“Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me yet,” Mr. Moore said, bringing his gaze back to meet his. “I can’t guarantee that this…” he gestured towards them both, “partnership will even work.”
“Haven’t you worked with Bow Street Runners before?” Greydon asked.
“I have, but this situation is entirely different and, dare I say, awkward.” Mr. Moore walked over to the door and stopped. “Be at your brother’s apartment at dawn.”
Greydon tipped his head. “I will be there.”
“Very good,” Mr. Moore muttered before he departed from the drawing room.
After he heard the main door shut, he went in search of Davy. He saw the faithful butler in the entry hall.
“Ready the coach,” Greydon ordered. “I am going out.”
Davy had just left to do his bidding when his father stepped into the entry hall. “Where are you going?”
“Lady Everton invited me to dine with them this evening,” Greydon revealed.
Disapproval dripped from his father’s tone as he said, “I would prefer if you remained at home and continued going over the accounts.”
“I need a break, Father.”
“And you will get one, when you have earned it.”
Greydon knew that nothing was ever good enough for his father, and he had stopped trying to win his father’s approval years ago. “Goodnight,” he said as he approached the door.
“You can’t run away from your responsibilities,” his father argued.
“I’m not,” Greydon said. “I am going to Lady Everton’s townhouse to dine with her family.”
His father scoffed. “I have heard that their daughter, Lady Enid, has returned home. I do hope you won’t give her any heed.”
“If you must know, I consider Lady Enid a friend.”
“A friend?” his father asked. “Surely you can’t be serious. She is a ruined woman; a thorn in her parents’ sides.”
Greydon opened the door and leaned up against it. “You don’t know what Lady Enid had to endure because of that poor decision.”
“And you do?”
“I know better than most,” Greydon replied, “and I will not hold her past against her.”
“You are a bigger fool than I thought,” his father said. “We have an image that we must maintain.”
“I daresay that Phineas greatly diminished that image with his wayward behavior,” Greydon asserted.
“You now have the ability to change that, but only if you stay far away from Lady Enid and others like her.”
Greydon pushed off the door. “Here is the thing, Father,” he smirked, “I don’t care about my reputation.”
His father harrumphed. “You will bring shame to this family, just as Phineas did.”
“I am nothing like my brother,” Greydon said before he walked out of the townhouse, slamming the main door behind him.
ChapterSix
Enid sat in the drawing room as she attempted to read a book, but it was proving to be an impossible feat. Her mind kept straying to Lord Rushcliffe and how he had agreed to help her, despite his earlier protests.
