Greydon glanced over at his friend. “No, but Lady Enid does and I shouldn’t discount her feelings so easily.”
“Interesting,” Brentwood muttered. “I do believe I said something similar to you.”
“Perhaps, but I tend to discount most of what you say.”
Brentwood chuckled.
They arrived at the main door and the butler opened it. As he stepped outside, Brentwood’s voice stopped him.
“Don’t wait too long.”
“For what?” Greydon asked.
Brentwood looked amused by his response. “If you don’t know, I am not going to tell you. You will just have to work it out on your own.”
Greydon looked heavenward. “As usual, our conversations are a mixture of vexing and not at all informative.”
“I shall see you tonight,” Brentwood said.
As Greydon walked towards his coach, he shook his head. His friend was infuriating with his so-called advice. What was he not supposed to wait for?
An image of Lady Enid came to his mind and that brought a smile to his lips. She was the best thing that he had never planned. But that didn’t mean he would act on his feelings. He was much too sensible of a man to fall for a woman that he could fall in love with.
Love was a weakness and had no place in a marriage. That useless emotion could bring a man to his knees and he didn’t need- or want- that in his life. It didn’t matter that Lady Enid’s smile, her beautiful smile, dared him to fall in love with her.
Greydon stared at the books that were in front of him as he tried to become familiar with their accounts. He had been reviewing them for what seemed like hours and he was growing tired. His father wanted him to start managing their estates while he immersed himself in politics. But he had no interest in running an estate. He wanted to solve crimes, not sit behind a desk.
He was not his brother, but his father didn’t seem to notice- or care. Greydon rubbed his eyes as he leaned back in his chair. This is not the life that he envisioned he would have. He didn’t want this life; he wanted to keep things the way they were. He wanted the freedom to come and go as he pleased, answering to no one but himself.
He felt trapped in his new life and he saw no way out of it.
His father stepped into his study with a drink in his hand. “Are you taking a break?” he asked.
Greydon used his hand to massage the ache in the back of his neck that came from being hunched over the desk. “I don’t know how you can sit here, day in and day out, working on the accounts.”
“It is what a man of my position does. It is a great responsibility.” His father shifted in his stance. “You would know that if you were around more.”
“Do you ever tire of doing what is expected of you?”
Shaking his head, his father frowned a bit. “You may not have been born into this life, but you inherited it when Phineas died. Most people would envy you.”
“I know, and I do not mean to sound ungrateful, but I don’t want this,” he said, waving his hand over the books.
“Then what would happen to the hundreds of people that we employ?” his father demanded. “They would all be turned out and forced to seek other employment.”
Greydon pushed back his chair and rose. “Perhaps we could hire a man of business to handle our accounts.”
His father’s frown deepened. “We do have a man of business- a Mr. Bingham. He is quite competent, but you still need to be acquainted with our accounts.”
“I don’t want to do this, Father,” Greydon said.
“But you must!”
Greydon walked over to the window and sighed. His father was stubborn, but he wasn’t wrong- at least in this instance. Someone needed to ensure all the people that they employed were taken care of and their estates continued to thrive. They needed a leader, someone to put their trust in. Could he be that man?
It was entirely too complicated, all of it, and for the millionth time, he mentally cursed his dead brother for not being here. Which wasn’t fair of him. Phineas was murdered. It wasn’t as if he freely walked away from this life. But that didn’t stop him from grumbling.
His father walked over to the desk and began to organize the books. “You can complain all you want but, in the end, you will do your duty. Lives are dependent on you, Son.”
