Damn it all to bloody hell. His muscle in his cheek twitched. “What is it?”
By way of answer, the duke reached into his pocket again. He pulled out a piece of parchment and handed it to Logan.
Unfolding the letter, Logan quickly scanned the contents, his brows drawing together. Some do-gooder wished for help with a charity project. “What does an orphanage have to do with a gaming hell?”
Darling drew another lazy puff from his cheroot. “The Den of Sins isn’t just a gaming hell. That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you. It’s too easy for the Earl of Gold to be discovered as the owner of such a place. Our success is born from our brotherhood and our anonymity. You need to make yourself not just rich, but a pillar of our community. You need to create a veil between the true you and the man that society sees.”
Logan frowned. Perhaps that was why society despised him. Because he was honest in his pursuit of money. Would he actually be more successful if he were less direct? The idea held interest. “This letter is addressed to you. She wants your help.” But Logan was fairly certain he knew what the duke was about to say as dread pooled in his stomach. Logan didn’t do charity. People either sank or swam. Life was that simple.
“Help her,” Daring answered. “And find three partners and the club is yours.”
Logan’s fist dug into his thigh, he didn’t even bother to hide it. “And how do I know you’ll keep your word?”
Daring gave him a grin. “You want a contract before our contract? You’re as shrewd as they say. Trust me, you’re not a man I wish to double cross. You keep up your end of the bargain and I’ll keep up mine.”
His fist relaxed. Many of Daring’s points held merit that Logan wouldn’t mind exploring. If he could gain favor in the ton, would he be even more successful than he’d been?
To find out he only needed to help one little do-gooder start up an orphanage.
He could do that. No problem. Easy.
The Den of Sins would be his.
Chapter One
Penny Walters sat in front of the chipped and cracked mirror attempting to assess if the style of her hair was at all pleasing. Styling herself had never been her strong suit. Even in the speckled reflection, she noted several stray curls sticking up at odd angles. She wrinkled her nose as she lifted her hands to her hair once again.
“It looks dreadful,” a young voice called from the door.
She let out a long sigh, sliding out a pin. “I was afraid of that.”
Her friend and companion, Clarissa, slid into the room, her bare feet sliding across the worn wood. Penny had bought her new shoes, but the girl would only wear them outside the house. Penny supposed Clarissa wasn’t actually a girl anymore. At eighteen she was nearly a woman, but she was slight and small, and she padded barefoot as much as she wore footwear. She seemed so much younger than Penny even though only four years separated them.
“How long before you leave?” Clarissa asked, already pulling the rest of the pins from Penny’s brown hair. It was thick and full with long waves that made it terribly unruly.
“A quarter hour,” Penny answered, smiling at Clarissa in the glass. Her appointment wasn’t for two hours yet, but she needed time to cross the city.
Clarissa nodded without response as she brusquely brushed out the locks. The girl had been the daughter of a country barrister before she’d been orphaned. Penny had found her at a church on her return trip from Dover six years prior. She’d been hoping to obtain a position as a governess but the family had gone with another candidate.
Directionless, Penny had been returning to London, wondering what she might do with the rest of her life. And that’s when she’d found a young Clarissa. Barely old enough to care for herself, Penny hadn’t been able to leave the fierce girl behind. The priest there had been attempting to convince Clarissa to join the nearby convent. An honest choice but as Clarissa was regularly blasphemous, it likely would have been an ill fit.
Now she couldn’t imagine her life without her friend. Clarissa began to re-pin the hair, pins sticking out of her mouth, even as she talked. “I don’t understand why you didn’t just ask me to do it in the first place.”
“You were helping Natty and Fran,” Penny answered, her grin growing. With a few benefactors, and a small inheritance, Penny had been able to maintain her family home just outside of the Docklands and convert it to a small orphanage. The East End reeked of the tanning mills just outside the city and the paint was chipped and worn but it was all they could afford. All in all, she had four girls living with her. Ones that society would have swept under the carpet and looked away from as the mean streets ate them for breakfast.
They’d been orphaned for one reason or another and she’d determined to give each of them a real home. With food and clothes, love and shoes…
“May I ask why you aren’t wearing the new boots I bought you?” She suppressed a grin as Clarissa wrinkled her nose.
“You know I don’t like anything on my feet.” Clarissa pulled a good deal harder than was necessary as she tamed an unruly lock of hair.
“Do they not fit?” Penny raised her brows refusing to give up the subject. She loved Clarissa like a sister which was why she needed to start wearing coverings on her feet. One could not go out and get a job or a husband while barefoot. Penny had rescued Clarissa to give her choices in life. Not to hide her away in this house.
“They fit fine,” Clarissa sighed as she twisted once more. “After spending two years in shoes that were too small, I can’t abide them any longer.”
Penny grimaced, her smile falling from her face. Clarissa’s father had lost every shilling the family had on a bad investment. He’d taken his own life and left Clarissa to face the world alone. “I’m sorry I couldn’t buy new ones for you sooner.”
“Don’t be.” Clarissa shook her head, a small jerk before she wrapped her arm about Penny’s shoulders in a quick hug. The gesture was given so rarely that Penny blinked in surprise. “Natty, Fran, and Ethel needed food and books before I needed new shoes. You did what was right.”
Penny sighed again, a much smaller sound as her head hung low in momentary defeat. It was difficult to find benefactors. Despite the opulence that graced the West End streets of London, here on the East End that sort of generosity was in short supply.
“So why are you meeting this new man?”
Penny gripped the table as Clarissa pulled again. She’d hoped that the Duke of Darlington would aid in her cause. This three-bedroom house fit the six of them, but she could hardly bring more children here. She needed a bigger space, more staff, and supplies for schooling if she really wanted to make a difference. “His Grace regretted to inform me that he could not personally contribute but that he had a friend that might be able to help.”
Clarissa made a pishing sound as she pinned in the final curl. “So you’re going to meet a man you don’t know at all, and have no introduction to, alone?”
Penny’s teeth clenched. “I have an introduction.” She paused, seeing Clarissa’s eyes harden in the mirror. “I don’t have a choice.” The truth was, not only did she need a benefactor to move them up in the world, they were dangerously low on funds. Acid spread in her stomach. She needed this man to agree to help her just so that they might continue to eat, and the children needed coats and…