He nodded. “But how will you manage when I’m away? Summer break is less than two months.”
“Percy is three-and-twenty, if you recall. He’s been managing his own household for two years, and before that was learning in preparation to manage it. He stops by and helps me. We review whatever paperwork we can before Fred awakes. Then we review the most important items with him at breakfast, before he leaves for his club. And just between us, I’ve had to sign for your father on a few things. Even if he was asked, he would not recall whether he’d signed something or not.” Her eyes shuttered and the grooves around her mouth became more pronounced.
“Mama. I wish you had more things in your life that made you happy.” He’d make it all go away for her if he could. After their initial conversation about expediting his learning, he’d noticed how tired she’d looked. Before, she’d just been mama. Now she was his business partner and his responsibility as much as he was hers.
“My boy,youmake me happy.” Her smile chased the tired look away, at least for a moment. “Knowing you’ll finish university and be ready to take your place in the world thrills me. I see so much strength and compassion in you. You are already a gentleman I am proud of.”
Her words strengthened his resolve to alleviate her burden as much as he could. “Right, then. How can I help?”
Thus began the summer of shadowing his mother and his cousin to safeguard what he could of the earldom and its coffers, while other young men his age learned from their fathers. His father was lucky he was not around much. Once William saw the shambles of the family ledgers due to mismanagement and poor investment, his ever-growing anger might have gotten the better of him.
This morning, his mother’s question about who they’d met brought back his Plum Lady in a rush. He needed to find time to discover her name and station.
“William? Are you quite all right?”
Coming back to the present with a start, he shook his head. “Sorry, Mama. Did you ask me something?”
“Did you meet the Earl of Peterborough?”
“I do not believe so.” He ran through the names and faces to whom his cousin had introduced him. “Shall I send him a note asking if he’d be willing to meet me at White’s one morning?”
“That should work.” She nodded. “As I mentioned, I have heard his politics align with ours, despite Peterborough having quite different industries up north. But tread carefully. Consider taking Percy, as he has more experience in these matters.”
As usual, his mother’s request came more like a demand. He was accustomed to it, and did not mind. She was more intelligent than many of the men he knew and was juggling her role as a countess with having to be Merlin to his father’s sotted King Arthur. William’s strength of character came from her. Stifling a sneer for his father’s weakness, he wrote the requested note, specifying morning to avoid his father as the man rarely rose before noon, and William avoided interactions with him as much as possible. When Percy arrived, he’d bring up the subject of the gorgeous mystery woman.
* * * *
Percy hadn’t known who Plum Lady was, either. Frustrated, William sped through his work and granted himself a reprieve to spend time with his two closest friends. He’d met South and Nate at boarding school.
The day was gray but dry as he strolled the few blocks to Luke Lynwood’s family townhome, also in Mayfair. Luke—or South, as they’d dubbed him in opposition to the title he’d one day inherit—was heir to the Earl of Northumberland. From South’s, they grabbed a hack to get to Nate’s forge.
Nathaniel Follett neither lived nor worked in Mayfair. Nate had not been a student; rather he’d been the son of the other boys’ housemaster.
The students surmised that he’d know how to have the most fun in the area, as well as how to circumvent house rules and not get caught. The three quickly grew close. William helped Nate with his last years of studies before apprenticing to learn a trade, and Nate helped them “borrow” boats to row on the town’s lake, among other activities to expend some of their youthful energy.
The unlikely trio had been separated the past two winters with William and South attending Oxford, while Nate journeyed to London to pursue an apprenticeship as a blacksmith. Now South was in London for a fortnight before his father planned to adjourn the family to their country seat, giving the three a limited time to reunite.
While the other two had been at university, Nate had formed a partnership with Robert and Beth Orford to make leather and metal accessories for sexual play. The income from that allowed him to need only one year of apprenticeship before saving enough to open his own shop. The smith Nate apprenticed with had used a play on his last name and his hobby—crafting intricate items like nipple screws—and dubbed him Folly. Despite his teasing, he’d been very supportive of Nate’s growth, introducing him to the Orfords and helping him strike out on his own.
The smithy was located in Soho, located just to the east of Mayfair. The neighborhood included a mix of businesses, immigrants, and working class folks who lived above their storefronts, as Nate did. Aristocratic visitors were infrequent but not unheard of, given the goods and services offered there.
Clambering down and paying the hack driver, they strolled in to find Nate hunched over the fire with the smallest tongs in his hand, droplets of sweat sizzling as they hit the flames.
“Oh-ho, it seems Folly’s finished his real work for the day and is making more toys,” South mock-whispered to William.
“My hands are full, but please consider yourselves gestured at rudely,” muttered Nate. “I am nearly done.”
“Will you show us the piece if we wait quietly?”
“Not a chance in hell you’ll succeed at that, so no.”
William snickered, and promptly received an elbow jab to the ribs.
“Hey, now.” South faked outrage, but strolled around patiently.
“Don’t—”
“I know, I know. Don’t touch anything.” South finished Nate’s oft-spoken warning.
