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NINE

Briar

I never would have believed it, but Peregrine swiftly became a part of my life.

That sounded way more scandalous than I meant—it was just, he kind of…became a part of my life. He was a superb houseguest, tidy and clean, never demanding too much of my time. He even started to wear a waistcoat to breakfast, which was the perfect balance.

Naked enough to gawp at. Clothed enough to prevent me from taking him into my bedchamber and repeating the first night we met.

He turned out to be more of a night owl that I was. Most evenings he would stay up in the drawing room reading through my father’s extensive library and working on my ledgers for me. I had to give him credit; he really seemed to want to help me.

Some of his insights were bold—far too bold for me to feel comfortable with. But he was never wrong.

It was almost a week later when I crept into my townhouse after a late night with Georgiana at Almack’s that I saw the light coming from the drawing room.

Only then did I realize how ridiculous I was being. What, I was going to creep into my own house? Peregrine was already awake. What difference did it make how noisy I was?

Thanks to the well-oiled hinges of the door, I had entered the drawing room without Markham noticing I was there. His back was to me, seated on the sofa with a newspaper in his lap.

I crept forward as I glanced over his shoulder at what was printed on the page he was reading as something caught my eye.

I couldn’t have told you straight away what had done it. The print was small, paragraphs and paragraphs of text. I had assumed Peregrine was meandering through one of the old newspapers that I hardly ever managed to give the footmen for lighting fires.

But when I blinked and stepped forward, I saw what had caught my attention.

The Gambling Dukes

Wasn’t that the club Peregrine and his friends had created?

I tried to concentrate, blinking a few times, and the words came together.

THE GAMBLING DUKES THREATENS CLOSURE AS SCANDAL SIMMERS

A few scattered phrases jumped out at me as Peregrine’s gaze flickered, evidently completely unaware I was there.

The Duke of Markham…scandal…outrageous actions…financial misconduct…

I swallowed, a lump in my throat threatening to prevent me from speaking.

Not that I wanted to. This was odd, right? Peregrine had left the club—had stolen from it. He’d been thrown out, as much as anyone could be thrown out of something they’d created.

And now he was reading an article about them?

Not just one. As I stood transfixed, unable to make a sound to let Peregrine know I was there, he pulled out a pocket book and unfolded a newspaper clipping—several of them. The headline blared out at me in black and white.

DUKE OF MARKHAM DESTROYS GAMBLING DUKES CLUB

I watched as Peregrine shook his head. What was he doing? Keeping tabs on the club he had almost destroyed? Reading the latest goings on of friends who evidently wanted nothing to do with him?

A shiver cascaded down my spine, and I clutched my shawl in an attempt to ground myself.

This was perfectly normal, right? I mean, it wasn’t like a person could just stop thinking about something—or switch off their heart and stop caring about something.

Peregrine had been there from the very beginning, hadn’t he? He’d been a complete ass, and should never have even considered stealing from them, true.

But then why fixate?

I watched as he sighed and shuffled the papers to examine a page which had been ripped out of something. A ledger, perhaps.

Now that was interesting.

I leaned closer to look at the numbers, heart hammering. Peregrine hadn’t noticed me. This was definitely spying at this point—I should have made it obvious I was here.

But perhaps it was better I hadn’t. Because the page Peregrine had pulled out looked suspiciously like…

I groaned under my breath as I saw the Gambling Dukes watermark.

It was a document from the Gambling Dukes. Had he stolen it?

However he’d got his hands on it, Peregrine certainly shouldn’t be looking at someone else’s financial records in my home.

My mind raced.

What was he doing? Looking for a way to steal more money? Had all my hopes, my expectations of him been wrong? Was it possible Peregrine wasn’t the man I thought he was?

A soft thump ended my thoughts and made Peregrine stuff all the paper away in his pocket.

I’d dropped my shawl.

Peregrine whirled around, his eyes wide in shock at being caught in the act.

Caught in the act of what, I still didn’t know.

“Briar,” he blurted out, forcing his pocketbook away and rising to his feet.

Oh God, I’d never seen anyone look more guilty. Peregrine looked as criminal as someone who’d just been caught robbing a bank, with one of those daft masks on and a sack labelled ‘loot’ over his shoulder.

“I didn’t think you’d be back—when did you get in?” Peregrine said in a rush.

My heart was thundering, and I didn’t want this confrontation now. In a way, I don’t think I had ever really wanted it. If I’d been smart, I would have headed to bed and tried to forget what I’d seen.

