The Perfect Duke

by Ruth Ann Nordin

  Tara nodded. “That high up we will.”

  “I’d like to see all of London at once,” Augusta said, turning her pleading gaze to the rest of her family.

  “All right,” Nick replied, finally seeming to warm up to the idea. “Let’s do it.”

  Since his mother and Cress consented to the outing, they all got ready to go out. Tara thought once they were in the hot air balloon, his mother and Cress would relax, but it ended up taking his mother a good five minutes of being in the air before she stopped holding onto Nick and Cress as if her life depended on it. Ten minutes later, she even admitted, “This isn’t so bad.” And by the time they returned to the ground, she said she’d enjoyed the trip immensely.

  As Augusta rambled on about all the things they had seen from the air, Nick placed his hand on Tara’s elbow. She glanced over at him, and he smiled at her in that way of his that made her tingle all over. No one had ever had such an effect on her, and she doubted anyone ever would.

  Feeling a bit bashful, she returned his smile. The day had been a good one. Sometimes it was nice to take a break from worrying over her social status and how things would evolve for Ladies of Grace. And as it turned out, this outing for pleasure had done the trick. She felt much better about things. She had a plan to get things back to normal with the group, and Nick was helping her with it. Plus, they were going to figure out a way to invest the money so that his family would never be in a financially delicate situation ever again.

  Yes, the outing had been a good one. She felt renewed and focused. And it certainly was nice that the gentleman with her and his family were pleasant to be around. Ever since she was a child, she and her brother had always been at odds with each other. He seemed to think he could tell her what to do and how to do it. All of her life, it was a struggle to assert herself. And it certainly didn’t help that some gentlemen wouldn’t take her seriously because she was a lady.

  Also, she never did fully enjoy her time with the ladies in Ladies of Grace, mostly because she couldn’t ever relax around Lady Eloise or Lady Blakemoor. The other ladies were fine. She hadn’t been close to any of them. It wasn’t until recently that she’d developed a friendship with Stacey. Of all the ladies she knew in London, she felt that Stacey just might be her best ally.

  Perhaps, things were starting to turn around in her favor. Getting out from under her brother’s thumb by marrying Nick and forcing Lady Eloise out of the group just might have been the two best things that had ever happened to her.

  ***

  Stacey was working on a puzzle with her mother when the butler told her she had a visitor. Stacey told him she’d be in the drawing room in a moment then turned back to her mother who seemed content to search for a place to put her piece of the puzzle.

  “I’ll be back soon,” she promised her mother.

  Her mother didn’t respond. Stacey wasn’t surprised. Her mother seemed to slip back and forth between reality and the recesses of her mind. At least she was doing the puzzle. The doctor thought any type of activity, whether it be physical or mental, would help her mother become more engaged with the world again.

  Stacey rose from her chair and left her mother’s bedchamber. After taking a moment to compose herself, she went down the stairs. As soon as she saw who her visitor was, she almost turned around and headed back up the stairs.

  Unfortunately, Lady Eloise saw her and came over to her. “Are you aware that we’re related?” she asked, keeping her voice quiet.

  Stacey released her breath. She didn’t think Lady Eloise would come by to discuss this. In fact, she didn’t think Lady Eloise would come by to discuss anything with her.

  Realizing she had to deal with this, Stacey went to the settee. The butler had set out tea and biscuits for them. Lady Eloise had already drunk from her cup, and a half-eaten biscuit was next to the cup.

  Feeling like a prisoner about to go in front of a firing squad, Stacey picked up her cup and sat down. Lady Eloise sat across from her and took the rest of the biscuit, using the same careful mannerisms she had while she was the leader of Ladies of Grace.

  Stacey inwardly shuddered. She had forgotten how insecure she’d felt around the imposing lady.

  “I hope you don’t think I knew about the agreement our fathers made before it was printed in the Tittletattle for everyone to see,” Lady Eloise said, still keeping her voice low.

