Page 64 of My Fair Lord

“I asked Dottie what happened like you suggested,” she said sharply. “She told me that you had been assisting her in retrieving her brooch.”

“That’s right.”

“How did you manage it?”

Ned folded his arms. “Does that matter? Dottie has her brooch back and the man in question will think again before he tries to take advantage of young women.”

“I want to know.” Florence was close to stamping her foot in frustration but fortunately she had enough self-possession left to resist.

“I engaged him at cards. Nothing I haven’t done before. I beat him.” Ned smirked, causing Florence’s blood to thrum through her veins with irritation. She remembered tales he had told her about his previous exploits.

“Did you cheat?”

He raised his brows.

“No, I know you didn’t. I retract that. I’m sorry,” she said hastily.

“I didn’t need to. He wasn’t expecting an upright gentleman traveller to be able to spot when he was about to overbid, or be able to bluff so convincingly.”

The smirk deepened. It made him look rakish and defiant and very handsome, which was no help at all in quelling Florence’s temper.

“Mr Blake, I did not train you so that you could go and swindle people.”

“But that’s exactly what you did,” Ned said calmly.

“No, I didn’t.” Florence thrust her hands onto her hips, outraged.

“You can’t even see it, can you?” Ned shook his head. “You want me to dupe your father into believing I’m something I’m not. What makes that different from what I did with Agosti?”

“Because that was just something you did for your own ends to win at gambling,” Florence said indignantly. She almost preferred the thought that he had been in an illicit romance with Dottie to the knowledge that he had been tricking people out of their wages.

“Whereas I’m deceiving your father for honourable reasons?” Ned sneered.

“Yes! No!” Florence took a deep breath. The conversation was not going in the direction she had expected and she felt like she was floundering in water that was growing ever deeper.

“I mean, it’s not the same thing at all. No one is going to be hurt. We’re making sure of that.”

Ned sniffed. “No one was hurt yesterday. I cleaned the man out, but after hinting at what his intentions were towards Dottie, he deserved to be humiliated so I think I was very restrained.”

He ran a hand through his hair before giving Florence a smile that radiated cunning.

“You never told me I had to leave my tools in the box until you allowed me to get them out and use them. Who can blame me for putting them to use when I saw the opportunity?”

Florence sat on the chair at the dressing table. Ned’s eyes never left hers. It made her feel uncomfortable to be so scrutinised, but she was determined not to show it. She stared up at him boldly.

“Is that what you plan to do once we part? Get into games with higher stakes and go back to what you were doing before?”

“I don’t know. What did you envisage me doing?” Ned leaned against the wall and folded his arms again. “You teach me airs and graces, how to behave, and dress me like a paper doll, then once you’ve proven your point, you send me back to carry on doing what I was before? Or will you give me a job as a stable boy like Alfie? You’ll help me to ‘better myself’, but then what?”

Florence frowned. “A stable boy! Don’t be absurd. You will be able to move in different circles. More doors will open to you. You won’t have to be making a living gambling in grimy whorehouses anymore. You won’t have to be following girls around to spy for their fathers. You can be respectable.”

“Respectable!” Ned spat out a bitter laugh. “You mean conform to the rules that you’re asking me to break?”

He made a bow, twirling his hand in an elaborate, mocking flourish that struck her as deeply as a physical slap.

“Shall I get a nice, respectable job in a bank, advising men like Mr Agosti how to best invest the savings they have embezzled from unsuspecting women? Or would you have me become a head waiter at the sort of restaurant you and your elegant, newly rich acquaintances might beg to get a table at?”

Florence’s stomach plummeted on hearing the bitterness in his voice. She didn’t want Ned to do any of those things, and even though they were all admirable, his tone made them sound like something debased.