Heartless (48 page)

“Just what the devil are you doing here, Levi?” His tone and words were at war with his hard expression.

“Did Adam send you in here to
rescue
me?”

“No, I hear things. You’re said to be swimming up River Tick voluntarily and with a smile on your face. Not wise, my boy.”

“For your information, my lord,” Levi retorted indignantly, “I was winning when you broke up our game. And I have a plan to get ahead of the duns.”

“Let me guess,” the other man offered sardonically. “You have a never-fail bet riding on a horse called Gypsy’s Fortune because some old hag with a gold hoop in her ear told you the beast will win? No, I have it! Farnsworth and Deverell discovered that standing on your head while racing to Bath cuts two hours off the previous record and you want to best it? Oh, that can’t be it, though. That’s far too much like work. It must be darling cousin Bri, then. How much more do you think she will give you, Levi? Adam won’t let you beggar her, you know. He will kill you first.”

“Stubble it, Northwicke! I don’t need a jaw-me-dead, you prosy arse.” Levi rose to leave. Northwicke caught the arm of the furious young lord.

“Adam Prestwich will see you dead before he lets you destroy his wife…financially or emotionally.”

Levi shook off Northwicke’s hand, smoothing the wrinkles from his sleeve with jerky little motions. “I will not beggar my cousin. And it is none of your concern, Northwicke, but I will recoup my losses in the time-honored way. I will marry an heiress.”

There was a moment of silence, then, “Oh, dearest God in heaven, you are serious.”

Levi chuckled, his usual good humor restored in the face of Northwicke’s disbelief. “Why is that difficult to accept?” he asked lightly.

Northwicke just shook his blond head, a smile lighting his handsome features. “Sit down. I think we should talk like two civilized adults.”

Levi complied. He was curious. He knew Northwicke would lecture him in some way about his gambling but the other man always had interesting ways of going about it. And who knew? Maybe he’d actually listen this time.

Northwicke sat down and rubbed a hand wearily over his face. He looked tired. Levi wondered briefly what was weighing on his companion’s mind.

Folding his hands solemnly before him, Northwicke said, “I must apologize for my lapse in good manners. I just find it so damned irritating to see you in here nearly every night while your pregnant cousin sits at home and worries about your increasing debts. Why do you continue?”

The earl shrugged. “
Ennui?
”

Boredom could drive a man to do the stupidest things just to get some relief from the dull monotony of life. And Levi had done just about every stupid thing imaginable. Even…

“Did you really walk across Hyde Park on your hands in the middle of the promenade?” Northwicke asked abruptly.

Levi grinned that irresistibly boyish grin of his that never failed to win over young and old, men and women alike. His dark brown eyes brimmed with mirth. “I won a thousand pounds for that.”

*****

“He is looking for a wife?” Bri stared. She could not have heard her husband right. “Are you quite sure you did not misunderstand, my love?

Levi would do anything to avoid a leg shackle.”

Adam snorted. “Apparently, your jingle-brained cousin has decided the quickest and easiest way to recoup his losses is to marry and marry well.” He turned away and adjusted his cravat slightly, then nodded his head in satisfaction.

Bri bit her lip as she watched him. Lord, if Levi was serious, he must be in a fair amount of trouble. “Perhaps I should just—”

Her loving husband swung around. “Absolutely not, Brianna Kai Prestwich! I forbid you to give that jackanapes any more money!”

Bri, being the stubborn and proud creature that she was, bristled instantly. Her green eyes flashed like the stones they so closely resembled. “How dare you? Who do you think you are to forbid me to use my own money in any way I choose?”

Adam was across the room in two angry strides. He clamped his hands on her arms and pulled her up against him. “I am your husband,” he bit out. “A fact you seem to forget upon occasion.” He smiled wickedly. “Allow me to remind you.”

Before the last word fell from his lips, Adam kissed her fiercely. She, of course, responded in just the way he deserved. She boxed him on the ear. Well, she tried to, anyway.

“Hell and the devil, woman!” he exclaimed on a laugh as he caught her hand in mid-air. “I ought to take you over my knee for even attempting that.”

His wife scowled at him.

Adam stared down at his furious little redheaded mate. “If you just keep handing that boy money, he will never learn, Bri. You have to let him rescue himself this time. Don’t worry yourself, love. Earls don’t go to debtor’s prison.”

Lady Prestwich reached up to straighten the damage her husband had inadvertently done to his immaculate cravat and thus avoided his penetrating gaze. He sighed.

“Look at me,” he commanded gently. She lifted her narrowed eyes to meet his. “I care about Levi, Bri. I do. You have to trust that I will do what is best for him. He needs to learn responsibility. Perhaps marriage will help. He’s been a loose screw ever since his father died, from all I’m told, and he needs to grow up now.”

“Very well,” she conceded. “But if even one of those heiresses breaks his heart, I’ll…why, I’ll…”

“Call her out?” Adam suggested helpfully.

Bri’s chin went up. “Yes, that is exactly what I will do. I will call her out.”

Adam wrapped his arms around her and laid his chin on her soft curls. “Not until after your confinement, love. We wouldn’t want our daughter picking up such bad habits before she’s even born, hmm?”

