The sound of a door opening in the main hall had Miss Nora calling for her brother’s attention.
When Lord Belton poked his head into the room to spy the females at their leisure, Miss Nora raced over and pulled him within.
“Nash, do come in,” she said, nearly bouncing with excitement for the news that she could hardly contain. “Miss Williams has come to make you a proposition, and you must hear it straight away!”
“A proposition?” he asked, amusement raising one eyebrow. Peggy sighed and shook her head. Lady Nora’s words had had the unintentional implication of a tawdry offering, and Peggy wondered just how many times the wealthy gentleman had been cornered for the compulsion of marriage by some overeager lady or hopeful mother. She was pleased to see that his response was done so in a laughing manner. She appreciated that the gentleman was neither so rigid as to be unable to make light of the situation, nor so dense as to even consider for a moment that Peggy would be here to do anything of that sort.
“What your sister meant to say is that I would like a word, if you might spare me a moment,” Peggy clarified.
“Yes, yes. Just so,” Miss Nora replied with a dismissive wave of her hand. “As it is that I am already apprised of the situation,” she smirked at her brother with a victorious gleam to her eye, “I shall leave you two to talk while I go gather some necessities.”
“Oh, there’s no need…” Peggy began to argue, but Miss Nora would hear none of it.
“Nonsense,” she said having already made up her mind and with a tone that indicated she would not be swayed. “It is the least that I can do.” With that, she made her exit, leaving Peggy shaking her head and the Baron in utter confusion.
“What sort of necessities…” Lord Belton began to wonder aloud, but Peggy simply gestured for the gentleman to take a seat in the chair across from where she herself settled upon a delicate carved couch.
“I have much to explain,” she began, “but first, I owe you my sincerest apology.”
“For what?” he asked, confusion furrowing his brow.
“Firstly, for my behavior the other day,” she stated, her lips pressed together in a rigid line. “It was terribly rude of me to have run off like that. I was upset, but that is no excuse for my behavior.”
“No,” he disagreed most adamantly. “It is I who should apologize. I was unutterably forward. Not a gentleman at all.”
Peggy froze realizing he was speaking of the abortive kiss and not of the business arrangement at all.
With his particular acumen, he realized his mistake and re-worded his apology to include the business matter. “I oughtn’t have pressed the issue when you made it clear that you wished to speak no more of the business. It was only that your comments were so insightful, and I wanted to know more. Reforming the town has been my utmost priority, and perhaps I was overzealous in my hope that a solution could be found for our dwindling supply problem. The loss of that shop in particular has been a burden to many in the area, and I have hated to see anyone go without. It was, after all, our doing when my father and I agreed to expand our holdings. The transition has not been as straightforward as I had hoped.”
Peggy could not help but find his concern for those in the county endearing. She had expected that a lord would care only for the inability to fulfill his own needs or to maintain his life of luxury. A selfish whim, she would have thought. On the contrary, Lord Belton and his sister seemed to have earnest care for all those affected by the decisions of their own family. She understood that in the long run all those surrounding both estates would be better off, but for now, they felt the burden of having divided the town in two.
“Still, you kept my secret even from your sister,” she replied, “despite the fact that I had not formally asked you to do so.”
“You made your position clear enough.” He shrugged. “I felt horrible for having caused you distress. Any distress. That was not my intent. In any of our dealings.”
Peggy released a deep sigh. She had made a scene, caused him to feel guilt and keep her secret, and now, after all of that, she was going to negate everything she had said and ask him to allow her to take up the position. If he refused to forgive the trouble that she had caused, she would not blame him. But she needed that shop. She needed the income and the purpose. She needed to convince him that she had decided to stay in her own right with no ulterior motive, for that secret was her own. After she had reacted so poorly, she was not sure that he would believe her or want to have business dealings with someone so tempestuous, especially a female. What she was about to suggest was uncommon, to say the least. Still, she could only hope that it could be done. Again, she felt her nerves begin to take hold.
“I assure you that it was at no fault of your own,” she explained. She owed him at least this much. So, she took a deep breath and decided to trust him as she was asking him to trust her. She would reveal more than she had intended to anyone else since her arrival and hope that the explanation would be enough to redeem whatever poor opinion of her he might have developed. “You were right to suspect that I had in my possession even more knowledge about trade than I cared to reveal. My hesitancy had nothing to do with the questions that you asked and was entirely a fault of my own making.”
He waited in silence for her to go on.
“My father is… was… a well-to-do merchant in the South.” She cleared her throat finding it hard to reveal even a limited amount of the truth to anyone. “He was raised in poverty and worked hard for his fortunes, but was never satisfied that any amount of success would be enough.” Without a title she wanted to add but kept that piece of information to herself. “My mother was never able to provide him with a son, and disappointed though he was to have only a daughter, he raised me to have all the knowledge that a merchant must possess to continue his legacy.”
