In The Prince's Bed (24 page)

Alec gazed at the man in surprise. “It’s rather early to be out, isn’t it?”

“Not for me. I’m not like you city folk, out all night dancing, then sleeping untilnoonthe next day. I come
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by my wealth honestly. Early bird catches the worm and all that.” He ran his gaze over Alec’s tired face and rumpled attire. “And frankly, you’re not the sort of worm I’d hoped to catch this morning.”

“I know.” Alec fought down his resentment at being called a worm. Right now, he felt like one. Draker walked purposefully to take a seat behind his desk. If not for his scruffy clothing and his wild man’s beard, Draker would look the very picture of the wealthy landowner receiving a supplicant. He certainly had the superior manner down pat.

Planting his elbows on the desk, Draker steepled his fingers and eyed Alec with lordly contempt. “Well? Why have you come?”

Alec dragged in a deep breath. “I need to borrow five hundred pounds.”

Draker’s face betrayed no reaction. “Things not going well with the fortune hunting?”

“Actually, I’ve convinced Miss Merivale to marry me. And according to Byrne, she’ll inherit a hundred thousand pounds upon her marriage.”

Draker scowled. “I wouldn’t trust Byrne, if I were you.”

“I don’t have any choice.” Alec flashed Draker a rueful smile. “And since the Merivales are in debt to him, he knows what he’s talking about.”

“Ah. So why do you need five hundred pounds?”

Swallowing his resentment at having to explain himself, Alec related the entirety of the situation between him and his tenant farmers and Harris.

When he finished, Draker’s lordly manner had softened. “I see. Sounds like you’ve got a good steward there in Mr. Dawes. That strain of barley is high-yielding indeed. If the man is suggesting you plant that, he’s got a good head on his shoulders.” When Alec raised an eyebrow, Draker shrugged. “Half of my own tenants have been planting it for three years now, with excellent results.”

“I’ve read the literature Dawes gave me about it, and it sounds like a viable crop, especially inSuffolk’s soil. But the clay gets so hard that we need those heavy tillers, and I’ll soon have to buy someSuffolk punch horses—”

“I’ve heard of those. A kind of draft horse, isn’t it? Only bred inSuffolk. I wonder if they’d be useful around here.”

“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 inBathright 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?”

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“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 did
you
come 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 fromSuffolk.”

“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?”

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“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—”

“
If
you 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?”

“A nag,” Alec snapped. “Now, will you loan me the money or not?”

Draker gave him a speculative glance. “I tell you what. Let me show you
my
estate while I’m thinking it over. You can talk to my tenants about the barley. You can even speak to my steward about husbandry. Then I’ll give you my answer.”

Alec held back his hot retort. This was a test. Draker wanted to determine if Alec had what it took to make a go of an estate, or if he was just playing at it.

Although Alec didn’t blame the man for doubting him, time grew short. He glanced at the clock on Draker’s desk. He had ten hours before he had to pick up Katherine and Mrs. Merivale for the Purefoy party, including an hour to drive back toLondonand an hour to dress. He couldn’t miss the party—he was hoping Katherine would finally have spoken toSydneyso Alec could make their betrothal official. But there was still time left. And he had no choice but to play Draker’s game if he wanted his money.

“All right,” Alec told his half brother. “Let’s go.”

The true rake has no heart. A desire for

pleasure is the only thing beating inside

his chest.

—Anonymous,
A Rake’s Rhetorick

It was happening all over again. How many times had Katherine sat with Mama, waiting for Papa to show up to take them to an assembly in town as he’d promised, only to have him stagger in with his cravat askew, reeking of ale?

How many times had she listened to his lies that he’d been delayed by a broken carriage axle or a lamed
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horse, watching Mama’s temper rise until it erupted into shouts? All the while her own anger simmered deep inside where she always thrust it, because
somebody
in the family had to keep a clear head. Tonight, however, she was the one ready to erupt while Mama sat and watched warily, having long ago fallen into an uncharacteristic silence.

Katherine refused to endure this any longer. Gathering up her reticule, she rose and headed for the parlor door.

“Katherine Merivale, where do you think you’re going?” Mama asked.

“Upstairs.” Katherine gestured to the clock. “He’s an hour and a half late. You might as well accept that he’s not coming. And since we have no carriage and we turned down the one Lady Purefoy offered to send forus, we have no way of going by ourselves. Thomas will never find a hackney at this hour, not with all the parties going on.”

She gathered in a steadying breath, fighting not to show her anger. “So I’m going upstairs to change clothes and read. At least it will keep my mind off… everything.”

“Now, Katherine, perhaps he was held up on his estate—”

“You said you didn’t believe he’d gone to his estate.” Her mother’s troubled frown only heightened Katherine’s temper. “Even if he did, and even if he found upon his arrival that he wouldn’t be able to get back for the party, he’s had plenty of time to sendusa message fromSuffolk. The mails are quick these days.”

