Jack (The Jaded Gentlemen Book 4) Read Online Free

did not like Sir Jack.
    Though she didn’t
dislike
him, exactly.
    “You are not taken with the idea,” Sir Jack said, a monumental understatement. “I am prepared to be generous, Miss Hennessey. Desperately
    generous. You see before you a man with no pride.”
    Madeline saw before her a man with no scruples and less charm. “Part of the reason your household is at sixes and sevens, Sir Jack, is because
    you’re the magistrate. You hold parlor sessions some weeks, but not others. Your schedule isn’t your own, and if a serious matter comes before
    you, it absorbs all of your attention. Mr. Belmont was the same way when he was the magistrate.”
    “She’s right,” Mr. Belmont said, around a mouthful of shortbread. “Damned job wrecks a fellow’s peace when folk are naughty.
    When livestock are naughty too. Your mama won’t be keen on you riding off at all hours to investigate the love life of Hattie Hennessey’s
    ewes.”
    “Belmont,” Sir Jack said, “need I remind you from whom I inherited the magistrate’s position?”
    “And you’ve never thanked me for stepping down, you ingrate. Miss Hennessey will take pity on you, because she’s soft-hearted.”
    That was the outside of too much. “I’m not—”
    “You spoil your aunties rotten,” Mr. Belmont went on. “You spoil us rotten, the boys, the baby… Spoil Sir Jack’s mama, plant
    a few ideas in his housekeeper’s head, marvel at his cook’s syllabub, and inflict your flirtations and lectures on the footmen. Work your
    magic, and you’ll soon have his household running as smoothly as you do Candlewick.”
    Madeline opened her mouth to scold her employer for that bald overstatement—Candlewick had a superbly competent housekeeper and equally talented
    cook, though both women were getting on. What they lacked in energy, they made up for in experience.
    “You flatter me shamelessly, Mr. Belmont.”
    “I wouldn’t dare.”
    “I would,” Sir Jack said, “if I thought it would inspire you to take this post. You’ll have my undying gratitude, a glowing
    character, the gratification of fulfilling a much-needed office—”
    “And his coin,” Mr. Belmont said. “Lots of coin, such as no sensible young woman refuses.”
    Madeline was no longer young. Somewhere between fending off the callow swains in the churchyard—most of them, anyway—and passing every penny
    she could spare to her aging relatives, she’d made her peace with reality. She worked hard—she’d always work hard—and if she was
    lucky, she’d have a little coin to see her through when hard work was beyond her.
    “I hazard to point out that your aunts would tell you to take the offer.” Sir Jack wasn’t teasing or exaggerating. He was making the one
    argument Madeline could not refute. Hattie would wax scathingly eloquent if Madeline turned up her nose at a chance to be the companion of a true lady.
    And Sir Jack was offering only a temporary position, nothing more.
    Had Aunt Hattie’s spring crop of lambs not depended on a wandering ram, Madeline might have refused, but Aunt’s situation had been growing
    dire. Theodosia’s finances teetered close to desperate and had for years.
    Madeline would not even have a widow’s mite to get her by in old age, as her aunts often reminded her.
    “I will be your mother’s temporary companion,” she said, “and if I see problems with how the household is managed, I will bring
    them to your attention as discreetly as I can.”
    Sir Jack took her hand in both of his. “My relief beggars description.”
    Madeline snatched back her hand. “My requirements for taking the position can be articulated fairly easily, if Mr. and Mrs. Belmont would excuse us
    for a few minutes?”
    The Belmonts were on their feet and halfway to the door before Madeline had finished speaking. Their haste put her in mind of parents affording privacy to
    a young lady and a marriage-minded suitor.
    Which analogy was just plain ridiculous.

 
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