Page 60 of The Paid Companion

He drummed his fingers on the edge of the door. “Why do I have the impression that I am not going to like whatever it is that you are about to tell me?”

“It is really not so very dreadful,” she assured him. “Nevertheless, I suspect your initial reaction may be somewhat, ah, negative.”

“I suspect you are damned right.” He smiled in feral anticipation. “But you are going to try to make me change my mind, are you not?”

“In my opinion, it would be in everyone’s best interests if you could manage to achieve a positive reaction.”

“Out with it,” he growled.

“I think it would be better if I explained the situation first.”

“Now I am absolutely certain that I will have a negative response.”

She pretended not to hear that. “Were you aware, sir, that both Juliana’s and Roland’s families have cut the couple’s purse strings?”

He raised his brows. “I have heard rumors to that effect, yes. I am certain that it is merely a temporary situation. Sooner or later old Burnley or Graham will come around.”

“Juliana believed that at first, too, but she no longer places any faith in that possibility, and evidently neither does Roland. They are convinced that both families have turned against them forever. Juliana is quite distraught.”

“Is she?” He did not sound the least concerned about Juliana’s feelings.

“Her mother gave her a little money, but that is not enough to sustain the couple. The threat of financial disaster has driven Roland into the gaming hells.”

“Yes, I know. I daresay he’ll soon learn that the hells are a good way to lose whatever little money he has left.”

“You knew that Roland is attempting to make his fortune at the tables?”

“It is hardly a secret.”

Of course he had been aware of the situation, she thought wryly, just as he had known that Ibbitts was stealing from the household accounts. Making certain that he was well informed of all the events in his world was Arthur’s way.

She decided to take a different approach. “Juliana is very frightened.”

Turning his head, he gave her his fierce profile. He looked out the window as though he was bored with the conversation and had found something of extraordinary interest to observe in the street. The lamplight etched his cheekbone and the line of his jaw, but his expression was lost in dark shadow.

“That does not surprise me,” he said.

She recalled once again the gossip she had heard concerning Juliana’s feelings toward Arthur.They say she was terrified of him.

Watching his averted face, she suddenly knew with great certainty that he had been very well aware that his fiancée feared him.

The knowledge that he was aware of how Juliana had regarded him did not surprise her, but the realization that he might have taken a silly young woman’s gothic imaginings personally, perhaps had even allowed them to depress his spirits, did astonish her.

“My understanding is that Juliana endured an extremely sheltered upbringing,” Elenora said briskly. “Her youth and lack of experience of the world no doubt caused her to fall victim to specters produced by a young lady’s naturally overheated imagination.”

He turned back to her. “Unlike yourself, Miss Lodge?” he asked mockingly.

She waved that aside with the hand in which she held her mask. “A lady who intends to go into trade cannot afford the luxury of possessing overly refined sensibilities.”

A flicker of a smile came and went at the corners of his mouth. He inclined his head in a gravely solemn manner.

“It is certainly true that delicate sensibilities can interfere with turning a profit.” He regarded her very steadily. “I learned that fact myself several years ago. As a result, I never allow sentiment to influence my decisions in such matters.”

That did not bode well, she thought. With his legendary, preternatural intuition concerning finances and investments, he had already guessed that she was about to ask him for a favor involving money. He was giving her fair warning that she might as well save her breath.

Nevertheless, she decided to press on, employing the tools that might sway him: logic and responsibility.

“Sir, I shall come straight to the point,” she said. “Juliana approached me tonight to request a favor.”