He opened his mouth, but she shook her head at him and started pacing, her yellow dress swishing each time she turned. “While I admit that not many of my female peers share my interest in the many subjects usually regulated to the hallowed halls of Oxford and Cambridge, I do believe they should at least be allowed to pursue such interests when they arise. If my father had thought as you do, I’m afraid my family would be living in a cottage in Bedford with no servants.” She stopped to see how he digested that piece of information.
He remained there, coolly watching her. “You will have to explain your logic on that.”
“Of course.” She resumed pacing. “As you know, I have quite a skill with numbers.”
“I did not know this. You said you enjoyed them, though I still find that rather odd.”
She grinned. “I stand corrected. Enjoying something and doing well at it is not the same thing. In my case, however, it is. I not only enjoy the logic of numbers, but I am very, very good with them. So that being said, I will explain the situation our family found ourselves in, and if it wasn’t for the women, you would not know us today.”
“I’m still deciding if that is a positive.”
“What?” She halted again, but at the sly smile on his face, she relaxed. “How could you not be happy to have made our acquaintance? I’m positive that we provide you with a type of entertainment you have never encountered.”
He gave his signature nod. “I can agree with that.”
“Good.” She resumed pacing. “My father is like you. He does not care for digits and so had hired a man to handle our financial affairs. Of course, Father reviewed the ledgers and was involved in the investment decisions, but…” She paused, not wanting her story to reflect poorly on the man who had taught her so much. “But he was easily distracted. As the numbers were not of interest to him, he found it difficult to concentrate, and thinking he’d hired a well-learned man in that area, did not apply himself perhaps as he should.”
Northwick dropped his arms. “Was the man he hired not as skilled as he portrayed or was he unscrupulous?”
“The latter. Father was confused when he received a missive from his tailor about a bill that had gone unpaid. He tried to review the ledger, but eventually gave up and asked for my assistance. To this day I’m thankful for that tailor. My father’s man had been moving money out of our investments and into his own. We were close to losing everything.”
“The devil take him.” The curse from Northwick had her turning back in her stride. His brows were lowered and it looked like he was about to throttle someone.
It warmed her heart that he already appreciated her father enough that he could be angry at what had happened. “I sincerely hope that is what occurred, but we don’t know. As soon as I figured out what was happening, I had Father remove him from all our business and add me to it.” She grimaced. “That was no easy task. The first few balked so much that my father stopped giving my name as Joanna and just put down Jo. That helped tremendously, which in my opinion is ridiculous.”
“Jo?” He ruminated for a moment. “Yes, it fits you somehow. And I can see your point.”
Had she scored yet another victory in her favor? Excited now that he was truly listening, she continued. “But the damage was done. There was so little in the investments that to recoup the money would take longer than my father would be alive. That’s when Mariel came to our aid.”
“I did not know that the Lady Mariel had your talent as well.”
She shook her head. “Oh no, her talents are far different from mine as are Amelia’s. However, what Mariel did provide was a personal sacrifice. You see, the man she had planned to wed, was killed in battle against Napoleon. Since she no longer could have the man she loved, she immediately set out to marry a wealthy man who would offer us a stipend. My parents tried to dissuade her, but she was adamant.”
“I must conclude she was successful because you introduced her as Lady Beaumont.”
She stopped pacing, her heart squeezing at her sister’s sacrifice. “Yes, she married George Walford, Earl of Beaumont. He was older than my father, but desperate for an heir. The marriage was more of a business transaction.”
“They always are.”
“Yes, well this was a document the size ofThe Canterbury Tales. Myself, through my father and our new solicitor negotiated well for Mariel. In the end, she was widowed two years after her marriage. Part of the settlement was that all financial assets would go to her in the event of her husband’s death, with the estate and lands kept in trust for any children. If no children survived birth, then the rest went to a distant cousin in Scotland.”
He strode toward the double doors that led to the gardens. “And so your family’s wealth was restored. What Lady Mariel did is what many a young maiden does for her family. There is no knowledge beyond loyalty needed.”
Sometimes, he could be so incredibly ducal. Fisting her hands, she spoke to his back. “That may be true for families who do not care about the feelings of their children, but that is not our way.”
He looked at her from over his shoulder. “Yours is an unusual family. The norm is to ignore the feelings of the children.” He turned back to continue his perusal of his gardens.
She took exception to his statement, but two things were true. Her family was unusual, and she was absolutely certain he spoke from experience. For the first time, she wondered at how he’d grown up. With his mother leaving him, it must have been difficult. As an only son, his father most likely expected great success from his heir.
Shaking away her thoughts on his past, she refocused on her point. “While Mariel did keep us from having to give up the life we were used to, it was my stewardship of our investments that has put us back in a position of comfortable wealth.”
He turned at that. “You? You said you had a new solicitor.”
She nodded. “We do. However, I continue to control the ledger and all investments. I am the one who has the skills, so why not me? Because I am a woman? Can you not see how women could bring their own expertise to aid in making a comfortable life?”
He strode purposefully to her. “But many women, as you stated, have no interest in such subjects.”
Something in his gaze told her she may be persuading him. Now her heart raced for an entirely different reason. “True, and for them life is just as they would like it. But there are others in the aristocracy, younger women, who long for subjects beyond what they are taught.”
