by Aileen Fish
“How terrible for me that apparently that’s a field an intelligent man couldn’t hope to learn.”
She frowned at his sarcasm. “It is also well known that you detest social interaction. El- Miss Jarvis requires society and entertainment.”
John shrugged. “She would have free reign over our social calendar and I would attend whatever she wished.” He noticed that Lady Lassiter nearly called Elisa by her first name, and it softened him somewhat. She was, for all her draconian attitude, just trying to protect a girl she cared a great deal about. In that way they should be allies. “Perhaps you could help me, Lady Lassiter.”
She stiffened at his suggestion, but he continued before she could counter him.
“Like you, it occurs to me that there may be a better man to serve as Elisa’s husband. Yet I find myself at a loss to name that man. Certainly I didn’t see him in the pack of wolves surrounding her during her receiving hours. Did you? Did you see a man who would care more for Elisa than the funds she might bring him? Or at least a man whose virtues outweighed his greed?”
Lady Lassiter cast her eyes down.
“No,” he continued. “I didn’t think I’d missed the mark in my assessment. So where are we to find this man that will be worthy of her? Especially in less than a fortnight? Certainly she would be happier with a man she chose herself than one Emberly forces upon her. Although why he is taking such medieval measures is beyond me. She should be allowed to make her own choices.”
“He just wants her to be safe, protected,” Lady Lassiter protested.
“Then he should keep her safe and protect her until she is able to find the husband she wants.” He waved a hand at their grandiose environment. “He obviously has the resources to keep her in style. Even if she lost her inheritance to Lord knows where, he could most likely give her a reasonable dowry without blinking.”
“That would be true,” a voice from behind him said, “if I had any confidence that I would be here to take care of her.”
John jumped to his feet to face Emberly. He wasn’t sure how long the man had been standing there.
Emberly strolled into the room with a casual air and gently lowered himself on the sofa Lady Lassiter sat upon. “Continue your argument, Howards. It was just getting interesting.”
John sat again. “What do you mean you might not be here to take care of her?”
Emberly glanced at Lady Lassiter who pursed her lips. He finally turned his attention back to John. “It’s reasonably certain I’m dying.” He scowled and looked at a nearby plant. “Well, we’re all dying eventually, I suppose. But I’m expected to die sooner rather than later.”
“I’m so sorry. Does Elisa know?”
“Of course she doesn’t know. Why would I want to worry her with that? She needs to focus on finding a husband.”
John stood again. “Where is she? She should be part of this conversation.”
“Why should she be part of this conversation?”
“Good God, man, everything about this conversation affects the rest of her life. How can you not think she should be part of it?”
Emberly’s jaw clenched into a stubborn knot, an expression that John was familiar with from his own father. But Lady Lassiter put a calming hand on Emberly’s arm. “Lloyd, let me call her down. She should know about your health.”
Emberly finally nodded and Lady Lassiter called over a footman to fetch Miss Jarvis. The three settled into an awkward silence as they waited for her to arrive.
Chapter Nineteen
“Everyone assumes that pleasure is strictly based on touching. All of the senses are engaged. Your scent and your gaze are just as important.” ~ Lord Lucifer
Elisa had been reading when her maid told her that Fanny and Emberly wanted to see her in the atrium. A somewhat strange request, but nothing about it had alarmed her. Now she was standing at the door of the room and saw that John Howards was also there. She immediately regretted that she was wearing one of her comfortable old housedresses, which meant that it was also drab and a bit ratty. She plucked up her courage and walked into the room as though she had on a ball gown. John rose to greet her but Emberly remained seated.
“Good morning,” she said brightly. John smiled at her, but his expression seemed a bit sad. He held a chair for her. She found she was happy when he sat in a nearby chair and scooted it a bit closer. She looked from one face to the other, trying to divine what the strange gathering was about.
John cleared his throat and was the first to speak. “I believe Emberly has something to tell you.”
