The captain nudged Nicholas in the back. “Get to asking him about the money, Wilkinson.”
“Yes, right. Adam. Sorry again for the loss of your father.”
“I am sure you grieved mightily. Call me Wycliff, Nickie. Respect my title. Captain, let me spare you the family banter. No money. Now both of you—out to the streets. It’s breakfast time.”
The polite smirk drained from his cousin’s face, like corn dripping from a large hole in a sack. “Wycliff…we must seek a truce.”
His cousin’s hesitation in using the name Wycliff was amusing. Was it a dagger to the heart to say it, a title Nicholas had thought he’d inherit?
The man edged closer, within slugging range. “I’ll call you anything you want, if you restore our credit. Seems our coffers have come up empty, and none of the bankers will lend any money. I need to get the captain paid so his ship can be underway.
Captain Steward grunted yes, but his gaze held steady in Wycliff’s direction.
It was the confused look some gave him when his hair wasn’t meticulously combed so the kinked curls looked straight. Did he need to parse out what he was—negro, white, or other?
The captain should just settle that Wycliff held the power. In the end, that’s what mattered.
He eased his grip on his sjambok. “The answer is no. All my funds are for Blaren House. It is in need of so many repairs and better art, but that ‘stolen bride’ sculpture is growing on me.”
“I need money for the pay,” the captain said. “The Wilkinsons are bankrupt, a hair away from debtors’ prison. They’ve left me in bad straits.”
Dark hair, muscular build, the captain, from all accounts, was an honest man. His flaw, as Lawden had discovered, was excessive drink. Given enough brewed porter, he’d tell you all the secrets he knew. The captain knew a great deal, all the inner workings and business connections of the shippers to the East Indies and the Caribbean.
“You understand what a crew deserves, how they deserve their wages,” Wilkinson said. “You served in the Navy.”
The gall.
The unmitigated gall to make what was done to him sound noble. Wycliff clicked his tongue. “Wilkinson, Steward, you’ll have to find another source to fund your businesses. Maybe you should sell something. Nickie, your son, he’s four or five? That’s not old enough to be impressed in the Navy. Pity, you miss out on gaining a few bits.”
Now Nicholas’s pale face was a mix of red and aubergine purple, like a bruised eggplant. Such was the way with very light skin. Wycliff’s face could go very pink when warmed with raw rage.
“You know about my son?”
“I hear he’s a fine lad. His mother is your longtime mistress, a very handsome woman. A delightful actress and expensive, too. Miss Smith wears some of my mother’s jewelry. Do you and Mrs. Wilkinson get a chance to see the lady’s performances or are they private, just for you?”
Nickie started sputtering.
Wycliff chuckled. “I suppose that type of family reunion would be odd. Worse than this one.”
“How do you know this? You’ve only been back two months.”
“Cousin, I’ve learned never to waste an evening or good gossip.”
Nicholas grimaced, making the lumpy mole near his lip seem larger, like it would burst.
“Ad…Wycliff, I know you and my father have had differences…but this is me. Your cousin, your friend. Remember, I saved your life.”
“You didn’t. You didn’t stop the press gang from selling me to the Navy. What was it you said? Same as dying or worse, serving each day knowing it was a life sentence. I suppose you could have told them to kill me instead. But I had frightened the men enough to forgo that. I could’ve been freed.”
“It wasn’t like that. And I couldn’t go against my father.”
“I remember Uncle and his friends being at the attack that killed my companion, but not at the docks. He left that for you.”
His cousin didn’t blink at anything except the phrase companion. Wycliff would have to look into that…later. “Golden boy. Go get new credit, sell things—possessions, not people. Just making that clear.”
“Lord Wycliff,” the captain said. “You’re getting us wrong. You can’t just leave us high and dry.”
“Ad—cousin. This will ruin me. Help your family.”
