Colin moved behind his desk and sat. “What business must we handle this afternoon?”
“The business of your well-being,” Nathaniel said. “You are like a brother to me, and I cannot see you suffer and do nothing.” He leaned forward and softened his voice. “If there is something I can do to help, please tell me.”
“I should never have married Anna,” Colin confessed.
Nathaniel frowned. “Come now, Colin, you do not mean that.” Colin then revealed what had been occurring, and what had incited it all. “Your mistake was not in marrying her but in telling her that all you wanted from her was an heir,” his friend pointed out.
It was difficult to hear and admit that Colin had been right all along. “Is it too late to hope to have her back?” he asked.
“I do not think so. Love her, Colin,” Nathaniel advised. “Remove every ounce of cynicism and regret from your heart and give it to her.”
Colin nodded slowly and thoughtfully. “I will. I wish I had listened to you before.”
“Now you can. And tell her the truth, too.”
“But—"
“Damn it, Colin! Have you learned nothing in the past months? You cannot continue to conceal your past from her. Tell her and allow her to decide what to do with it. You cannot control everything. You are not God.”
No, he most certainly was not. If anything, he was more aware of how powerless he was against things of his own making. “I will tell her,” he decided.
“Good,” Nathaniel sighed. “Heavens! I think I have aged during the course of this conversation.”
Colin could not help but smile at that. “Shall we discuss business now?”
“Yes,” Nathaniel agreed, his countenance growing more serious. “I did not allow Darpley to invest in the steel factory, but as you know, I continued using his vessel to bring merchandise into England. Well, Frobisher and I just discovered that he sells more than half of every shipment before it reaches our shores.”
Colin’s hands fisted. “He is stealing from you?”
“Yes. It is evident that he is not as wealthy as he made everyone believe, and his businesses are suffering.”
“And he thought deceit would help him.” Colin thought even less of the man now and was glad that Nathaniel had not allowed him into the steel factory business. Lord knows what he would have done to both of them. “What do you intend to do about this?”
“I want him to face the law, but I do not want him to know that I am aware, lest he employ more subterfuge.”
“If you need my help, I am here.”
“Thank you.”
Colin’s jaw clenched. He was enraged on his friend’s behalf, and also on Anna’s. Her parents had wanted her to marry him because they thought him very wealthy. They had planned to doom her fate in more ways than one.
Chapter 32
I am happier than I was on the first day I arrived at Dawnton but my happiness is waning. There is a chasm forming between Colin and me, and I do not know how to mend it. He draws further away from me every day.
“You do not have to do that,” Anna said as Clarissa brushed her hair with more care than usual. “I feel quite like a porcelain doll already.” Everyone had been treating her as though she would break, but she wanted to believe that she was stronger than she looked.
Clarissa smiled at her through the mirror. “I only want your hair to shine.”
“More than it already does?” Anna raised one brow. Her lady’s maid had made her a hair oil that smelled excellent and made her hair shine. Even Colin had commended it. The thought of Colin made her sigh now.
He spent more hours away from her each day, and she knew why. He would rather spend the time in his workroom doing something that would bring him some results. Her heart began to ache again, and she winced. She felt Clarissa’s gentle hand on her shoulder before she knelt in front of her by the vanity. “Do you remember what Lady Darpley said about the ancient Egyptians?”
“You believe it is true?” Anna asked. She still thought there was something gravely wrong with her, and that it was not mere worry that was preventing her from conceiving.
“Yes, I believe that, Your Grace. Let me tell you a story.” Clarissa stood and began to braid Anna’s hair. “I was raised by my aunt after consumption took my parents when I was five.”
“Oh, Clarissa, I am sorry.” Anna felt a little selfish for not learning more about her lady’s maid and friend’s history.
