Regency Collection 2013 Part 1. Louise Allen

kisses had gone?

      ‘Stop blushing, child. You’d be unnatural if you didn’t like it, a handsome young man like that. Just take care it doesn’t go too far—it is one thing having a warm flirtation, quite another finding yourself leg-shackled to an unsuitable man.’

      ‘Is he so unsuitable?’ Lily flipped the paper to the back page without looking up.

      ‘Of course he is! Your duty, Lily, my dear, is to marry a gentleman. A titled gentleman. That’s what your papa was working for all those years, the notion that his grandsons would be titled gentlemen.’

      Not for the first time the treacherous thought crept into Lily’s mind that perhaps Papa would have been content just for her to be happy, then she resolutely dismissed it. It was her duty to advance the family.

      With the idea of distracting Mrs Herrick, she scanned the third page of the paper for some gossip, but as the majority of the sheet was taken up with the report of a crim.con case in Hereford, which she strongly suspected she was not supposed to read, and a depressing account of the starvation in the Scilly Isles, Lily turned to the back page.

      ‘Is the advertisement for Dr Jordan’s Cordial Balm of Rakasiri in today’s paper?’ Mrs Herrick enquired. ‘I meant to tear it out the other day, for it sounds just the thing for Cousin Alison’s rheumatic gout, and then I forgot and the girl had used it to light the fire with.’

      ‘I’ll see.’ Lily ran a finger down the column. A furniture auction, a cellar of wines for sale, novelty piping bullfinches, several notes to creditors … ‘Yes, here it is. Do you really think it suitable? He also says it is an infallible cure for distressed bowels and for warming the chilled bodily fluids.’ Lily grinned, ‘Actually, that sounds as though it would be highly efficacious for Alison—I cannot think of anyone chillier.’ She was still smiling as she read the rest of the advertisement, and her eye moved down to the one below.

       Gentlemen desirous of obtaining a favourable opportunity for investment in a productive coal mine producing the finest grade of coal for the London market are invited to make themselves known to Mr Lovell, at the sign of the Green Dragon …

      ‘Lily? Whatever is the matter?’

      ‘Nothing, nothing at all. I was so foolish as to read all the horrid symptoms in this advertisement, which I should not have done while I was eating. I will copy the address and details down for you, shall I?’

      So, Jack was not waiting for her trustees to meet. Either he did not believe they would approve of her investing in the mine, or he had scruples about her doing so. And somehow, after last night, she felt certain those scruples would have hardened into resolve. Well, I can be quite as stubborn as you, Jack Lovell.

      ‘If you like, I will write to Dr Jordan and purchase some of this cordial balm.’ Lily stood up, the paper folded in her hand. ‘I have some correspondence to take care of this morning.’

      The order for the cordial balm was soon written. Lily pulled forward another sheet of notepaper and began to write.

      Dear Uncle Frederick, I know that the trustees are not due to meet for another week. However, knowing that you are still in London, I wonder if I might prevail on you to call this afternoon to discuss a new type of investment in which I am interested. I trust that Aunt and all the family continue well. I am, as ever, your affectionate niece, Lily.

      The six trustees had remained in town after the last meeting in order to attend the funeral of a business acquaintance; with any luck they would all have decided to stay on.

      The thought of taking a walk in the garden and just, quite casually, dropping in to see Jack was very tempting. Lily looked wistfully out of the window, then resolutely pulled a pile of papers and correspondence towards her. He would believe she was pursuing him, or reproaching him. Either was unthinkable.

      She had her head in her hands, trying to make sense of an involved letter from France & France’s principal agent in India, when a tap on the door made her look up.

      ‘Jack! Please come in.’ Her mind was so full of the complexities of the combined effect of a unusually severe wet season coupled with an improvement in transport for the tea down from the hills, that for a moment she forgot to feel any awkwardness at seeing Jack again in broad daylight. Then she remembered the previous night and blushed to her toes.

      Jack, however, seemed more than capable of keeping his countenance. Lily swallowed and tried to follow his example.

      ‘Am I interrupting? You seem very busy.’ Could she refer to last night? No, perhaps better not if he didn’t.

      Lily pushed the agent’s letter across the desk. ‘There is good news from Bombay, and bad news, and Mr Cummings, who is otherwise an excellent agent, rambles so much it is difficult to tell whether the end result is going to be a scarcity of good tea, a glut of poor tea or neither.’

      ‘But surely you do not need to concern yourself with this?’ Jack picked up the letter and read it. ‘Do you not have people to take care of this for you?’ He re-read the middle section. ‘Monsoon? Rates for coolies? Do you understand these issues?’

      ‘About as clearly as you understand one of your diagrams of coal seams and faults. Do you think all I did with my fortune was to spend it?’

      He hesitated for just a moment, then grinned. ‘Yes.’

      ‘So did Adrian. Papa raised me in the business as he would a son. He knew I would have to rely on agents and on my trustees to transact affairs, so he thought it was important that I would know when I was given good advice, or when someone was trying to cheat me. I was in India with him when he died—that is why I made such a late come-out.’

      ‘I am impressed.’

      ‘Thank you.’ She waved a hand at the ledgers on the shelves and the paperwork in front of her. ‘You see, I have to work at it. I research other investments as well, so I can discuss them with my trustees. It would be helpful if you could explain more about your mine and what it is you hope to achieve before the next trustees’ meeting.’

      ‘The paperwork is not yet ready.’

      Lily lowered her eyes so Jack could not read the irritation in them. Why was he too proud to approach her trustees when he would happily advertise in a newspaper? Because she was a woman? Because he had made love to her? Well, if he was too proud, then she would simply have to trick him for his own good.

      ‘Are you on your way out?’ He was holding his hat and gloves in his hand.

      ‘Yes. I have learned of a manufactory to the east of the City that is employing a new design of steam pump and I was going to visit it.’

      ‘Oh. So you will be out all day?’

      ‘Yes. I have told Mrs Oakman—or perhaps you wished me to accompany you to an At Home this afternoon?’ He assumed an expression of spurious willingness.

      ‘Certainly not, Mr Lovell.’ Lily kept her lips pursed in an effort not to smile. ‘Your rates are far too expensive for me to hire your escort more than once a week.’

      ‘Ma’am.’ He bowed, making no attempt to hide his own amusement. ‘I hope your work prospers.’

      Lily waited until the front door closed, then ran into the front room and twitched aside the curtain—Jack was striding down the road towards Oxford Street. She watched until she saw him hail a hackney carriage at the end of the road and then whirled round. How long had she got? Safely, probably two hours.

      She snatched up pen and paper as she passed the study and hurried down the garden path to the door up to the studio. As she hoped, it was unlocked and the table was covered with neat piles of notes and diagrams. She stood for a minute fixing their positions in her mind before she risked touching them.

      Her cousin Tobias had explained to her how, as a lawyer, he ‘got up’ a brief so as to be able to present a case powerfully in court. Now she had two hours to study Jack’s