Courtesan's Kiss (6 page)

He addressed himself to his food, and she thought about his plan as she buttered her roll. “The ton will be shocked.”

“I do not plan to go to London for anything but business. I have no use for the Season or the ton.”

“You are joking.” She waited, and when he did not respond she wondered. Could it be he felt the same way she did? “You must care. Everyone cares.”

He leaned close to her over his papers. “I spent seven years in Mexico. My experiences there forever changed how I see the world. I have no use for mindless diversions.”

“Yes, I understand travel will do that. But there must have been a social world there. One you could enjoy. Or were you deep in the country with only wild men for company?”

They had both stopped eating and she waited for him to speak. Who would have thought conversation with him would be so intriguing?

“Miss Castellano, where I landed they had never heard of England. No one even thought to ask about my station in life.”

“Where was it? How could they have never heard of England?” She did not mean to sound so skeptical but she found it hard to believe.

A muscle in his cheek moved and then he spoke very quietly. “I was on my first voyage as a naval midshipman and the sole survivor of a shipwreck. It took me seven years to find my way back to England.”

M
IA
C
ASTELLANO
stood abruptly.

Now what had he done? David knew he would find out, because she would not hesitate to tell him. Miss Castellano was not inclined to silence.

“I thought to have a civil conversation with you, my lord.” Moving behind her chair, she pushed it in with unnecessary force. “But pleasant conversation is too much to ask. You’ve tried to find a way to shock me, to make me wonder if you are serious, until you come up with something that leaves no doubt in my mind that you are toying with me.”

David said nothing. Elena had warned him about Miss Castellano’s hotheadedness, and he understood her passion. Not that Pennistans were always diplomatic and deliberate.

“Shipwrecked in Mexico, my lord! How ridiculous.” She looked up to the ceiling as if praying, then at him with her eyes narrowed. “If that’s true, then explain how it is that I have never heard the story before. It would be the first thing anyone in society would say about you.”

She had raised her voice only a little, but her anger was obvious from her theatrical tone, her flashing eyes, her expressive posture. Miss Castellano waited no more than a second for him to answer.

“Lord David, no one, I tell you, no one anywhere in society, no one in the Pennistan family, no one has ever mentioned that you were missing for so many years.”

She drew a deep breath to fuel her tirade and David made a Herculean effort not to even glance at her décolletage.

“If I had swallowed that, no doubt you would have told me something even more preposterous. That you have a wife and five children waiting for you in Manchester, or that you prefer the company of men, or that you kill
people who take God’s name in vain, or that you resorted to cannibalism while you were supposedly shipwrecked.”

She did have a vivid imagination, but so far she had not named a truth. He opened his mouth, not to speak, but just to see what she would do if he did try to have his say. She shook her head sharply.

“Do not try to justify your behavior. Unless you mean to apologize. I will leave you to your cold dinner, your papers, and your wild tales of trade, abandoning society, and, oh yes, your shipwreck in Mexico. I will leave, which is, I am sure, what you wanted all along.”

Miss Castellano left the room, without slamming the door, which surprised him.

Quiet descended at last, but the air still sizzled with the last sparks of her temper. David laughed. Out loud.

He had told her the absolute truth.

He had set aside his papers and did as she asked, had a conversation with her. She had been a good traveler, never once complaining about her maid’s illness even though it must have made the trip very uncomfortable. He’d seen how Lady Belfort’s cut had hurt her feelings and even noticed that she left her hair down this evening so as not to trouble her maid further.

With all that in mind he had done his best to be a pleasant dinner companion. And failed miserably.

The result only illustrated his complete lack of social grace. “Let that be a lesson,” he announced to the empty room. Instead of telling her that he was hoping to build a cotton mill, that he had been in the navy, and that yes, he had been the only survivor of a shipwreck off the coast of
Mexico, he obviously should have made an effort to find a subject more conformable, like the colors favored in this year’s fashions, or even suggested renting a horse so she could ride tomorrow if her maid was still unwell.

Refilling his mug, David abandoned the meal, and moved to the desk so he could return to work, clearly the only thing he was fit for. First he’d write the letter to the trustees of the Meryon entail.

As he opened his writing box and organized quill, paper, and ink, he recalled the lively hour he and Lyn had spent discussing how to approach the trustees with something so unconventional as investing in a cotton mill. That was after hours of far more tense debate convincing the duke first. God, but his brother took his role seriously.

“I’m determined to leave the estate in even better condition than I found it,” Lyn had said. “Father worked hard so that the finances had a sound footing. I am not going to undermine that even to support you, David.”

That was not the vote of confidence that David hoped for, and it left him feeling like the beggar he was.

If he was not so convinced that manufacturing would create even more wealth than the thousands of acres of land the dukedom owned, David would have walked out then and there. Land, land, land had been the measure of Meryon wealth for more than five hundred years, but times were about to change, so David had pressed on.

The winning argument had come from his heart, and he knew that if it failed there was no point in hoping to convince the duke. “Brother, I learned firsthand in Mexico
how hideous it is to be without resources, what a nightmare it is to be under someone else’s control with no idea of what the next day will bring, to have almost no hope.

“Providing work for as many men, and even women and children, as possible will help to put an end to the unrest and will give everyone faith in the future. If there is any good that came from the shipwreck, it is my understanding of how the poor live and what might help them most.” He did not need to add that it was something that the Duke of Meryon could not begin to grasp.

