“Lord Henry does not want to waste his time with that.”
“Actually, I do,” Henry said apologetically. “Miss Fairfax, may I…?”
She wordlessly held out the papers to him, whisking back her hand as soon as he took it so that their fingers did not touch.
She does not like me,he thought grimly.Not a good start.
Mr. Fairfax glanced nervously between his guest and his daughter.
“Eleanor, do step aside with me for a moment. Excuse us, Lord Henry,” Mr. Fairfax said, his voice trembling a little.
Henry inclined his head. The older man drew his daughter away a few steps, and began to hiss sibilantly at her, quite loud enough for Henry to hear, no matter how pointedly he cleared his throat.
“Eleanor, do you know how much this gentleman plans to invest? His involvement could turn the business about! If you offend him…”
“Have a care, Papa, he can hear!”
“Mind your tongue, that’s all, my girl.”
When they turned back to face Henry, Miss Fairfax’s face was flushed, and Mr. Fairfax looked wearier than ever. Henry smiled, not showing any teeth, and tried to pretend that he hadn’t heard any of that.
“Shall we proceed with the tour, Lord Henry?” Mr. Fairfax said brightly.
Anything was better than standing in the foyer under Miss Fairfax’s baleful, unblinking eye, so Henry agreed enthusiastically.
He should have known better. Of course, Miss Fairfax came with them.
The warehouse behind the offices contained a good selection of the inventory, as well as the kilns and other apparatus. A great number of the workers were there, stepping aside from their work to bow or curtsey as Mr. Fairfax, his daughter, and his guest came by.
Henry couldn’t help but notice that Miss Fairfax greeted most of the workers by name, occasionally murmuring a few lines of conversation to one or the other, and they all smiled at her as she went by.
Mr. Fairfax, on the other hand, was visibly flagging. He was out of breath before they were halfway across the warehouse floor, and at one point, he seemed to forget entirely about a whole section of their new items, the ones that were just beginning to be sold. Miss Fairfax, of course, was there to step in, smoothly continuing what her father was saying. If Henry had been less experienced in the matters of business, he might have thought it was planned that way, and nothing to do with Mr. Fairfax forgetting things, and his watchful daughter stepping in to save his embarrassment.
Henry was nothing if not a gentleman, so he pretended to be convinced, nodding politely, even when Mr. Fairfax repeated himself, more than once. Even when he pointed out the obvious, and got the numbers wrong, and had to have his poor daughter whisper the correct thing in his ear. Occasionally, he shrugged her off angrily, or made a sharp comment, then the poor girl’s face flushed bright red – the curse of all red-heads, Henry thought – and she was obliged to step back, and Henry pretended again not to notice.
It was a relief when they passed out of the warehouse and went back up into the offices. Mr. Fairfax struggled on the stairs, panting for breath, but glared at his daughter when she quietly offered him her arm.
“Go on ahead of me,” he said at one point, leaning on the stair railing and gasping. “I’ll just have a word with one of the workers down here. Give Lord Henry some tea, Eleanor.”
It was clearly a ploy, one designed to let Mr. Fairfax take a break to catch his breath, but Henry politely bowed and carried on up the stairs.
Miss Fairfax wavered for a minute, then after some urgent whispering between them, followed Henry, face like thunder.
“I’ve rung for tea,” she said shortly, sailing past him into a medium-sized office, packed with books and papers. Ink and blank paper were set out by the empty chair, and the opposite chair was clearly never used, judging by the pile of books on it.
“Your father doesn’t have many visitors, does he?” Henry remarked, eyeing the book-laden chair.
Miss Fairfax glared at him, and Henry deduced that he’d once again said the wrong thing.
“This is not my father’s office. It is mine.”
“Yours?” Henry echoed, unable to keep the surprise from his voice.
The girl visibly bristled. “Yes, mine, Lord Henry. I daresay you’re shocked at the idea of a woman being able to handle matters of business, not to mention numbers and accounts.”
He recovered quickly. “Not at all, Miss Fairfax. I have a sister who is remarkably intelligent. More intelligent than me, I’d say.”
“Then perhaps I ought to be doing business with her.”
