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RACHEL STRUGGLED AGAINST the feeling of someone tugging on her shoulder. Her late nights as the Raven meant she was seldom up before noon. The shaking persisted until she cracked one eye open to look at her maid. The saucy girl was smiling at her.
"You told me to wake you when the boss was up." Charity said. "You insisted I not let anything stop me. Not even the threat of death."
That was a very real threat in Rachel's mind as she crawled out of bed. The angry glare she gave the girl didn't dim her smile in the least. Charity had been with her too long to be frightened by Rachel’s temper. The two girls had almost grown up together, becoming closer than simply employer and maid.
"You wanted to be up early enough to sneak downstairs before Gerald's meeting with the lord." Charity reminded her while helping her dress.
"He was so angry last night. There was hardly enough cause for it."
"You weren't discovered in the young man's arms being passionately kissed?"
"He's not the first man to kiss me."
"But this time you were kissing back."
Rachel hadn't told her maid that part, but Charity had guessed right. Lord Andrews had awakened feelings in her she didn't even think she had. It was her first taste of the passion possible between a man and a woman. The experience was unexpected, but hardly enough to deserve Gerald’s reaction.
"It was just a kiss."
"Men like Lord Andrews always want more than a kiss."
"I wasn't going to let it go any further."
"He might have convinced you."
Lord Andrews’s reputation was as a man who knew how to pleasure a lady. All his past mistresses spoke favorably of him though it was always his choice to end the affair. They never parted on bad terms. Even when he no longer had the money to provide for a companion, he never had trouble finding one willing to spend the night with him. That said a lot about the man.
"I think I know how to keep a man away. The Raven has not fallen for a man's enchanting eyes or enticing lips before." She checked the mirror to be sure she no longer looked like the elusive woman from the night before. "Gerald had no right to interfere like he did, ordering the viscount to appear this morning like some kind of criminal for judgment."
"Perhaps the lord won't even come." Charity struggled to pin up Rachel's hair into something civilized.
"You didn't see his face when Gerald told him to be here. He's going to come."
Gerald refused to accept no as an answer from anyone. His brute force was what had brought him up from the streets and made him into a successful business-man. It also gave him the impression he could push people around any way he liked. Rachel was one of the few people who offered even the slightest resistance to his control.
Once Rachel was satisfied with her appearance, she went down to the club's office on the main floor. There were barely any servants around this early in the morning. A few were cleaning up the gaming rooms, but they didn't even look at her. Gerald never locked the office door because he knew everyone was too frightened of him to go in without permission. Except for her.
Rachel had been in the office enough to be familiar with it. She had come to live at the club when she was only ten, and the years after that had gone by quickly. To other people, this was just a place of entertainment, but for her, it was home. Rachel knew there was a good hiding place behind the floor-length curtains near the windows. Slipping in behind the heavy velvet fabric, Rachel made sure her skirts were safely tucked away. The dust floated across her vision as she heard footsteps entering the room.
"I'm glad you didn't keep me waiting. Our business is quite urgent.” Gerald sounded impatient.
"I wouldn’t dare be late." Lord Andrews sounded as sarcastic as always. If being summoned here had rattled him, she couldn’t hear it in his voice. "This is earlier than I like to be up, but not too early for an old friend."
"Are we friends, then?"
Rachel held her breath in the silence. Gerald was good at getting people caught in their own words, giving them just enough rope to hang themselves.
"We aren't enemies." Lord Andrews sounded calm and charming. He didn't sound like he was intimidated by Gerald.
Rachel couldn't resist the temptation and pulled the curtain aside just enough to peek out. Lord Andrews was dressed in fresh clothes and showed no signs that he had been up at a gaming hell all night. Even that thick, unruly dark hair of his behaved properly, and the shadow of a beard from the night before was gone. Only the deep circles under his emerald green eyes gave away the late hours he kept. She remembered how those eyes twinkled with mischief when he played. He was as tall as Gerald but not nearly as wide, having a lean and athletic build. If the confrontation became violent, she wasn’t sure who might win.
