Man Most Worthy

by Ruth Axtell Morren

  She clamped her mouth shut. Seeing her brother’s grim look, she relented enough to say, “Mr. Tennent wants to marry me.”

  “Hah! He not only wants to take over our firm, but he wants to have you, too! The filthy scoundrel. How dare he!”

  Alice stood. “I won’t have you saying such things about him!”

  He leaned over the desk. “He doesn’t care a whit for you! He just wants to humiliate us! He’s out to prove a point!”

  She put her hands to her ears, not wanting to hear any more.

  “Don’t you see, Alice? He just wants you in order to steal control of Father’s firm.”

  “But you still have half the company. There’s nothing he can do to buy you out!”

  He leaned closer, his knuckles white atop the desk. “You own ten percent in the company. All he needs to do is marry you and he’ll control the firm.”

  “What are you saying?” she whispered. “Father disinherited me.”

  Geoff moved his head slowly from side to side like a pendulum, his gaze never leaving hers. “Not entirely. Victor persuaded him to allow you ten percent. It was small enough not to make a deal of difference. Victor said we would merely invest your profits and keep them for Austen when he reached his majority. That’s the only way Father would be satisfied to change his will.”

  She fell back in her chair, feeling numb. “Why was I never told this?”

  “You can’t let yourself be used like this!” Geoff jabbed a hand through his hair, his voice cracking with desperation. He’d never been so distraught, not even when she’d married Julian.

  She stared at her brother. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “Because it was the only way Father would agree! You disobeyed him. Be thankful for Victor who championed you. Besides, the shares have made nothing this past year.

  “All that’s neither here nor there now. You’ve never lacked for anything. I’ve given you Father’s house, you’ve a houseful of servants. What’s of concern now is Tennent. He wants to ruin us, I tell you. He’s bought up the company behind a front.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  He gave a harsh laugh. “While he woos you, he’s quietly bought the shares using another company, so none of us—least of all you—will know he’s behind it.”

  It couldn’t be. “There must be some explanation.”

  Geoffrey continued pacing. “Now all he needs is your ten percent, which he’ll get as soon as he marries you. You haven’t gone as far as agreeing, have you?” he asked, swiveling around to her.

  She didn’t bother answering, but continued trying to sort through it. “B-but Nicholas wouldn’t know about my shares. How could he know?”

  “Oh, doesn’t he?” he barked out a grim laugh. “He’s made sure to find out everything about our firm.”

  Her world was cracking under her and she had no idea how it had come about. She leaned her head into a hand, trying to think clearly.

  Geoffrey’s voice grew quiet. “One of the board members came to tell me this morning. They’re going to force me out as president and chairman of the board.”

  She drew in her breath. “How is that possible?”

  “All he needs is full control and he’ll demand my full resignation. I know it.” He ran a hand through his hair, his eyes darting left and right.

  “Why should he want to do that?”

  He pressed his lips together, a sheen of perspiration covering the top of his lip. “Because he’s a ruthless scoundrel. You’ve got to stop him.”

  “Me? What can I possibly do?”

  “Don’t let yourself be tricked by him. He can’t think he can take us all over. He only wants you to solidify his hold on our business.” He grabbed her hand. She’d never seen desperation in her brother’s eyes. “You’ve got to help me. It’ll mean my ruin otherwise.” He looked away from her. “I’ve made some poor decisions.

  Then his bloodshot eyes focused on her again, and his hand squeezed hers painfully. “Don’t let him use you! He only wants to take you as the crowning achievement to his insatiable greed. Don’t let yourself become his trophy! He cares nothing for you, only what your name represents. It’s only his pride because Father thwarted his ambitions so long ago.”

  She broke away from her brother’s hand. “Leave me, please leave me.” Her voice cracked and she turned away from her brother.

  She had to see Nick. That’s all she knew after her brother left and the office grew quiet, broken only by the ticking of a clock on a shelf nearby. She didn’t know how much time had passed as she sat there staring at her desk, unseeing.

  Could Geoff’s accusations be true? Was Nick only interested in getting back at her father through her? Had he pretended some attraction to her, was his kiss only pretense? Thinking back to it now, had what she took for expertise been in truth the carefully controlled performance of someone proceeding with his calculations, weighing everything as he did in business? Had he been playing a role, a role he may indeed have found distasteful?

  She stood from her desk, unable to bear her thoughts.

  But what need had Nick to stoop to feign an attraction? He was rich and powerful. He could have any woman he wanted. Why bother with her family?

  She stood at the window looking through the film of curtain at the street beyond. Her thoughts went back to that summer she’d first met him. How infatuated she’d been.

  All the fears of abandonment following his disappearance, of thinking herself unlovable, came to flood her now.

  Oh, dear Lord, show me the way. Show me the truth. Is this man worthy of my love? she prayed.

  She had to know. Like an automaton, she picked up her gloves, hat and handbag, glancing down at her bare finger before donning her gloves. She’d removed her wedding band when she’d come back from Deauville.

  Had she betrayed Julian’s memory for someone so wholly opposed to his values? No, she wouldn’t think it. It couldn’t be.

