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final reward before they could blink.
And not that the servants could be faulted for their lack of perception. They saw, the world saw, what Baron Wilde wished them to see, and nothing more: a handsome, well-set-up gentleman who appeared to be as harmless as a morning in May.
Only those who knew Justin Wilde well—and these numbered less than a half dozen—saw more than the exquisite lace at his neck and cuffs, the fashionably fine cut of his coat, the perfection that was his longish, carefully casual black hair that matched in color a pair of wonderfully winged eyebrows.
Most impressive of all was his ready smile, which could be mocking, ironic, amused, open, disarmingly friendly and, as those privileged half dozen knew, very rarely genuine.
There was no smile on his lean face at the moment, real or subtly perfected. To receive the Prince Regent’s summons at some point in time had not been unexpected. The man had warned of the eventuality at their last meeting. But now, scant months after their agreement, the sure knowledge that he was to consider himself at the man’s beck and call for the remainder of one of their lives had been brought home in all of its unpleasantness.
“That chandelier is new since my last visit, isn’t it?” he inquired of the footmen, pointing to a crystal-and-gilt monstrosity that hung at the top of the stairs. “I probably paid for it, you know. My God, is that a crystal dove at the center of it?”
The younger of the two servants looked up at the chandelier, nearly losing his step on the marble stairs, so that Justin quickly reached out to steady him.
“Coo, that was a close-run thing, weren’t it? Thank you, milord.”
“Nonsense. I apologize for distracting you, knowing the danger. My late wife perished on these same stairs some years ago.”
“Is that a fact, milord? Took herself a fall, did she?”
“She didn’t drown,” Justin agreed pleasantly.
“Silas, stifle yourself,” the older footman warned, clearly aghast at both the question and his lordship’s answer. “This way, my lord, if you please,” he then added quickly, gesturing to the left—away from the ornate public rooms and toward the private area of the residence.
Wonderful. The only thing more off-putting than Prinny at noon would be Prinny at noon and still in his nightcap. Less than five minutes later, Justin’s worst fears were confirmed.
Once he was announced, the footmen retreated amid a flurry of deep bows. Justin advanced across an expanse of priceless carpets and parquet flooring, stopping at the foot of a bed so high, so wide, so lavishly hung with velvet draperies that even the Prince of Whales appeared small as he sat propped against pillows in the middle of it, munching on coddled eggs.
Justin smartly clapped his booted feet together and inclined his head and shoulders only enough to be civil. “Your obedient servant appearing at your command, Your Royal Highness.”
“Wilde,” the Prince of Wales said, sighing as he put down his fork. “You’re the only man I know who can turn an expression of respect into an insult. Did you see it?”
Justin racked his brain for a moment, and then nodded. “The dove may have been taking ostentation too far, even for you. What next, sir, pink waistcoats?”
“Ha! Nobody has dared to speak so freely around me since George. How I miss that rascal.”
“As do his many creditors, or so I’ve heard,” Justin said, remembering the evening not so long ago he’d spent doing his part in spiriting George “Beau” Brummell out of the city and on his way to safety in Calais. “Is that why I’m here, sir? To somehow assist in raising fond memories of the fellow who was once bosom chum? I’m flattered, yet devastated to admit that my man Wigglesworth doesn’t quite possess the man’s clever way with boot black.”
The prince swept out his arm, sending the silver tray loaded down with chocolate pots and plates and pastries crashing to the floor. “Damn you! Who are you to speak to me that— What do you want? Get out!”
This last was directed at the guardsmen who had entered at the sound of crashing silver and crockery, their swords drawn.
Justin stood his ground. And waited.
“For all of George’s faults, it’s true, I do miss him,” the prince said at last, almost wistfully, his well-known mercurial mood having shifted yet again. “He was well when you last saw him?”
“Alas, I cannot answer that question, sir, as I fear I’ve never actually met the man,” Justin lied smoothly.
“Yes, of course,” Prinny said, apparently remembering that he should show no interest in the Beau, or the fact that he’d cared enough to have ferreted out Justin’s participation in the scheme to extract the fellow from the clutches of the duns and even incarceration in debtor’s prison. “Let us move on to other things.”
“As you wish, sir. I am yours to command.”
“Good, you remember who I am. There are times I find that difficult to believe. Then you recall our private agreement as well, Wilde?”
Justin inclined his head yet again. “I believe I’ve committed it to memory, yes. If I might paraphrase for you?”
“Yes, yes, go on. I want to be assured you remember it.”
Justin’s smile was brilliant. “As I would a badly throbbing tooth, sir. In exchange for a sum of money numbering somewhere in the vicinity of what could in some twisted way be termed a king’s ransom, all of it deposited directly into Your Royal Highness’s private purse—”
“That is never to be mentioned.”
“I stand corrected. Although it was fifty thousand pounds, to be precise,” Justin said, actually beginning to enjoy himself. “Your Royal Highness, known to his intimates as George the Kind, I might venture, acting purely out of a generosity of spirit acknowledged throughout the realm and without thought to personal enrichment, pardoned my sorry self for the crime of firing in self-defense when the fool I’d been forced to challenge to a duel turned and discharged his pistol on two. A mistake that proved fatal to him and disastrous to me, as I then had to flee England or else be arrested and summarily hanged.”
“Better, although you fail to mention that dueling itself has long been outlawed, no matter the result of the meeting,” the prince pointed out smugly.
“How remiss of me. Shall we dig up Robbie Farber and charge him for his crime, do you think?”
“You’re impertinent. Go on, finish it.”
Justin really would rather not, so that the insult wrapped in his answer came to him easily. “In return for this grand and noble gesture, I, Baron Wilde, grateful to be once more standing on the ground first trod by my illustrious ancestors long before yours, sir, had ever heard of England and were still happily speaking German and feeding on cabbages, after eight long and painful years of exile, and once again in possession of both my estates and my fortune—most of the latter, at any rate—am the eager and obedient servant of Your Royal Highness, ready at all times to assist him whenever the need arises. That is our agreement, until such time as Your Royal Highness believes sufficient penance has been served.”
“I can’t abide cabbages, so your paltry attempt at yet another insult will be ignored. But I would be remiss if I weren’t to point out that you’re running perilously close to the limits of my forbearance.” Prinny wagged a finger in Justin’s direction. “You actually did quite well, Wilde, until the last. Handsome devil, I’ll give you that, but your jaw went rather hard there for a few moments. You aren’t eager and obedient?”
“I’m here,” Justin said, taking out his snuffbox. He wasn’t having fun anymore. In fact, he was very nearly bored, which was always dangerous. He deftly opened the chased-gold thing with one hand and then, delicately holding an infinitesimal pinch to his left nostril, sniffed. “For eager and obedient, I suggest His Royal Highness might accept my gift