Chapter Twenty-One
Grace was dining with the Fishers, her concession to sociability with her hosts, when Lord Westbury and Master Alnott were announced. Without conscious thought, Grace was out of her chair, across the room, and through the door. There was Henry, standing in the hallway. She snatched him up with an unintelligible cry. He was bigger, so much bigger than she remembered. But his hair still smelled the same and he was still her little brother, squirming as she cuddled him.
“Grace,” came Henry’s muffled voice.
She released him immediately, kneeling down and holding him at arm’s length to examine him, greedily looking at him as if not taking her eyes from him would keep him here. “What’s the matter?” She scanned his face for any sign of illness or distress.
“You were squashing me. I couldn’t breathe.” Henry took some wheezy breaths to prove it.
Grace hiccup-laughed as the emotion was too big for her chest to contain.
She raised her head and over Henry’s blond curls she met Everett’s gaze. He gave a nod of greeting, his expression carefully neutral, but his eyes intense. A spark lit deep inside her, catching fire and burning white-hot.
“How did you…?” Grace began, but couldn’t quite form the correct words. The light of his presence had burst the colors out of a dormant kaleidoscope in her heart, filling her from the inside out. Everett was here, miraculously, with her brother and the joy and wonder of it was uncontainable. How did he get Henry away? Did he kidnap him? What would be the repercussions from Lord Rayner? “What—”
“You can’t talk to him,” Henry interrupted. “You haven’t been introduced.”
Grace stared at him in astonishment. “My, you have grown up to be very proper.” At almost five years old. Six months without her and her father had trained him hard.
“You can’t talk to someone you haven’t been introduced to,” Henry insisted.
It was true in the strictest sense, of course. She hadn’t ever been introduced to Everett. He’d barged into her life, and her heart, without any social niceties. No one had told Henry anything about their marriage. Including Everett. There was a twist of feeling inside her. Everett hadn’t said anything to Henry, so she was still free to walk away if she wanted.
“Rules are useful,” Everett said. “But sometimes we need to know when we can go beyond the usual lines.”
Grace glanced up at Everett and read an apology for not obeying the terms of their bargain in his gray eyes. Then, she met Henry’s gaze again.
“You have to know when to make your own judgments, not just follow the rules,” Everett added.
She had made him promise he wouldn’t claim any of the rights of a husband, and after everything, Everett had included this. Now was a reckoning. Was this enough? “Henry.”
He regarded her with all the fierce solemnity of a four-year-old who knows he is right.
“I don’t have to be introduced to Lord Westbury. I am married to him.” A smile tugged at her mouth. “He is your brother.”
Henry quivered with ecstatic disbelief. “Does that mean we’re going to live at Larksview? Can Lord Westbury take me out on the lake in a boat? He told me all about how you can use the wind to move over the water, and he said that there were puppies at one of the farms.”
Clearly Everett was not above recruiting Henry to persuade her to stay at Larksview, even if he wasn’t willing to compromise their bargain by telling him she was his wife. She glanced over to Everett, who was motionless, watching her. The moment stretched out, her mind ticking off the issues that had stood between them like an overwound clock, manically trying to keep up with her heartbeat.
A smile crept onto her face. “Maybe. We will have to ask Lord Westbury.”
“Please? I never went outdoors with Lord Rayner.”
“We could leave tonight, if you’d like.” Everett’s face was utterly straight. “But first, Henry, why don’t you see if there’s some dinner?”
“Henry, why don’t you come and sit with us in the dining room?” Caroline offered her hand. “You must be hungry after your journey and we’re about to have dessert.”
The boy reluctantly confessed that he would quite like something to eat and took Caroline’s proffered hand.
“You can go to the drawing room.” Caroline nodded at the door opposite.
Grace watched Henry go into the dining room and sit at the table. He accepted all this with the resilience of a small child. She could feel Everett’s gaze on her.
“Grace.”
She turned to him and he gestured toward the drawing room. There were dark circles beneath his eyes and a rough line of stubble where he was usually clean shaven, as though he hadn’t been sleeping. He was still extraordinarily handsome.
As if there were a string between them, she followed him to the sofas of the drawing room.
“I know this isn’t enough,” Everett began once they were both sat.
