Free Dangerous to Love by Elizabeth Thornton Page B

France.”
    “You joined the army at sixteen, I believe you told me, and did a stint in India?”
    Lord Kirkland was doing it again, probing into his past, trying to find a connection to his brother, Hugo. They had been through all this before.
    “I spent five years in India,” said Julian, and to hasten things along, he told the earl what he wanted to know before he could put his questions to him. “When I returned to England, I took up the only thing that I knew, the only thing of any worth I had learned with my stint in the army—gambling. I had a gaming house in Manchester, did I tell you?” He knew that he had. “But the Gaming Act of Forty-five shut me down. I was at a loose end and went back to being a soldier. After Prestonpans, I tried my luck in London. And the rest you know.”
    “Whatever happened to Mrs. McGuire?”
    Julian almost choked on a swallow of wine. Mrs. Mc-Guirewas Billie McGuire, the harlot who had adopted him when he had escaped from the workhouse. For three years, he had lived in a brothel, and though it was strange at first, it was not as terrifying as the workhouse. He had liked the girls well enough, and had soon ceased to be shocked by how they earned their living. Like him, their ambitions were reduced to immediate survival, and morals and scruples did not enter into it. When he could, he paid his way with the winnings he made playing cards in inns and taverns in the area.
    “Mrs. McGuire?” he said, looking puzzled. “Oh, the widow who adopted me when I ran away from school? She died and left me a legacy.” This was no lie. “It was because of her generosity that I was able to buy my commission.”
    Lord Kirkland nodded. “You were very fortunate to find a home with her after you ran away from school. She sounds like a most generous-hearted lady.”
    Billie had certainly been all of that.
    “And you never knew who your parents were or who paid for your schooling?” asked the earl.
    “No, never. Good Lord! How did we get on to this? I beg your pardon. I had not meant to monopolize the conversation. We were talking about Sir Robert, were we not, and you were about to tell me what kind of man he is.” He could be as persistent as the earl when it suited him, and he wondered idly if persistence was a family trait.
    “Stern. Nasty. Single-minded,” said the earl emphatically. “He h-hates weakness of any description.”
    “And yet, he was Lord Hugo’s friend, was he not?”
    “Yes, well, my b-brother didn’t have a s-stutter.” Realizing that he had inadvertently betrayed himself, Lord Kirkland gave an embarrassed laugh. “You will think I am being p-petty, but when I was a boy, I would rather be silent than talk in Sir Robert’s presence. My stutterirritated him, you see. As though I s-stuttered on purpose!”
    “Not a very likable gentleman by the sound of things?”
    “No.”
    “And since then?”
    “I have rarely exchanged m-more than a few words with him. Why are you so interested in Sir Robert, Julian?”
    “Mmm? Oh, those bills and mortgages of Jeremy Ward’s? I was merely wondering if he will ever be in a position to redeem them?”
    “I shouldn’t count on it, not if he is set on buying a p-pardon for his father. They don’t come cheap.”
    Julian’s tone was carefully neutral. “Do you think the Crown will grant him a pardon if he pays for it?”
    “Oh yes. Money can buy a lot of f-forgiveness.”
    It was exactly what Julian wanted to hear.
       He was one step closer to achieving his objective. Julian savored that thought as he went over his ledgers later that same evening. He had amassed quite a number of bills and mortgages belonging to Jeremy Ward. When Sir Robert finally received his pardon and set foot in England, it would be in Julian’s power to bring him to ruin. Lord, if they only knew it! He was the one who was footing the bill for this pardon, yes, and he never expected to see a penny of his money again. He considered it money well