Lord Ashford's Wager by Marjorie Farrell Read Free Book Online

warehouse.”
    Jim’s heart sank again. Lord Fairhaven was playing a cruel joke. He had only raised Jim’s hopes to crush them entirely.
    “Temporarily, of course, Jim. And when you return, you will be a senior clerk.”
    “I don’t understand, my lord.”
    “I still want you in my employ, Jim, but it will be rather indirectly. I want you to apply for the position as under-footman in Lady Fairhaven’s household.”
    “Your rich widowed cousin?” Jim realized what he’d said and blurted out an apology.
    “That is quite all right, Jim. She is a rich widow. And that is exactly why I need someone there to keep an eye on her. My cousin was very fond of her. Well, so am I, for that matter. She is my only family, aside from my mother. And she has been spending a great deal of time with a very inappropriate—nay, dangerous—young man. I need someone in her household whom I can trust. Someone who can tell me exactly what her relationship to the Earl of Ashford is.”
    “The Earl of Ashford? Aren’t his pockets completely to let?”
    “You have heard of him, then?”
    “Well, my lord, my parents are retired, but they still hear all the town gossip from their old friends. I know that the earl recently inherited the title.”
    “And a bankrupt estate. I am afraid he is a fortune hunter, only after Lady Fairhaven’s money. And he is desperate, because he has foolishly been trying to recoup his fortune in the gaming hells. I believe he owes a great deal of money. You can see why I am concerned about my cousin?”
    “Oh, yes, my lord,” Jim answered, feeling sympathy already for Lady Fairhaven.
    “Now, if you were in the household, you would be able to tell me whether Ashford is getting anywhere in his suit. Even whether he spends the night. You understand?”
    “Yes, my lord. You need a sort of domestic spy.”
    “Exactly.”
    Jim frowned. “I don’t like invading a lady’s privacy,” he said hesitantly.
    “Neither do I, Jim. But it is for her own good, isn’t it? I only want to keep her from making a disastrous match, in which she might have her fortune drained away and her heart broken.”
    “I do admire your motive,” Jim admitted.
    “And you are the perfect man for the job. A young man whose parents were in service, so he needs very little training. And a talented clerk, who will be rewarded with a raise and a promotion. How can you refuse?”
    Indeed, Jim could not. So it was agreed that he would leave the warehouse in a few days and apply at Lady Fairhaven’s household. Jim went home dazed by his good fortune, thinking what a happy coincidence it was that there was an opening for a footman in Lady Fairhaven’s household precisely at the time his employer needed him there. And Mark went on to his next errand, which was to give Lady Fairhaven’s under-footman a substantial amount of compensation for leaving his position the next morning.
     

Chapter 7
     
    Tony lifted his shirts and gazed at the leather bag of guineas which he had hidden in the drawer. One hundred guineas, which he had promised himself were untouchable. Proof that he was in control, not the cards. Then he looked at his shirts and smiled humorlessly. He could sell one, like young Lindsay, he supposed. After all, it was not his last and would not be off his back.
    There was no possibility of convincing the bank to advance him any money. He had already spent his allowance from the rent of the townhouse, which was ridiculously meager for an earl. But Ned, God damn him or God bless him, Tony wasn’t sure what he felt this evening, had set things up so that the little that was left of the Ashford fortune went right back into the estate. Of course, as the new earl, Tony could have overridden his brother’s actions, but not without alerting Farley and his mother to their situation. He pulled out the bag and counted out twenty-five guineas. The cards had been so bad for these past few nights that things had to get better. He would only take