Page 36 of No Ordinary Lady

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, Wilson is always sticking his nose into how your estate is run, belittling your mother to all and sundry behind her back. Thinks he should have been asked to run the estate in your absence and tries to undermine her confidence.”

“Wilson was a great friend to my father for many years. I’m sure he’s just concerned that I was not here to run the estate myself.”

“He’s not a friend now. Last year, I heard him say he resold grain he bought from this estate for quite a lot more than he paid your mother for it.”

“Profit is good business,” Daniel said slowly, dismayed by what he’d learned today.

“And that was after advising her to sell to him on the cheap because the market was glutted,” he warned. “Gabby tells me your mother’s expression when she heard what he’d done could have frozen Hell over. She quite lost her temper after he was gone.”

“Mother never loses her temper,” he said. “Well, only with me.”

“Well, she did that day, and then carried on as if it hadn’t happened. Welcoming Wilson back to the estate out of misplaced fondness for Amy was a mistake he’ll take advantage of again and again.”

Daniel inhaled. Leaving Mother to run the estate hadn’t seemed problematic from the distance of a few hundred miles. But now, he wondered if he ought to have done so. He did not like to hear that she’d been duped by their neighbor. He’d have to learn more about that, after Kimble had gone. “Would you care for a drink, sir?”

“I’m here to see your granny, remember? Your mother’s message said she had taken another turn.”

“Yes, she fainted. Or seemed to,” Daniel explained.

“It could be merely the thrill of your return. I know how fond of you she is. But if she permits, I’d like to listen to her heart. A friend sent me a new apparatus for that sort of thing.”

“Do you ever miss London?”

“Of course, and perhaps when Gabby is safely married off, I’ll revisit some of our favorite old haunts with you once more. I expect it has changed very much since my time there.”

“It has,” Daniel agreed, “but in other ways, it remains exactly the same.”

“Balls, parties,” Kimble murmured.

“Scandals, mayhem, disorderly conduct,” he answered, laughing. “And that’s just by me.”

“I can’t wait to hear all your news then,” Kimble said. “It’s been much too long since we’ve talked.”

“Most of your old friends have married,” he warned.

“Ah, so that’s why you’ve come home with your tail between your legs.” Kimble laughed. “Did the woman you want turn you down?”

“Yes, but she turned down everyone else too, so I don’t take it personally.” Daniel sighed. “I’m just so tired of it all.”

“Tired of what?”

“Chasing women. Looking and never getting to keep one for long enough,” he drawled. He’d never quite put it that way before, and certainly not to a male acquaintance. But he’d known Kimble all his life. They’d gone to London together, but Kimble had not been keen to stay once he’d been saddled with a ward.

Daniel’s dissatisfaction with his time in London had increased over the years since. Once the excitement of the first few years wore off, the thrill of the chase too, it just never seemed to come back fully. “Perhaps I’m just lonely.”

“We’re all lonely. We can only choose our diversions wisely and hope for the best,” Kimble offered.

“As ever the optimist,” Daniel murmured.

“Pragmatic,” Kimble countered. “Trust in fate and everything will work out in the long run, I’m sure.”

Fate had dropped the most imperfect woman into his lap the night before he’d intended to propose to another more proper lady. He’d a nagging feeling that fate was also laughing at him for desiring the wrong one still. He shook off that feeling. “What of you,” he asked. “Anyone special in your life?”

“In this place?” Kimble laughed. “You must be joking. The most appealing woman I’ve seen in years is that lovely thing sitting beside your grandmother.”

“Her companion,” he reminded Kimble.