Come Near Me by Kasey Michaels

the fool, you know, when you’re trying not to look
at some old lady’s bosoms. It was a rare Johnny Raw I felt,
agreeing to play against her when everyone else all but fell over
themselves making excuses as to why they couldn’t sit down with
her.”
    “That’s my aunt, Mr. Laughlin. Rich beyond
anyone’s dream, and yet still so greedy as to cheat at cards. Yet,
even greed can be amusing, don’t you think?”
    “Funny as can be,” Chollie agreed, “when Lady
Greedy-guts is sitting across from anyone but me.” Then he
grinned, his manner becoming even more relaxed as Burnell returned
his smile. “Are you in town for long, Mr. Burnell? I usually go
about with Adam, here; but he’s got himself a wife now, so I’d be
pleased of the company if you’d thought to drop by, say, Covent
Garden this evening?”
    “It’s Edmund, please, Mr. Laughlin,” Burnell
said, grabbing onto Alice as she approached the table to gather up
the mugs once more, pilling her down into his lap. The barmaid
giggled as he gave her a kiss on the cheek even as his arm came
around her waist, his hand provocatively close to her ample
breasts. “Covent Garden, you say? That sounds like a fine plan, if
several hours in the future. But,” he continued, walking his
fingers up and over Alice’s low-cut blouse, finding the strings
that held it shut, “I imagine I can find some way to amuse myself
in the interim.”
    “’Ere, now,” Alice protested, giggling as she
slapped Burnell’s hand away. “That costs extra, that does,” she
warned, halfheartedly pulling herself free of his grasp. “Coo, but
yer a pretty one, ain’t yer?” She ran a hand down the center of his
chest, opening her mouth in a small “o” of appreciation and then
running the tip of her tongue around her lips. Free for yer, ducks.
Jist give me a moment, awright?”
    All three men watched the barmaid walk away,
her swaying hips an open invitation. “No woman can resist me,”
Burnell said, apologetically spreading his arms. “It’s because I’m
so damnably pretty, I believe. Some might call it a curse.”
    “I doubt you do, Edmund,” Chollie
said, his own gaze appreciatively following Alice’s retreat to the
small serving bar in the corner. “You’re a man after m’own heart,
don’t you know, and probably very handy to have around, drawing the
females to you as you say. I like that, truly I do.”
    “Yes, Chollie, I’d somehow sensed that,”
Burnell said amicably, almost intimately, as he crossed his legs
comfortably and leaned back in his chair. “Daventry? I don’t
suppose you’d want to join Chollie and me as we go off tonight to
Covent Garden. I hope to sink ourselves into the depths of
depravity—or at least to sink deep into someone ?”
    “Adam?” Chollie said incredulously. “With his
lovely bride at home, waiting for him? You said you went driving
with the marchioness today, Edmund. Surely you didn’t spend all
your time minding the horses. You looked at the woman,
talked to her? Why, and it’s lucky I feel to have the lovesick boyo
show up here today to drink with his old friend, that’s how little
he likes being away from her side. Isn’t that right, Adam?”
    Damn Chollie for heading straight back to the
conversation he’d tried so hard to leave before Edmund had shown up
at the Oxford Arms. “Don’t be indelicate, Chollie,” he said
warningly, feeling Burnell’s interested gaze on him. “Besides, I
was never one for Covent Garden dancers or warblers, if you’ll
remember.”
    “Never one for—” Chollie began incredulously,
then broke off, clearing his throat. “No, no, of course not. So we
won’t be seeing you, then?”
    “No, Chollie,” Adam said firmly, “you won’t
be seeing me. But you two go along, and try not to catch anything,
all right?”
    “But we will have dinner together first,
won’t we?” Burnell asked. “I had so wanted to continue our talk on
the pitfalls of ambition, remember?” He turned to