Oh sweet heavens, rather than letting her think as he’d said he would, had John gone to her guardian to secure her hand? That would be so infuriating. She could already feel her anger towards him grow again.
“Elisa,” Emberly said, and then hesitated after her name. Oh, she knew it. Even he didn’t want to admit that he was going to control her life by telling her whom she had to marry. And before her birthday! He was as bad as John Howards. Well, she wouldn’t do it. She would refuse. She would run away if necessary. She was so wrapped up in her thoughts that she almost didn’t hear his next statement. “I need to tell you about my health.”
“What?” The conversation had taken a turn she hadn’t expected and she struggled to regroup.
“My health. I’ve been unwell for the past year and the doctors say...” Emberly’s voice choked and trailed off, betraying more emotion than she had ever seen from him before.
John turned to her and captured her hand. “Emberly is worried that he may not live until your twenty-third birthday. He doesn’t want to leave you alone and unprotected after he’s gone. I assume the details of your inheritance are complicated.”
No. No, no, no. Emberly had never been a warm man, but he had always been there. Always. He had been her father’s best friend. As a small girl she had called him Uncle Em, a practice he had discouraged once she was out of the nursery. He had been the one who told her when her parents died. He had brought Fanny to their household, as he knew he wouldn’t be able to prepare a young woman for Society. He had always been there and wasn’t allowed not to be. She realized she was gripping John’s hand tightly and that it felt right to do so. But he had been here trying to undermine her right to make a decision about whether she would accept him as a suitor, to manipulate her guardian and companion. She couldn’t stand it. She took her anger and grief and pointed it at Mr. Howards rather than directly address the possibility that Emberly would die soon.
“Why are you here? Why do you know this?”
She felt almost immediately guilty because he looked miserable. “A misguided attempt to ensure that Emberly wouldn’t be an impediment, should you decide to accept me.”
Fanny protested. “Elisa, certainly you know it would be foolish to choose Mr. Howards.”
Much like when Violetta had criticized him, Elisa felt her protective instincts rise up. “Foolish? In what way would it be foolish, cousin?”
“You need a man who can take care of you. Someone capable of running an estate.”
Elisa felt her hand tighten on his. “John does take care of me. He’s one of the few people who ever has.”
“Running an estate of this size is a serious undertaking,” Emberly said gruffly.
Elisa looked from one of her caretakers to the other. “An undertaking you never educated me for, either. I’m sure we’ll find some way to muddle on.”
“You don’t understand the risks,” Emberly said. “The people who will take advantage of you if you show the slightest hesitation or incompetence.”
John spoke up at that. “I’m sure my father could be persuaded to mentor me. I tend to doubt that many people attempt to take advantage of him.”
“Your father is one of the reasons I wanted to take a look at you,” Emberly acknowledged. “The only advantages you have in my book are your father and a seeming lack of greed.”
“Seeming lack of greed?” Elisa asked.
“He stays w
ithin his budget,” her guardian said. “Never asks his father for a quid more. Didn’t ask about your dowry when I met him, either. Half the bucks that come to me, I can see them calculating the sale price of everything in my office.”
“What are your concerns?” Elisa asked. She felt John’s hand tense in hers.
“Fanny is right. The boy has no insight into running an estate, much less one of this scale. You don’t understand, Elisa.”
“I understand,” John said. “But if you hold out the hope of finding the exactly perfect man, a man who has the financial acumen and good sense you seek, but who will also treat Elisa as you expect her husband to treat her, you are waiting for something that will never manifest.”
Elisa smiled to herself at John’s well-reasoned answer. Then she recalled that she wasn’t entirely certain she wanted to marry him.
“Perhaps,” she said, “it would be good if we all took a few more days to think it over.”
“Indeed,” Emberly agreed.
