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“I have a proposal for you, Lord Guildford,” he began. “But before I begin, I want you to know that this is not influenced by Elizabeth or Johnathan Myers.” Rhys felt his brows knit at the mention of Johnathan Myers. It was not about marriage. He nodded for Winston to continue.
“There is a young boxing talent who goes by the name of Edwin Sanders. I have given him my support, but he requires the support of a man like you to truly succeed.”
Rhys recalled Myers mentioning the young man in one of his reports, but he did not have any plans to back young fighters until William the Hammer earned his sixth Championship which promised great gain for Rhys. But those gains were now uncertain with William being followed and threatened with messages from an anonymous source.
Another reason why he rarely supported younger fighters was because of an unfortunate incident years ago with a man named Abraham Faraday. He selected his fighters very carefully. However, Lord Winston was known to make good business decisions, and Rhys was sure he would not have brought this proposal to him if he was not confident in Edwin Sanders.
“Will Sanders be willing to meet me tomorrow after William the Hammer’s fight?” he asked.
“Yes,” Lord Winston replied. “I plan on attending the fight myself.”
“Will he be willing to enter the boxing ring with me?” Rhys asked. He assessed fighters himself and occasionally sparred with William.
“Yes.” Winston smiled. “He will present himself for your assessment and approval.”
“Then I look forward to meeting him tomorrow, Lord Winston.”
Winston grinned. “Elizabeth would be very pleased to hear this. She advocates for the support of young fighters by gentlemen with your kind of influence.” He smiled sheepishly. “She is not like other ladies, my Elizabeth. Her interests are very peculiar.”
“I understand.” Rhys was surprised by Winston’s respect for his daughter’s interests. Society did not accept women like her. It was the reason she was still unmarried. It was why he would never consider marrying her. He had very specific requirements that his Marchioness had to meet. Otherwise, he would have dealt with his need by offering to marry her.
“She has no intention to marry,” Winston continued.
“Why?” Rhys asked, leaning forward in his seat with curiosity.
“Well—” Winston shrugged and smiled wistfully. Rhys waited for him to continue, and when he did not, Rhys concluded that she had either lost hope, or there was something else that Winston had suddenly decided against sharing.
“Forgive me for bothering you with the subject of my daughter,” Winston said.
“Think nothing of it, My Lord,” Rhys said, understanding him. The man was worried about his daughter.
“I am sure you have other matters to attend to, and I thank you for agreeing to meet Sanders.” He rose, and Rhys followed.
Rhys returned to the drawing room to bid the ladies a good day and reassure Elizabeth that he would return Brutus to her, but he found only Lady Irene and her mother there.
“Would you like to stay for tea?” Lady Winston asked him cheerfully.
“I fear that I must decline, for I have somewhere that I must be. Perhaps another time.”
“Tomorrow then?” she asked.
“I shall try,” he said with great patience. “Please tell Lady Elizabeth that I will return Brutus to her.”
“I shall tell her,” Lady Irene answered.
He inclined his head and smiled. “I bid you all a good day.” He left for his offices in Westminster Hall, a very strange feeling stirring inside him.
* * *
Four hours later, Rhys was reading some documents in the House of Lords when a knock sounded. His cousin entered before he could respond.
“I knew I would find you here,” Mayton said, coming to sit in front of his desk. “How was the opera?”
“It was pleasant,” Rhys returned. “How was your time with Lady Elizabeth and her father?”
Mayton’s expression brightened, and he leaned forward. “When I heard people call her the bluestocking spinster, I thought she would bore me with talks of science and world history, but the vibrant woman I became acquainted with is beyond anything I imagined. Now I wish I had asked her to dance with me at all the events where I had seen her.”
“You could not ask her to dance with you without an introduction.” Rhys sounded like a peevish stickler for propriety as he said that.
