Ten Ways to Ruin
Page 123
Emma turned around and stared at Simon. “Your furniture?”
He tilted his head and gave her his best rakish smile. “Yes, my home. My furniture.”
“Are you living here now?” she finally asked.
“Yes, I am. I thought it was past time I started living like a gentleman.” Seeing her so close to the broken window made his every nerve tingle. “Although, my neighbors may not think a gentleman lives here when there is furniture flying out of the salon windows. Now, could you please step away from the window for me?”
“Afraid I’ll fall?”
“Or jump,” he quipped.
She stepped away from the window and walked across the room to an unbroken window. “Where are we? It almost looks like Berkley Square.”
“It is Berkley Square.”
She blinked and pressed her lips together. “This must cost a fortune to let.”
“Yes, it does. I used to charge Lord Harris a fortune when he rented from me.”
“From you?” she repeated slowly. Her cheeks colored a lovely shade of pink. “You own this house?”
He stepped closer to her. “This home, an estate in Kent, and a few places in the Covent Garden area that I let out at reduced fees for widows and reformed women.”
Her eyes widened. “You own all that? How?”
“Gambling can be a very lucrative business when gentlemen don’t know when to stop. Most of my properties were to pay off debts incurred by these men. And my father’s inheritance and the sale of Hell only increased the coffers.”
“I had no idea,” she muttered as she walked to the windows facing the front. “When you told me you lived at Hell, I assumed you couldn’t afford to live anywhere else.”
“It was just more convenient to live there with the hours I kept.” He ached to go to her but wanted her to come to him.
“I suppose you think I’m a silly girl who wouldn’t marry you because you weren’t wealthy.”
“And titled,” he added with a hint of scorn.
She nodded slowly. “A year ago, yes, that is what I wanted. It is what my mother told me I must achieve to be considered a success.”
“And now?”
She traced a pattern on the window as she spoke, “When I first came out, I believed everything my mother had told about marriage. How the only thing that mattered was wealth and security, preferably with a title attached to the man.”
“What changed?” he asked quietly.
She smiled. “Seeing my sisters marry for love.”
“Both your sisters married men who were wealthy and one a duke.”
“Raynerson barely had two pence to rub together until after Tessa agreed to marry him. Then his grandmother settled a large sum on him. And Louisa would have married your brother even if he was an untitled pauper.”
“And you?” he whispered as he took another step closer, unable to stop himself.
She turned and gave him a flirtatious smile. “I found myself drawn to a man I thought nothing but a rake and scoundrel.”
“And yet you didn’t accept my first proposal.”
“It wasn’t much of a proposal, Simon.” Her brows furrowed. “I don’t even remember a proposal. You just assumed we would marry because of what happened at the inn. Which, while lovely, included no words of love or even marriage until we arrived at my mother’s house.”
He chuckled at her logic. “So, you are waiting for a proper proposal?”