The Fortune Hunter

by Jo Ann Ferguson

  Begone, she shouted silently. I cannot afford to think of you now when I must think of Cole. At least, Cole asked for something that wasn’t impossible to give. No, another part of her mind answered. What Hamilton wanted would be so very, very easy for her to offer him if he had asked in the carriage on the way back from the interview with Mrs. Ehrlich. Far too easy, she owned. Mayhap it was better that he had not returned, for she feared her longings to be in his arms could betray her.

  “Miss Dufresne?”

  Mr. Crimmins’s impatient voice pulled her back to the problem in front of her. Coolly she said, “You have spoken of the need for our household to become self-supporting. Why are you becoming an addle-plot when we stand on the threshold of achieving that very independence?”

  “Your mother’s bequest was specific. You would be given a set allowance out of the money Mrs. Pilcher left for you each quarter until it was gone.”

  And then we will have nothing, she thought grimly. Although her stepfather had been as determined to make a fortune as Cole was, he never had made a single effort to do anything but spend her mother’s money.

  “Mr. Crimmins,” she asked, wondering what other argument she could devise to convince the solicitor, “I would think you might see it wise to invest our money now, so that we might have something to live upon after Cole’s birthday.”

  “I cannot change the legacy of your loving father and mother.”

  Nerissa tried to keep her lips from straightening with loathing. “Loving father” was the last description she would have used for Albert Pilcher. The bruises he had left on her during the few years he lived at Hill’s End had been more painful than the ones she suffered when she met Hamilton. Reminding herself that it did no good to lambaste the dead, she raised her gaze to meet Mr. Crimmins’s colorless eyes.

  “Sir, I implore you to reconsider. This proposition is of utmost importance to my brother.”

  “I am sorry, Miss Dufresne. Even if I thought it was in your best interests to advance you the money—and I speculate that further study into the matter would prove that your plans are unwise—I cannot do as you wish.”

  Recognizing the finality in his words, Nerissa rose. There was but one more venue to get money for Cole. She did not want to ask the question, but she had no choice. “Have you heard anything from the agent who has Hill’s End under the hammer?”

  “There has been a query by an interested party. When or if, for I must be honest that it is no more than a query at this point, something becomes more defined, you may be certain that I shall send you such tidings immediately. I collect the price we discussed remains the same.”

  “We need to have it sold.” Her voice almost broke.

  “Shall we say ten thousand pounds less then?”

  She nodded, for she could not speak the words that were sure to ensure the rapid sale of her beloved home. She bid Mr. Crimmins a good day and walked out of his office. She did not acknowledge his secretary, because she did not want him to see the tears that burned in her eyes. As she hurried down the stairs to the street door, she wondered how she could tell Cole that her last hope to help him had failed. If Mr. Crimmins had agreed to advance but fifty guineas to match the fifty she had, she could have …

  Nerissa laughed suddenly as she came out into the watery sunshine. A hundred guineas could have provided for both of them, but, if her brother was careful with those limited funds, fifty guineas would get Cole to London and enable him to meet with prospective backers. She must send him alone. It was not the perfect solution, but it was a solution.

  Her smile disappeared as quickly as the sun behind the clouds that were the steely grey of Hamilton’s eyes. She blinked back the hot tears. If only she could bridge the differences between her and the stubborn viscount as easily, but she feared that was impossible.

  The modiste’s shop was nearly deserted when Nerissa entered. Madame DeLeff did not pause in her explanation of the fashion plates that she was showing Annis to greet Nerissa. Nor did Nerissa expect her to leave one of her best customers to speak to her. She had not ordered a new gown since her arrival in Bath.

  As soon as the modiste went into the back to gather samples, Annis smiled a greeting. “I was beginning to wonder if you had forgotten that we were meeting here today.”

  “I had to make a few other stops,” she hedged, not wanting to reveal the truth of their dire financial predicament to Annis. There was no need to down pin her friend, especially now that she had found a way to help Cole. “Annis, I must ask you a favor.”

