A trickle of sweat rolled from John’s nape down under his collar. He rolled the dice, gritting his teeth as they tumbled over the table.
Deuce-aces. Sodding hell.
Sudworth grinned broadly. “It doesn’t appear to be your night, Summerset.”
Elsbeth, the charming woman they’d employed to entice Sudworth, settled on the man’s lap and clapped her hands. “You win again!”
Sudworth slid his hand up her side and gave her breast a squeeze, but didn’t take his eyes off John.
They were in an upper room of The Black Rose, the rest of the club empty. Three cut-throats, ostensibly Sudworth’s servants, held up the back wall, one of them cleaning his nails with his knife. Sutton had brought them drinks when the game began and then disappeared.
“My luck will change.” John grabbed the onyx nob of his walking stick leaning on the table and ground the tip into the carpet. “It’s bound to.”
“Now you sound like your brother.” Sudworth plucked up a die and rolled it over his knuckles.
John gritted his teeth. The night was not going as planned. First, the man who’d partnered with Elsbeth in the humiliation scene had been late to work. Giving Sudworth much too much time to examine the altered documents John had delivered to him.
To the credit of John’s forgery skills, Sudworth hadn’t seemed to notice anything amiss. He also hadn’t seemed overly impressed with the bait John had dangled. He’d been inattentive during Elsbeth’s scene, had shown no interest in engaging with her further, and seemed eager to leave The Black Rose.
Until John had proposed a game of hazards.
And Sudworth had been beating the odds all night. John was almost afraid to propose his wager for fear of losing.
He squeezed the nob of his walking stick. Almost. Precautions had been taken.
Sudworth shoved Elsbeth off his lap, ignoring her glare. He tossed up the die and snatched it from the air. “Well, amusing as this has been, I have places to be, people to do.” He scooped up the blunt John had lost.
“And here I thought you were a real gambler.” John smoothed his cravat down his chest. “I still have money to waste. Why not be the fortunate beneficiary of it?”
“Do you?” Sudworth placed the dice in a wooden cup and knocked them about. “Until you earn back your deed, your finances aren’t in the best of shape.”
“Breaking into the Dutch embassy wasn’t an end to my service?” John faked a yawn. “What a surprise.”
Sudworth barked a laugh. “You do amuse me, Summerset. One more job, I think.”
There was never just one more job. “And this one? Am I to steal the king’s crown?”
“Nothing so dramatic.” He jerked his head at one of his men. The ruffian pushed off the wall and escorted Elsbeth from the room. “All I want is for you to blow up the Dutch ambassador’s residence.”
John stilled. “Your definition of dramatic seems to differ from mine. What has the man done to you?”
“Nothing at all.”
“And yet you want him dead.” Thank heavens this charade ended tonight. There was no way to fake destroying a building.
Sudworth shrugged. “The man doesn’t have to be at home.”
John’s mind flew. First an attempt to malign Sir Raffles’s reputation. Second, a stolen document and map of apparent trading routes from the Dutch embassy. Now, an outright attack on Holland’s interests.
Trading routes…. “Everything is money to you. All of this will somehow increase your profits.”
Sudworth picked up his glass of Scotch whisky and took a sip. “You wound me. You don’t believe I want justice against Raffles?”
John didn’t even bother to respond to that absurdity. “Raffles is working on a treaty with the Dutch. Trying to stabilize the region of the West Indies. If the ambassador is attacked, relations between the two countries will be strained. The treaty might fail.”
“And the British Empire might lose some of the territory it’s stolen,” Sudworth said.
John snorted. “Don’t play that game with me. I know you care nothing about the morality of our politics.” He tapped his thumb on the walking stick. “But you do care about freedom for your trade routes. And if you’re worried a stronger government presence in the area will stop what you’re shipping, it must not be legal.”
Sudworth narrowed his eyes. “As I said, I have to leave. I don’t have time for your guessing games.”
“Not even for the chance to win fifty thousand pounds?” John swallowed past the lump in his throat. He would have to sell off many of his properties if he lost. He would have next to nothing. But he needed a number high enough to pique the man’s interest. “I propose one more game. Winner take all.”
Sudworth’s eyebrows shot up. “Fifty thousand for my deed?”
“My brother’s estate, while large, is in need of many repairs. It is a fair bet.” He forced his shoulders to relax. “But if you are afraid of losing, I understand.”
Sutton slipped through the door and gave John a nod. He shuffled to the side table and poured himself a drink. A large one. The nod told John their mission had been successful; the whisky said it hadn’t been easy.
