The disappointment in her gaze intrigued him.
He could not let him stop him.
“I am afraid there is no maid to help you dress on the ship.” He grabbed up his shirt and put that on over his head.
Clare sat up and the bedcovers slid down to her waist. They’d slept naked against each other for the last hours of the night. It had not been enough. However, it must be.
“Other than the laces on the back of the dress, I can do it myself.”
They spent a short while in silence as hot water was delivered and they washed and dressed, Clare between the screen and he in the cabin. From the boisterous laughter and voices outside, Iain knew the crew was back and his time with Clare was growing short. A meal and Captain Ramsey arrived and though enjoyable, the mood was muted.
Ramsey went back to his duties and the ship set sail back to the harbor at Leith. The man had said he was pleased with the new crew members’ performances and the new equipment so the ship would be put into the Buchanan fleet within weeks. And that pleased Iain, for as he acquired companies and accounts, he needed the ships to transport goods.
They’d grown since he’d managed to get the huge contract with the Government to transport food and supplies to the continent to support the efforts to defeat The Corsican. When his efforts helped, and the king awarded him his knighthood, his business soared. And so did his need and ambition for more.
“May I ask you a question?” Iain had been in his thoughts and he’d not realized it. Clare still sat across the table from him, sipping her tea.
“Certainly.” He suddenly had the urge to get the whisky from the cabinet and drink a very large glass of it. Or to sew his lips shut so he could not utter words that threatened.
“What made you do it? Offer me this deal?” she asked. Her gaze took on that sharp and intelligent look and he knew that the shrewd Lady Clare faced him now. It was time to bring this to a close.
“Other than the obvious one?” She blushed. Sheblushedeven after everything, every act, they’d done. “I did it so that you might look kindly on my offer when you sell.”
“I am not selling those properties, Iain. I’m not certain why I must continue to insist on repeating this.”
“You are deluding yourself, Clare.” He stood and walked to the windows, staring out at the sea.
“I am?”
“Aye, sadly in this case, all your knowledge and business savvy and good practices will not help you resist the forces against you.” He sat back down across from her.
“More than my father?” Concern lay across her lovely face now. Good.
“Your father is the most immediate. The most obvious. When you considered your reconnection to him, for whatever reasons you had, you did not see how it would enhance the larger ones.” He’d seen it. Hell, he’d been part of it, he knew that.
She shook her head. Then she slid her hand slowly on the surface of the table. He’d gambled all his life and learned to read people and theirreveals. She’d controlled it in previous encounters, or he’d been too busy thinking about what he wanted to do to her and with her that he’d not realized it. Now, after the overpowering lust had been somewhat satisfied, he could notice it.
She was worried.
Good.
“Between his pressure and now sponsorship of you in society once more, and that of your business partners and even your competitors, and your social world, you are fighting against mighty forces that set out, from the moment of your birth, to tie you to a husband in marriage and take away your control.”
“And my properties.” Clare paused and then began to say something and stopped herself. She was going through each argument in her thoughts and discarding them as she saw the futility of them. She truly was brilliant, but he’d learned early and often that the most intelligent person did not always win the battle.
Because Clare quite simply could neither conceive of the greedy, malicious underbelly of business nor understand how widespread it was, she could never fight it.
But you do. She would be the perfect—
He ruthlessly pushed that doubt aside. This needed to end.
“So, if I may give you a bit of advice?” He waited on her nod. “Sell everything. Set them up the way you wish them to be and sell them with stipulations in place.”
“But the school and the orph—”
“You were a noble lady. Youareone. Ladies contribute, they do not run orphanages.” Her eyes flashed with fury, turning the green depths of them to the color of lightning in the summer sky. “I know you wish to argue that but consider your future. A wealthy noble husband does not begrudge his noble wife a large account for supporting such worthy causes. One stipulated in your marriage settlements.” He leaned forward resting his elbows on the table. “Control what you can, Lady Clare. Sell while you can.”
She pushed back from the table so quickly the chair wobbled on its back legs. He’d never seen her this angry.
