“Because I’m growing older, son. I know what it’s like to not have someone, a best friend, by your side. To be overwhelmed by difficult choices and have no one you trust completely to confide in. I had my children, yes, but it is not the same as having a spouse.” The duke caught his eye. “Do you realize my second wife was one of Fanny’s strays?”
Jeremy shook his head quickly.
“Fanny rescued Gillian from a cruel employer. I won’t go into the details now but suffice to say, Fanny fought a dragon to free her and won herself another firm friend. But she made an enemy in society, too. Fanny, in her usual reckless fashion, took my Gillian home to stay with her—promising to help her find a better position. I feared the worst, of course, given that many of Fanny’s strays seem to hang about for far too long. But I found a use for Gillian as a paid companion to my youngest daughter.”
“You married her.”
“No one ever plans to fall in love. It just happens.” The duke put his hands to Jeremy’s shoulders and propelled him back to his former chair, pushing him down to sit in it. “I married Gillian after nearly a year of getting to know each other because our interest in each other was too strong to ignore. One of my daughters disapproved of Gillian strenuously and almost ruined my chances of winning her hand. But we eventually married, and we’ve been happily going along together ever since.” The duke smiled. “My point is, no matter the difficulties, they can be overcome very easily—but only if you talk through them.”
Jeremy squinted at the duke. The man clearly didn’t know what he was talking about. “She wanted to pay me for sleeping with her.”
The duke winced. “Badly done, and a sign that I was right. My daughter needs you.”
“She doesn’t need anything money can’t buy,” Jeremy said, feeling bitterness rise up inside him again.
The duke held up one hand, fingers spread, and ticked off each finger as he spoke. “Respect. Understanding. Patience. Protection on occasion. Eternal admiration. Did I mention patience? The fact that she tried to place limits on your relationship speaks volumes. She has considered where you might fit in her life.”
Jeremy shook his head. “She doesn’t want me.”
“She does, and even now, you’re having doubts about leaving, too, I can tell.” The duke pointed at him. “You respect my daughter—her intelligence, her capability. You also understand the many dangers that she’ll face in the coming years better than anyone. The more wealth she accumulates, the more the needy will flock to her door. Her heart will be touched again and again as she gives whatever is asked of her to the undeserving.”
“She is too generous with her charity,” Jeremy murmured. “She’ll run out of money one day.”
“A long time from now, I expect. Fanny does have considerable resources at her command,” the duke mused.
Jeremy frowned. “If you say so.”
The duke inhaled, studying him closely again. “You don’t know what it means to have great wealth, do you? Not really. You’ve heard people talk, but you don’t truly comprehend just how large a fortune she has at her command.”
Jeremy shrugged. “I never had any real money until I met Fanny. I mean, Lady Rivers.”
“No need to apologize.” The duke sat forward. “Put the first coin that Fanny gave you on your palm.”
Jeremy dug in his pocket for his lucky shilling. The coin he’d earned for escorting her to her carriage the day they’d met had felt important to keep…but not anymore.
The duke smiled. “I knew you’d still have it.”
Jeremy squirmed again. Did it make him appear pathetic? “Do you want it back?”
“No, I want you to imagine many more, until your hand is completely covered.”
Jeremy did. He’d be a wealthy man indeed if he had all that. “It’s more than I could ever earn in my life.”
The duke sat forward even more. “Now, I want you to look around the room and put piles of money on every surface. Then add more and more and more, until all the furniture is covered. Can you do that?”
“Yes. It’s a king’s ransom.”
“Now imagine the room full to the ceiling. That is how much wealth my daughter has at her disposal, I suspect.”
Jeremy gulped. “You suspect?”
“Well, Fanny doesn’t have to confide in her poor old father when she’s a great deal smarter than I am. But don’t tell her I said that. She’d preen for days.”
Jeremy shook her head. “She probably would, too.”