Chapter Twenty
“Often the very worst place to turn for advice on women is other men.” ~ Lord Lucifer
John found himself again in need of companionship and advice. It was awkward, really, this newfound need to talk to people, to gain their insights. And besides, it would be good to find out if Casimir really did laugh off the incident with Miss Jarvis. At the Rokiczana household he was referred to an office where Casimir was working. W.T. Investments. John had always assumed Casimir came from both money and family, based on his attitude and wardrobe, so it was something of a surprise to find out that he was working. Gentlemen, as a general rule, did not work. Oversee the management of estates, yes, that was a fine way for a gentleman to spend his time. But toil for wages? Unseemly.
Looking at the front of the office, John thought that it struck the proper tone. Expensive in an understated way. Certainly your funds could be safely invested here. Anyone who had the good sense to have this office must be both rich and prudent, certainly traits you wanted in the man who invested your money. As John had a very narrow chance now of being a man with money to invest, it was more noticeable to him that it would have been otherwise. He pushed open the door to the sound of a gentle chime.
“Just a moment,” he heard Casimir call from another office. “My apologies, I do not have a clerk yet.”
Within a few minutes Casimir appeared in the front room. “Ah! It is my doppelgänger again!” His friend greeted him in the enthusiastic Polish tradition, with kisses on both cheeks and a warm hug for good measure. John was blushing by the time he disentangled himself.
“You came to tell me of more of my exploits?” Casimir teased.
“Not precisely,” John said.
“No matter. Come to my office. We will drink the earl’s liquor and pretend to do business.”
“Earl?”
Casimir ushered him into a large, comfortable room and waved him over to a couch in front of a dormant fireplace. “You didn’t know? This investment company is the brain-brat of the Earl of Harrington. His partner is the Duke of Beloin, but Quince doesn’t really get involved.” After handing over the drink, Casimir sat at the other end of the couch. “Cheers, as you Brits say.”
“Na zdrowie,” John returned, hoping his Polish pronunciation was passable. They both took a drink.
“I’m glad you’re here,” Casimir said. “I had something to ask you, but the drama of our last meeting eclipsed those concerns.”
John smiled. “It pains me that your vocabulary is better in my native language than mine is.”
“Nonsense. You know all the words. You just refuse to use more than mayhap ten of them at a time.”
“I think you just have a bad case of poet’s tongue.”
Casimir laughed. “I like that! I shall tell Gini tonight. She will enjoy that observation.”
“What did you want to ask me?”
“If you would like to have the office next to mine.”
“Beg pardon?”
“The office,” Casimir pointed at the wall, “right there. The earl has allowed me carte blanche to staff the company. I would like for you to be my primary partner.”
“I don’t know what to say.”
“That’s one of your more endearing qualities.”
John frowned at his friend’s good-natured ribbing. “I didn’t realize that you had to work.”
“Have to? No, I don’t have to. But a chance to work with financial geniuses like the earl and his wife? Any man would be a fool to pass that chance.”
John felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise. The earl and his wife were financial geniuses? Any man would be a fool to pass the chance to work with them?
Casimir was still chattering. “Besides, the earl asked me, personally, to start this office in order to shift some of the responsibility from himself to us.” John didn’t miss that Casimir was already using inclusive language. “And also to expand his investment options into the Continent now that the war is over and the Congress is concluded.”
“I see. And what were you hoping I could do?”
“First, paperwork never seemed to bother you.”
“True.”
“I hate paperwork.” Casimir said with a shudder.
John chuckled. “I recall.”
“Also, I believe you studied British law, yes?”
“Yes.”
“Excellent. You will be perfect.”
“I’m still unclear on what, exactly, you would want me to do.”
“All the boring things.”
John laughed. “You mean all the things you find boring.”
“Yes. I’m suspicious you won’t find them so. Meanwhile I will do things like negotiation.”
“You mean all the scary things.”
“Yes, see? We are natural partners.”
“My father won’t like the idea of my working.”
Casimir shrugged. “He is only a viscount. I raise you an earl and a duke.”
