Page 83 of Ravishing Camille
The issues of time were irrelevant to many. “Didn’t you fall in love with Liv quickly?”
His father inhaled and threw him a crooked smile. “You have me.”
“I’m eager to meet with Lee again when he comes through Paris. I must talk with him about the pricing on that steel which I so miscalculated. But also, I’d like to talk over another plan I have. And it involves Victor. I consider discussing with Lee buying sixty percent of my shares in Victor’s and my company. That would give him local control. Too because he is part Chinese, he understands the people.”
“A significant proposal. Do you think he would consider it if Victor approves?”
“I think so. Victor is more interested in politics. His business is merely his income to him. He does not care much how he achieves it as long as it is honorable.”
His father nodded. “On that, I do agree. So then what of Lee? What is your assessment of his thinking on the matter?”
“Lee is aggressive but careful. Devoted to details. Usually never impulsive.” Pierce smiled. “His love for Brianna Price aside.”
Killian laughed. “I say then if your instinct says approaching him is the right thing to do, then do it.”
He took a calming breath. “I have more to discuss and for this, I hope you will give me your blessing.”
That last word changed the tone and Killian tipped his head. “What is this?”
“I’m going to get married.”
His father was not so much surprised as concerned. He set his jaw and narrowed his gaze. “Do I know this lady?”
“Camille.” Pierce licked his lips. “If she’ll have me.”
His father frowned, his anxiety aging him. “I dare say there is no question of that. Camille has worn her heart on her sleeve for you for many years. I want to congratulate you, son. I want to say the same to her. But I am troubled. Liv and I have known, seen how Camille cares for you. But we thought you did not look upon her in the same light. Camille knew it, too. As a result, she’s fought hard to look elsewhere.”
“I’m aware of that. In fact, I knew she cared for me but I pushed the idea aside thinking she’d grow out of the attachment. I always thought she’d find another man. She’s no longer a child, but a woman with fine attributes and ambitions.In the ensuing years, I’ve come to know her, full grown. In the past weeks, I’ve grown to love her. Now I want to marry her.”
His father looked away.
Pierce worried he couldn’t convince his father of the rightness of his regard for Camille. He knew not what else to say. “I hope you and Liv will approve.”
The worry that had creased his father’s brow melted away like sun over snow. His grin brought brilliance to Pierce’s day. “My dear son, why would we not?”
Relief swept over him. “I have much to do before I ask her. I’ve a few men to see, a house to rent. And I assure you I’ve not forgotten my promise to you to negotiate the Liverpool laborers’ issues.”
“Mid-month. You’ll still want to do that amid wedding preparations?”
“If the lady accepts me, I hope we can set a date for later in September.”
“Thank you. As long as your bride agrees. I would not wish to stand in the way of anything Miss Bereston wants when it comes to you.”
Pierce laughed but his heart hammered at the bigger question of whether she would want him. “Nor I, sir.”
His father came around his desk and opened his arms to him. “Congratulations. I am delighted for you. I know you’ll be happy. We must tell Liv.”
“Yes. Now would be best.”
At the news, Camille’s mother found a chair in which to sink. In her own office with samples of Lyon chiffon in a rainbow of colors spread across her work table, she stared at Pierce and could not for the longest time find her voice. When she did, tears muffled her words. “Camille loved you from the first moment she met you. She loves you as a woman now.”
“She does.”
“Never has she regarded you as her brother.”
“Nor should she.” By affection they’d always been bound.
“A happy marriage,” she said in a wistful note. “Helps a person become his or her best self.”
