Page 65 of The Lyon Returns
“Yet, they have chosen to make your purchase onerous.” He sounded nonplussed.
“I believe they merely wish to know I will make a good showing.”
“Make a good showing?” he burst out. “What do you intend to do with this business?” He looked at Gideon, blinking as if trying to work out a conundrum. “Gideon, I fail to understand how owning a publishing house benefits your trade.”
One corner of Gideon’s mouth crooked upward. “It does not, as far as I’m aware. The business is solely my wife’s pursuit.”
“To what end?” the duke asked, clearly bemused.
Gwen thought it best she answer for herself. “I wish to run it. To choose what I will publish and what I won’t, and continue editing manuscripts and such, of course.”
The duchess set her champagne flute down with a distinct click. “Editing, you say?”
She smiled at the duchess then the duke. “Editing books is a passion of mine.”
A pucker formed between Lady Ashwood’s well-shaped brows.
“Tell me more about this passion of yours, Gwen.” The duke’s effort at affability spoke volumes about his affection for Gideon.
Still. She wished the conversation would cease revolving around her. “What would you like to know, Lord Ashwood?”
“I wish to understand. I was under the impression my son makes a”—he blew air out of his cheeks—“reasonableliving and can afford to keep youmoderatelywell clothed with food on the table and a roof over your head.” His mouth quirked in a half grin.
Beside her, Gideon snorted.
The duke sent him a wink, then went on. “Yet you, his wife, desire towork.” He spoke the word as if it were a foreign concept.
The duchess’s audible sniff said she was not impressed, not that her husband paid her any heed.
As Gideon had so aptly depicted, he was larger-than-life, self-assured, and blithely unconcerned with what others thought—save for Gideon. He cared about Gideon, period.
Grayson spoke next. “If there is, by chance, anything I can do to aid you in dealing with these stakeholders, you have only to say the word.”
His sincerity was unmistakable. He, too, cared about Gideon, but then, she had known that from the start.
“I suppose, first and foremost, I have always been a voracious reader,” Gwen began. “No doubt I got that trait from my father. As a child, I recall him never being without a book, or tract, or newspaper or scientific journal before him.
“In my late teens, when his eyes began to fail, I volunteered to assist him in his work. I developed a love for the business, for bringing the best out of authors, for finding new voices, and exposing the public to greater schools of thought.”
“Greater schools of thought. I see.” The duke drummed his fingers on his knee. “So, it’s not about the money.”
She considered briefly. “It’s notallabout the money.”
After a beat of silence, the duke’s robust laughter filled the chamber.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Gideon’s white teeth flash.
Without a word, the duchess rose to her feet.
Taking his time, the duke reined in his humor and unfolded from his armchair. “Gideon, you do not mind if I escort Gwen into dinner, hm?”
Several hours later,having survived predinner cocktails and five elaborate dining courses, Gwen followed a stoic Lady Ashwood from the dining hall following her pronouncement that the ladies would adjourn. There was nothing unusual about the practice of the women parting briefly from the men after the evening meal.
Still. Gwen could not imagine what she and the duchess might have to discuss.
Lady Ashwood paused before an open door, indicating Gwen should precede her into the chamber.
She crossed the threshold into a breathtakingly beautiful library. Floor-to-ceiling shelves filled with leather bound books in all sizes lined the walls. The ceilings rose so high no one could have any hope of reading the titles on the upper shelves, much less of reaching them without the ornate, scrolling ladders affixed to each wall section.