"Not yet, at least." Gerald countered. "You were taking liberties with one of my staff last night."
"Mistakes were made. I do apologize for my behavior."
"It wasn't your fault alone. I'm afraid the Raven has gotten her way too many times and now she thinks she can get away with anything."
This opinion of her was a shock. Rachel pressed her lips together to keep from saying something that would give her away.
"She needs someone to take responsibility for her and I think you might be that man." said Gerald.
"You want me to become her protector?"
"No, I want you to become her husband."
The silence in the room was suffocating. Rachel felt her heart beating hard inside her chest. Lord Andrews appeared as shocked as she was.
"That's a flattering suggestion, but I'm going to have to decline. I'm afraid I have other matrimonial plans."
Gerald laughed. "You are in need of a rich wife, and there are very few worth as much as the Raven. Not when I'm paying for her dowry."
"You make it sound as though you are buying her a husband."
"I am. Lucky for me, you are for sale."
Lord Andrew's expression darkened. A shiver ran through her. Even in the daylight, he looked dangerous.
"That is a bold statement."
"No less true. I know you invested all your money with that Deckland fellow and he ran off with it. Now you can't maintain your obligations or take care of your sister properly."
"I can take care of Daphne."
"Why is she in Scotland, acting as a companion to your surly aunt instead of her making her debut?"
"She's too young."
"Eighteen is old enough."
"My accounts and my family are none of your concern," Alex growled.
Gerald just continued the conversation calmly.
"You have been staying ahead of the bills by winning at my tables. If I refused you entrance, what would you do?"
"Find another club."
"No one would let you play once I put the word out that you are not welcome."
Rachel knew that was no idle threat. Gerald was a formidable enemy when he wanted to be, and he could get someone shut out. If that was his only source of income, it would devastate Lord Andrews to lose it.
"You would do that as punishment for kissing one of your girls?”
"The Raven is not just one of my girls, but that's not why I would do that to you."
"What the bloody hell would make you threaten me?"
"I want you to marry my daughter."
That response was so startling that Rachel lost her balance and tumbled out of her hiding space. Landing on her hands and knees, she looked up to see both men staring at her. Gerald looked annoyed but Lord Andrews was amused. With as much dignity as she could manage, Rachel stood up and faced the two men.
"You look as though you've never seen a girl hiding behind a curtain before."
"What are you doing here?" Gerald seethed just beneath the surface and it was reflected in his dark eyes.
"I wanted to be sure Lord Andrews wouldn't suffer for my misbehavior last night."
"The Raven, I presume?" Lord Andrews asked.
She gave him a nod.
“Lord Andrews, allow me to introduce my daughter, Rachel."
No one outside the club staff knew her true identity, and they would never reveal it for fear of losing their well-paid positions. None of the club’s patrons even knew Gerald had a daughter and he preferred it that way. There was always the concern that someone might use that knowledge against him in some way.
The lord looked as shocked as she felt.
"The Raven is your daughter?"
"She's the only daughter I have."
They were talking about her as if she wasn't standing in the room. She was accustomed to Gerald ignoring her, but the other gentleman had no right. It infuriated her that her opinion about her own life carried no weight with them. She might as well not even have one.
"I'm not going to be marrying anyone." She snapped her fingers to get their attention.
Lord Andrew's eyes flickered in her direction. Gerald didn’t even bother to do that. In his usual overbearing fashion, he wasn’t going to listen to anything she said.
"Her mother was a respectable lady in Spain before we met. She gave up that life when she married me. I would like to give my daughter a place in society."
"Marriage to me wouldn't guarantee she was accepted. Her lack of family connections would be a reason for them to cut her publicly."
"Being your wife would gain her entry; the rest can be taken care of."
"You want to make your daughter a lady?"
"In a more formal sense, yes."
Rachel’s stomach sank as she watched Lord Andrew's face. Not only was he considering it, she was fairly certain he wanted to accept it.