  “Anything.” Crossing her hands over her breast, she said, “I owe you so much for helping Hamilton convince Mama to let Philip call.”

  “I did nothing.”

  “That is not what Philip says.” Her voice dropped to a whisper. “He says if you had not been there, Hamilton would have most certainly put Mama into a pelter. Then there would have been no changing her mind.”

  Nerissa fingered the thick pages of the book of fashion plates. Speaking of Hamilton made her uneasy. “Annis, please listen and only then tell me if you can do me this favor. Cole needs to go to London.”

  Her nose wrinkled. “Good! We will be well rid of his dour face.”

  “He is my stepbrother,” she chided gently.

  “That does not mean I have to like him. If you did not have the disposition of an angel, Nerissa, you would have seen long ago that he twists whatever he wants out of you.”

  “Cole?”

  Sitting on a bench by the window overlooking the street, Annis shook her head. “Dear Nerissa, you are so blind to him. Because you care so much for family, you cannot see that he thinks only of himself.”

  “And his project.”

  “Which will never come to anything.”

  Nerissa dropped next to her friend. “But it will! He has finished the initial design. Now he must go to find backers to begin the work. That is why I must ask you a favor.”

  “I shall not sink a farthing into it!”

  Again she was shocked by the acrimony in her friend’s voice. “Annis, I would not ask such a thing of you. Please listen to me. Cole is going to London, but I shall stay in Bath. However, he is hesitant about me staying here alone. Do you think your mother would allow you to stay with me while he is gone?”

  Her friend’s dark eyes lit with excitement. “Stay with you? Oh, Nerissa, that would be grand! Janelle has set her cap on Mr. Oakley, and—”

  “She has finally decided to marry Mr. Oakley?” Nerissa smiled. “I will own, but only to you, that I find him disgustingly high in the instep for such a boor.”

  “I agree.” Annis’s dimples deepened. “Now Mama can talk only of the preparations for Janelle’s betrothal and wedding. I fear I shall go quite mad with all of it buzzing about my head.”

  “When you wish it was yours?”

  “I hope it will be one day soon.” Taking Nerissa’s hands in hers, she said, “Oh, this shall be the grandest thing we could do. Think what fun we shall have chatting the night away and having our at homes together.” She rose and clapped her hands. “And Philip may call with Hamilton to take us about Bath. It shall be grand.”

  “Do not make any plans that include Hamilton and me.”

  Annis dismissed Nerissa’s words with a wave of her hand. “I know you two have quarrelled, but you must put it behind you.”

  “I don’t think Hamilton wishes that.”

  “Philip is distressed. You worked so hard to help persuade Mama, and it seems unfair that now you are away from Hamilton.”

  Nerissa shook her head. “He was the one who left so rudely. I offered him friendship, and he refused it.”

  “Friendship? Can’t you see that the man has a tendre for you?”

  “Hamilton has no interest in dangling after any woman.”

  Annis stood and paced the room. “That is odd, for Philip thought you would be the one to help his brother get over his distaste of women.”

  “Distaste?” She laughed without humor
. “Weren’t you the one warning me, Annis, that Hamilton has a great deal of interest in the company of women of all sorts?”

  “Mayhap distaste was not the correct word.” She toyed with a bolt of lace next to the book of fashion plates. Her usual smile was gone, replaced by an intensity that Nerissa had seldom seen on her face. “Philip told me all about how Hamilton was so badly hurt by that Howe woman. She welcomed him in her bed, let him set her up in his house in Town, and then cuckolded him openly when he was away on business. He dares trust no other woman.”

  “I have seen that.” Nerissa rose and walked to the far side of the cozy room. This explained so much of what had happened since she had met Hamilton. His eagerness to lure her into his arms while keeping her away from any other part of his life had come about because he guessed her to be the same as this woman who had hurt him so badly.

  “You must help him realize that he has been mistaken, Nerissa.”

  “But how?”

  Annis smiled sadly. “That is something only you can know. Look into your heart, and then I pray that you will find the answer before it is too late.”

