Chapter Eighteen

Morning light pierced the front windows of the members’ drawing room at the Merchants and Industry Club. It was far too early in the day to be drinking. Or perhaps it was just a continuation of indulgence from the night before. Joseph snorted a laugh. His fellow club members would hardly care.

“I always wondered what the inside of a businessman’s club looked like,” Lord Richmond murmured.

From the depths of a well-worn leather chair, Joseph took a swig of brandy and surveyed the equally well-worn room. He could only imagine an aristocrat’s gentleman’s club might have more gilding and more servants. And more aged peers like the Marquess of Richmond.

“And, my lord? What do you conclude?”

Richmond looked about at the readers and the snoozers. “That it’s a damn sight cozier than mine.” He swirled the liquor in his snifter. “I could get used to this.” He shifted in his seat. “I love this chair.”

“You’d have to be a businessman.”

“Stranger things have happened.”

“Like a dockworker marrying a marquess’s daughter?”

Richmond grunted. “I hated you, you know.”

“I do know, my lord.”

“You took my Sophie away from me. Physically, emotionally…” Richmond’s voice trailed off with relived memories.

“She needed to be protected from evil.”

“I understand all that now. I may not have been the best father but I love my daughter. In my heart of hearts I know it was for the best. I did not want to believe it twenty years ago.”

“As a father myself I sympathize.” Joseph had been suspicious of Nicholas at first. Of course that had been utterly foolish of him.

“And Arthur. You took Arthur away from me as well.”

“I’m giving him back to you, Lord Richmond.”

Richmond chuckled. “In a sense I suppose you are.”

Joseph gazed into his snifter before taking another sip. “Will this work?”

“Once my fellow peers knew for whom all this was to be done, they rallied to the cause.”

“She really does have strong connections in Parliament, doesn’t she?”

“She’s a highly respected woman. And rightfully so.” Richmond chortled throatily. “The only person who needed convincing was the queen. I reminded her she had been in love once and still understood the intensity of the emotion. And then I groveled. I told her the truth about Sophia’s scandal, about how a peer was involved, how the man left a trail of carnage with his vicious abuse. I pleaded with her to not let another peerage be laid to waste, further dishonoring the Harwell name.” He gulped a mouthful of brandy. “She eventually came around.”

They sat in silence for a spell, observing the occupants of the room. It was a rather uneventful morning.

“Isn’t that the Earl of Chesil?” Richmond’s voice held a note of surprise.

Near the central bank of windows sat a well-built man in his thirties.

“I knew his father. He was a good man. Died too young. His son was earl at twenty-five.”

The young man folded his newspaper, uncrossed his legs then checked his watch. He muttered an oath and bounded up from his club chair.

“I believe Chesil’s in textiles,” Joseph said.

Richmond emitted another grunt. “Do you think Henry will want to follow in your footsteps? In the railway business I mean.”

Joseph drew in a long inhalation, releasing it slowly. “Of course every father wants his son to follow in his footsteps.”

Richmond chuckled as he finished off his brandy.

“I had always thought if I ever had a son that once he came of age he should make his own choices. That he should experience the fullness of life on his own. I would provide some support, of course. Now I’ve taken some of those choices away.”

“You’ve given him different choices.”

Joseph examined Richmond. Instead of the dour man he once knew, suddenly before him was a kindly grandfather. “Yeah, I suppose.”

“And Henry can always run a railway business if he so chooses.” Richmond lengthened himself in his chair as if he were about to join the dozers. “It seems these days it is acceptable for peers to be businessmen.” He closed his eyes, the glass in his hand perilously close to falling to the carpet. “Did I mention I could get used to this?”