The Gentleman Who Loved Me (Heart of Enquiry Book 6)(17)

His mind knew she was right, yet something in him resisted.

He shoved her hand away. “Perhaps in your dotage,” he drawled, knowing how much she hated any reference to her age, “you’ve given up hope for change, but I’m a young man. I’ve a whole future ahead of me.”

“You’re a whore,” she said flatly. “A pretty one, to be sure, but your future lies between your legs, and don’t you forget it.”

Anger roiled; he held it ruthlessly in check. “My future is mine to decide.”

“You wouldn’t even have a future if it weren’t for me. I made you, Corby: I gave you your manners, your clothes, your fine accent. Without me, you’d be nothing but a whore’s bastard.”

The reminder pitted his anger against his sense of loyalty—his greatest weakness. Because despite everything, he couldn’t forget what Kitty had done for him. Where he might be now if it hadn’t been for her.

Dead, probably.

“It’s because of you that we have nothing.” His hands curled in frustration. “If you hadn’t gotten mixed up with Black, we’d still have a roof over our heads, a thriving business—”

“We can have that again.” In a blink, Kitty went from petulant to seductive. Manipulation was the tool of her trade, and even knowing that didn’t make him impervious to the tears that glimmered in her fine grey eyes. To the hitch of remorse in her voice. “I know I’ve made mistakes, Corby, but I can fix this. I have plans to get us out of this mess.”

He crossed his arms over his chest. “What plans?”

“London’s still too close, clinging to us like a hangnail. We need to make a clean break—get farther into the countryside,” she declared. “Shropshire, maybe. Or Dorset.”

“Sheep and pigs,” he said with a snort. “What in bloody hell are we going to do there?”

“Start another business. It doesn’t have to be a bawdy house, although,”—she slid him a look—“that would be the obvious place to begin. Given our areas of expertise.”

“Let us not forget those. I fuck for money, and you spend it as if it grew on trees.”

“Sarcasm isn’t going to get us anywhere.”

He lifted a brow. “Was I being sarcastic?”

“Just think of the advantages we’ll have over the local competition,” she went on as if he hadn’t spoken. “We’ll bring panache, class, exotic tricks—”

“We?”

“To start. All hands on deck and all that. Oh, don’t give me that look,” she said crossly. “I was plying the trade whilst you were in your nappies. I suppose I still know how it’s done.”

“I suppose.” He wondered if it ought to bother him that his lover planned to bed others… but he was no hypocrite. And, truthfully, he didn’t give a damn.

Possessiveness wasn’t part of his nature.

“There is one small problem, of course.”

He didn’t like the glint in Kitty’s eyes. “What problem?”

“Primrose.” As his gut chilled, she said, “Now that she longer pays for herself, we can’t afford to keep her. To embark on my plan, we’ll need to cut all unnecessary expenses—”

“Primrose stays.”

“Be reasonable.” Kitty trapped his face between her palms, her beautiful face pleading. “This is our future we’re talking about.”

“Where will she go? She’s only four, for Christ’s sake. You can’t throw an innocent out on the street—”

“You and I are living proof that you can.” Kitty dropped her hands, her steely gaze pinning him. “I thought you were smarter than this.”

“I’ll pay her way,” he gritted out. “You don’t have to lift a finger.”

“Don’t fool yourself. You’re no hero, Corby.”

“I know that,” he snapped. “Just let her stay, and I’ll do what it takes to make your bloody plan work, all right?”

Kitty studied him, his heart pounding out the seconds.

“All right,” she said finally. “But if you can’t manage her, she goes.”

He gave a terse nod.

“Well, it seems we have a bargain. Best strike while the iron is hot.”

“I don’t follow.”

“I spoke earlier to a fellow traveler. A widow staying at this very inn.” Kitty smiled thinly. “As it turns out, she’s in need of consolation this eve.”

He knew then that he’d been had. From the start of the conversation, this was what Kitty had been angling for. But he couldn’t turn back… not with Primrose’s future hanging in the balance. And given how far down this path he’d gone, maybe the only choice was to soldier on.

What difference did it make anyway? Another customer, another fuck. He’d trained his body to go through the motions while his mind remained uninvolved. Detached. He could make a patron climax again and again while he planned for the day when he’d have his own club and determine his own future. When he shot his load, it would be to the ultimate fantasy: success.

So let them buy his cock, his hands, his mouth—his mind was his own.

“After the fuck, I’m not sleeping with her,” he clipped out.