  Chapter Ten

  Nerissa smiled as she rapped on her brother’s book-room door. When she heard the muted and disgruntled command to enter, she opened the door.

  As she had expected, Cole was bending over a book, his finger tracing the words with his nose less than an inch from the page. Her single suggestion that he might consider eyeglasses to help him with his surfeit of reading had brought her a quick retort of denial. She suspected he did not want to wear blinkers and be teased as a glass-eyes.

  He did not pause in his perusal until she lifted his finger from the page. Turning his hand over, she pressed the coins into his palm.

  When Cole looked up at her, his eyes widening with amazement, she said, “Now you can go to London, Cole. This should be enough for you to travel and find a cheap place to live as long as you keep from high-eating. If you need me with you in Town, I shall follow when I can.”

  “I shall be able to manage alone.” He dropped the money on top of his book and counted it with the eagerness of a gripe-penny. Without pausing, he added, “Of course, I shall take Hadfield with me. I must present a good image, and a man of any quality has his valet in attendance.”

  “Of course, you must take him.” Nerissa made no effort to hide her happiness. Being rid of the intolerable butler would be well worth the loss of the fifty guineas.

  “And what will you do?”

  His sharp question startled her. As he stood, secreting the coins in a pocket beneath his rumpled, black coat, she answered, “I have asked Annis to stay with me.”

  “Annis Ehrlich?” His long nose wrinkled in revulsion. “I don’t like the idea of that gabble grinder in my house.”

  “You will be leaving before she arrives.”

  “Just be certain she is out before I return.”

  Nerissa bit her lip to silence her retort. If the truth was known, this house should be hers. Her mother had inherited it from a distant aunt, but Albert Pilcher had laid claim to it as he had to everything else, save for Hill’s End, which Nerissa’s father had been wise enough to bequeath directly to his daughter.

  “When is the Mail leaving for London?” Cole asked.

  She told him the information she had gathered while out on her errands. “You have a few hours to pack.”

  “Let Hadfield know that I will need him to pack for me.”

  “Cole, I need to—”

  “And please send a note to the parents of my students informing that classes are in recess until such time as I return.” He pulled a coin from his pocket and tossed it into the air. Catching it gleefully, he added, “With good fortune continuing to smile on me, I shall be done with tutoring the cherubims forever!”

  “I really have no time to write—”

  He whirled to face her. His voice took on a peevish tone as he snapped, “I must hurry to be ready in time to catch the Mail. I would think you could do something to help.”

  Nerissa stared at him in disbelief, unable to say anything but, “Of course, I want to help you, Cole.”

  “I know you do.” He came around the table, his smile returning. “You have been a great help up until now. It was wrong for Papa to refuse to allow you to come here while he was alive.”

  Nerissa was glad her brother had turned to scoop up his papers and did not see the dismay on her face. Although there had been no affection between her and her stepfather, she had not guessed Albert Pilcher would be so vulgar as to deny his orphaned stepdaughter a place under his roof. Yet it was no surprise.

  In the aftermath of her mother’s death, Mr. Pilcher had not so much as bothered to come to the funeral. Instead he had sent a terse note with hypocritical words of grief, showing he was more concerned with the state of his late wife’s estate than her death. More than she had been at the time, Nerissa was glad now that her stepfather had stayed away. Although her mother had never said a word against her second husband, Nerissa was sure that Mr. Pilcher had married the widowed Mrs. Dufresne only for the money he had guessed her husband had left her. Finding there was little, he had deserted his wife and stepdaughter and vanished for more than fifteen years.

  “Now I must go and ready myself to go to London!” He patted his pocket. “Soon I shall be able to pay you back the fifty pounds with such interest that you will be able to buy dozens of new hats. You will not need to depend on Windham’s charity.”

  “Hamilton was only—”

  “I know what he is trying.” As if the subject was boring, he changed it abruptly. “Do have Mrs. Carroll see that my extra cravats are pressed neatly before they are packed, Nerissa.”

