Page 73 of In the Prince's Bed

“I’ll send you the first foal I get from them,” Alec offered, “if you can see your way clear to loaning me that five hundred pounds.”

Draker’s face went carefully blank. “Why didn’t you borrow it from Byrne? You’re doing him a favor by marrying this heiress.”

“Byrne is in Bath right now, and I need the money by tomorrow night.”

“So I’m just supposed to hand over five hundred pounds to you, is that it?”

“I have something to offer as collateral.” He’d pondered the problem all the way here and had come up with one enticement, though not one he relished offering.

Draker raised an eyebrow. “Oh?”

He steeled himself. “My horse.”

Interest flickered in Draker’s eyes. “Your horse?”

“It’s a Lusitano of excellent bloodlines, worth over a thousand pounds.”

“Then how didyoucome by it?”

“General Beresford acquired it in battle and gave it to me for my service to the cavalry.”

Draker’s eyes narrowed. “Yes, Byrne told me how you’d actually spent the past ten years.”

That surprised Alec. He hadn’t realized his brothers had spoken again since that night at his hotel.

“He says,” Draker continued, “that you can do amazing tricks on a horse. Not a particularly useful skill for a man trying to get an estate running again.”

Alec gritted his teeth. “I’m willing to learn the right skills. I just need help.”

“Five hundred pounds of help.”

“For which I’m offering my horse as collateral, and it’s worth twice that. If you know of my work in Portugal, then you know I can assess a horse’s value. And that I’m not exaggerating Beleza’s attributes.”

“You could be. Horse merchants do it all the time.”

Alec bit back an oath. “But I’m a gentleman and a man of good character, not a horse merchant.”

“That remains to be seen.” Draker settled back in his chair. “If it’s so fine a horse, why didn’t you offer it to your Mr. Harris as collateral?”

“I tried. Having been taken in by my father one too many times, he’s beyond accepting anything but money from my family—he made that very clear.”

“Did you bring this horse with you?”

“No. I came straight here from Suffolk.”

“In my carriage,” Draker said dryly.

Alec glared at him. “Yes. I needed speed.” He tamped down his temper. “But if you want to see Beleza, meet me at my hotel in the morning, and I’ll let you look her over. Then you can decide whether to loan me the money.”

For several long moments, Draker seemed to consider Alec’s offer. “So why don’t you sell the horse?”

“I want to keep her if I can,” Alec growled. “And since all I need is a loan for a few weeks until I marry—”

“Ifyou marry. What if it doesn’t work out with your heiress? Will you still give me the horse in lieu of payment?”

Feeling as if someone had reached inside to rip out his heart, Alec said, “Yes.”

“And what would you ride?”