“Wealthy and smart Fanny may be, but giving to others is not necessarily enough to satisfy her anymore. In short, she needs a family.”
“She has a family.” The Westfalls were a family unlike any he’d ever met. They were always sticking their noses into each other’s concerns. They fought and made up and laughed and loved each other. It made Jeremy envious, to be honest. He’d never have that.
“And we all love her dearly, but I’ll put this plainly. My daughter needs her own family. She needs someone to pass her extraordinary wealth and talents to one day. She needs a husband she can trust with her heart and fortune, who can lure her away from her ledgers and make her remember she has other interests. Someone who can steal her away to sit in the sunshine or stay in bed with her on a rainy day. A man who will let her return to her responsibilities without bitterness or resentment of her intelligence. In short, my daughter needs not a man to take over her fortune, but a partner for a more balanced life.”
“There are many who would marry her. Someone of her class would do.”
The duke waved his hand about as if brushing the suggestion away. “Son, the way you feel about my daughter, and overlook the importance of her money, is very rare. I’ve only ever known of one man before who didn’t feel threatened by her fascination for business and finance.”
“She should marry him,” Jeremy suggested bitterly.
“Fanny did. The late Lord Rivers let her have her head in all matters that interested her, even when society dictated that such passions in women be repressed. Fanny made him a very rich man before he died. He adored every inch of her, body and mind, yet he couldn’t give her children, and he died before his time.”
Jeremy sat in silence a moment. “You’ve rocks in your head if you think we’d make a good match. How do you know she even wants children?”
“She didn’t want dance lessons either until her sister took them.” The duke confessed with a laugh. “I admit, on the surface, it seems a tad unequal an alliance.”
“I’ll say,” Jeremy agreed.
“Money is the only obstacle,” the duke countered. “And agreements can be drawn up to protect and limit your access to her funds, if need be.”
It would be another document Jeremy wouldn’t understand. “I’m illiterate.”
“Something you’ve managed to conceal from her, I suspect.” The duke sighed. “Fanny’s fear is being desired for only her money. Yours is being known.”
“That’s ridiculous,” Jeremy protested.
“Many men have courted her since she became a widow. From ambitious squire to aging duke, even a foreign prince dangled the hint of a crown in her direction once. Every single one proved themselves merely fortune hunters. Fanny doesn’t have the best of luck when it comes to men. She’s become distrustful and wary of forming attachments, which is why she attempted to pay you off, I imagine. But I won’t let you slip away without fighting to make her see this is her chance to have everything she’s ever secretly wanted and was too afraid to reach for.”
Jeremy squinted at the duke. “What’s in it for you?”
The duke smiled. “Grandbabies.”
Jeremy rolled his eyes. The duke was soon to become a father again and yet still wanted more babies in the family? “You ask too much.”
“There’s something in the way my daughter has softened since you’ve been around. I thought our little talk earlier might have propelled her to see you in a new light,” Stapleton admitted.
“She certainly did
, but clearly not the way you’d intended.” Jeremy shook his head and stood again. “It’s all very well for you to sit here discussing a future that will never come to pass. I’m done, and I’m seeing myself out now. Goodbye, your grace.”
The duke was on his feet and between Jeremy and the door before he realized his intent. “You can’t leave.”
“You can’t stop me,” Jeremy warned.
“If you return to the theater, what’s the chance that you won’t be reduced to dressing the principal actors again? You won’t have Fanny’s patronage to give them reason to cast you over someone with more experience. Fanny has loved the theater since she was a girl. You will see her again there, too.”
Jeremy blanched. Seeing Fanny sitting above him in the audience, so close and yet so far, wouldn’t be enjoyable. “If I don’t land a part without her patronage, I’ll find somewhere else to belong. Another company might take me on.”
“Is it easy for you to find somewhere to belong?” the duke asked.
A sick feeling churned in his belly, but Jeremy was no stranger to having to work hard. “I’ll do all right. Move.”
“No.”
