Miss Westlake's Windfall by Bárbara Metzger

morsel was so tantalizingly near. Leo was worse than Tally on a good scent. He was equally as trustworthy, too, though. Just as Chas would never need to count the money in the purse, he would never worry about Leo Tobin spreading the tale of his ignominy.
    “Very well, I was not thinking clearly, thanks to you and your Blue Ruin, and there was Prelieu’s purse, going begging. I got the knacky idea that if Ada had money of her own, she would not feel I was offering her charity by offering her marriage. She’d be able to relieve some of the worst burdens on her shoulders, and perhaps start thinking of her own future instead of her family and her brother’s inheritance.”
    “Yes, I heard all about the noble Sir Emery.”
    “Noble, hell. If the cawker had any honor he’d sell out and come take care of his own dependents, not leave it for a barely grown sister. The dead brother wasted everything on cards and lavish living; now this living one thinks it’s more honorable to die in Portugal than manage his estates. Steps can be taken to restore the properties and the income, but only Emery can make the decisions. If I could do it, I’d go shoot the nodcock myself—not fatally, of course—so he’d be sent home.”
    “I could ...”
    “No. Anyway, Ada would never accept the money from my hand—might as well marry me, otherwise—so I decided to leave it where I knew she’d be.”
    “In a tree?”
    “That part of the plan was not my best, I admit. Nor standing up in the saddle to put it there.”
    “So what are you going to do about it now?” Leo had stopped tossing the pouch and was rubbing Tally’s silky ears while the dog leaned against his booted legs.
    “I am not going to do anything. You are going to restore the pouch to Ada.”
    “Like hell I am.”
    “Well, I cannot very well do it, can I? How would I explain having come by the blasted thing? Besides, the sight of my phiz is bound to frighten her half to death.”
    “Seems to me that any miss with backbone enough to walk into Jake’s with an unloaded pistol ain’t about to swoon at the sight of a few minor cuts and scrapes.”
    Minor? Chas felt as ugly as an ape, especially next to Leo’s handsome face. “No, you send it with a message that she is free to keep the blunt. Tell her you made inquiries, and the money has nothing to do with you or your operations.”
    Leo stopped petting the dog to brush a piece of straw off his superfine-clad sleeve. “So I send the money back. How is that going to solve your problem?”
    Like finding a woman to marry? Hah. Chas bent to pat Tally’s head, so Leo could not see his despair. “My problems don’t matter. The cash might buy Ada some time with the banks, or some new breeding stock. She might even buy herself a new bonnet or something.”
    “What about Prelieu?” Leo asked, lighting a cigarillo. He offered one to Chas, who refused. “I am not encouraged that we’ve had no word, but if another band had set him ashore, we’ll hear soon.”
    “He knew the dangers, so he must have changed his mind. Or else the French changed it for him, deeming even an under-exchequer of the army too valuable to lose sight of. Hell, the man knew how many guns Napoleon was ordering and where they were being sent, how many officers were on the payroll, and which Englishmen were being paid for information.” The viscount shrugged. “He would have been valuable, but we’ll find the names we need some other way. I can easily get more cash if he does make an eventual appearance.”
    “That’s it? You are just going to give up on Prelieu and Miss Ada?”
    “I am not giving up, dash it, I am giving her back the money. Or you are.”
    “You are giving up your suit of her, though, aren’t you? If she married you, she wouldn’t need this piddling purse.”
    Chas kicked at a pebble on the well-swept floor. “She made me swear not to ask her again.”
    “Bah. You must have made a rare mull of your courting, Charlie. Why,