In for a Penny by Rose Lerner Page A

her room. At last Louisa came soberly down the stairs.
    “Has she turned off the waterworks yet?”
    Louisa shook her head. “She blames herself, Nate. Shethinks if she had been able to control Papa, you wouldn’t have to make this tragic sacrifice.” She looked at him sorrowfully. “You should have let me do it, Nate. I was prepared.”
    “Louisa, don’t be a goose. We aren’t living in a Minerva Press novel. I’m just glad you gave me the idea. I might not have thought of Miss Brown otherwise.”
    Her eyes flew wide. “ I gave you the idea? Oh, my wretched, wretched tongue! Oh, poor Nate!” She flung herself on him.
    “Don’t take on so.” He tried to fend her off. “I daresay you’ll like Miss Brown.”
    “Never!” Louisa said fiercely. “I shall detest her eternally!”
    “You won’t . Wait till you meet her. She likes music.”
    “Oh, Nate, you’re so brave!”
    He threw up his hands and left the house.
    Nev would have preferred to take a few days to screw his courage to the sticking point before going to see Amy. But he had sent the notice to the Gazette , and a gentleman did not let a woman find out a thing like that from the Gazette .
    He walked slowly up the stairs to Amy’s house, as he had hundreds of times. He didn’t even make it all the way to the top before the door opened and Amy looked out. He looked at her, but he didn’t see her brown eyes or the mischievous tilt of her mouth or even the small, creamy breasts that curved into the clean white muslin of her frock. He didn’t remember the year of laughter and sex and casual affection they had shared. He looked at Amy and all he could see were the thousands of pounds she had cost.
    She smiled. “Hullo, Nev.”
    He tried to smile back, but he felt a little sick. “Hello, Amy.”
    She stood on tiptoe and kissed him. “I was about to have lunch. Will you join me, or would you rather go straight to bed?”
    “Actually, I—I need to talk to you.”
    She frowned, but she took him into her salon and sat down on the settee, leaving plenty of room for him. He took a chair. Her face changed a little, but she didn’t say anything.
    “I reckon you’ve heard my father left us just about ruined.”
    She nodded. “I’d heard, but I hoped the rumors were exaggerated.” She paused and looked down. “Nev, my friends would laugh at me if they heard this, but—I’ve been saving. I could loan you as much as five hundred pounds, if you needed it.”
    “I owe tens of thousands.”
    “Oh.”
    “That’s not the problem.” He waved his hands about, as if maybe they could say this for him. They couldn’t. “I’m fixing that. That’s what I came here to tell you. Amy, I—I’m getting married.”
    For a second her face was blank—and then, to his surprise, it flooded with relief. “Oh, Nev! You frightened me for nothing! Did you think I would scream or throw the gravy boat at your head?” She smiled at him. “I don’t say I won’t be sorry not to have you all to myself anymore, but I know I’m spoiled. Don’t worry about it any longer.”
    Nev knew it was unreasonable and unfair, but he felt an instinctive revulsion, a delicacy he would have sworn he did not possess, at the idea of leaving Miss Brown quietly sleeping at home and sneaking off to see Amy. He shook his head. “I’m sorry, Amy. I can’t do that. This is good-bye.”
    She stared at him. “Why?”
    He couldn’t tell her she was too expensive. So he told her the other reason. “I promised her. No mistresses.”
    Amy’s eyes narrowed. “She made you promise that, did she? The slave trade’s been abolished, or hadn’t you heard? She’s bought your title, Nev, but she doesn’t own you. What’s it to her if you get a bit on the side?”
    “That’s not fair, Amy. The poor girl’s getting a bad enough bargain.”
    Amy raised her eyebrows. “Oh, is she? Who is it?”
    Nev looked away. “Miss Brown.”
    He heard Amy draw in a sharp breath. “Oh. Well, I said