“A splendid idea, Chase, even if you missed it yourself,” he said.
Chase had arranged it as a way to get them both together without being too obvious. That it had distracted Kevin from his preoccupation with the will was an unexpected boon.
“A tavern or a club?” Nicholas asked while they left the building.
“A tavern,” Kevin said. “The White Swan, if you don’t mind. There is a horse being offered through them that my father asked me to see.”
They all mounted and rode east, then south toward the river until they reached the White Swan. Kevin asked about the horse at once, so they all went to inspect it.
Kevin proceeded to inspect it closely, from nose to tail. Nicholas and Chase did too. It was a horse, after all.
“How much?” Nicholas asked.
“Forty.”
“Expensive.”
“White ones usually are.” Kevin gestured for the groom to walk the animal around the yard. “My father favors them, as many do. They look so nice as a pair. Unfortunately, half of his white pair has taken ill, so he requires another.”
Nicholas began speaking, then shut his mouth. Chase could imagine what had almost emerged.Why is he asking you to look at the horse when he can do it himself?Apparently, Chase was not the only one arranging matters so Kevin did something other than brood.
“I’ll tell him to offer thirty and settle at thirty-five.”
They chose a table in the tavern and sent for ale. “We should make a day of it,” Nicholas said. “We’ll have a meal and drink too much, then go out looking for women this evening.”
“There is Lady Trenholm’s party tonight,” Kevin said. “Unfortunately, I cannot go with you since I declined.”
“Not those kinds of women,” Nicholas said. “Chase here has told me to find aninappropriatewoman.”
“I am sure there will be some of those at her party too,” Kevin said. “I have some names. Father does talk a lot over his port.”
“If I attend a party, if any of us do so soon, people will consider it disrespectful of Uncle even if his will ordered us not to mourn. Furthermore, I would never get within ten feet of any of your father’s inappropriate ladies, because a pack of baying mamas would block me.”
Kevin laughed. “I suppose you have become the prize fox for their hunt this year. Once the Season starts—”
“I beg you not to speak of it. The mere idea of the Season throws me into deep melancholy.”
“You could just visit a brothel,” Kevin said. “Inappropriate, and uncomplicated. There are several that would celebrate your arrival as Uncle Frederick’s heir.”
Nicholas turned to Chase. “What do you say? We can show young Kevin here how it is done.”
Kevin smiled slowly. “I am always grateful for your concerns about my education.”
Chase smiled too, but his mind did not. He did not want to go to a brothel with Nicholas. A month ago, maybe. But not now. “I regret that I have a late appointment and can’t join you.”
Nicholas’s eyes lit. “Damnation, look at that smirk. He has already found his inappropriate woman.”
“Well, he does get around town a lot.”
“I do,” Chase said. “Both of you should try it. It is better than brooding.”
“I do not brood,” Nicholas said. “I worry. There is a marked difference. Yesterday I spent the day reading letters from men offering to be my head land steward for all the properties. I require a new one.”
“Any who seemed worthy?” Chase asked.
“Hell if I know.” Nicholas laughed. “How does a man who has never farmed know if another man is good at farming? I will have to rely on references, from other men who have never farmed.”
They were back to the will. Chase didn’t mind, although the hour respite had been welcomed.