  She stumbled toward the omnibus stop by sheer instinct, her thoughts all consumed by Nicholas Tennent.

  The omnibus was crowded with people and she squeezed onto the wooden bench between two women, a heavy-set one whose clothes reeked of sweat, and another who barely moved to make room for her. Alice held her lawn handkerchief to her nostrils, feeling sick as the omnibus began to rattle and sway over the cobblestones.

  Bitterness and doubt crept into her thoughts, try as she might to suppress them, not least because of Nick’s absence from Austen. Austen had asked for him every day. They’d seen little of Nicholas since their return from Deauville. He’d sent her a note the day after their arrival in London that he’d found several things pending at his office which would take him a few days to clear up. Had one of them been the takeover of her father’s firm?

  When she arrived at the number on Nick’s business card, she glanced up in surprise at the imposing office building. Expecting a modest office within the building, she was further taken aback to discover the whole five-story building housed Tennent and Company.

  She opened the polished wooden door, its brass plaque glowing. Inside, clerks bustled to and fro, others bent over their high desks, all looking important. It reminded her painfully of her father’s firm. The few times she’d stepped across its threshold, she’d been confronted by the same hum of activity—of money being made, she’d always told herself. Now, it gave her a feeling of foreboding. Had she really stopped to think about what gave Nick’s life meaning? All that she’d repudiated.

  A young clerk cleared his throat beside her, and she jumped. “May I be of service, madam?”

  “Yes. Yes, please. I should like to see Mr. Tennent.” She handed him her card.

  He glanced at it and gave her a slight bow. “Very well. Would you care to wait in a more private chamber?”

  “No, thank you. I shall wait here.” She clasped her hands over her handbag and edged against the wall.

  “Very well, madam.”

  In a few minutes, he returned. �
�Mr. Tennent will see you, if you’d care to follow me.”

  He led her to the lift and held the door open for her. With a bang, he slid it shut and the brass cage began to rise with creaking sounds. She was calm enough by then to notice it went to the top floor. Up here, everything was hushed. The building featured more modern devices and more opulence than her father’s. Oil paintings lined the corridors on the top floor and a thick Turkish carpet covered the anteroom floor. They stopped before a heavy mahogany door at the end of the corridor.

  The clerk knocked and immediately entered. He stayed at the door and motioned her in. “Mrs. Lennox to see you, sir.”

  When Alice entered, Nick had already risen from the large desk and was advancing toward her, his hand held out. “Alice, how good to see you.” He gave the clerk a curt nod. “Thank you, Jeffries, that will be all.”

  She heard the heavy door click behind her and felt at a loss as to what to say. The sight of Nick overwhelmed her. In the scant few days she hadn’t seen him, she already missed him unbearably, and she realized in that moment she didn’t want to feel this way about a man. The risks were too great.

  He took her hand in his and she fought the impulse to draw back. But she detected a look of puzzlement in his features, and for a second she thought he would stoop down and kiss her. But he let go of her hand and stepped back.

  “I was going to stop by Park Lane this evening to call on you.” He ran a hand through his hair and half-turned away as if embarrassed. “I bought something for Austen.”

  “You needn’t buy him things to assure his affection. He already adores you. Indeed, he has been asking for you every day since our return.”

  A frown formed at her words. “I’m sorry. I’ve been meaning every day to stop in at least for a few minutes, but it seems I’ve been tied to the office until late each night.”

  She looked down. “Yes, I understand.” She’d grown up with such a father.

  Suddenly, she didn’t want to confront Nicholas. She wanted him to confide in her. She shouldn’t have to be questioning him. He should be open and honest with her. There should be nothing hidden between them if they were to have a future together. She didn’t realize the pleading look in her eyes as she looked at him silently, clasping her hands in front of her.

  He took a step toward her. “What is it?”

  She shook her head.

  “You must have come by for a reason.”

  She gave a short laugh. “Do I need a reason?”

  He touched her arm. “Of course you don’t. But you seem, I don’t know. Something’s happened.” He scanned her face. “Is it Austen?”

  At the shake of her head, he continued. “Something with the dinner? It’s still set for eight o’clock?”

  The gala dinner. She’d forgotten all about it. What was she going to do about that?

  His sharp tone penetrated her confused thoughts. “What’s happened? Has there been a hitch?”

  “No.” She swallowed. Before he had to ask anything else, she said, “How is your business these days? You said you had much to do since your return.”

  “Yes.” He gave a shrug and embarrassed laugh at that. “I’ve never taken a holiday before and didn’t realize how much I’d find piled up at my return. Not that I wouldn’t do it again. Not to worry, though, I’ll have everything up to date in a few days and will have more time to spare.”

  She looked at him sadly. Would this be her future? Living with a man whose priorities were just like her father’s? Without thinking, she found herself saying, “Geoffrey came to see me today.” This was his chance to tell her.

  He raised an eyebrow. “Is that unusual?”

  She shrugged and approached his massive, oblong desk, its ebony surface like a mirror. So much like her father’s. “It is when he comes to my humble office.”

  “Maybe he missed you while you were away.”