“Besides, soon that fifty thousand will be all you have to live upon.” John leaned back in his chair. “I don’t think you can afford not to play.”
One of his ruffians pushed off the wall, not liking John’s tone, but Sudworth held up a hand. “Explain.”
John pretended to examine his ring. “Your scheme has been thwarted. Your associates have been taken in for questioning. Liverpool is aware of everything.”
Sudworth’s shoulders inched towards his ears. “I doubt he knows everything. Even you don’t understand my motives.”
“Slaves.” Sutton’s knuckles whitened around his glass. “The English have been trying to eliminate slavery around the world, and the effort is cutting into his profits.”
“His trading ships carry slaves?” John’s blood ran cold. That trade was a stain on human civilization. England’s efforts reflected the best of their country. The noose was tightening, slowly but surely, on slavers. Creating chaos between nations would only make it easier for arseholes like Sudworth to evade prosecution.
Sutton nodded. “Dunkeld has learned much from the men he picked up.” He turned his narrow-eyed gaze on Sudworth. “But the night is young, and there is much more your friends are eager to tell.”
Sudworth slammed his glass onto the table, amber liquid sloshing over the rim.
“What?” John chuckled. “You didn’t think you would get away with it, did you? That I would be so desperate for my mines that I would betray my country? You did? How droll.”
Sudworth and his men tensed. Sutton tensed. Everyone in the room was as stiff as blocks of marble.
John stretched languidly. “Even now Liverpool is sending people to arrest you. Your legal fees to fight the charges will be immense. And my friends are ensuring that your other investments are soon to take a turn for the worse. You want to make this bet.”
“I don’t know that I believe you.” Sudworth leaned back and laced his fingers behind his head. “My investments are many and varied. It will be hard to take me down. Besides, what evidence is there of any wrongdoing on my part? You planted a letter. You stole from the Dutch embassy. What have I done?”
The bastard smirked, and John’s fingers itched to smack the expression off his face.
“In fact, with the information I can provide to Liverpool in service to our country, I just might earn myself a medal,” Sudworth said. “I’m aware of many plots against the nation, have learned of many criminal enterprises. I think the prime minister would be happy to trade for that information.”
John flapped his hand dismissively, but inside he burned. Liverpool had made such deals before. Information for liberty. The prime minister’s first concern was the smooth management of the nation, and sometimes that meant letting Justice hide her eyes.
“Does that mean you no longer wish to play?” John loosed a dramatic sigh. “And here I thought you were a man after my own heart, one who relished a bit of risk-taking.”
“How right you are.” Sudworth waved two fingers, and one of his men sauntered over. “We are men of similar interests.”
“Don’t play with him, John.” Robert strode into the room, and John blinked, trying to hide his surprise.
What in the bloody hell was his brother doing here?
Robert rested his hand on the back of John’s chair. “The man cheats. And I finally figured out how.”
“Well, of course he cheats.” John pushed from the table and stood, not liking the way the hand of one of Sudworth’s men drifted towards his inner pocket. He positioned himself between his brother and the rest of the room. “That doesn’t mean I don’t still intend to win.”
He lowered his voice. “What are you doing here?”
Robert tugged at his scarf, exposing the bottom edge of his scar. “Wil sent me a note. Said you might need me.”
John clenched his fist. Damned Wilberforce. Just as interfering as Netta when it came to attempting family reconciliations.
“Is Robert joining us?” Sudworth shook the cup of dice. “Good. I enjoy beating him almost as much as I do you, Summerset.”
“For the deed, I’ll play.” John turned, knocking his walking stick to the floor. He squatted and smoothly uncapped the nob, removing the dice he’d specially ordered and tucking them up his sleeve. He replaced the nob and stood. “I’ll play, but we’ll use a fresh pair of dice.” He nodded to Sutton, who took a clean pair from a drawer in a bureau.
Sudworth would use the fresh pair. And if John needed it, he would use his. “You won’t cheat again. Robert and Sutton will ensure it.”
Sudworth chuckled. “You think you have it all worked out. That you have me in a box.” He held up his hand, and his man dropped something into it. “I’ve survived too long to allow that. You’ll play, but you won’t play for the deed. That’s mine. You’ll play for this.” He tossed the object into the middle of the table.
It landed with a small clink, the gold chain of the necklace glinting in the lamplight.
John froze. It couldn’t be. She hadn’t been wearing it that night. Had she?
He grasped the emerald pendant. The deep green stone warmed his palm, seeming to hold the warmth from Netta’s skin within it.
Sudworth raised his hands palm up, grinning broadly. “When I said we had similar interests, I didn’t mean gambling.”