  “No, I didn’t think that,” Stacey hurried to assure her. “I didn’t know. I don’t think anyone but the actual people involved knew.” Not knowing what else to say, she sipped her tea.

  “This whole thing is terribly awkward. Especially for both of us. All this time we were sisters, and we didn’t know it.”

  Half-sisters. But Stacey supposed there was no point in saying that. “My father did a lot of things I probably never knew about.” Nor did she want to. She sipped more tea.

  “Have you wondered who else might be related to us? I mean, we could have a dozen or so brothers or sisters. It sounds like our father made the,” she lowered her voice, “arrangement with quite a few people.”

  “I don’t want to know.” It made her sick to her stomach to even think about it.

  “Well, it’s not like we’ll find out. None of the gentlemen want to be disgraced. Look at what happened to the gentleman I thought was my father. He left the country. I have no idea where he went.”

  Stacey hadn’t thought of how the news had affected Lady Eloise. Perhaps she felt as isolated from the rest of the world as Stacey did. Maybe that was why she came here. Maybe she needed someone she could relate to, someone who knew exactly what she was going through.

  “The whole thing is terrible,” Stacey agreed. “I don’t even want to leave this townhouse.”

  “There’s no reason to feel that way. We didn’t do the awful deed. They did. We’re innocent.”

  “I know, but people must be whispering about the whole sordid thing.”

  “If they are whispering, they’re only whispering about how sorry they are for us. If any of them say something bad about either of us, they would suffer the scorn of the Ton.”

  Stacey wasn’t sure what to say to that, so she picked up a biscuit and bit into it to avoid having to reply.

  “You know what I think?” Lady Eloise asked.

  Since she had no idea what Lady Eloise could possibly be thinking, Stacey shook her head.

  “I think this is an excellent time to bring back the good standing of Ladies of Grace. People will look favorably upon me now. I understand that what I said to Lady Youngtown was in bad taste, and I’ll never do anything like that again. So it’s acceptable to let me back into the group.”

  Not sure she understood her right, Stacey asked, “You want to use this horrible scandal to our advantage?”

  “There’s nothing wrong in grabbing an opportunity when one is right in front of you. People do it all the time. Lady Youngtown did it, and look at how well that went for her.”

  It was on the tip of Stacey’s tongue to tell her that she didn’t think Lady Youngtown planned for things to go in her favor, but Lady Eloise continued, “I need to be back in the group. It would be advantageous to both of us. You’re my sister. That makes you equal to me. We could lead things. Just because Miss Wilmington and Miss Webb married into positions that have given them titles, it doesn’t mean they get to remain where they are in the group. We could make the rules. They’d have to do what we want, or they can seek out another group or create their own. I don’t see why they should be entitled to Ladies of Grace. They didn’t build it up. I did.”

  Stacey’s stomach tensed. So that was why Lady Eloise had stopped by. She was looking for an ally. “Did you talk to Miss Wilmington or Miss Webb about this?”

  Too late, she remembered she should be using their married titles. Before Stacey could amend the slip, Lady Eloise waved her hand in dismissal.

  “I did,” Lady Eloise said, “but they’re too dull of understanding to know a good thing when it comes th
eir way. That’s why we’d have to take over things. You’re a member. You can bring me back to the group.”

  “I don’t think I can. The rules state that two ladies must agree to have someone in the group. Even if I were to agree to it,” which she didn’t, “you’d still need either the Duchess of Ravenshire or Lady Blakemoor to vote you in.”

  “That’s only if there aren’t any other members. I’m sure the Duchess of Ravenshire and Lady Blakemoor are looking to acquire more members. All you need to do is make sure at least one new member is willing to vote me in.”

  Oh. So that was how Lady Eloise was going to wiggle her way back into the group. Stacey let out an uneasy sigh. She couldn’t do it. It wasn’t simply a matter of not wanting to manipulate things so that Lady Eloise could slip back into the group. She didn’t want Lady Eloise in the group. It was bad enough Lady Blakemoor was in it.

