Page 7 of Scandalous Heiress
“You’ll be at tea, Papa?”asked Deirdre.
“I won’t come unless you do,” Viv said to him with a pout.
Ada smiled at both girls.She understood now they inherited the red in their thick hair from their father.Their marvelous eyes and pure complexion came from their paternal grandmother, the duchess.If they possessed any traits of their deceased mother, it was not apparent to Ada.
“I will, indeed,” he said and gathered them both close in his arms.“Do go.Wu-lai, please take them for a bath.”
“Ouuu,” said the youngest.“No, I—”
“We will,” said the oldest with sharp reproof to her young sister.“Come along, Dee.”At that she pulled on her father’s coat and he bent for a kiss on the cheek from her and his other child.
The four adults settled into their seats.
As the duchess poured tea, she began an introduction of her son with information she’d not imparted to Ezzie and Ada before this.He owned a factory in Shanghai and imported all manner of household goods to Great Britain and the Continent.“And he is here in England to solidify arrangements for publication of his first book.”
Ada liked novels.“What is it you’ve written, my lord?”
“It’s rather dry, I’m afraid.You might not be interested, Miss Hanniford.”
His mother raised one brow at him.
He demurred.
“Do tell me anyway,” she insisted.Impertinent fellow.You won’t fend me off.
“I’ve written a description of the practices of the Chinese traders in the treaty port of Shanghai.”
“It’s a guide, isn’t it, Victor?”his mother encouraged as she handed over tea cups and saucers to Ada and Ezzie.
Ezzie cocked her head.“Do the Chinese deal so very different from our methods?”
“Indeed.Their culture demands their mandarins—their government officials—stay aloof from merchants.”
“Why is that?”Ezzie was surprised.
“They value education above all,” Ada put in what she’d learned from discussions with her father, her brother Pierce.“They follow Confucius, a wise man who wrote many centuries ago.He put forward a set of principles that honors right thinking and rues those who work with money,” Ada dare not move as she warmed to the unsettling heat of Lord Victor’s stare.“They need those who willingly work with foreigners.Especially merchantmen.”
“Yes,” he said with a lingering consideration of her eyes and her lips.
She shifted in her chair.If his gaze was hot, he remained cold, frozen in his treatment of her.She liked men who warmed to her.Were open to her.And most were.Most wanted something from her, her approval, her affection, her body.Most moved closer.
But this man glanced away.
“You have a term for them, don’t you?These agents?”She acted as if she had not noticed his disregard, as if butter would melt in her mouth.These facts about the Chinese she’d gleaned from discussions with her father, who owned a world-wide shipping company, and Pierce, her older brother, who had dealings in Bombay and Shanghai.
“We do.”Victor Cole turned his attention toward her once more.His mouth thin, he did not appear happy about her knowledge.Was he one of those who thought women brainless ninnies?
“Acomprador, is it?”She wanted to crow, triumphant.
“Indeed, it is.”
“You have one?”Ezzie asked, not to be outdone, since her father had trade in China and Japan.
“I do.I am pleased to say he has been in my employ for more than three years.”
“You like him?”Ezzie asked as she raised her teacup.“Personally?”
“I do.His entire family, in fact.Wu-lai, whom you’ve met, is his oldest daughter.”
