he hid an oath decrying the pain with a meaty hand across his mouth.

Adrienne scoopedup all the shillings from the Earl of Framlingwood's side of the table that afternoon and hugged them to the bodice of her ivory muslin dress dotted with saucy, tiny red birds. "I won," she crowed, and dumped the lot into her reticule.

"I suppose you'll want to race to Bond Street before the shops close?" he asked, lazily eyeing her from beneath lidded eyes.

She had the good manners to at least try to look sorry while she tied shut the strings of her reticule before placing it back at the side of her feet. "Of course not. This is your day. What would you like to do?"

"Actually, if you don't mind of course, I have to catch up on some servant records with Mrs. Collins." He favored her with the vacant smile she'd come to know very well. He was trying to convince her that an earl of the realm had no choice but to spend untold hours going over trivial servant problems with his housekeeper when in fact Mrs. Collins was the very servant whose job it customarily was to oversee the vagaries of behavior of the servants who all reported to her.

In Mrs. Collins's case, though, she couldn't rely on the over-butler for help because she also had to keep an eye on him. Toplofty was as apt to steal the silver as polish it. They'd all remarked on the man's odd comings and goings at their weekly tea and salon, but they trusted implicitly in Captain El's judgment. And she was the one who'd placed Toplofty Rutherford there, as well as all of the mistresses.

His various sons served as under butlers at each of the mistresses' townhouses - Tall, Short, Quick, Slow, and Young - Rutherfords one and all. Young Rutherford tended to Adrienne'shousehold, and fortunately, he was a true sweetheart of a young man. Otherwise, she'd have boxed his ears and sent him on his way long ago. The devastatingly handsome Young Rutherford wielded his innocent face and charm like a cudgel. He made it clear he believed the duties of a servant were beneath him.

Once she'd seen the earl off for the day with languid kisses and caresses in her front parlor, she raced up the stairs to her own bedchamber changing room where she set about the most important matter of the day: choosing which of her elegant lace-trimmed dressing gowns she'd use for what she had planned next. She always gave the lady's maid the afternoon and evening off on the earl's day to visit.