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Returning to his seat, Jasper set Lynd’s glass at the edge of the desk "I have an appointment with Miss Martin this afternoon I’ll learn then how serious Montague is about winning her hand Perhaps he has grown desperate enough to become foolish"

"Preposterous," Lynd scoffed "The whole affair If someone is so deterht But then, I suppose the entire lot of hopefuls is daft or desperate beyond reason to rateful her late father’s fortune has attracted suitors to her She would have a devil of a ti a man without it"

Jasper’s broent up He’d been enticed the moment she first opened her mouth

"Truly," Lynd went on, "she should just pick a poor fellow and be done with it Any other woman would Been allowed to run ae a thief-taker to intercede and his lordship is too preoccupied with the maze of his mind to rein her in Melville’s participation in my intervieas only with hiement of my client?"

"Six weeks will seem a lifetime, I vow No compensation can restitute the loss of your sanity She is contrary in the extreall to look down her nose at me--a feat, I must say, since I’m taller--and tell me I would do well to hire a decent tailor No polish to her at all I could barely tolerate her for the length of the interview Made rind"

"Good of you to decline the post, then," Jasper drawled "Clearly you would not have e to be, I’d say you e"

"So long as Montague fails to acquire the funds he needs to regain his marker from me, I can do whatever is required" It was a delectable twist that the best way to foil Montague’s suit was to woo Eliza Martin hi at you, my boy, like a cancer Best to keep that in , Lynd said, "But you’ll do as you like, you always have"

The marker Jasper held was for a deed to a parcel of land in Essex that boasted only a modest home and was by far the sardless, its value was priceless It represented years ofand the retribution due him And in a mere six weeks it would be irrevocably his to destroy or flaunt at his whi coin purse froe of the desk

Lynd hesitated before collecting the silken bag "I wish I could afford not to accept this"

"Nonsense I owe youhis desk, Jasper escorted Lynd to the foyer and saw hilance at the clock above the mantel in his office

He was only a few hours away fro it farof her at all, a wooals were e at the proper time and with the whole of his attention Eliza’s appointed ti to be addressed now Yet he stood on the threshold of his office where pressinginstead of how he should attire hi whether he should dress to i her somber style would better achieve his ai to meet with her approval It would be hard hich made it worth the effort

"The trone d’a his cravat Decided on a style, Jasper headed to his desk and determined he wouldn’t think of his newest employer for at least an hour