  “I’m sorry, Lady Eloise, but I can’t go through with this,” Stacey said.

  “I know you can’t do it now. The time isn’t right.”

  She set her cup down and clasped her hands together in case Lady Eloise saw them shaking. “No. The time will never be right. I can’t cast my vote in your direction.”

  “But we’re sisters.”

  “I know, but that doesn’t change the fact that I’d rather not have you in the group.”

  Lady Eloise gasped. “Well, if that isn’t a fine thing to say to someone who just found out the gentleman she thought was her father paid another gentleman to do the job for him. I’ve been deeply wounded. My life will never be the same after this. I have very little money and a daft husband who doesn’t even have a title.”

  When Stacey didn’t respond, she slammed her cup on the table. Stacey jerked back. In all the time she’d known Lady Eloise, she’d never seen her slam anything.

  “All right,” Lady Eloise said, barely keeping her voice calm. “I see how things are. No one wants me in the group. Not even my own flesh and blood. I give up. The group will go to you three. You three don’t know anything about establishing a group’s reputation because I was the one who did all the work. It’s not as easy as it looks.”

  Lady Eloise glared at her for a moment that reminded Stacey so much of her father then stormed out of the drawing room. It wasn’t until she heard the front door slam that Stacey was able to breathe again.

  Chapter Fourteen

  “The truth is that I don’t know anything about investing,” Nick told Lord Steinbeck the next day as he sat across from him in the den. “I know how to spend as little money as possible, and I can save money. But I’ve never made a profit with it. My wife says you and your wife are skilled when it comes to investing. She thinks we could learn a great deal from you two.” He glanced at the door. “Should we all be talking together?”

  “I like to talk to gentlemen without their wives around if the topic is money,” Lord Steinbeck replied. “I’m sure my wife is talking about money right now with your wife, but ladies tend to let emotions factor into the equation.”

  Really? Nick wondered how they did that.

  As if reading his mind, Lord Steinbeck reclined back in his chair and said, “For instance, my wife refuses to put any money into a certain shop because the gentleman’s wife was rude to her. I don’t know exactly what happened because I wasn’t there, but she won’t take part in the business. I, on the other hand, have done business with some gentlemen even though their wives don’t think well of me. It doesn’t bother me what their wives think. I’m not interested in doing business with the ladies. I’m only interested in doing business with their husbands. As long as I make a profit, their wives can say whatever they want to about me.”

  When Lord Steinbeck put it like that, Nick supposed it made sense. Though, he couldn’t completely fault Lady Steinbeck. He didn’t know if he’d want to do business with a gentleman whose wife didn’t like Tara. Did that mean he didn’t have what it took to be good at investing? Was he letting emotions override good judgment?

  “Just so you know,” Lord Steinbeck began, “I didn’t invest with the gentleman with the rude wife. I couldn’t do that to my wife. An investment is temporary. Marriage is forever. A happy wife makes for a happy life. Some things aren’t worth upsetting your wife over. I’m just saying that if someone doesn’t like me, I’ll still invest with them if they’re good at it.”

  Nick relaxed. Maybe he had a chance of being good at investing after all.

  “The first thing you need to do is settle all of your debts,” Lord Steinbeck told him. “I don’t think it’s wise to invest anything until then.”

  “I plan to do that as soon as the gentleman I owe money to contacts me.”

  “Who do you owe money to?”

  “I don’t know his title or if it’s his real name, but he goes by Evermont.”

  “Evermont?”

  At first, Nick thought Lord Steinbeck repeated the name because he, like so many others, had never heard of him before. But when Nick caught the worry in his eyes, he realized Lord Steinbeck had heard of him. “What do you know about him?”

  “I know you don’t want to upset him. He’s not someone to do business with lightly.” He paused. “You took out a loan from him?”

  “No, I didn’t. My father did, but now that my father’s dead, I have to pay the debt.”