The duke, his brother, nodded, and David did not have to listen to what he said to know that the duke was convinced. He could see it in his eyes, in the sympathy in his voice.

Ever cautious, the duke insisted that the trustees agree.

“You don’t need their approval, Lyn, and I’m not saying that to save me writing a letter.”

“I have found it best to keep them informed.”

The duke pushed his chair back and raised his feet to the desktop, a sure sign that they were now both on the same side.

“Never think I mean to include them in the process, David. The point is that one never knows when their support will be needed for something over which they do have control.”

“So let me outline what I will tell you and them.” David remembered pacing the room as he ordered his thoughts. “The plan to work with Thomas Sebold to develop
a second mill like Long Bank is sound on several levels. His mill is profitable.”

“That’s key. The trustees’ interest in profit is only exceeded by their lack of imagination.”

“Yes, but I will try to be more tactful in my wording.”

“I trust you will. You may be blunt in speech but your letters are always reasoned and thoughtful.” Lyn did not expect any explanation for that fact, any more than David could give him one. The duke laughed as he put his feet down and sat with more authority. “Even with a profit I do not think the trustees will be impressed by the housing Sebold provides for his employees.”

“But I will make it clear that we are adamant on that. There is a precedent for it in our family, so they will not be surprised. We all learned from Father and his experience in France during the Revolution. He would never let us forget. Neglect of servants or mill workers is a sure prescription for unrest and revolt.”

“You know, David, that explains
our
inclinations, but Sebold had none of those experiences. When you meet him next, do ask what motivated him.”

“My biggest concern is whether Sebold will be amenable to moving the site to a different city. Once he agrees to that it will truly be our project.”

“But not in competition with him. It will increase his profits as he is an equal investor. He would be a fool to argue over where the mill is placed unless the site is inadequate in some way.”

“It is, in fact, superior. Closer to the canal, with a large group of veterans eager for employment.”

“Yes, yes, but I want you to understand one important fact.”

David straightened.

“I support you, I will make that clear to the trustees, but if you fail to find the rest of the money, if Sebold should refuse, you will have to move on to another project.”

David had agreed, and now in the quiet of the parlor his brother’s choice of words haunted him. Failure. The most noteworthy event of his life had been the total failure of his naval career. The shipwreck was only the final devastating stroke. And he’d saved his own life by doing precisely what had led to the ruination of a possible career. He’d disobeyed orders and been the only one to survive.

He would not fail again. He would prove that he could contribute something to his family name. He would rather be compared with his brother Gabriel and his interest in scientific study than with his brother Jess, who had gambled away his inheritance and had been too busy trying to win it back to attend the duke’s wedding.

With Gabriel as inspiration and Jess as warning, David wrote the letter to the trustees quickly, pleased that despite the speed it appeared legible and blot-free. He stopped midsentence, rereading to see if it sounded too subservient. As he considered how to finish, he raised his head and caught sight of the shawl Miss Castellano had left behind, draped on her empty chair.

Damnation. Mia Castellano thought he had been teasing her
. Did she think “civil conversation” nothing more than a discussion of who courted whom and what she would wear to the next party? Try as he might he could not see
serious discussion centering around whether the Regent would outlive his father and be called King George IV.

His attempt to treat her as though she had as much intelligence as beauty proved the opposite. Odds were that even when she matured, Mia Castellano would be no more than a empty mind encased in a lovely face and a tempting body.

The sooner they reached Pennford the better. Then Lyn could decide how to deal with her.

“H
E IS IMPOSSIBLE.”
Mia walked smartly across the room, loving the way the silk of her dress whirled around her. What a shame there was no one else to enjoy it but Janina. “I would have been happy to talk about his plans but he has to tease me with the unlikeliest stories.”

“So you are not going to tempt him into kissing you?”

“It’s hopeless. He made me angry from the moment I walked in the room. I did not realize how much he can annoy me. It’s as though he thinks of me as his sister.” That was a lie but it was easier to say than to try to explain the sudden roil of feelings that both excited and confused her.

How could she be attracted to a man who held her in such disregard, who did not know how to flirt or do anything but work?

“I will tell you this, Janina: As soon as we arrive at
Pennford, I am writing to the agent who handled the rental of Elena’s house in Bloomsbury, the house we lived in when I first came to London, before you arrived.” Janina’s absence had been part of the reason her first year had been less than perfect.

“I will write and ask him to help me find a place to rent. I can use my correspondence with the agent as proof I am serious about my independence.”

Janina nodded and closed her eyes. “I am listening, but I feel easier with my eyes closed.”

“Oh, dear. I hope you tried to eat something.” Mia dropped to her knees beside Janina’s pallet and felt her head, feeling like a selfish witch for not asking after Nina as soon as she came into the room.

“They brought a very nice beef broth and then I ate some bread and one of Romero’s sweets, but too much food made me sick and now I have such a headache that I cannot stand up without the dizziness, and ooh, my body aches as though I have been traveling in a donkey cart and not the duke’s fine carriage.”

“Your head is warm. You may have a fever. You use the bed tonight, Janina. I will sleep on the pallet.”

Her maid opened one eye and did not move. “No, I cannot.”

“Do not argue. I am the one in charge and you will do as I say.”

“I am afraid if I try to move I will be unwell.”