Parfit Knight Read Online Free Page A

he’d left a
bottle of the best Chambertin in the library with Mr Dacre. He
hoped he’d done right, sir.’
    There was a
brief silence and then the Marquis succumbed to long, infectious
laughter.
    ‘You should
have been a General, Jim. Such tactics are worthy of a better
cause,’ he said unsteadily. And then, getting up, ‘Oh very well.
You may get out the blue coat. But if Barrow finds out how you
impugned his honour, you’ll be thoroughly ditched - and so I warn
you!’
    By the time
Amberley entered the library, Robert had been waiting a full half
hour and his angry flush and smouldering gaze spoke volumes for the
state of his temper. He was a good-looking youth and mercifully not
addicted to the extremes of fashion favoured by the Macaroni Club
but his face was constantly overlaid by an expression of petulance
and his manners were frequently careless to the point of rudeness.
Just now, he swept round to fix his lordship with a scorching stare
and said furiously, ‘At last! I daresay you think it funny to order
me here and then keep me kicking my heels while you … ‘ And then he
caught the look in the other man’s eyes and the words seemed to
wither on his tongue.
    ‘Not at all,’
replied Amberley equably. ‘You’re merely a little more punctual
than I expected.’
    Robert cast him
a glance of acute dislike. It was true that he’d intended to be
late but Lord Philip had nipped that idea in the bud by handing
over the wad of bank-notes and then personally driving him to
Hanover Square to deliver them.
    The Marquis had
no difficulty in interpreting that look and a mocking smile played
about his mouth. ‘Just so. I did not, however, invite you here to
discuss your views on punctuality. Sit down.’
    ‘Invite?’
flared Robert. ‘I understood it was more in the nature of a
command. And you had absolutely no right to behave as though I
couldn’t be trusted to come and pay you of my own accord. I don’t
forget my debts and if you’ll be so good as to produce my vowels,
I’m more than willing to redeem them. I – ‘
    ‘Sit down,’
said Lord Amberley again and this time his voice was stripped of
both amusement and patience.
    Robert
swallowed convulsively – and sat.
    ‘That’s better.
I have no taste for lengthy rodomontades – nor they impress me,’
the Marquis went on crisply. ‘Neither do I care for ill-mannered
young men who habitually play with money they don’t possess. Yes –
I know you’ve apparently found the funds to pay me; but that merely
means that you now owe somebody else – unless your father has been
persuaded to bail you out yet again. And I doubt that very much
because I imagine that it would puzzle him to do it.’
    Robert’s hand
clenched on the arm of his chair. ‘Damn you – that’s no concern of
yours!’
    ‘No, it isn’t.
But it ought to be a concern of yours. And though I would have been
very happy to remain outside your affairs, you made that impossible
when you indulged in what I can only assume to be an ill-judged
attempt to wreak vengeance on my head. Do you really think I derive
any pleasure from winning large sums from such as you?’
    ‘Are you
telling me you don’t?’ sneered Robert. ‘You certainly didn’t try
very hard to prevent it, did you?’
    Amberley
sighed. ‘And just how exactly would you have wanted me to do that?
By a point-blank refusal to have you at the table - or by allowing
you to chase me from it? The first could surely have occasioned you
no satisfaction whatsoever and the second is possibly a little too
much to expect.’
    ‘I expect
nothing from you – except that you go out of your way to make a
fool of me.’
    ‘You are
mistaken. You achieve that quite successfully without help from
myself or, indeed, anyone else – and if I’d wanted to embarrass
you, I’d have publicly refused to accept your vowels. As it is,
I’ve better ways of passing my time.’ His lordship’s face was stern
and his eyes held a glint of steel. ‘I