  “That’s unfortunate.”

  Nick’s gut tightened in dread. The more he learned about Evermont, the more he wished he’d never heard of him. More than that, he wished his father had never taken a loan from him to begin with.

  “You want my advice on handling Evermont?” Lord Steinbeck asked.

  Since he was the only one Nick had run into who had heard of him, he nodded. He’d welcome any insight into the gentleman that he could get.

  “Don’t argue with him,” Lord Steinbeck said. “Pay him off as quickly as you can. Then stay away from him.”

  Nick swallowed the lump in his throat. “Do you know who he is?”

  “No. I’ve only heard about him from several gentlemen who lost their estates to him. Whoever he is, he doesn’t show mercy.”

  Then Tara was right in her estimation of him. She had him figured out without even knowing anything about him. “I’m waiting for him to contact me. I can’t find out where he lives, or else I would have already gone to him about paying him.”

  “You’ve heard of fox hunting, haven’t you?”

  Nick nodded. “I’ve done it.”

  “Evermont loves to play the hound,” Lord Steinbeck said. “When he’s ready, he’ll make his move. You can’t do anything about him until then. In the meantime, the best thing you can do is make sure you’re ready to pay him when he’s ready. Other than that, you’re stuck waiting for him. In the meantime, I’ll be happy to help you invest the rest of your money.”

  “Thank you.” Maybe there wasn’t much he could do about Evermont, but he could learn how to take good care of the money he and Tara had left. And that, at least, was a step in the right direction.

  ***

  “I appreciate you letting my husband and me learn from you and your husband about how we can best earn money from investments,” Tara told Lady Steinbeck before she bit into the scone Lady Steinbeck had offered her.

  “It’s nice to come across a lady who’s interested in investing,” Lady Steinbeck replied. “You’re the only one in London that I know about.”

  Tara swallowed the food. “I’ve always been interested in the management of money. I just couldn’t get a hold of any until I turned twenty-one. My brother wouldn’t let me do anything with my allowance. I suppose you can’t call it an allowance since I had no control over it. I had to spend it exactly the way he wanted me to. He would go through every entry on the ledger and talk to shop owners to make sure I did as he wished.”

  Lady Steinbeck grimaced. “That sounds awful.”

  “It was. I’m glad I’ll never have to deal with him again. Being married has freed me from all of that.”

&nbs
p; “Usually, you hear the opposite. Marriage is often seen as another form of bondage.”

  “You don’t think that, do you?” Tara asked as she took a sip of tea.

  “No, of course not. My husband is very good to me. Unlike you, however, I had plenty of freedom to handle my money the way I wanted before I married. My father was very good to me. He taught me everything he knows about investing, and he let me pick out my own investments when I turned fifteen. I’ve been investing ever since.”

  Tara finished her scone then turned to her in interest. “Are you telling me that gentlemen deal directly with you when you invest in their businesses?”

  “No, that’s not what I mean. I always had to go through my father to make the investments. Gentlemen would never take me seriously if I were to go directly to them.”

  So Tara wasn’t the only one who had difficultly getting gentlemen to listen to her. “I had a terrible time buying a carriage on my own. After that, I knew I needed my husband to do the talking for me in the future.”

  “It’s frustrating, isn’t it?”

  “Very.” Tara took another sip of her tea.

  “I don’t know why so few gentlemen think ladies are intelligent enough to handle money. We’re not daft. If you ask me, plenty of gentlemen do a horrible job of managing their own estates. And yet, does a gentleman running a business ever question whether or not another gentleman can be trusted? No. He assumes that just because he’s a gentleman, he knows what he’s doing.”

  “Most of them do think that.” Tara’s brother certainly had. Which was probably why he hadn’t sold off her jewelry. He probably didn’t think she was smart enough to know how to sell it for money.

  “Well, I’m glad to finally meet a lady who has a passion for making more money. I don’t mind talking about clothes or what’s happening in London, but my real passion is investing.”