“He might have had an accident on the roads, you know. It does happen. And there are highwaymen, too.”

That brought her up short. Oh, God, what if something horrible
had
happened to him? The idea of Alec lying in some ditch—

No, she couldn’t believe it. Alec, of all people, would keep his team and carriage in perfect shape and hire the best coachman. And any highwayman confronting a man who could slice a pear in half at a dead gallop would surely find himself bested.

His evasions concerning theStephensHoteltold her Alec was deceiving her about something, and his absence was part of it. She just knew it.

“I seriously doubt his lordship has had an accident. He is simply exercising his right to behave like a cad, now that I’ve agreed—” She broke off, hoping Mama hadn’t caught her slip. But her mother could be very clever when it came to certain matters. “Now that you’ve agreed to what, Katherine?”

Katherine sighed. “To his proposal of marriage. That night at Astley’s, he asked me to marry him, and I agreed.”

Mama’s face lit up. “My dear girl, that’s wonderful!” She pressed her hands to her heart. “My daughter, the countess… oh, I knew it would happen, I knew it! The way his lordship looks at you, and his kind courtesies—”

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“Like not showing up to take me to a party when he promised?”

“Pshaw, these things happen.” Mama waved her hand dismissively. “You’ll see what I mean when you’re married.”

Which was precisely what worried Katherine.

Her mother frowned. “But why didn’t you tell me this before? And why didn’t he speak to me about it?”

“He wanted to, but I… um… asked him to wait until I could tellSydney.”

“
What
?” Mama leaped to her feet and began to pace, gesticulating wildly. “For a clever girl, you are sometimes exceedingly foolish. When a man proposes marriage, a girl in your position does not keep him dangling on a string. It would be one thing if men were clamoring for introductions, but they aren’t. Even Sir Sydney Lovelace has dropped you. And you put off the earl? Are you mad? It’s no wonder the man has abandoned you.”

“I hardly think—”

“Exactly—you don’t think at all! You’ve been so cool to him that Lord Iversley probably thought you meant to toy with his affections. Then you told him we weren’t invited to Lady Holland’s. Now he has second thoughts, no doubt, which is why he’s dallying at his estate or… wherever.”

“If you’re right, then we’re well rid of him.” Kathleen swallowed down the tears threatening to well up.

“I don’t want to marry a man who’d be scared off by our low connections or by my wanting to do right by a friend.”

But if he was the sort of man she’d come to believe he was, he would be here. Or at the very least, would have sent a message. Instead of taking for granted that she would wait on his whim. Instead of hiding things from her and pretending to be other than he really was—whatever
that
happened to be. She squared her shoulders. “I’m going upstairs, Mama. Come fetch me if he should happen to appear.”

Then she would give him a piece of her mind, and this time, no amount of kissing would distract her. She’d actually let him persuade her that all his evasions were reasonable. That he’d kept his unorthodox past hidden for a legitimate reason, even though there’d been holes the size of caverns in his stories. But the past two days had given her plenty of time to ponder them. Why had one childhood incident estranged him from his father? Why had his father allowed his only heir to work for a living in a country wracked by war, instead of coming home to do his duty? That was a rather profound estrangement, it seemed to her—Alec must have done something truly awful to warrant it.

And what did the uncle have to do with anything? Surely as Alec’s guardian
he
would not have approved of Alec’s work with the cavalry. She would question Alec’s entire tale, except that she’d seen him ride and perform cavalry maneuvers. One didn’t learn that sort of thing overnight. But he was keeping something from her; she was sure of it. Aside from his mysterious evasions about theStephensHotel. Entering her room, she tossed her reticule on the bed, and as she passed the mirror she caught sight of her reflection and the damascene brooch she’d worn especially for Alec.
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A lump settled in her throat. What if he’d lied about the pin and had bought it for a woman other than his mother? That might explain his determination not to return toEngland—somePortuguesebeauty might have captured his heart.

He might even have left his uncle’s house to be with her. That would explain why he’d had to make money. Though he was conscious enough of his obligations not to marry such a woman, he
could
make her his mistress… and keep her at a place like theStephensHotel, while he looked for an acceptable Englishwife to bear his heir.

Katherine groaned. Yes, that would be more in keeping with the Alec she’d come to know. She couldn’t see him cavorting with some doxy as Papa had, but Alec in love with an unacceptable woman…

that fit his character.

And was much more painful to contemplate. Alec loving another woman while he’d kissed and caressed Katherine… the very thought made her ill.

She rubbed her aching temples. This was ridiculous— she was letting her imagination run away with her. He would hardly have given Katherine a pin he’d bought for aPortuguesemistress he was still seeing. Besides, if he were leading such a duplicitous life, wouldn’t it behoove him to try even harder to allay Katherine’s suspicions, instead of not showing up when he was supposed to? He’d probably just been delayed at his estate. But the fact remained that whatever the reason for his absence, it was tying her into knots, which was
precisely
what she’d wanted to avoid by marryingSydney