  Before she could remind him that she would find it impossible to do half of what he had requested in the short time before he was leaving, she saw Hadfield in the doorway. The butler’s expression of disapproval became disgust when Cole rushed to him and told the butler how Nerissa had made it possible for them to go to London.

  “The house must be properly closed before we leave,” Hadfield said in his coldest voice as he stared at Nerissa.

  She watched his lips curl into a smile as Cole answered, “Nerissa is remaining to watch over the house. You and I shall handle the work in London as we have here, Hadfield. I suspect you, too, shall be glad to see Town again.”

  “Very glad, Mr. Pilcher.” He shot Nerissa a triumphant look, but she simply regarded him in silence. His smile wavered when she did not react.

  Nerissa was more glad than ever that the hateful man was leaving Bath with Cole. Otherwise, the worthless butler would try to make trouble for her—more trouble than he usually did.

  “What is it, Hadfield?” Cole asked sharply when the butler did not obey his order to follow him out of the book room.

  The older man appeared surprised that his beloved master would use such a tone with him, but he glowered at Nerissa. She guessed he blamed her for turning Cole against him. Although she was tempted to smile, she did not. She would prove her garret was empty if she did something so idiotic, because the majordomo would become even more intolerable upon his return from London.

  “A message, Mr. Pilcher.”

  Holding out his hand, Cole ordered, “Give it over. It might be important.”

  “It is not for you, sir.” Stiffly, he ordered it to Nerissa. “For you, miss.”

  She took the note he held out with such disdain. Ignoring the butler as Hadfield walked from the room, she gasped when she saw the return address on the envelope. Queen Square!

  “What is it?” Cole asked.

  “Nothing important.” Guilt pinched her, but she did not want to share her uneasiness with Cole when he was so anxious about the trip and the days ahead of him. “Go, and make your arrangements. The Mail will be leaving sooner than you might think.”

  Her warning was enough to propel him up the stairs at uncommon speed. Sitting in the closest, uncluttered chair, she sighed. She had not wanted Cole lurk
ing nearby while she perused this unexpected letter. He had aimed too many demure hits at Hamilton already, and she wished to hear no more.

  She opened the letter and read,

  Dear Nerissa,

  I am pleased that you agreed for Philip and me to call for you tomorrow afternoon to take you to the Pump Room.

  Astonishment swept over her. She had agreed to no such invitation nor had Annis mentioned it, and certainly her friend could not have disguised her delight if she had known of it. What was Hamilton’s intention now? She had hoped that this letter would contain an apology or an explanation, but she should have known better.

  The last line of the letter only told her that the carriage would arrive for her at exactly one o’clock. It was signed with Hamilton’s boldly scrawling signature. She lowered the letter to her lap.

  She could hope this was his way of apologizing, but she did not dare to assume anything. She was even less sure of her own feelings. She longed to see Hamilton again, to delight in his touch, to be thrilled by his fiery kisses, but …

  She rose and folded the letter. First she must see that Cole found a seat on the London-bound Mail. Then she must help Annis get settled here. Only then would she decide what she would do about this astonishing invitation.

  Everything worked out as Nerissa had hoped with Annis. Not only was Mrs. Ehrlich delighted to grant permission for her youngest daughter to stay with Nerissa, she went on at more length than usual about the wonders of having the brother of a viscount interested in her dear Annis. Was Janelle listening? Hadn’t Mama told her that all her daughters could marry well if they simply had patience?

  Leaving Mrs. Ehrlich lambasting Mr. Oakley’s name—although she had been thrilled with his attention to Janelle only that morning—Nerissa went with Annis to help her decide what should be brought to Laura Place.

  Annis’s bedchamber was twice the size of Nerissa’s room on Laura Place. Decorated in sedate golds and blues, it was perfectly suited to her friend. Sweeps of frothy material covered every table and draped from the tester bed. The windows were lost behind a sheathing of elegant lace that had yellowed to a warm color. Beneath Nerissa’s feet, the thick rug threatened to swallow her thin slippers.