Bri smiled and pressed her cheek closer to his heart. “Daughter? We already have a daughter. I want a son,” she mumbled contentedly.

“If it were in my power, I would grant your wish, my lady. Alas, I am not as omnipotent as I have led you to believe.”

She frowned. “I have never believed any such thing and well you know it, Adam Prestwich.”

Adam stepped back, holding her at arm’s length. “Truly?”

Laughing, Bri replied, “Truly. But I love you despite that huge flaw.”

Adam stepped away, snatching up a silver waistcoat and donning it with a few deft movements. “There is something I know, in all my flawed omnipotence, that you do not,” he remarked casually as he fastened the buttons.

“What is that?” Bri was twisting her own hair up into a credible imitation of a new style she had just seen in
La Belle Assemblée
. They were going to Lady Jersey’s rout, which was to be the event that officially opened the Season.

“I know,” Adam replied as he shrugged into his tight-fitting coat of black velvet trimmed with the thinnest of silver piping, “the names of the heiresses Levi is courting.”

Bri swung away from her husband’s mirror, her gray-green iridescent skirts twirling around her. “You know their names? Do tell,” she cried.

Adam grinned.

“The names of the chosen ones are,” he began in a booming voice. He paused for effect and struck a pose—which action had Bri laughing delightedly. “Number one: Lady Regina Trent, only daughter of the Earl of Greenwood. Number two: Miss Suzanne Weatherby, oldest daughter of Baron Weatherby. Number three: Miss Felicity Davis, only daughter of Sir Henry Davis, baronet, and heiress to his entire shipping company.”

“Oh, Lord, a cit,” Bri groaned.

“Yes,” Adam nodded sagely, refraining from reminding her that most of his own concerns were tied up in shipping, “a cit. And a far sight better than any of Weatherby’s chits, grasping little hellcats.” He smiled disarmingly. “You’ll never guess who number four is.”

“He’s already picked out
four
prospective brides?”

Adam nodded. Then he said nothing.

“Well, who is she?” his wife asked in exasperation.

“Guess.”

“I don’t want to guess.”

“Guess.”

Bri stared at him. And shrugged. “Oh, very well. I’ll guess. Is it Lady Margaret Fines?”

“Far from.”

“Miss Amanda Goldsmith?”

He shook his head, grinning hugely.

“Is it Gwen or Jenny? If he has set his sights on either of them with an eye to their dowries, I’ll darken his daylights for him,” she vowed grimly.

“As would Con, myself, and Denbigh. No, it is not Gwen or Jenny. Keep guessing. Oh and here is a hint: he is a clunch for even considering her.”

Bri furrowed her brow in concentration. Adam thought of Levi as a clunch even at the best at times so it really wasn’t much of a hint.

She shrugged. “I give up. Who is she?”

“Mari” was all he said.

Her jaw dropped. And she stared.

Adam approached her and gently closed her mouth. “You don’t want to catch any flies, do you, my love?”

“Mari? Is he bloody daft? Lady Marigold Danvers is a cat, a harpy, a bi—”

Adam swiftly clamped a hand over her mouth, grinning as he did so. “Yes, love, everyone knows how you feel about Mari.”

She wrenched his hand away from her mouth. “Is he daft?” she asked again, quite seriously. No one would marry the Earl of Charteris’s eldest daughter. She was an unlovely creature, twisted by greed and her belief that she was perfect.

Her husband chuckled. “Yes and no, actually. From what I understand, Levi does not really want the chit. But she wants him and her dowry is more than adequate to cover his debts and her father just wants her off his hands. So Charteris doesn’t discourage her and he encourages Levi.”

“That is very bloodless,” Lady Prestwich commented evenly.

“Quite.”

Chapter Three

“Oh, Ellie, it turned out much better than I imagined it would!”

Miss Psyche Ellison glanced over at her young employer. They stood in Miss Glendenning’s dressing room admiring the gown that her mistress had ordered especially to match her eyes. It wasn’t the easiest of tasks. Aurora’s eyes were such a strange shade of blue with just a hint of green so as to be almost turquoise. But the shimmery material of softest silk seemed to make the younger woman’s eyes glow. Her blond hair was drawn straight back into a bun with only a few wispy strands escaping to frame her piquant face.

Unlike most young ladies cursed with straight hair, Aurora refused to use curling tongs. She liked being different from others in looks and in temperament.

Her face was wreathed in a sweet smile of delight as she beheld her reflection in the looking glass.

“Do you like it?” Aurora asked breathlessly.

“You are beautiful, Rory,” the older woman replied with complete honesty.

“And to think,” Aurora continued, the excitement evident in her voice, “We were actually invited to Lady Jersey’s rout. It is quite a coup for us, Ellie. I wager I can acquire vouchers for Almack’s if I play my cards right.”

Miss Ellison smoothed her hands over her own new gown of dove gray satin. It suited her brown hair and hazel eyes. She had tried to resist when Aurora had suggested she get a new dress, but the dear girl had insisted and refused to take no for an answer. The child was very determined when she wanted something.