Page 12 of Wicked Highland Heroes

Erroll canted his head. “But of course. How much did you get for the jewels?”

“Two thousand pounds.”

“Only two thousand? The pawnbroker must have been delighted to see you.”

“I did not want to owe too much,” she said. “I was sure I could redeem them when I got my next allowance.”

“But you spent that as well.”

Her eyes narrowed. “If you asked me to stay just so that you could reprimand me I might as well leave.”

“You are right, of course. Send the pawnbroker’s direction to Wiggins. I will instruct him to take care of the bill. He will redeem the jewels, then deliver them to you discreetly. If you choose to pawn them again do not come to me. As you know, I do not dally with women whose husbands live with them.”

“Why not?” she demanded. “A married woman is a married woman.”

“Because, contrary to what you think, husbands do care when their wives flaunt their lovers about Town. Your charms are sweet, but not sufficiently so to risk a dawn appointment.”

Her brow furrowed in derision. “Henry would not challenge you to a duel.”

“I fear that you do not know Henry at all.”

Laura regarded him. “Why are you being so kind?”

“Did you not come here expecting kindness?”

She gave a mirthless laugh. “You are not kind—men are not kind.”

“Some are,” he said. “But you are right, I am not.”

*****

“As I recall, you threatened to dismember me if I didn’t marry your daughter. Yet she refuses to marry me.” Erroll lowered himself into the chair opposite Tolland’s desk in his study. He felt his headache returning and half wished he’d let Laura finish him off in the tub that morning. After she left, he hadn’t been able to capture his earlier mood and was left feeling even more frustrated than he’d been to begin with.

“Eve is balking,” the baron said. “But make no mistake, if you do not marry her, I will carry through with my threat.”

“What should I do, kidnap her to Gretna Green and force her to marry me?”

Tolland reached in the desk drawer and withdrew several sheets of parchment. He set them on the desk and Erroll saw the gold heading read The Honorable J. Philips Esquire.

The baron slid the marriage contract in front of Erroll. “If necessary, kidnap her is exactly what you will do.”

Incredulous, Erroll lifted his gaze to Tolland’s face.

“I have arranged for Eve to attend many parties tonight,” the baron went on. “It is the perfect opportunity for you to whisk her off to Scotland.”

Erroll wondered if insanity ran in the Crenshaw family, and couldn’t help asking, “How would you have me proceed?”

“Put her in your coach and drive.”

“You make it sound simple,” Erroll murmured.

“As I will not be chasing you with a gun, it should be.”

“I must admit this is the first time I have plotted to get a woman to the altar,” Erroll said. “Usually, I’m running in the opposite direction.”

The baron’s expression darkened. “There will no running in the opposite direction once you are wed. Eve deserves a good husband.”

“Then you would do well to choose another man, for I will make a terrible husband.”

“Should that turn out to be the case, I will shoot you.”

Erroll gave him a disgruntled look. “I see where your daughter gets her charms. Do you, by chance, have relatives in Newgate?”