  Was that cynicism in his tone? She glanced back at him. He hadn’t moved and he reminded her of a silent statue, his features as if carved in stone. “Perhaps.” She turned to study his desk once again. Lots of papers covered it but they were all neatly arranged. Were some of them concerning Shepard and Company? Now, Shepard & Tennent. “You seem to be very busy.”

  “Yes.”

  “Do you have much to do with my father’s firm?”

  He said nothing until she was finally forced to turn to him once again. She was struck by the intent way he was looking at her. “Why do you ask?”

  She shrugged imperceptibly. “No reason, merely curious.”

  He walked around his desk to stand by his chair. “Shepard and Company and Tennent & Company are competitors, and in that sense, would have little direct involvement with each other.”

  “Yes, I see,” she murmured, looking down at his papers again, feeling a disappointment so profound it almost wounded her.

  She took a deep breath and looked up with a bright smile. “Well, I must be going. I have much to do and…and…you’re busy.” Her voice broke and she turned away quickly and hurried to the door.

  Nick stared at Alice. What had happened? Before she had a chance to turn the door knob, he realized she was going to walk out without telling him.

  “Wait!”

  The word came out a brusque command. It succeeded in stilling her hand. In a few strides he was at her side before she had a chance to tighten her hand on the knob once again.

  “What is it?” he asked, hardly daring to touch her sleeve.

  She lifted stricken eyes to him. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  What was she referring to? Was it because he had scarcely been to see her or Austen since their return? He wanted to make it up to her.

  He searched his brain, but the only thing that came to him was his maneuver with her father’s firm. She couldn’t know about that. Could she? As the seconds ticked by, a sick suspicion spread in his gut. How had it been discovered?

  “Tell you what?” he asked steadily.

  She turned away from him as if she’d received a physical blow from him. He dropped his hand. “You know,” she whispered.

  The feeling in the pit of his stomach grew. “Does this have to do with your brother’s business?”

  The look in her eyes as she raised them to his gave him the answer he needed.

  He shoved a hand through his hair, wondering how to explain. “Who told you?”

  She gave a strangled laugh, turning away from him again. “Who told me? Does it matter? Isn’t it more important that I didn’t hear it from you? When exactly were you planning to tell me?”

  He stared at her, finding it hard to believe—and yet, all too easy to believe—that she was doubting him. “Sometime after we were married.”

  She stared at him open-mouthed then began shaking her head. “You were going to calmly put my brother out of business and tell me about it after we were married? You are a worse scoundrel than Geoffrey claims.”

  He gave a short, bitter laugh. “I should think he would know what it takes.”

  Her voice rose. “You go behind his back and plan to take over his firm and you have the temerity to call him a scoundrel?”

  He stared at her, hardly believing she was so quick to judge him against her brother.

  “You’ll swallow him up with no thought to how it might affect me?” she whispered, eyeing him as if he were a monster.

  He kept his voice deceptively soft. “Careful you don’t draw the wrong conclusions.”

  “What other conclusion can I draw if I’m not given any?”

  “You could trust me.”

  “A man who was treated badly by my father? A man who might be courting his daughter in order to gain full control of his business?”

  Each word was like a slap in the face. He felt the accusation hit deep.

  “Is that why you looked me up, Nicholas? Is that why you bothered to befriend Austen?” Her voice began to quaver. “You could have done anything to me, but why—why—” she wiped angrily at her eyes, her v
oice breaking “—why did you have to gain Austen’s trust? It wasn’t worthy of you!”

  She turned back to the door. He planted his palm against it, not believing she would really leave him like this.

  “Do you really think I would hurt you and your little boy?”

  Her tear-filled eyes looked up into his, but she said nothing. “It’s too late to cancel the gala, but I must tell you I shan’t be present. I can’t bring myself to honor someone who would stoop to dishonor my family in such an underhanded way.”

  He dropped his hand from the door, staring at her. Could she really doubt him to this degree? If that was the case, there was nothing left for him to say.

  “Why, Nick, why?”

  He stepped away from her. “I’m a ruthless businessman, remember?”

  He watched her leave the office.

  As the echo of the door faded, Nick continued staring at it, not believing the woman he’d waited for so many years had truly thought so little of him.

  The image of her first husband, a saintly man, came to taunt him. She must have been measuring Nick against the curate all along, and finally found he couldn’t measure up.

  He felt his eyes begin to fill, and he stepped back, aghast to find himself crying—over a woman. He never cried, not since he’d been a lad of about four and seen how little time his poor mother had for sympathy for such things as scraped knees and cut fingers.

  He swiped at his eyes angrily.

  When he reached his desk, he stood staring down at the papers lying there before sitting down. The evidence before him was irrefutable. Shepard and Company owned and had owned for years—behind the front of other firms—a number of housing blocks in the slums, of the kind Alice had pointed out to him, of inferior quality.

  Complaints had been pouring into the city officials of sinking floors, flooding, leaking roofs—without much response from the government, since the tenants were people of little political or economic clout. But a few conscientious journalists had taken up the cause of the tenants and written about some of the worst complaints.

  Nick sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. He hadn’t yet decided how to break it to Alice. She’d caught him unprepared. He’d wanted to gather all the evidence before presenting it to her—and show her how he planned to rectify the faults of her family.