Enough? He’d brought her back her brother. What could be greater? She wanted to grab and kiss him, but she also wanted to know what he would say.
“I know there’s the debt, the right father figure for Henry, and how to best protect Alnott Stores and all the other people you are responsible for.” He moved as if to take her hand then hesitated, pressing his palms to his thighs.
“That’s in addition to whether you can ever trust or love me. As a husband.” He took a deep breath. “I’ve been selfish and manipulative. I put others’ opinions and doing the right thing by others before doing the right thing by you. And I deeply regret that. I’m sorry. I love you utterly, Grace.”
She’d thought her heart was full when she’d seen Henry, but it was a fountain now, pumping joy around and through her. Everett was here, and he loved her.
He appeared to be searching her face for an indication of her feelings. “I know I’ve been wrong. I should never have lied to you, and I can…” His voice petered out. “I can understand if you can’t forgive me. Just say the word, and I’ll leave you in peace. Your half of the dowry will be yours, whatever you decide.”
“Everett.” The pain in his gray eyes was more than she could bear. She reached to take his hand, but he gripped hers as they touched, holding her hand tight in both of his.
“If you want our bargain to stand, I will respect your choice.” The words were clearly well rehearsed, but difficult. “But I’ll never stop loving you.” He looked down for a moment, then back up into her eyes, anguish spilling out.
Leaning forward, she reached out with her uncaptured hand and touched her fingers to his face, feeling the roughness of his stubble. His eyes closed for a second and he turned to bring his mouth to her palm, his breath soft and hot on the sensitive skin.
“You’ll always be first with me,” he said into her hand. “Whatever happens, I’ll be there. I’ll do anything it takes to earn back your trust and be your husband.”
“Nothing.” To hear him say he’d put her first was all she’d ever wanted. She felt him stop breathing and her heart pulsed. “You are my husband.”
For a second, she thought he hadn’t heard her. His head tilted in assessment. Then there was a pull on her hand and he’d brought them together on the sofa, and his mouth was hard on hers. Grace clasped her hands onto his shoulders and abandoned herself to kissing him back, the feel of his mouth familiar and warm and unbearably exciting all at once. It was a kiss of intent, his tongue visited hers with heat, stroked hers, demanding and receiving. He was kissing her back like she was water in the desert, holding her gloriously close, his grip firm on the small of her back. Their chests were pressed together, the many layers of clothes too much between them.
Finally, he broke the kiss, but held her close in his lap, her skirts tangled around his legs. His arms wrapped around her and squeezed her as they panted, faces too near to see each other properly, but greedy to look.
“I’ve a hotel for tonight, with an adjacent room for Henry.” He nuzzled her ear. “Then, let’s go home.”
And as tempting as that was, there was still something to do in town. “You said it’s my money to spend as I like.”
He nodded. “Yes. Of course.”
“Well. I think we ought to visit these Lawsons.” He’d saved her brother, it was only fair she now fix his brother’s mess.
Everett moved back and looked stunned. It took him a moment to understand the inference. “You’d do that?” he said slowly.
“For us.” She was grinning.
“I…” He released one hand from her back and stroked down her hair. “Thank you.” Then he reclaimed her mouth in a firm kiss.
…
“Wait, please,” Everett instructed the hackney cab driver. “That’s it.” He nodded to the shop across the street with the lettering paint peeling a little at the edges.
It otherwise looked tidy to Grace. Part of the shop window was draped with pink fabric that might have once been red and through the gap it was shadowed, but she thought she could see a mannequin. It looked fine, though not exciting. But then, she’d never given much mind to gentlemen’s tailors.
“Does it seem fashionable?” she asked him and grinned when Everett shrugged.
“How would I know? I spent years in uniform,” he said apologetically.
In the street walked a couple of men, their coats and demeanor signifying they were part of the rising middle class, but they didn’t go into the shop. Grace craned to see where they went—to the photographer at the end of the street.
“Look.” Everett used a finger on her cheek to turn her attention to a lady coming out of a milliner. “Why don’t I buy you a hat and I’ll make some inquiries?”
It cost a winter and a summer bonnet adorned with silk flowers and ribbons, but almost an hour and half later, they emerged onto the wet pavement much better informed. The lady proprietor had been quite loquacious once Everett had expressed his desire to spoil his wife, and Grace had been choosing the ribbon colors.