Jeremy looked up at the duke. The man outranked him, and he outweighed him by several stone. Could probably box him into the floorboards, too. Jeremy didn’t want to end up in a physical altercation with the duke if he could help it but his time here had come to an end. His best defense had always been slipping away unnoticed, but the duke wouldn’t let him. “Please move.”
Stapleton shook his head. “You will stay and see what happens with Fanny.”
Jeremy squinted at the man. “Why are you really trying to keep me here?”
“I should have known you wouldn’t be convinced by my talk of legacy.” The duke chuckled. “All right, I want you to stay because I see something in you that I cannot ignore.”
“What is that?”
“Potential, beyond that of a mere actor.” The duke nodded. “Stay another week.”
“I can’t. It was Fanny who brought me here, and I swore to leave.”
“All right then. Leave.”
The duke suddenly unlocked the library door, caught Jeremy by the elbow, and dragged him out the huge front door. Although Jeremy tried to free himself, the duke had a surprisingly strong grip for an older man. He was also adamant Jeremy leave Stapleton with nothing more than the clothes on his back. Jeremy’s satchel had been left forgotten on the floor of the library.
The wide-open lawn and long, empty drive stretched before him. Freedom. He was on his own again. He should feel better about that than he did.
The duke extended his hand. “Mr. Dawes, I’m glad to have met you.”
“Thank you,” Jeremy replied as he shook it. “Thank you for having me.”
“My pleasure,” the duke said, as he suddenly spun Jeremy about so he faced the front door to Stapleton Manor once more. The duke shook his hand repeatedly. “So good of you to visit again, Mr. Dawes. How was your journey? I’ll have a servant prepare your new room in no time at all.”
Jeremy tried to escape the duke’s grip and couldn’t. “But I’m leaving?”
“No. You left. But now you are being welcomed back to Stapleton Manor as the Duke of Stapleton’s honored guest, not his daughter’s.” The duke laughed. “A simple solution, don’t you think?”
Jeremy stared at the duke in awe. “Now that is really splitting hairs, your grace.”
The duke ushered him back through the front door and past a footman before turning into the library again. “In private, you may address me as Nicolas.”
“I couldn’t do that,” he whispered, still stunned.
“Marry Fanny, and I might even answer to Papa.” Jeremy was forced down into another chair and the duke sat beside him. “So, you will stay at Stapleton as my guest, yes? For as long as it takes for Fanny to come to her senses and admit she made a ghastly mistake. By all means, make her suffer a bit if it makes you happy. Money brings rewards all too easily for those in our circles.
“And remind me, I must take you out shooting and riding. Given the future I wish for you, it would be best to take the time now to judge if you are adept at either sport or decide if lessons will be needed. Fanny will need you by her side at a great many society gatherings in the coming years. House parties and the season. Not to mention family celebrations. I will also send my valet to you each morning. He worked as a tutor in Leeds before we met. He will be of great help in improving your literacy.”
Jeremy squinted at the duke. “He was a stray of yours, wasn’t he?”
Stapleton threw his arms wide. “Fanny had to acquire her bad habits from someone.”
Jeremy chewed his lip. “What if she isn’t pleased to see me?”
“Son, leave my daughter be at first. Make her wonder and miss what she had. I’ve had years more experience in getting Fanny to do things she doesn’t want to do than you.” The duke rubbed his hands together. “But this is not just about her. Have you ever held a pistol?”
Jeremy shook his head. The duke was an odd fellow. But what was the harm in staying a few days more if there was a promise of receiving instruction? It wasn’t as if Jeremy had anywhere pressing to be. If Fanny really didn’t believe they had any future together, the duke could still help him learn to read and write, and that could only be to his advantage. He wasn’t too proud to accept help. A tutor was an expense Jeremy would never be able to afford. And the other skills might come in handy one day, too.
