He was right, though, wasn’t he? Henry would never make any progress at all with Eleanor unless he tried to win her good opinion. And even then, what did he think was going to happen?Were they going to spend months or even years dancing around each other at the Fairfax offices, until Henry’s chance at earning his inheritance was gone, and Eleanor was an old maid without any real inclination towards marrying?
Groaning, Henry buried his face in his hands. He was vaguely aware of movement, of fabric crumbling as somebody sat opposite. He didn’t hear theclickof glasses being placed on the table and wondered whether Percy had given up on pushing through the crowd to get to the bar. He removed his hands to say as much and sucked in a breath of surprise.
It wasn’t Percy. It was Mr Richard Grenville.
“You,” he spluttered impolitely.
“I,” Mr Richard responded, grinning like a cat sighting a sleeping mouse. “Fancy seeing you here.”
“Not particularly. We are both members of this club.”
“Indeed, indeed. I heard that your business arrangement with the Fairfaxes was finalized, eh? A bad business, I’m afraid, a bad business.”
Henry bristled. “Why is it a bad business?”
“Ahh, sounds like you haven’t done your research, my man, as I told you! Not to worry, though, I’ll set you straight.”
“Oh, good,” Henry said sourly.
“Now, my group and I are prepared to make you a remarkable offer. We’ll help you extricate yourself from the redoubtable Fairfaxes – no easy feat, but I can manage it – and you can enter into business with us. Let me assure you, it’ll be nice to have a man at the helm, ha-ha!”
Henry didn’t smile. “And why would I do that, Mr Grenville?”
“What, aside from…”
“Yes, yes, aside from having a man – you, I assume –at the helm. What are you implying?”
Richard heaved a tired sigh, leaning close confidentially. At a glance, a stranger would think they were two old friends, enjoying a chat.
For some reason, that made Henry angrier than ever.
“Miss Fairfax is a strange little bird, to be sure,” Richard mused, tapping his chin with one tobacco-stained finger. “She always has been. Her older sister wasn’t as pretty as she, opinion had it, but she was more sensible – secured herself a decent littledoctor as a husband, popped out a few children. She’s safe, now. But Miss Fairfax has some odd ideas, you know. Wants to run the family business, can you credit it? And her father, for some odd reason or another, allows it. Hilarious, really. I can’t imaginemyfather allowing my sisters any say in our financial doings, and rightly so, eh?”
“What a charming man he must have been,” Henry remarked, infusing plenty of frost into his voice.
Either Richard was too drunk to notice, or too stupid, or perhaps just too overconfident, because he kept going, speaking expansively with lots of gestures.
“If the girl was a mite less odd, some merchant or farmer would no doubt come along to take her off the old man’s hands, I’m sure. Her sister’s husband, that doctor, is far too soft in my opinion. He ought to have knocked some sense into her, since her father isn’t willing to do it.”
There was a brief silence. Well, as silent as anything could be in a busy, bustling club such as Barrett’s.
“When you say,knock some sense into her…?” Henry enquired; his voice sharp as a knife.
Richard still did not get it. He only shrugged his shoulders, grimacing.
“Well, you know what I mean.”
“I’m sure I don’t.”
“Us gentlemen have to manage our womenfolk, ha-ha. My mother was kept in line by my father, and so on up and down the line it goes. Fairly straightforward, when you get down to it.”
“Indeed.”
Henry’s hands were clenched tight into fists by his side. He concentrated on breathing deeply and not smashing Lord Richard’s face down into the table.
Thatwould almost certainly get his membership revoked. He’d have to go back to White’s, or else ask William to intercede for him. Again. That would be too humiliating for words.
“So, what do you say, then?” Lord Richard asked, a wide smile on his stupid face. “Are you going to abandon the mad old man and his trollop daughter, and join a decently manned sailing ship?”
