Read Online The Black Widow by Charlotte Louise Dolan - Free Book Online
Authors: Charlotte Louise Dolan
Tags: Romance
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She’s not up to my weight, and certainly not up to yours, which makes me wonder if there is some truth to the rumors that are trotting around London. I’ve heard you’re planning to be hitched in tandem with a certain young lady, although I’d not have credited it. Still and all, if you’re buying a lady’s mount...”He let his voice trail off suggestively.
“Miss Prestwich does not ride,” Demetrius replied, deliberately ignoring the obviously more intriguing question of what his intentions were concerning the lady in question. He had no doubt that Hennessey could hold his tongue if need be, but on the other hand, Tattersall’s was not the place to hold a private discussion.
“Doesn’t ride? Now you have really piqued my curiosity.”
“Tell me, are you superstitious as well as curious?”
“As an Irishman born and bred, I would be denying my heritage were I not to believe in the little people—elves and fairies and leprechauns and the like. But if you are asking do I believe a certain young lady is afflicted with a fatal curse, then I must admit I would find it easier to believe that horses had wings.”
“I plan to exercise my horse early tomorrow in Hyde Park,” Demetrius said in an undertone.
Hennessey nodded his agreement to the proposed meeting, and Demetrius continued smoothly, “Actually, I did not come here to purchase a horse. My brother asked me to meet him, but I confess, he did not say whether he wishes to avail himself of my expert advice about horses or about women.”
* * * *
As it turned out, it was neither horses nor women, but gambling debts. “You’ve done what?”
“You needn’t shout. It is only one hundred and fifty pounds,” Collier said, his eyes not quite meeting Demetrius’s.
“Only? People have been thrown into debtors’ prison for owing less than that amount. Whatever possessed you to gamble with money you did not have?”
“Don’t lecture me, big brother. I have already berated myself thoroughly for being so gullible. I freely admit it was a stupid thing to do, although at the time it seemed as if it would be a sure thing.”
“A sure thing? Saints preserve us,” Demetrius muttered.
“I will pay you back when I get next quarter’s allowance. ‘‘
“And in the meantime, I am not to consider you a ‘hardened gamester,’ as you put it so nicely the other day?”
Collier’s expression became somewhat sulky. “Just tell me whether you will lend me the money or not, because if you refuse to oblige me in this, I shall have to look elsewhere.”
“Oh, I will be happy to lend you the money, but only under one condition.”
“What condition?”
“That you give up your rooms at the Albany and move back home.’’
The sulky expression was gone now, replaced by open anger. “Blast it all, Demetrius, I am not a child to be ordered about so. I am a man, and it is entirely my own decision where I live.”
Demetrius shrugged. “I could point out that running up debts that one does not have the means to pay off is not the mark of an adult, but I do not wish to prolong this discussion unduly. I have told you what your options are, so tell me your decision—do you wish me to lend you the money or not?”
Collier was obviously torn between the desire to reject Demetrius’s money and the strings attached to it, and the knowledge that he would doubtless have difficulty finding a friend his own age who had one hundred and fifty pounds to spare this close to the end of the quarter.
“Very well, I shall move back home,” he said finally, and Demetrius wrote out a bank draft on the spot.
After Collier departed, Demetrius proved himself just as foolish as his brother by outbidding Fabersham for the filly that would be perfect for Miss Meribe Prestwich ... if she could ride, which she could not.
London was obviously having an adverse affect on him, he admitted while arranging for his new horse to be delivered to his stable. Perhaps it was time to give
“Miss Prestwich does not ride,” Demetrius replied, deliberately ignoring the obviously more intriguing question of what his intentions were concerning the lady in question. He had no doubt that Hennessey could hold his tongue if need be, but on the other hand, Tattersall’s was not the place to hold a private discussion.
“Doesn’t ride? Now you have really piqued my curiosity.”
“Tell me, are you superstitious as well as curious?”
“As an Irishman born and bred, I would be denying my heritage were I not to believe in the little people—elves and fairies and leprechauns and the like. But if you are asking do I believe a certain young lady is afflicted with a fatal curse, then I must admit I would find it easier to believe that horses had wings.”
“I plan to exercise my horse early tomorrow in Hyde Park,” Demetrius said in an undertone.
Hennessey nodded his agreement to the proposed meeting, and Demetrius continued smoothly, “Actually, I did not come here to purchase a horse. My brother asked me to meet him, but I confess, he did not say whether he wishes to avail himself of my expert advice about horses or about women.”
* * * *
As it turned out, it was neither horses nor women, but gambling debts. “You’ve done what?”
“You needn’t shout. It is only one hundred and fifty pounds,” Collier said, his eyes not quite meeting Demetrius’s.
“Only? People have been thrown into debtors’ prison for owing less than that amount. Whatever possessed you to gamble with money you did not have?”
“Don’t lecture me, big brother. I have already berated myself thoroughly for being so gullible. I freely admit it was a stupid thing to do, although at the time it seemed as if it would be a sure thing.”
“A sure thing? Saints preserve us,” Demetrius muttered.
“I will pay you back when I get next quarter’s allowance. ‘‘
“And in the meantime, I am not to consider you a ‘hardened gamester,’ as you put it so nicely the other day?”
Collier’s expression became somewhat sulky. “Just tell me whether you will lend me the money or not, because if you refuse to oblige me in this, I shall have to look elsewhere.”
“Oh, I will be happy to lend you the money, but only under one condition.”
“What condition?”
“That you give up your rooms at the Albany and move back home.’’
The sulky expression was gone now, replaced by open anger. “Blast it all, Demetrius, I am not a child to be ordered about so. I am a man, and it is entirely my own decision where I live.”
Demetrius shrugged. “I could point out that running up debts that one does not have the means to pay off is not the mark of an adult, but I do not wish to prolong this discussion unduly. I have told you what your options are, so tell me your decision—do you wish me to lend you the money or not?”
Collier was obviously torn between the desire to reject Demetrius’s money and the strings attached to it, and the knowledge that he would doubtless have difficulty finding a friend his own age who had one hundred and fifty pounds to spare this close to the end of the quarter.
“Very well, I shall move back home,” he said finally, and Demetrius wrote out a bank draft on the spot.
After Collier departed, Demetrius proved himself just as foolish as his brother by outbidding Fabersham for the filly that would be perfect for Miss Meribe Prestwich ... if she could ride, which she could not.
London was obviously having an adverse affect on him, he admitted while arranging for his new horse to be delivered to his stable. Perhaps it was time to give
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