Jeremy stood and strolled to a glass-faced cabinet that held a range of pistols and studied them. “I’ve never shot anything,” he admitted. “I’ve been shot at, though.”
The duke joined him and unlocked a cabinet to pass Jeremy a small pistol to look at. “We aim at the birds here, not at each other. Occasionally poachers. Tomorrow at dawn, we will see what sort of marksman you might become.”
“I’ll do my best.”
The duke grinned. “I expect nothing less of you.”
He glanced up at the duke. “I hope you don’t live to regret this.”
“My only regret would have been if Fanny had successfully driven you away.”
“She still could,” Jeremy warned. “I’m not exactly the man of her dreams, am I?”
The duke chuckled softly. “Son, I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.”
Chapter 15
Fanny did not like babies. Or rather, she did, but they often made her feel inadequate. She sat in the morning room beside Jessica and Rebecca, who were gushing over the Hawthorne’s youngest babe who’d come to stay with the duchess as if the child was their own. It was an awkward place to be when she’d never be likely to have offspring herself.
“Were the Hawthorne women well when you last spoke to them?” Fanny asked, trying to draw her sister Jessica’s attention away from the gurgling child.
“Destroyed and trying not to show it,” Jessica murmured. “It is so hard to see their long faces and know there is nothing I can do to cheer them.”
“Give them time. You have done your best, I’m sure,” Fanny promised, declining to take the child from Rebecca when she tried to pass the wriggling infant to her.
Rebecca huffed and sat the babe back on her lap. “How can you not want to hold such a scrumptious morsel?”
“He is a babe, not food.” Fanny forced a smile. Rebecca had become decidedly keen on children. Not surprising since she was increasing herself now too. “Clarice would never forgive me if I dropped him.”
“You never dropped Jessica,” she noted.
Fanny cast a quick glance at her sister and smiled. “That anyone saw,” she teased.
Jessica gaped. “Did you?”
Fanny chuckled. “I was only pulling your leg, little one. It was Samuel who dropped you. Thankfully, you bounced very neatly on the mattress and came to no harm.”
“Pay her no mind. He never dropped you. None of us did anything of the sort.” Rebecca promised Jessica. “Father would have murdered us f
or being careless.”
The baby moved to Jessica’s arms and he cuddled up to her, making all sorts of happy sounds. “Don’t worry little Liam,” she promised. “I’ll love you even if Aunt Fanny won’t.”
Fanny stood and moved to look out the window. They’d all suddenly become Aunts to the Hawthorne brood since the death. While she didn’t mind the term of affection, it did make her feel old. “I can love him from a distance, too.”
Jeremy had left yesterday. A bitter parting that made her uneasy today. She should be happy to be spared further argument over his place in her life. Clearly, he’d thought something else had happened between them than just sex.
It was for the best that he was gone. Now she could turn her attention to assessing the investment opportunity Lord Thwaite had been trying to interest her in. She was inclined to say no to him out of spite because of his attempted blackmail. But there were other investors involved and there was the rumor he couldn’t now afford it. The project deserved a fair and unbiased final assessment before she turned her attention to her next project.
Unfortunately, she felt no keen desire for anything right now.
She turned to observe her sisters. They were happy, even though they all wore the black of mourning for their friend and neighbor. Ever since Father’s wedding last year, the mood of the family had changed subtly. Where before they had all been unlucky in love, now one by one, her siblings were making happy matches, and babies as well. No wonder people remarked that she should be next. Fanny returned to her chair. “When will you go back to your husbands?”
“Today,” Jessica promised. “I was on my way home now but wanted to see if you were still here.”
“I’ve no plans to leave,” Fanny promised. Besides, Jeremy would arrive in London most likely tomorrow, and she wanted to give him time to cool his temper before she saw him again.
If they met again.
She bit her lip. She has spent last night tossing and turning. There was a chance she might never see Jeremy if he didn’t want to see her.
“You never do tell anyone,” Jessica complained. “You’re just suddenly gone.”
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