“More or less, yes.”
“Oh good god. He was her lover.”
James gulped coffee. “She was an excellent steward, and I was not keen to evict her, but I had hoped to sell the manor quickly.”
“Why?”
Damnation.
“No, you needn’t explain. As little as I knew Rossbury, we all knew he’d mismanaged his estate. I assume there were debts.”
“Yes, my lord.” Hell and bollocks, he’d nearly forgotten there were his uncle’s debts to contend with too.
“I imagine she wasn’t best pleased to discover you’d come to put her out.”
“Not pleased at all.”
Hallston sipped his brandy and stared at the fire, and James was glad for it. He needed a moment to regroup and somehow get their fresh acquaintance onto better footing.
“Lady Lucy was very kind to me, and I came to realize what an extraordinary woman she is in a very short time.”
“Short indeed,” Hallston snapped. “Though I can’t find fault with you for realizing Lucy’s excellent qualities upon brief acquaintance. They are apparent to anyone willing to see.”
“And I do see. She is magnificent. Maddening at times, but magnificent even then.”
“Goodness, you do know her.” Hallston sighed, and somehow, it was a gesture that gave James hope. “So you wish to marry her.”
“I do indeed.”
“You’ve heard of her dowry, I take it.”
“Only from her.”
That shocked him, and James could tell Hallston didn’t know quite what to make of that news.
“I would forgo her dowry and marry her if she were penniless.”
“A pretty sentiment, Rossbury, but you know I’d never let my daughter go penniless.”
“Nor would I. I intend to provide for her well. Before inheriting, I ran a successful shipping enterprise. I intend to maintain my business, even grow it.”
“A nobleman in commerce?”
“Yes.” James wouldn’t waver on this point, even if Hallston offered them an annuity or Lucy’s inheritance was sufficient to keep them afloat for years. He wished to be successful again at something he’d been good at. Even loved.
“I need to speak to my daughter. I can make no decision until then.”
James already considered Hallston a man worthy of respect for the reputation he’d built for himself and the daughter he’d raised, but at that moment, his esteem for the man nearly overwhelmed him. Every day, noblemen negotiated the terms of marrying off their eligible daughters with little or no regard to the lady’s preferences. He admired Hallston for making Lucy’s feelings, her choices, the deciding factor.
“Come at one. I’ll speak to her before then. And then we’ll all have a conversation together.”
James understood he was being dismissed. He stood and was pleasantly surprised when Hallston rose and shook his hand.
Stepping out onto the pavement in front of the Travellers Club, James felt buoyed by an ebullient kind of hopefulness that Hallston might, in the end, give his blessing. Reviewing the conversation between them, he knew he was far short on elegance and had left out some crucial details, but there’d been a kind of understanding between him and the earl. At the very least, an agreement that Lucy deserved the very best.
That’s where the ebullience burst a bit and doubt swept in.
They’d dealt with Beck, for the most part, but the offices of Pembroke Shipping still sat dusty and inactive. He’d yet to rebuild anything.
