Page 17 of A Rake’s Gamble

“Rose thought he had married her. He bought her with a falsehood and destroyed her.”

Theo should throw him out again. And he really shouldn’t listen to his heart strings as they trembled whenever Adam mentioned Rose. He remembered how sad she’d been and how she’d died and all the terrible things his father had done.

“What now?”

Adam’s shoulders rose and fell as he breathed out deeply. “I don’t know. I only wanted revenge. If there’s any sin here, it’s that I didn’t think about the future. I didn’t plan for what would happen when that old bastard died. I didn’t think about the estate as being more than him.”

Theo was a fool. A goddamned fool. Because the way Adam’s face showed his remorse made him want to forgive him and wasn’t that just the most ridiculous thing. One didn’t forgive the conman who’d bankrupted his heritage. He shook his head.

“Well, you made this mess. And if you don’t fix it, I’ll have to marry an heiress and we’ll both be miserable.” Oops, he hadn’t meant to admit that. Adam’s eyes narrowed and Theo held up his hand.

“No,” he whispered, unable to put any force into it even though he ought to.

“What?” Adam asked.

“No more calculations. No more scams. Stop conning me.”

“I’m not. But I can help find a solution. Just give me some time to work it out.”

Theo wasn’t going to stomach that. “Work it out aloud so I’m involved.” He let out a tight breath because staying involved with Adam was inadvisable given what he’d just admitted to, but then the damned man smiled again. Theo knew he was in so much trouble because his heart skipped a beat.

“It’s almost like you don’t trust me.”

Damned right he didn’t. “I shouldn’t trust you. You’ve just told me a story that sounds believable while admitting that you are good at falsehoods. I don’t understand why you told me all of this. You could’ve said nothing and I would never have known.” He might have suspected that Adam had done something, based on that old steward’s report, but he would never have figured out such a detailed scam on his own. New South Wales wasn’t a place he’d ever given any thought to.

“You don’t?” Adam raised his eyebrows.

“No. What advantage does it give you?” Surely a confidence trickster would always be thinking of how any action benefited him, although it was probably too much to hope that Adam would actually answer such a question truthfully.

“You are the reason, my lord. I hoped that if I told you the truth, then we might get to spend more time together.”

Theo flushed from his toes all the way to the top of his head. “You admitted your scams to me because you ...” He gulped unable to say it out loud.

“Yes. I can’t seem to stop wanting you. I want to fuck you every day. I want you on your knees for me. I want you.”

Theo slumped in his chair. He couldn’t believe it, but also, he could believe it, because he felt the same connection drawing him to Adam and the longing on Adam’s face had to be genuine. What if it was all genuine?

“It’s basically impossible though. I have the save the estate before I can think about my own needs.” It was probably too much to admit, but Theo was long past any self-preservation. His cock had plumped up quickly as soon as Adam had mentioned fucking him and wanting him, and maybe none of that other stuff mattered at all. He’d found someone who kept him warm.

“Why?” Adam shrugged one shoulder carelessly.

“What do you mean, why?”

“Why do you have to save the estate?”

Theo frowned, not understanding the question. “I just do. It’s what the Earl does. It’s why we’ve always existed.”

“Do you know who you are without the title?”

Theo gulped. No. He’d been an adequate soldier and quite a good logistics manager but this—being the Earl—was the only thing he’d been told he was useful for. It was his entire reason for existence. But he wasn’t going to admit that, and certainly not to someone like Adam. If he was a betting man—and he certainly wasn’t—he’d bet that Adam didn’t even know he sounded manipulative. He probably couldn’t help looking for advantages in life.

“The bigger question is how am I going to solve this problem without marrying an heiress?”

“Why couldn’t you marry an heiress?” Adam spread his hands out wide as if it was a perfectly reasonable question to ask only moments after admitting he wanted to be with Theo intimately every day. Every day.

“She would be miserable.”

“Are you saying that because you wouldn’t love her like a wife?”