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Toby sent Robbie a brief look, avoided looking at Duckie entirely, and focused on Mr. Hawthorne.

“I had a long chat with one of the production team while we were on the set of The Ceramics Challenge,” he said, spilling the idea he had hoped to form more completely before talking about it. “Aaron Powter. He was the representative from Silver Productions, who was there because he’s a fan of Robbie’s work.”

When Toby glanced to Robbie, he was startled to find Robbie watching him intently, his eyes wide. Now was not the time to ask what that was all about, though.

“I told him about Hawthorne House,” Toby went on, focusing on Mr. Hawthorne again. “I pitched it to him as a potential location for period drama shoots. He seemed interested.”

Duckie snorted derisively. “I thought it was made clear to you by other production companies that the house had been altered too much in the renovations that made it into a school for use in period dramas,” he said, shifting closer to Mr. Hawthorne, like he could block Toby from the man’s sight and eliminate him from the discussion.

“True, the house wouldn’t be suitable for wide-angle shots without some additional work,” Toby said, bristling with nervous energy at going against his mentor. “But the grounds have all sorts of stunning features. The jousting ring, not the game one, the actual one, wouldn’t take much dressing to make it look authentically medieval. After the success of that show,After the War, Silver Productions is looking into greenlighting more queer historical entertainment. They’ve got a pilot script for a medieval show their team is mulling over right now.”

“Interesting,” Mr. Hawthorne said, stroking a hand through his long beard. “I’d only ever thought about the house for filming, but there could be a lot of things on the grounds.”

“If the production company wanted to take the time and expense of updating things to suit whatever purpose they have,” Duckie said, laughing like the idea was silly. “Hollywood moves at a notoriously slow pace, whereas Willoughby Enterprises is willing to write a check by the end of the week.”

There it was. Duckie was under a time crunch. He was trying to push things through so fast the Hawthornes wouldn’t have time to scrutinize the deal.

“I could call my contact at Silver Productions and ask them to come for a visit ASAP,” Toby said.

“That would be fantastic,” Mr. Hawthorne replied.

“Toby, could I speak to you for a moment?” Duckie said, turning his attention directly to Toby.

He started out of the studio, gesturing for Toby to follow him.

Toby sent a glance to Robbie, who didn’t seem to know what to think, then followed Duckie out to the hall.

“Silver Productions could really—” he started once he and Duckie were alone.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” Duckie hissed at him, standing so close that Toby wanted to take a large step back.

“Looking out for the best interests of the Hawthorne family,” Toby said, standing his ground.

There weren’t words for how intimidating it was to have the man who had picked him out of an entire class of aspiring businessmen to mentor glaring at him. The words “I brought you into this world and I can take you out of it again” rang in Toby’s head, in a different context than he’d ever heard them. And without a shadow of a doubt, Duckie could destroy any chance of a career in finance that he had.

“These hippie, weirdo nobs don’t know what’s best for them,” Duckie hissed in a close whisper, flicking spit on Toby’s suit jacket. “Do you know what kind of commission I could make from this deal? Millions. Enough to retire in style. I won’t have some cheap faggot ruin the best deal to come my way in years. So back off, or I’ll send you right back to the gutter where you came from.”

Duckie stepped back and looked at Toby like he was something that had gotten stuck to his shoe, then he turned, put his fake smile on, and headed back into the studio.

“Sorry about that,” he said to Robbie and Mr. Hawthorne, while Toby stood there stunned and bleeding. “How about we sit down and sign a few papers, hmm?”

It was like being slashed with a knife to have the man he’d admired so much speak to him that way and using those words. The wound was still raw and numb, and he barely heard Mr.Hawthorne say, “I need to speak to the entire family about this first. This isn’t the sort of decision that can be made in a day.”

“I understand perfectly,” Duckie said, which was a blatant lie. “Take all the time you need.”

Toby was glad that, despite his eccentricities and terrible head for business, Mr. Hawthorne was smart enough not to jump at anything. He just hoped there was time to convince the family there was another way to go.

He glanced into the pottery studio as Duckie continued to make his case and sell his idea. Robbie was watching him with a troubled look. As much as Toby wanted to think he could read Robbie like a book, he didn’t actually have the first idea what that look meant. But he had a horrible feeling that Robbie had witnessed his dressing down and was realizing that the two of them were too different to ever make anything romantic or hot between them work.

THIRTEEN

Three days ago,Robbie would have watched Toby and Charles Duckworth talking in the hallway and assumed Toby was trying to undermine the family and sell out Hawthorne House. Now, he wasn’t so certain.

“How did things go with you and Toby up in Staffordshire?” his dad asked as the two of them waited for whatever Duckworth and Toby had to say to each other to be finished.

“Hmm?”

Robbie was too deep in his thoughts to register his dad’s question right away. He’d been thinking of how Toby had fetched him paracetamol, not once, but twice. He was thinking of the deep conversation Toby had had with the guy from Silver Productions, how he had assumed the two of them were flirting. He was thinking of the easy, friendly manner Toby’d had at the pub, how everyone had seemed drawn to him, and how, now that Robbie thought about it, most of the conversation had revolved around Hawthorne House.

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