But James ignored her. “There’s not going tobea later for us if we can’t get that money. We may as well go back home to Burton with our tails between our legs and beg Jack for work. Bloody hell. I can just imagine his face.”
“At least you have a home to go back to,” Silas shot off bitterly. He couldn’t blame James and Marian for leaving, if that was what they decided to do. They’d already stayed in London far longer than they’d intended, waiting for Silas to get their investment. But he hadn’t expected it to hurt this much.
Don’t be such a fucking child. People leave. Especially once you stop being useful to them.
He should know that by now.
“Why didn’t you marry her like I told you?” James threw up his hands in exasperation. “Then you’d have her dowry and we could do whatever we liked with it. If you’d just kept your mouth shut instead of insulting her father, we’d all be rich. Why couldn’t you—”
“Because I’m an idiot!” Silas shouted. “Don’t you think I know that? I don’t know why I couldn’t hold my bloody tongue, but I couldn’t. It’s done, James.”
His blood was pounding in his ears.Stupid, stupid, stupid.He should have held onto Hannah until he’d gotten his money. For longer, even. But it was too late for regrets now. She would never forgive him.
He’d lost her for good, and he’d lost his future too.
“Come on.” Marian grabbed James roughly by his collar and dragged him toward the door. Though he must have a solid two stone of muscle on her, Marian’s confidence helped to balance the scales. “Out with you. Go for a walk and don’t come back for an hour. I’ll deal with this.”
James might have mumbled a few more sullen protests on his way down the hall, but the slam of the door told Silas he’d been evicted from the lodgings. The room was deathly silent when Marian came back a moment later, her cheeks flushed. “Sorry about that.”
Silas found himself staring at his feet. Without James there to yell at, all the anger fizzled out of him, leaving nothing but a hollow ache in its place.
“She might still pay me,” he muttered. He’d kept up his end of the bargain, after all. But he would be damned if he was going to beg for it.
Let Hannah come to him, if she cared about her debt. Let her come and tell Silas why it was so easy to cast him aside.
She hadn’t even hesitated.
“I’m less concerned with the money and more concerned about you,” Marian said softly. “Are you all right?”
“Why wouldn’t I be?” He looked up in surprise.
“You seemed to care for this girl,” Marian said hesitantly. “I thought maybe—”
“I didn’t. I cared about getting paid.”
Marian didn’t argue, but Silas didn’t like the way she was staring at him. She couldn’t have forgotten how many hours she’d spent acting as his dance partner when he’d been trying to learn the quadrille last week. He felt like such an idiot.
What had he expected—that Hannah might decide to keep him if he could master a few tricks, like a faithful dog? That her parents would welcome the chance to lower their standing by such an alliance if he could only bow deeply enough or use the right fork?
Laughable. And now he couldn’t even take comfort in the brewery. James was right. He was as good as worthless if he couldn’t get the rest of the funds.
“I know you did your best.” Marian’s smile was sad but kind.“James knows it too, he’s just a little hotheaded. Like you sometimes. But you both have good hearts.”
“What about you? Are you going to go back home?”
Marian bit her lip. “It would be a shame to give up now. We’ve made so many connections to help us get started. Maybe there’s some other way to get the funds. Or we could partner with an established brewery. Invest what you have to help someone expand their own business and bring us on to help.”
“That wasn’t what you wanted.”
“Plans change. I wanted Grandpa to give me a chance to prove myself instead of turning the family business over to Jack, but I had to make another place for myself when he didn’t agree. Maybe I can still do that, even if it wouldn’t be my first choice. And that way you could come with us.”
A sharp rap at the door interrupted them. James, no doubt, though it hadn’t been an hour. Maybe his head had cooled as quickly as Silas’s once there was no one to argue with.
“I’ll go,” Silas offered. He would try to make peace.
But it wasn’t James at the door; it was the Williams’s coachman. What was he doing here? Had he brought Hannah? More importantly, was she here to apologize or to deliver his money?
“Madame invites you to join her for a carriage ride, sir.” The coachman motioned Silas outside and he followed quickly, pausing only long enough to shout a hasty warning to Marian that he would be back in a minute.