“I’m tempted, but for selfish reasons.”
“Your reasons can be your own,” Casimir said with a pleased smile.
“Spoken like a true negotiator.”
“For you, you’re being positively verbose. Spending time pretending to be me was obviously good for you.”
“It was, actually. It at least garnered the attention of Miss Jarvis. And she is the reason I might consider your offer.”
“You need to support her?”
“Far from. I need to convince her guardian that I would be a reasonable steward of her funds.”
Casimir leaned forward and waggled his eyebrows. “She’s worth a lot, then?”
“That’s my understanding, yes.”
“See? How can you deny me? I trapped a wealthy heiress for you and I wasn’t even there at the time.”
“There is an odd logic in what you say.”
“We both know you shouldn’t argue with me.”
John grinned. “We both know that no one should argue with you.”
“You can remind people of that from time to time.”
“I doubt anyone will forget it.”
“What do you say, John? Will you work with me to build this company into what it can be?”
John looked around at the understated luxury of the office. There were worse ways to spend one’s time. He would be working with one of his best friends, it improved his chances of securing Elisa’s hand in marriage, and it might have the bonus of irritating his father. “Yes. Yes, I think I will.”
“Tak! Tonight we will celebrate! And I will ask Gideon to plan a party.”
“Gideon?”
“The earl. To this party we will invite the guardian of your Miss Jarvis.”
“Oh, I see. And my father. We should invite my father.”
“Agreed, we will invite your father. And Miss Jarvis, of course.”
“Of course.”
“Is there anyone else you would want to invite?”
John thought for a moment. “T
he Baron and Baroness Chester.”
“As you wish.”
“If this is to prove to Elisa’s guardian that I have all the support I could possibly need in order to manage her funds, there is only one problem.”
“What is that?”
“I have less than a fortnight to prove it to him. Otherwise, I fear he has already chosen someone he will force her to marry on that deadline.”
“A dinner party in less than a fortnight? I think we will need help from the duchess for this.”
“Er, I wouldn’t wish to inconvenience the duchess.”
“No, you wouldn’t. Trust me. But this is the sort of challenge I think she would enjoy.”
John wondered what, precisely, he had gotten himself into.
Chapter Twenty-One
“When you do use your touch, be sure you know how she likes it. A delicate caress? A firm grip? A tickle?” ~ Lord Lucifer
Elisa had expected Mr. Howards to press his suit. Instead, she hadn’t heard from him in over a week. She wasn’t sure whether to be relieved or outraged. As time wore on her mind became clear that he was a logical choice. Her heart, however, was torn. She felt betrayed by his initial deception. But then she would remember his kiss. How he held her hand when she found out about Emberly’s failing health. It was, perhaps, to the good that he was steadier than one might have expected from their first meeting. But that joyful rogue was the man she had fallen in love with and he didn’t exist. Her mind and heart chased in circles of thoughts and memories. It was frustrating. Meanwhile, her birthday was coming and Emberly remained steadfast that if she did not find a husband by that date he would pick one for her.
Tonight, however, might prove a distraction from her conundrum. The Duke and Duchess of Beloin had unexpectedly invited them all to a dinner party. The Emberly house had been in an uproar of preparation for the last three days as everyone worked diligently to make the evening perfection. Elisa was wearing a fashionable new dress in Celestial Blue that fell like a silken waterfall over her figure. The color was all the rage. She would have preferred more of a peacock hue, but tonight wasn’t about preferences, it was about being fashionable enough for such august company. Even Fanny seemed a bit overset by the invitation, admitting that meeting the duke and duchess would be the most exciting moment of her life. Elisa almost rolled her eyes. Nobility at such a level was intimidating, yes, but meeting them was hardly what Elisa would consider the most important thing she could do. That made her stop to consider, what would be the most important thing, or things, she could do? The question occupied her on the carriage ride across Mayfair and she didn’t hear a word that passed between her guardian and her cousin.