Jack (The Jaded Gentlemen Book 4) Read Online Free Page A

Two
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    Winning a battle was only half a victory, as any soldier knew. The conquered territory must be held when the guns went silent, and the populace brought
    under the victor’s rule, which could be harder than prevailing in combat.
    Madeline Hennessey had acquiesced to the scheme Axel and Abigail Belmont had hatched, and so had Jack.
    May God have mercy on his soul, for Miss Hennessey radiated discontentment. “What are your terms, Miss Hennessey?”
    She rose, and Jack did as well, not only because a gentleman stood when a lady gave up her seat. Madeline Hennessey was tall for a woman, possessed of
    glorious red hair, a fine figure, and lovely features. Jack wanted to be on his feet when they parlayed.
    Her looks were striking, which a plain cap, severe coiffure, and utter lack of adornment only accentuated. Jack was honest enough to admit that in a small
    way, he enjoyed watching
her
, watching the woman who’d quietly kept a widower’s household running while offending none of his more
    senior retainers. The same woman who’d become a ferocious ally to Mrs. Belmont when her prospective husband had been slow to offer marriage.
    Madeline Hennessey was fierce, in other words, and that quality earned Jack’s respect as generous curves and winsome smiles never would. That same
    fierceness put his guard up too, of course.
    “I’ll want a bedroom on the same floor as your mother,” Miss Hennessey said, “though I don’t expect to be housed in the
    family wing. Stairs are the very devil when you must traverse them at all hours of the day and night.”
    “Easily done. What else?”
    “Sunday and a half day off each week, and such other time to myself as your mother allows.”
    “My entire staff has Sunday and a half day each week. Those who’ve been with me for more than five years have a guarantee of evenings free as
    well, provided their assignments are complete.”
    She left off studying a sketch of some wild rose or other growing by a still pond. Belmont had likely done the drawing himself.
    “How does anything get done after sundown, Sir Jack?”
    “The junior staff tend to it.” As far as he knew. He hadn’t asked directly, lest his butler take offense.
    “And when your junior staff have all been with you more than five years?”
    “The junior staff don’t stay a full year of late. Perhaps you’ll be able to change that.”
    “How long will your mother bide with you?”
    Too long.
“Mama is a force of nature. She comes and goes as she pleases, and one doesn’t—that is,
I
do not—presume to interfere with
    her plans.”
    Miss Hennessey folded her arms. “The household belongs to you, Sir Jack. Out of respect for you, your family must apprise you of their plans. How
    else is the staff to accommodate your guests, much less anticipate your needs?”
    At least she’d left off studying Belmont’s artistry. “Nobody in the entire shire will be left in doubt regarding my mother’s needs,
    wants, opinions, or desires. I joined a regiment bound for India, very much against her wishes, and nearly twenty years on, I’m reminded regularly of
    what a naughty boy I was.”
    “You are not a boy.”
    And Miss Hennessey was not offering him a compliment. “Neither am I quite doddering, madam. What are your other demands?”
    He’d meet them, whatever they were. The longer Jack conversed with Miss Hennessey, the more he was convinced she was the answer to his domestic
    prayers and an able match for Mama.
    That Miss Hennessey was reluctant to take the post only attested to her good sense.
    “I’ll need a wardrobe allowance,” she said. “As a lady’s companion, I’ll be expected to pay calls with your mother, and
    for that I must be presentable if I’m to endure the ridicule of the local gentry.”
    “There will be no ridicule.” Not to her face, anyway. More than that, Jack could not prevent.
    She marched over to Belmont’s desk, an enormous article at which many botanical treatises had