“He wanted you to take over the business?” Lord Belton asked with a note of awe in his voice that she, a female, would be granted so much responsibility. Peggy was taken aback for a moment as she evaluated his expression. It was not filled with censure or revulsion at the prospect of a lady merchant. It was almost as if, though she dared not think it, his voice held a note of respect. She shook off the strange reaction and reminded herself that he must merely be skilled in the social graces of not causing offense. Certainly, even her own Lord Sterling, with all his professions of caring about her, had even mocked the notion as ridiculous.
“Not at all,” she revealed. “I was merely another tool to be bartered.” She waited, wondering how much she ought to reveal and then decided to throw caution to the wind. “A functioning brain to be sold to the highest bidder, whatever gentleman could link our family with the status that my father so greatly desired but had been unable to obtain through any other means. A husband.”
“I see,” Lord Belton murmured, and she wondered if he did. Perhaps his own sister’s refusal to participate in a marriage contract had enlightened him to the female plight. Miss Nora, however, was in a position to refuse such offers. An upstart merchant’s daughter was not.
“I hope that you do,” she nodded. “When my father… passed…” She had to hold back a grimace at the bold-faced lie. As far as she knew her father was still hale and hardy and swindling someone out of their fortunes as they spoke, but Lord Belton need not know that. She had no dealings with her father and was unlikely to see him. “In any case, after a time, I was free of such arrangements. Free to forge my own path. And free of the constant pressures of that lifestyle. I had decided that I wanted a simpler life for myself, and so I have set out to find it.” She took a deep breath and decided that she had shared enough. He seemed convinced. “So, you can see that I have some aversion to the concept of my purposely-honed skills and knowledge being used for the sole benefit of another.”
“I never meant to—” he began, but she cut him off.
“I can see now that your intention was not to use me but rather to collaborate.” When he nodded, concern written over his features that she might perhaps have perceived his behavior with such malicious intent, she knew that her estimation had been correct. He had only been curious and for good reason. “That is why I must apologize. My previous experiences have left a sour taste, and I reacted without thinking. I wanted nothing to do with the trade and you could have had no way of knowing that. I am sorry.”
“I thank you for your explanation.” He nodded. “Though the apology was unnecessary, I assure you.”
“You might find it more necessary when you realize that I have used it as a preface to ask a favor,” she laughed.
“And what might that be?” he wondered.
“After some thought and a bit of convincing.” She grinned with a pointed look toward the door. “I have decided that I could be of some use in Riversbend, on a temporary basis.”
He seemed shocked and pleased at her revelation. “Nora got to you,” he stated with feigned annoyance but certainly not surprise at his sister’s meddling ways. “I cannot say that I am displeased.”
Peggy laughed and assured him that her friend had stumbled upon the information quite unknowingly. The manner in which he narrowed his eyes revealed that he suspected she was covering for the lady, but he did not press the matter. Instead, he said, “I am glad you are going to stay.”
“There are conditions,” she added.
“I’m listening,” he said, laying a hand upon hers. A sizzling spark of desire rolled through her, and as she looked into his dark eyes, she was aware he felt it too. Perhaps there was more to consider than the business dealings, but she would not address those feelings. They must not be allowed to come to fruition. She was leaving just as soon as Adam agreed to go with her.
She explained her decision to remain in the town for an undetermined length of time but stressed that the delay would be as short-lived as possible. She offered her services in managing the deliveries that would restock the haberdashery and in opening the shop. Then, she decided to be bold. She explained that it would not do for a lone female to take possession of the property. Her own experiences had shown her that such an action would be ill received and perhaps even boycotted. Additionally, at the point that she decided to make her withdrawal from the town, she did not want to be trapped by a sale of business that might take months or even years to complete. She wished to be able to make a clean exit when the time came.
“It is fortunate then that I already own the building,” he explained, as if the matter were settled. “When the previous owner passed, I purchased the store in hopes of selling it as soon as a replacement could be found.”
What a blessed circumstance, Peggy thought. If Lord Belton was already in possession of the property, then there would be no time wasted in trying to contact the owner and make an agreement.
“Then that makes my proposition all the easier,” she explained. “I had come to beg for your support in convincing the current owner to take me into his employ. As I find myself sitting before him, I ask it of you.”
There was a long moment while they looked at one another, dancing around the arrangement of a gentleman setting up a woman in his apartments. Peggy felt her face fill with the blush, and he studied her so resolutely that she had to look down at her hands. Again, he placed a hand over hers.
“We are in this together,” he said.
She looked into his eyes, so kind, and yet dark with desire. He squeezed her hand gently and spoke. “Business partners, until you say otherwise.”
Peggy nodded. Her heart was in her throat, and she felt that she could barely speak, but she had to make this work, for Adam’s sake. And so she set her terms.
