Page 38 of Her Wicked Highwayman
“Rachel Merton mentioned that you were anxious to meet me?”
And the lady got directly to the point. Diana also appreciated that.
“Yes, I was hoping you might be willing to speak to me about some investment opportunities?”
Lady Lennox chuckled. “So she told you I was a banker, did she?”
“She did,” Diana admitted. “I hope I’ve not caused offense, Lady Lennox.”
“Not at all,” Lady Lennox replied. “Please call me Rosalind. We are neighbors, after all, or so I hear.”
“We are. I must apologize for not introducing myself sooner when I learned Lord Lennox had married.” Diana drew in a breath. “I run my family’s estate alone.”
“Alone?”
“Yes, my parents are dead and I am unmarried. I’ve been kept busy managing the estate that they left to me as my inheritance, and my mourning for my father only ended a few months ago.”
Rosalind squeezed her arm. “Miss Fox, you need never apologize for such things. Grief can take such a toll, especially when one is left to bear the burden alone.”
“Please, call me Diana,” she said. “I would very much like to count you as a friend.”
Rosalind smiled, making her gray eyes sparkle. “Friends, certainly. Now tell me, what makes you need a woman banker?”
Diana was in the middle of explaining her dire financial situation when Lord Lennox returned and provided her with two cucumber sandwiches and a glass of punch.
“Eat those and I shall relay what you have told me to my husband.”
“Oh, you need not burden him with?—”
“Nonsense,” Lord Lennox said. “I take any burden my wife desires me to share.” He gave his wife such a lingering, deeply affectionate look that Diana’s chest ached with a longing to have the same.
She ate the sandwiches quickly and prayed she would not get hiccups after she rapidly downed her punch.
When Rosalind had finished, Lord Lennox said, “How much debt are you currently in?”
“At the moment, none. I was able to clear my father’s debts by selling everything I have of value aside from the land and the house.” It wasn’t a lie, if one didn’t mind half-truths.
“And what about your estate’s current needs? Do you have a way to handle those upcoming costs? What of the tenant farmers?” Rosalind asked.
“I have some plans, something that will take time, but I believe I will start coming into some money, which I would hope to invest at once. As for the farmers, I have been taking nominal rents because much of the cottages and equipment need to be repaired. The tenants have been handling the expenses for such things on their own. I am doing everything within my power not to have to sell my land or my house.”
“I understand, Miss Fox. Dare we ask how you will be acquiring these funds?” Lennox’s eyes narrowed slightly as he sensed she was withholding something.
“It’s rather embarrassing and I would rather not say.” Diana swallowed the lump in her throat. How was it that asking for help felt infinitely harder than robbing coaches?
“Ash, please do not press her for such details.” Rosalind gave her husband a stern look. “I will be handling her investments, and I am choosing not to ask. Sometimes a woman does things she must in order to survive, and how she does it is her own affair.”
The harshness of Lennox’s features faded. “Very well, my heart. You shall do as you see fit.” He winked at Diana, the expression teasing. She’d always thought the man so cold, at least from what she could remember of her few meetings with him in the past. He’d always been focused on business, but now his intensity was softened. Or rather, it had changed to an emotional intensity. It was a very pleasant change. Had she really thought this man to be Tyburn? It was silly now to think of her initial mistake, but in truth, she had no idea what Tyburn looked like. Only his eyes were fixed in her memory, his eyes and the way he spoke with that soft Scottish brogue. She couldn’timagine Lord Lennox ever donning a mask and changing his accent.
“Thank you, Rosalind, truly. And thank you, Lord Lennox, for the refreshments. It helped immensely.” The punch and sandwiches had steadied her a bit. She had not been lying about not eating earlier. She’d avoided breakfast and lunch in order to make sure she could still fit into a gown that she hadn’t worn in three years.
“Ashton, if you please,” he said. “If you are on such intimate terms with my wife, then I must insist you include me.”
Diana nodded. Even though Lord Lennox was only a baron within the peerage, he was by his nature and influence, financial and otherwise, one of the most powerful men in all of England. Even King George himself had been rumored to cower whenever this man entered the same room.
“I was sorry to hear about your father,” Ashton said. “I apologize for not coming to your home myself and seeing to your welfare.”
“Your mother and Joanna came to see me.” Diana’s face heated. She was not used to this kind of interest in her well-being, perhaps because she was so often alone these days. Other than visits from Rachel, she was quite a recluse. Except for her servants, she was out of touch with society. “They were so very kind.” They had brought food and flowers and had stayed with her while she’d wept. She had never felt they wished to be elsewhere in that moment, which many people often do when they are present in times of grief.
