Page 51 of My One and Only Duke
Quinn had forgotten that Hyde Park early on a spring day was a slice of heaven. Birds flitted overhead in the luminous canopy of new leaves, the Serpentine reflected brilliant morning sunshine. Here was peace and beauty, right in the midst of London’s endless vice.
Stephen’s horse shied at a rabbit darting across the path, dislocating Stephen from the saddle not one bit.
“I do believe those two words—baby brother—are my least favorite pairing in any language,” Stephen said. “I wouldn’t be spying. I’m simply summarizing the endless stream of gossip, news, and hearsay that is heaped upon me daily by our loyal staff. Kristoff and Ivor are having a row over the new maids, for example.”
Kristoff and Ivor barely spoke when in livery. “What sort of row?”
“Don’t be an idiot. You might be married to your bank, but the rest of us are human.”
“I am married to Jane.” Which made Quinn increasingly uneasy. He slept beside Jane every night, to the extent he ever slept, and to the extent he could sleep when she was in and out of the bed so frequently.
Quinn almost enjoyed squiring her about to the glovemaker’s or the milliner’s—almost—but did Jane enjoy her post as his self-appointed bodyguard?
“I like Jane,” Stephen said. “She can’t play chess worth a tinker’s prayer, but she’s a good sport and she puts up with Althea and Constance. I think you’d like Jane too if you’d give her a chance, Your Grace.”
I do believe those two words…“I’m glad you and Jane are getting along. I’d take it as a favor to me if you’d teach her to shoot.”
Stephen halted his horse. “You should teach her. She’s your wife. Joshua says you’re frequently gone from the bank, off doing God knows what. Jane is determined that we all help keep your ungrateful self safe, which is difficult when we don’t know where to find you. Althea says the baby won’t settle for months yet, but leaving word with me of your whereabouts would be a husbandly courtesy. Mind, I’m not suggesting you tell your duchess what you’re about, because I would never meddle between man and wife.”
“What does that mean, the baby won’t settle?”
“Ask Jane.”
She and Quinn didn’t talk about the child. Jane had chosen a midwife and an accoucheur, and made second choices for each in case the first was unavailable. Always sensible, that was Jane.
“I don’t want to worry her. Please teach her to shoot.”
“You teach her to shoot. You’re her husband.”
Wentworths were stubborn, and Stephen was enjoying himself.
“You’re a dead shot,” Quinn said. “By comparison, I barely know which end of a gun does what.” Pistols were loud, they cost money, and they could fire at most four bullets, with little accuracy over any distance. Quinn was very good with a pistol, Stephen was brilliant. “A sharp knife is a poor man’s best friend.”
“You are not a poor man—or has that changed too? Is the bank in trouble?”
Stephen’s question was reasonable, but he had waited for one of few opportunities to raise it in private. Jane had asked Quinn to make this dawn jaunt with Stephen for three mornings in a row, and Quinn had relented mostly to appease her.
“The bank is in good health for the moment,” he said. “Any renewed scandal and we’re done.”
“Joshua says you’re thriving.”
Damn Joshua. “We’ve brought in some accounts from the working classes, I’m happy to report, though they have little in the way of funds. The major depositors are nervous. I’ve also been busy trying to learn the business of the dukedom.”
“Such a pity nobody else in your family has a grasp of basic math or simple mercantile concepts. All alone you must struggle on, the uncomplaining hero of some tragedy you’re determined to write in your own blood.”
“You sound like Jane.”
“I’m nearly quoting her on the subject of Ned and regular bathing, though I came up with the part about the tragedy myself. Jane said to ask you if I could help with the estate properties, because I have a fine head for numbers. Duncan seconded the motion, then Constance said if you hand me an estate to put to rights, she wants one too. Althea was at the glovemaker’s at the time, or she would have demanded a property as well.”
This was Jane being helpful. Also meddlesome as hell.
Another horseman rode toward them. A largish fellow on a largish bay, no white on the horse anywhere.
“I’ll review the stewards’ reports on the properties when I return from the bank this evening, but it’s not bank business that has occupied me so much over the past two weeks.”
Quinn’s groom—who did carry a gun, a knife, and a pocketful of sand—closed the distance between his horse and Quinn’s.
“That’s Elsmore,” Stephen said.
