Page 29 of Winterset
He shrugged. “My mistake.”
“All right, then,Your Grace. In your lofty opinion, what should I do about Winterset?”
Charlie sobered, his teasing manner falling away. “Like I said, I think you should set aside what has happened in your past and focus on the future.”
“You make it sound so simple.”
“Itissimple. You have enough money to begin repairs, and the income thatyouwill now be collecting from your tenants will carry you from month to month. You will have to economize, to be sure, but if you are prudent, you can do this.”
“Prudence is not a virtue my father instilled in me.” If anything, it was the opposite. As the second son of an earl, I’d lived a life of luxury and opulence.
“You cannot tell me you aren’t excited about renovating Winterset,” Charlie said, the clip-clop of our horses’ hooves punctuating his sentence.
“Excitedis far too optimistic a word.” I stared at the road before us.
“Eager, then?” Charlie pressed on.
“Quite the opposite.”
“Tell me you are, at the very least, curious.”
I couldn’t deny that my mind was muddling through possibilities for the estate. “I suppose.”
“Curiosity.” Charlie grinned. “That will do well enough.”
“Will it?”
He nodded. “Curiosity has inspired many men to accomplish many great things.”
Even if I accomplished the daunting task of bringing Winterset into this century, it would not be considered a great accomplishment but merely fixing my previous mistakes. “I’m still not convinced that it can be done. With the state of my finances, how would I even hire a steward?”
“You could manage things yourself,” Charlie said.
I eyed him skeptically. “You mean, act as myownsteward?”
He shrugged as though the idea weren’t completely absurd. “You are better at numbers than three stewards combined.”
“Three stewards combined? That makes no sense.”
“See! You are already catching errors.”
I huffed a laugh. “Shall I act as my own butler as well? I could cook and clean too?”
“Oh, no.” Charlie made a show of shaking his head. “Mrs. Owensby wouldneverallow that.”
“At least we agree on something.” I sighed. “To pull this off, I would have to live like a pauper.”
“You might,” Charlie said. “But I daresay that is more agreeable to you than the alternative.”
I considered the alternative: returning to Summerhaven and begging my brother for assistance, money that, thanks to our father, Damon did not have to spare. And even if he did, why would he give it to me? He thought me vain and selfish. I had been when last he’d seen me. But I’d experienced much over the last two years on my Grand Tour, and I believed myself better for it. But my current situation would do nothing to improve Damon’s opinion.
My family was better off without me.
I thought about the long list of repairs I’d written in my notebook. “Who will do the work?” I wondered aloud.
“Youwill,” Charlie said.
I scoffed. “A gentleman cannot work on his own estate.”