Miss Nora disparagingly described to Peggy the small apartment above the store, and although Miss Nora thought that it was terribly primitive and she would have to spend time here at Whitefall, Peggy knew that the private abode would be more than suitable for her to take up residence. It was for this modest home that Nora went to collect supplies that she intended to lend to Peggy during her stay. Peggy was grateful since she had nothing to her name besides the trunks and meager belongings with which she had traveled. A bed and a washbasin would be more than enough, even though she knew that Miss Nora would find comforts far beyond that. She could not help but be grateful.
In exchange for housing, Peggy would spearhead the rehabilitation of the haberdashery. She had been cautious in her negotiations for the purchasing of goods and later sale of those items. While she could afford for a time to carry the cost of the supplies and hopefully reap profit, she had three primary concerns that had caused her hesitation, the first being that gossip would easily fall upon her since she was living in an apartment owned by Lord Belton. Miss Nora glanced from one to the other and then quickly determined that she would be their chaperone. Peggy blushed, and Lord Belton huffed.
Peggy worried that upon her departure she would need to recoup funds that she used for buying goods on short notice. The final concern was that when that point arose, it would fall to Lord Belton to supply her with that money and then arrange for care of the store for the future himself. Peggy was well aware that Lord Belton had neither the knowledge base nor the inclination to maintain the ownership of such an endeavor. She hated to suggest he tie himself into such a financial burden when, had he wished to do so, he would have already undertaken the task months before. It was a risk and although also a potentially successful investment, he had much else on his plate without Peggy adding to his responsibilities. Besides, for all his hands-on approach, he was a gentleman. Gentlemen did not worry themselves over business matters.
Lord Belton mulled over the option for a while. He even stood up and paced the room, his fingers rubbing his freshly shaven face as if unused to the lack of sideburns that he had recently shaved. It had been a funny thing to see upon a gentleman and gave the impression that he was far removed from the pomp of society despite his elevated status. Now, he had more the look of his station, and Peggy had been surprised to note that beneath his whiskers had been hidden very attractive features.
“I’d offer a counter,” he said when she had become anxious that the length of his contemplation might indicate he was preparing for a refusal. Despite her keen business sense, there was still the fact that she was a woman, and not many would be thrilled with the prospect of such an unusual transaction.
“I would expect nothing less,” she replied with bated breath. He could not know this, but she would be forced to accept just about anything he offered so long as it gave her a place to stay and the illusion of a reason to be in town. Even if she could not bolster her finances, she would settle for maintaining them. She knew the amount of work that would go into resupplying the haberdashery. It would be filled with long hours and backbreaking work, and she was not in a position to deny even the rawest of deals. She had a sinking feeling in her gut. This was the moment when her father would cut his adversary out at the knees. This was the moment that he would make a demand that rose him to glory and left the other with little more than a beggar’s bargain. This was where the aristocrat would take advantage.
The town needed Peggy, but Lord Belton had no idea how much Peggy needed the store. For all the gentleman knew, she could press for the king’s cut with vicious demands. Such predatory transactions were part of the reason that she had hated Lady Blackwell so fully. There had been something similar in her father, a willingness to take advantage of those who had greater need than he did, acting for his own benefit alone and caring not for whatever ruination was left in his wake. There was never a business transaction of equal benefit. There must always be a winner and a loser. She revealed only her most stoic face, hoping that Lord Belton would have no indication that she was more than prepared to lose. She had already lost just by agreeing to remain. But for Adam, she would do whatever it took.
“My suggestion is this. I will cover whatever expenses are needed for you to fill the shop before the rainy weather makes travel difficult. Rather than pay you a salary, since have no idea what a reasonable amount would be, what say you to splitting the profits? It will motivate you for your effort, and whatever sells will then be a valuable investment for us both.” He plunged his hands into his pockets and stared at her as if he felt slightly out of his element. “Would 5000 pounds do to start bringing in goods?”
Peggy’s mouth fell open in shock. Five-thousand pounds was an enormous amount of money. If she was prudent about it, it would cover initial stock of both the store in Riversbend and the one at Canton Point. She revealed as much, and he gave a nod of satisfaction.
“Excellent.” He nodded. “All the better if you can manage orders for both. I can find someone to merely monitor the sales on my father’s behalf and send reports back for your records. Have everything delivered to the shop here and then I shall arrange to have a cart or two sent to my father… shall we say… once per sennight. That will give him time to finish building a warehouse of sorts. Anything with a roof and walls will do to begin.”
“Half of the profits seems far too generous considering you are not asking me to make an investment outright,” she murmured. She hated to argue with such an offer but was also nearly salivating at the amount that she could save in even a month’s time if she made a success of it.
“I find the arrangement more than fair considering how much this community needs to have someone in the shop.” His tone was firm and unyielding. “Once there is some measure of stability, others will come.”
“I must warn you, I do not know how long I will be here,” she explained. The last thing that she wanted to do was start a project and walk out on it. But she did know that, in the very least, her brain had filed away the names of all of her father’s contacts, and she could get the deliveries made before the first snowfall. Even if she had abandoned Riversbend by that time, the community would be better off with the goods in stock for the long winter.