Page 6 of How to Tempt a Duke

Indeed, her nose had gone rather red. She poured a second glass of Scotch and carried it over to a chaise, where she settled comfortably.

“I tried the opera first. I did well there, and...and offers began.”

Charles took the seat opposite her and swallowed the rest of his Scotch at the word “offers.”

Lottie pulled at a corner of the window coverings and peered into the darkness. “I resisted at first, of course,” she continued. “But the expense of such a life was more than the income it generated. After a while, I couldn’t refuse.”

Charles stared into the bottom of his empty glass and savored the burn trailing down his insides, pushing past his heart and splashing into his gut.

“This is far grander than I’ve ever lived before.” She indicated the room.

It was indeed fine. The dark wood furniture was polished to a shine, the walls were covered with a luxurious red silk, the floors layered with soft carpets.

“You intend to continue in this...this occupation for a while?” he asked.

She leaned toward the window and glanced out once more. “No. At least I have the hope not to. Which is part of the reason I’ve called you here.”

“What the devil are you looking for out there?” He got to his feet and glanced out the window to the quiet street below.

“A new opportunity.” She beamed up at him and traded his empty glass with her full one.

A warning prickled along the back of Charles’s neck. “I don’t know what scheme you’re up to, but please presume I’ll want no part of it.”

Lottie crinkled her nose and laughed, reminding him all too well of the girl she’d been.

“Nothing like that. Oh, Charles, you do know how to make me laugh.”

She shook her head and the length of midnight curls swished against the disconcerting swell of her nearly exposed bosom.

“I’m waiting for a countess’s daughter to arrive. A young lady who has fallen on rather unfortunate times. I’m to instruct her in the art of flirtation.”

Charles eyed Lottie skeptically.

She put her fingertips to the bottom of his glass and lifted it higher, toward his mouth. “I could use the help of a gentleman,” she said. “It would do well for her to have someone to practice on.”

The glass was to his lips now, but he resisted and pulled his face away. “There’s something you’re not telling me.”

“Plying you with drink isn’t going to work, I take it?”

She gave a little mock pout he’d never seen before. The type of expression made by a petulant mistress rather than a well-mannered vicar’s daughter.

He didn’t like it.

“I think you know me better than that.”

“Very well.” Lottie lowered her hands and freed his glass. “She’s the daughter of the Earl of Westix.”

Charles lifted the Scotch to his lips once more. Of his own volition. And drank.

The Earl of Westix.

The Adventure Club would never have disbanded had it not been for the Earl. Charles’s father would still have all the journals and would have been able to find the Coeur de Feu on his own had it not been for the Earl. Charles would never have been such a disappointment in failing to fulfill that one final wish.

And Lottie knew all of this. She knew, and yet she still asked for Charles to aid one of Westix’s whelps.

“Oh, dear,” Lottie said with a frown. “You’re turning quite red about the face.”

“Why would you presume I would be willing to help any offspring of that devil?”