The Lawsons had enjoyed a brief spell of popularity among the fashionable, rakish gentlemen set. Catering to a younger clientele, the Lawsons’ business had focused on smoking jackets. The milliner had added a sniff of disapproval. Grace thought it sounded like an eminently sensible idea.
Apparently, the problem had started when they’d branched out into costly accessories like stick pins, cigar cases, and snuffboxes. The milliner had spoken in a scandalized tone of how nice the items had been, bought by the Lawson’s young and silly clientele.
“Well, what do you think?” Everett asked, putting the hats into the hackney and turning an inquiring face to her.
Down the street, a family emerged from the photographer’s shop. And suddenly it was clear. “Let’s visit the Lawsons now.”
A flash of concern went across his face before he held out his arm and smiled. “Yes.”
He didn’t know what she was planning, but he was happy to trust her, and confidence folded across her shoulders.
When they entered the tailor shop, a harassed-looking man looked up from a large table at the back with a respectfully friendly expression.
“Welcome.” He bobbed his head. “What can I do for you?” His smile descended to a scowl as he saw Everett at her side.
“I’m here to talk with you about the debt.” She regarded Mr. Lawson. He would usually be a middle-aged man with nice features, dark hair, and a beard. But weariness had dragged him into a shadow.
Mr. Lawson’s face shuttered. “There is no negotiation to be done. I require immediate payment in full, of the outstanding amount.”
“Yes, I understand that.” She tempered her voice. “But a business man such as yourself knows that a consistent income is much more valuable. I have an idea—”
“What would you know about such things,” Mr. Lawson sneered, looking her up and down.
She didn’t look like a woman who labored in a shop or at a ledger anymore, she thought with a slight pang.
Everett stepped forward, brows low and a muscle in his neck raised. “I understand your anger, Mr. Lawson. But please listen to my wife.”
“My father was Mr. Alnott, of Alnott Stores. It isn’t in anyone’s interest for Westbury to default on this loan. He can’t pay it, you know. Even with bailiffs, you won’t recoup what you paid for it. I’m not asking for the debt to be reduced or pardoned. Just agree to installments, like before. And I want to help.”
Mr. Lawson folded his arms. “Go on, then.”
“There’s a photographer in this street. People like to look their best in a photograph. You could hire out fine clothes. Then, when they have a taste for these clothes, you sell them similar clothes in slightly thinner fabric. We’ll find better traders of your materials from around Larksview and use Alnott Stores’ suppliers to get a better price on your silks.” There was a wealth of experience and contacts from Alnott Stores who would be only too happy to find a new customer.
“Hah. Lady Westbury telling me how to run my business. You’ve never done an entire day of work in your life, I can see it in those soft features.”
She felt Everett bristle next to her and reached out to reassure him she wasn’t upset. Her father had warned her off working at the front of Alnott Stores. After he’d recovered from her mother’s death, he had prevented it by sending her away for a season. He’d always said it would never be any good to her in the circles she would travel in. At the time, she’d thought he’d meant the ton wouldn’t appreciate her work. It had never occurred to her that her experience would be of no value once she was part of the aristocracy, because she wouldn’t have any credibility as a businessman or as a lady.
“I managed Alnott Stores.” She gripped her umbrella, but she could feel Everett’s presence like a protective wool cape. “We could work together. I’ll help you, and the extra profits can go toward paying off Lord Westbury’s debt.”
“What makes you think I could trust you?” He shook his head. “Some little aristocrat.” He glanced at Everett.
And suddenly, it was so clear. “We’re the same.”
Mr. Lawson made a contemptuous noise in the back of his throat. “We’re not.”
“You hate lords. They ruined your business. They swindled you.” Her words were hitting Mr. Lawson, a look of astonishment on his face. “I don’t trust aristocrats, either. One tantamount to killed my mother. Another stole my brother. But Lord Westbury isn’t like that.” She glanced across to Everett and smiled when she saw the sustained faith in his eyes. “Let me help you.”
Mr. Lawson looked at her for a long moment, a frown creasing his forehead, eyes flicking over to Everett in confusion. Then, with a deep sigh, he went around the back of his table and pulled out two chairs. “All right. You’d better sit down.”