The sadness reflected in her eyes almost had him going to her and offering to give her everything she desired. She nodded. “Shouldn’t I bring my brother as well, so you can measure his worth?”

A sharp bite to her words. She apparently didn’t like him setting out terms, but his pride was salvaged a trifle because she hadn’t immediately told him to go to hell, because she wasn’t seeking another to plant his seed within her. “I know the Earl of Camberley. He plays at my tables. Odd that. How he can find the coins to pursue his own pleasures while his sister is forced to set out on a path that will lead her into hell.”

“You’ve made it an enjoyable journey thus far, Mr. Trewlove.”

With her compliment she was striving to appease him, perhaps regain her own honor. With her formal addressing of him, she was striving to put distance between them, to remind him of his place.

“My brother is a young man, with wild oats still in need of sowing,” she added.

“How old were you when you took on the mantle of responsibility for your siblings and married?”

“Much younger than him,” she admitted. “Is he in debt to you?”

He merely gave an inconsequential shrug. “Not as much as you’ll be if we go through with this.”

Heading for the door, he pointed toward the secretary and tossed back over his shoulder, “Tomorrow. At the stroke of two be there.”

Chapter 15

There were certain sights that a man should never see. His sire’s hairy, flabby bare arse quivering as he pounded into a woman who stared at the canopy while she released a small moan with the regularity of a ticking clock was one of them. He’d expected to find the Earl of Elverton asleep this time of night and had been looking forward to disturbing his slumber.

The woman—too young to be the current countess—shifted her gaze to the side, caught sight of Aiden, and released a bloodcurdling scream as she fought frantically to rid herself of the toad weighing her down.

“Bloody hell!” the earl roared before glancing in the same direction as his mistress. In an ungainly manner, he extricated himself from the lass who scrambled to the far side of the bed, snatching up the covers in an effort to protect her modesty.

Aiden was aware of the patter of light footsteps coming down the hallway, and then a slender woman whose head reached his shoulder edged around him.

“What’s happened?”