“I don’t know why it matters,” Shane said, pacing the study Prim had inherited from her husband. “You’ve got Declan and me taking care of everything for you.”
“I realize you’ve been taking care of things, Shane, but you’re missing the point of what I’m saying. That is, I don’t want you to. I want to do it myself.”
“That’s why we wanted you to marry Mossman. He understands these investments inside and out,” he said. “He could take care of business, take care of you.”
“Which I cannot do because I’m a woman,” she added, sarcastically. Pushing away from the desk, she stood and glared down at her brother where he sat opposite of her. “I know what you think. How you think. But if you’re ever going to manage finding a wife in this life, you have to begin with giving my entire gender a little more credit. Just as Fletcher did. He didn’t give me control of our children’s trust to humor me. He did it because he knew I could handle it.”
“Dash it, Prim!” Shane raked both hands over the top of his head until his hair was standing straight on end. He slapped his palms down on his thighs with a hard smack and pushed himself to his feet. “My God, you’re a harridan,” he grumbled, leaning over the desk. “How Fletcher ever put up with you, I’ll never understand. And what’s all this about me finding a wife?”
“He didn’t just put up with me,” Prim told him. “And if there’s never been a man born more in need of a wife, it’s you.”
“Ha. So I can be nagged at in my own home constantly?”
“Since you haven’t been back to it in weeks, you’d hardly be able to tell, would you?” she shot back, crossing her arms over her chest.
Shane gaped as she raised her voice beyond any level he’d heard from her since childhood. Prim thought perhaps James had been right about yet another thing. A little volume went a long way.
“What’s going on in here?” Dennis asked, coming into the study with a newspaper in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other. “We can hear you all the way in the dining room.”
“You’re welcome to enjoy your own dining room as well,” Prim griped, though Dennis only grinned.
Shane threw his hands in the air, and went back to pacing the room. “Maybe you can talk some sense into her. Tell her I’m only trying to help.”
“Sorry, Shane.” Dennis shook his head. “I’ll have to side with Prim on this one.”
“What?”
“What?” Prim echoed in disbelief.
Dennis tossed the newspaper on her desk and dropped into the chair Shane had vacated, sipping calmly from his cup. “All the while I was in Italy, you wrote about how you worried over Prim and her ability to hold things together after Fletcher died. I agreed to support you in helping her find a new husband because you thought it would be best for her.”
“It is.”
“You’re wrong.” Her brother’s defense brought tears of gratitude to Prim’s eyes.
Shane laughed callously. “You’d have no objections to her taking over the future of our nieces and nephew and possibly running them into the ground?”
“Should I have?” Dennis asked. “She’s not the same girl who left Father’s house a decade ago. I say let her go it alone if she wants. Let her succeed or fail on her own. Though, I don’t think she’ll fall. Honestly, she’s smart as a damned whip and you know it.”
“Thank you, Dennis.”
Her brother cast her a smirk and a wink. “Just try not to muck it all up.”
Prim rolled her eyes. “I’ll try.”
“Unbelievable. Both of you,” Shane grumbled.
A low cough sounded from the doorway and they all turned to see Banks hovering uncomfortably at the threshold.
“Yes, Banks?”
The butler’s eyes darted from one brother to the other before returning to her. He looked horribly awkward. “Mr. MacKintosh is here to see you.”
“What?” Shane exploded. “What the hell is he doing here? I thought we agreed you wouldn’t see him anymore.”
“We did not. You did.” Prim wasn’t exactly sure the reason for his visit since he hadn’t said he’d call, but she wasn’t going to tell him that. Nor would she dare to outwardly express the thrill Jamie’s unexpected arrival brought her. “I happen to enjoy Mr. MacKintosh’s company. And he enjoys mine.”
“Your company?” he mocked. “We all know what a man like that enjoys from a widow.”
