Page 74 of A Duchess to Fight For
Chapter 19
Hobart sat behind his desk across from Percy. They both sipped their whiskies while waiting for Frederick.
Hobart punctured the silence. “So, you’re waiting for Louisa to ask you to marry her?”
“No. Where would you get an idea like that?”
“Frederick says you would marry her right now except you don’t know where you stand with her. So, why don’t you find out? Why don’t you ask her?”
Percy blew out a noisy breath. “Well, if you must know—”
“I must.”
“If you must know, if I ask her, and she says no, I’ve ruined the best relationship I’ve ever had. It would end up awkward, and we would eventually drift apart. I’d rather have her with me this way than to not have her at all.”
“Do you mean to tell me you don’t know how she feels?”
“No.”
Silence filled the room. The men looked everywhere except in each other’s eyes.
Hating the silence, Percy finally said, “What’s in the crates this time?”
“More crates of whisky. I think we could load an entire hold with crates of whisky one of these days.
“Bolts of fabric, grain.”
Percy took a sip, “All that could be sold in America. The bolts of fabric alone would be in high demand. Any reason you’re not sending a ship there?”
“Yes. Frederick. Too long a turnaround for him, and it is a chance the return trip would have an empty hold.”
“Hobart, are you still grousing about America?” Frederick said.
Hobart looked up. “It’s about time you got here. We had to talk about something. I was telling Percy how scared you are about venturing to America.”
“A topic for another time, please.”
“Are you as tired as you look?”
Frederick laughed. “I didn’t get any sleep last night. I feel like I wake every morning to the screw having been turned once again.”
“That’s not good. Would you like to start or should I?”
“I don’t know, Hobart. Is your news bad?”
“Yes.”
“How bad.”
Hobart scrunched up his face. He tilted his head, “Medium bad.”
Frederick shut his eyes and took a long breath in and out. “I’ll go first.”
After Frederick was finished with his news, there was silence in the room. Then Hobart and Percy started to speak at the same time. Hobart looked at Percy, eyebrow raised. Percy motioned for Hobart to proceed.
“I put one man each on Barton and Stafford. I also hired someone to dig up information on Stafford.
The man who calls himself Stafford Daniels, the Earl of Wessex, is not Stafford Daniels. His name is Xavier Abernathy. Daniels hired him to handle his affairs in London while he was in mourning.
