Virginia Heath - That Despicable Rogue

‘Done!’ Runcorn exclaimed excitedly, his gaze never leaving the money.

Ross watched Denham’s pale eyes narrow briefly before he reluctantly stood aside to allow him to sit in the chair he had just vacated. ‘What are we playing?’ Ross asked casually, although he knew already that it was piquet.

Poor Runcorn really did not stand a chance. Many considered piquet less of a risk than hazard, but in truth it was much easier to cheat if one was so inclined. With hazard, chance and luck might scupper even the best player, but piquet was predictable for somebody with Ross’s brain. He motioned for the cards to be dealt and took another sip of his drink before slowly picking up his hand.

The cards he had were good, so he discarded them and picked up five duds. It would not do to trounce the fellow completely from the outset.

Runcorn easily won the first rubber and visibly sagged in relief. The man really was a terrible player; it was no wonder Denham had cleared him out. He wore his emotions on his sleeve. For the second deal Ross purposely played clumsily, and made it appear as if his final winning trick was a fluke. The third hand he played dead straight and won, but he threw the fourth for the sake of entertainment. The crowd and the atmosphere made it fun.

Runcorn was far too careless, and nerves made him sloppy. He was so grateful for each point that he lost track of the cards dealt and obviously had no concept of what was left on the table—a rash and stupid way to play such an easily rigged game. Hell, if he were so inclined as to feed in a few additional face cards, he doubted the man would realise. However, he just wanted to beat Runcorn—not meet him on Hampstead Heath at dawn.

As the penultimate hand was being dealt Ross caught John’s eye. His friend made a show of checking his timepiece—an unsubtle reminder that they were due elsewhere—and Ross stopped toying with his prey. He played every card with calculation and took every trick. By the end of the partie Runcorn had begun to panic. Large beads of sweat rolled down the side of his face and dampened the high, pointed collar of his fashionable shirt.

That detail also spoke volumes about the man, Ross mused. It was well known that the Earl of Runcorn had run up huge debts with every reputable tradesman in London—and some very disreputable. He had long been spending above his means, but instead of curbing this recklessness Runcorn chose to affect a façade of wealth that did not fool anyone—least of all Ross. He made it his business to track fellows like that, so it was difficult to feel sorry for him.

The final hand was dealt in silence as the onlookers tried to conceal their glee. At best, Runcorn needed thirty points to beat him. Such a feat was possible for a skilled player, with a keen awareness of the game. Unfortunately that was not Runcorn. He lacked both skill and awareness. In fact he lacked any prospect of basic common sense as well, but—as with so many of his ilk—he had no concept of his failings.

Ross decided to lull the hapless earl into a false sense of security. Runcorn won the first two tricks because Ross let him, and lost the third badly because of his own stupidity. In desperation he played his one good card too soon. As a result he won the fourth trick, but had nothing higher than a jack left in his arsenal for the rest of the game.

As Ross held two kings and a queen Runcorn’s defeat was not only inevitable but decisive. His face took on a white, then an increasingly green tinge as Ross’s points rose past the number where he stood even the slightest chance of recouping his losses. When his final card was trumped by the King of Hearts, Runcorn buried his head in his hands as applause broke out around them.

Ross quietly picked up his five thousand, and the folded deeds, and put them safely into his inside pocket. Now would definitely be a prudent time to make a hasty exit.

Quietly, Viscount Denham came up behind him and whispered in barely audible tones, ‘I see your luck continues to hold, Jameson.’

Ross nodded curtly. He had just ruined a man; he did not need to gloat. Nor did he need to spend one more second in Denham’s company that he did not have to. The man made his flesh crawl.

At that moment the Earl of Runcorn lurched to his feet, unaware of the fact that he had knocked his chair over in the process. ‘Well...well played, sir,’ he stammered—out of ingrained politeness rather than respect, Ross assumed—and then he turned to the assembled crowd and inclined his head. ‘If you gentlemen will all excuse me for a minute?’

Ross watched him stumble towards the door and his eyes flicked back towards his friend in unspoken communication. John nodded in understanding and slipped out of the crowd to follow Runcorn. He would know what to do.

‘I wonder, Jameson,’ Denham said silkily, ‘is it the thrill of the game that draws you or is it merely the pleasure of thwarting me that you continually seek?’

The sound of a single shot ringing out prevented Ross from having to answer.

Everybody rushed towards the door that led out to the marbled hallway of the gentlemen’s club. Before he even reached the hallway Ross had a premonition of what he would see, but he followed regardless. John, of course, was already there, and his shocked expression told the onlookers everything they needed to know.

An eerie silence settled over them as they took in the gruesome scene. The alabaster walls of White’s were decorated with violent splatters of Runcorn’s blood, which had already started to trickle in their journey downwards. A growing pool of crimson oozed slowly across the black and white marble floor around the body while the pistol he had used to blow his own brains out was still smoking in the earl’s twitching hand.

Denham turned to Ross with a malicious gleam in his eye. ‘Well, that should certainly give the newspapers something to print tomorrow.’

Chapter One

Just over one year later...

Lady Hannah Steers read the letter again with mounting excitement. If Cook was to be believed then this was finally her chance to set things to rights.

‘What is that dear?’ her Aunt Violet asked, curious to see any sort of letter, such were their rarity.

‘It is a letter from Cook with news from Barchester Hall. That blackguard now intends to move in. Can you believe that?’

‘Oh, dearest, I do wish that you would try to forget about that place,’ said Aunt Beatrice with concern. ‘It is time that you moved on with your life.’

Both her aged aunts were wearing twin expressions of pity, and Hannah felt her irritation rise at their continued lack of understanding. How did they expect her to move on with her life when the single most important part of it had been stolen away? Barchester Hall was all she had left.

‘Aunt Beatrice,’ she stated, with as much patience as she could muster, ‘I cannot move on until I see Ross Jameson swing from a gibbet. In the meantime, somebody has to expose his true character to the world.’

‘Nonsense!’ her aunt replied. ‘He will get his comeuppance—but you are not the person to see that he does. You have five thousand pounds from your father sitting in the bank and you are still young enough to find a husband.’

Ha! As if that was ever going to happen now. After the scandal, no man worth his salt would touch her—regardless of her aunts’ continued optimism. Nor did she want to put all her faith in one man again—any man for that matter. The last few years had taught her that she could function perfectly well on her own.

‘You need to enjoy your life now. All this bitterness towards Mr Jameson is not healthy. In fact we know nothing certain about him at all. Are you even sure that he is as guilty as you believe? No charges were ever brought, after all.’