Page 4 of Black and Silver

Regardless, he would not give up. London had been a failure for him, but perhaps he could visit the continent or the American colonies and find a willing bride there, one who was not overly concerned about being married to the man who createdthosesculptures.

“Oh, my lord.” Danforth stepped out into the hall, arresting Lawrence before he’d made it to the top of the stairs.

“Yes?” Lawrence asked, turning back to the man with a smile. He usually wore a smile, even though his brothers and cousins teased him for it. One could always smile, even when the world was sinking into a bog around him.

“Before you go, there is another letter for you waiting downstairs,” Danforth said. “It was just delivered by special courier, not more than ten minutes ago.”

“Thank you, Danforth,” Lawrence said, his smile going tight.

He turned and headed down the stairs, wondering which of the young ladies he’d spoken to at the opening of Joint Parliament the day before had turned down his request to call now.

But when he reached the table in the foyer where the silver salver that held correspondence rested, it was not another rejection from a lady that awaited him. Instead, the address on the envelope was written in the blocky, slightly splotched handwriting that most definitely belonged to a man.

Curious, he snatched up the envelope, broke the seal, then slowly, painstakingly, read its contents, his smile returning.

Godwin, I’ve had an inquiry from a gallery owner in Hamburg who would like to curate an exhibition of your sculptures basedon the theme of the four seasons. He is deeply familiar with your work and will pay well. But he has one unique requirement. Please call upon me for more.

It was sighed G. Loesser, the name of a friend and art broker Lawrence knew well.

“Excellent,” Lawrence said out loud, directing his comment to the two footmen who brought his traveling bags down while he’d been wrestling with the missive. “Hurry, hurry, lads. It appears as though I have a final errand to run before I’m through with London entirely.”

The footmen, kind, clever lads as they were, smiled at him as they carried his things out to the waiting carriage.

“Is this all of it, my lord?” Silas, his personal driver and sometimes valet, asked as he met the footmen at the door.

“It is,” Lawrence said, pausing to breathe in the cold, damp air as if it were the middle of summer. “As soon as it’s secured, we can go fetch Lady Minerva. Although I need to stop at Loesser’s offices along the way.”

Silas hummed and frowned, then said, “Begging your pardon, my lord, but the Oxford Society Club is on the way to Loesser’s gallery. If we go to the gallery then back again, it might take twice as long. I know you’re eager to be done with London.”

Lawrence sent Silas a kind smile. “You bring up a good point. Perhaps Lady Minerva would not mind attending this errand with me. We shall fetch her along the way, and then on to Loesser’s.”

“Very good, my lord.” Silas nodded and touched the brim of his hat, then held the door for Lawrence to hop into the carriage.

While Cedric detested it when his servants made suggestions and directed their master, Lawrence did not mind it at all. He trusted his servants. They’d been hired to do a job, and in almost every instance, they knew their job far better than he did. Because of that light hand with those many other gentlemenchose to command, most people, his family included, considered Lawrence to be weak of mind and even weaker of will.

Perhaps he was. He accepted what others thought of him without attempting to change it, and that made him seem a little too affable at times. But what point was there in attempting to change the ways of the world? The world was what it was, and as an artist, his job was to observe and render it in whatever medium he chose. It was not for him to change what God had made so perfectly.

The drive to the Oxford Society Club was uneventful. He was told that Lady Minerva had gone out on last-minute errands when he arrived, and since men were not permitted inside the club, except in the foyer, and only then when they were accompanied by a member of the club, and as the sky had begun to spit rain, he waited in his carriage until Lady Minerva made her appearance.

Lawrence nearly burst into laughter when she did finally appear. Lady Minerva was an enigma. No lady of her beauty and cleverness within thetonchose to dress as if she were a recent widow, the way Lady Minerva always did. Lawrence had always found that proclivity, and the sharp intelligence of the lady’s conversation, to be intriguing. When the opportunity had arisen for him to accompany Lady Minerva back to her home kingdom of Wales the day before, Lawrence had jumped at it. He needed to leave London anyhow, and Lady Minerva had provided him with the ideal excuse to flee.

And so he was in particularly good spirits when he stepped down from his carriage just as the lady passed and said, “Good day, Lady Minerva. Aren’t you looking fetching this fine morning.”

His words seemed to startle Lady Minerva far more than a greeting warranted. She grabbed his coat and dragged himtowards the door of the club, hissing, “Hurry! Hurry! We mustn’t be seen at all.”

Lawrence nearly laughed at the excitement of it all. Lady Minerva already seemed to be caught up in some sort of fantasy, though Lawrence could not see why she would be so anxious to get off the street. No one around them was paying either of them the slightest bit of attention.

“Are we escaping from the law today or evading some criminal gang?” he asked as they stepped into the foyer of the Oxford Society Club.

Perhaps as expected, Lady Minerva narrowed her eyes at him in a disapproving scowl.

“Do you find something amusing in my wish to be discreet, Lord Lawrence?” she asked in clipped tones.

“Not at all,” Lawrence said, still trying to remain affable, as was his nature. “I love a bit of excitement in the morning. It makes the afternoon so much more restful when one has packed in their adventure before luncheon.”

A flat silence filled the space between Lawrence and Lady Minerva for a moment as she continued to stare at him.

Then she sucked in a breath, stood straighter, and tilted her chin up slightly.

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