Ava’s blood ran cold. Her heart skipped two beats. The animal looked ready to attack and rip the jugular out of anyone who stood in its way.
“This ain’t some fancy gentleman’s club,” Mr Maguire continued. “You can squabble like children in your own time.”
A tense silence ensued before Lord Valentine repeated his earlier question. “How much to settle Mr Kendall’s account?”
Mr Maguire’s top lip curled in amusement. “Kendall here is two days late with his payment and owes twelve hundred.”
“Pounds?” Twitchett’s eyes widened in shock.
“We ain’t talking brass buttons,” Mr Maguire retorted.
“Twelve hundred pounds,” Valentine muttered.
“Thirteen if he fails to pay by the stroke of midnight.”
Valentine rubbed his hand over his chin and then said, “Will you accept a note from me?” Slowly, and showing Maguire every exaggerated move, Valentine reached into his coat, removed a calling card and placed it on the desk.
Mr Maguire yanked the knife from the desk and used the tip of the blade to drag the card closer. He scanned the script and after a moment nodded. “I’ll take your note, but the interest remains until the full debt is paid.”
“And the rate?”
“Ten per cent of the original debt charged daily.”
“Bloody hell,” Mr Drake whispered. He glanced at Ava and inclined his head by way of an apology for his coarse language.
“You will have full payment tomorrow.” Valentine cast Jonathan a look as deadly as any swipe with a blade. “All thirteen hundred pounds.”
With the growling dog watching them, Ava moved cautiously to Valentine’s side. “I cannot let you pay my brother’s debts. If I thought he might change, then I would find a way to repay you, but sadly I fear you will be as good as throwing your money on the bonfire.”
Valentine’s blue gaze softened as he searched her face. She saw compassion there, and something else, something that made her stomach grow hot, that made her heart leap about in her chest.
“I know the strength it took to ask for my help.” He spoke in an intimate tone as if they were the only people in the room. “Your brother speaks the truth. I do not give a damn about him.”
Valentine added nothing further. He did not need to.
He turned his attention to Connor Maguire. “Failure to make the payment will result in Mr Kendall losing the use of a limb. Am I correct?”
Mr Maguire nodded. “The place is old, the floors uneven. Many a gentleman has tripped on his way out and broken an arm.”
A desperate whimper escaped Jonathan’s lips.
“Brute,” Ava whispered but hoped Maguire heard.
He did.
The rogue chuckled as his beady gaze raked over her, though the sound in no way expressed amusement. With a firm grip of the knife, he pointed it at Jonathan. “Maybe I’ll cut off a finger tonight. If your friend here doesn’t pay tomorrow, it will be an ear and then a limb.”
Devlin Drake craned his neck and cracked his knuckles. Anger radiated. He looked ready to unleash the devil’s wrath.
Mr Maguire narrowed his gaze. “Ah, you want to fight. The lady and the old man might disagree.” He looked briefly at Ava. “Such a pretty face. Such a shame to leave an ugly scar.”
A growl resonated in the back of Lord Valentine’s throat. Those perfect blue eyes turned almost steely silver. Never had a man looked so terrifying and so irresistible at the same time.
Valentine stepped forward and straightened to his full height. “I swear if you harm a hair on her head I will raze this place to rubble and see you buried beneath it.”
A deep adoration burst to life in Ava’s chest, pushing panic aside. It flowed through her body until every part thrummed with need for this man. The emotion may have overwhelmed her, had the other Maguire brother not entered the room with Raja in tow.
The dog snarled and snapped in his basket.