But I couldn’t forget now.

Leaning down to pick up my shawl and buy myself some time, I straightened up and pushed a stray curl from my eyes.

It was instinct that did it. I saw the way his gaze flickered to my hair, then to my lips, before returning to my eyes.

It would be so easy, wouldn’t it? Just give into the temptation to kiss him, distract Peregrine with my body. I knew he wanted me. I knew how good it felt when he touched me.

I could just forget about all this in pleasure and desire.

But that wasn’t who I am.

“You’re looking into the Gambling Dukes,” I said quietly.

Peregrine shifted on his feet. “So?”

My heart sank. If there had been an innocent explanation, wouldn’t he have just given it? Why did everything have to be so combative with this duke?

“Their financial records,” I emphasized, pointing at where his pocketbook had disappeared to. “Don’t…don’t you think that’s a little strange?”

Peregrine glanced gown at his chest before looking back at me. “It isn’t what it looks like, Briar.”

“What does it look like?” I said, trying to keep the frustration from my voice. “Damnit, I'm really trying here. You steal from me, I give you work. You don’t pay your rent, I give you a place to live. Am I just an idiot, Markham?”

“No!” His face truly looked pained, but how could I trust that? “You have to believe me, Briar, I?—”

“You’re not giving me a huge number of reasons to believe you’re capable of change, here,” I said, my arm pulling my shawl tight around my side. “What is going on?”

I watched as Peregrine swallowed, evidently torn about telling me the truth or letting me believe whatever I wanted.

This wasn’t a man who shared easily. I don’t think he was the sort to share at all. He hadn’t mentioned any mistresses in the past, no ladies of the night had come looking for him. His parents were gone, no siblings, and his wife had died…when? Long ago enough that he was out of mourning.

He’d had his friends at the Gambling Dukes, and that was all, as far as I could tell. Now he didn’t have them.

But he had me. Had I been played?

“Hell, this is so embarrassing,” Peregrine sighed, shaking his head.

Ice clutched around my heart. What on earth had he done? “What is?”

“I…” Peregrine swallowed, eyes darting about the place as though searching for a way out. “I have some old financial records from the Gambling Dukes—old, Briar. At least eighteen months old.”

“Pretty sure your friends won’t be thrilled to hear you still had them,” I said quietly.

I hadn’t intended my words to be harsh, but he flinched.

“Perhaps not,” he said with a dark shrug. “I'm…blast. I'm trying to look for ways to help them.”

I blinked. “What?”

“The Gambling Dukes are about to risk it all, right?” Peregrine said in a rush. “They’re going to risk it on a huge gamble with a Spanish Count, and they needed me to…and then I stole from them. And so I'm looking for a way to help.”

I stared. He couldn’t be serious.

“You’re looking for a way,” I said slowly, “to try to hide the fact that you stole from them, because they’ve got a huge wager coming up?”

Markham

“You’re looking for a way to try to hide the fact that you stole from them, because they’ve got a huge wager coming up?”

I stared at Briar, her uncertainty stabbing a knife into my chest.

Damn, was I truly so untrustworthy as all that? Did everyone around me just want to keep assuming the worst of me, for the rest of my life?

“No!” I said, perhaps too forcefully. “No, I more meant—I was smart enough to find a way to skim money off without anyone noticing for a while, right?”

Briar’s face became one of disgust. “If you call that smart.”

I winced. She had such a way of directing disappointment at me. Like I could never make it up to her. To anyone.

But I had to. That was what this was all about.

“I wanted to look through the records to see if there was any way to maximize their profits,” I said slowly, hating I had to admit this.

But what choice did I have? Briar had obviously been watching me for a little while, and she wasn’t going to accept some generic placating. This was her home, she’d risked her reputation having me to stay here as her guest.

I owed her that. And so much more.

“I don’t understand—you’re not a part of that club anymore,” said Briar with a frown, turning to drop her shawl onto an armchair behind her. “Why would you bother?”

“Why would I bother?” I repeated in disbelief.

But of course, how could she understand? Lady Briar Weatherford had never done anything wrong in her whole life. Awful things had happened to her, but she’d never ruined anyone’s life.

Not on purpose, anyway. My life felt pretty unstable around her, but that was probably because every moment I was with her, I was fighting off the temptation to kiss her so hard?—

“You really think you can go over eighteen month old accounts and find a solution?” Briar said suddenly, stepping around the sofa.