Gerald must have seen it too because he was quick to add more.
"She comes with ownership of half the club. It would be more than enough to keep the creditors away, regain your position in society and give your sister the debut she deserves."
Rachel knew that was too much for him to turn down. Nothing she could say would convince him to refuse that kind of money. Rachel pushed Lord Andrews out of her way as she left the room in frustration.
She was in her room, pacing and grumbling, when her father came in. He didn't bother to knock. He stepped over all the things Rachel had thrown to floor in her fit of anger. They both knew he would replace anything that was broken. It wouldn't be the first time her room was redecorated by her temper.
"You are handling this better than I expected." Gerald leaned against the mantle of her fireplace.
Looking around at the destruction she had caused, Rachel raised her eyebrows. "What were you expecting?"
"Bags packed, ready to run."
The thought had crossed her mind, but the truth was that she had nowhere to go. Aside from her maid, Rachel didn't have any friends. A woman traveling alone without a destination would quickly run into trouble. These walls held the only place she felt safe. Not that she would admit that to him.
"It's still early in the day." she tossed over her shoulder at him.
"That's my girl."
Gerald had always shown pride in her spirit. The same behavior that her grandparents tried to tame, Gerald encouraged. He said it reminded him of her mother. She wished she still had the kind of memories about her mother that he did.
"Are you going to give me a chance to explain?" Gerald asked.
"It appears simple enough. You are paying someone to take me off your hands."
He laughed in the same way he had when she was a child.
"You know it is nothing like that. You are being overdramatic again."
“You told me you would never send me away again.”
Gerald had made her that promise the night she was brought to live at the club. A child who had just lost both her grandparents and never knew a mother, she remembered everything. Those words were a solemn vow from him in her mind. Gerald lost his amusement.
“I know I did.”
"Then why are you doing this?"
Her father's demeanor changed drastically. She noticed the circles under his eyes and the wrinkles around them. With his smile gone, Rachel noticed the stubble that showed he hadn't shaved in a couple days. The long work hours meant they often went days without meeting face to face. She should have been taking better care of him.
"It is what your mother wanted for you. A good marriage and a place in society was what she had always planned." Gerald shrugged. "I still want to give her that."
"By bargaining with a penniless aristocrat?" Rachel could still remember the desperate look on Lord Andrews’s face when Gerald offered him half the club for her.
"He's a good man in a bad situation. He will do right by you."
"I could have chosen on my own."
"Not after you became the Raven."
Somewhere in the back of her mind, Rachel knew that. The first time she wore that mask and entered the gaming parlors, she knew her future would be forever changed. It was what she needed at the time, but it had been reckless.
Sensing she was beginning to soften, Gerald pushed his advantage. "This is a way for you to have a place in society, to be a real lady."
"It’s a title, not a magic spell. It won’t force people to accept me."
"No, but he has some very powerful friends. If you act properly, you can win them over."
It humbled her to know Gerald had that kind of faith in her. It was not easy for a girl raised in that life to do well in London, nonetheless one with no experience. That was the real danger. It made Rachel's stomach turn just to think of facing proper society.
“What if I can’t behave?” she asked.
Her father smiled at her softly. “I know that I have indulged you too much over the years. Protected you from the world, while you played pretend at the tables. You have become an excellent actress, so I don’t doubt you can perform the role they want you to be.”
Leaving the safety of the club was enough to knock the wind out of her and she felt the tears building in her eyes.
“You won’t be alone in the venture.” Her father added. ”Lord Andrews is good at appearances. He will make sure you don’t fail.”
“You seem to have a lot of trust in a man you barely know.”
“I see something in him. Perhaps it was the fact that he had the cunning to best you, when no one else could.”
That reminder stung.
"This is what your mother wanted and it will be best for you." Gerald came over and placed a kiss on her forehead. "Try to be happy about it."
The tone of his voice said there was no room to argue, so Rachel didn't bother to try. As soon he left she sat down and started planning a way to go around him instead.