Page 86 of Road Trip With a Rogue
Tess gave a gentle snort. “You won’t need to worry about money if you marry Vaughan. Even Justin’s in awe of his skill on the stock market. The man could buy you a new knife every day of the year if you wanted one.”
“I don’t need any more knives,” Daisy said despondently. “What I need is a husband who loves me.”
Ellie patted her knee. “You’ll get one. I’m sure of it. Remember what that hermit said about true love and dark highways?”
Daisy rolled her eyes. “That fact that we putanystorein the random scribblings of a man paid to wear a false beard and live in a fake grotto in Vauxhall Gardens just shows how desperate we all were to find husbands a couple of years ago.”
“True, but he hasn’t been wrong yet,” Ellie countered stubbornly. “If your fortune had said something about hot air balloons, or boats, or haunted castles, then it would be different. But you have to admit that it seems more than mere coincidence. It feels like fate.Destiny.”
Daisy was saved from having to reply as they drew up outside Wansford House. Ellie and Tess both descended to join their husbands on the front steps, while Daisy remained in the carriage.
She hoped Vaughan might accompany her for the final part of the journey, but he chose to keep riding.
At least he hadn’t joined Perry and Violet in the other carriage. That would have been the ultimate snub.
Violet and her father lived not far from King & Co., in Bloomsbury, near the British Museum, and Daisy glanced up in awe at the newly built mansion they occupied. The area had undergone a frenzied bout of gentrification over the past few years, as newly rich merchants like Brand constructed their own grand houses to rival those more established ones in Mayfair and St. James’s.
Violet was already rushing up the steps, with Perry close behind, when Daisy opened the carriage door, and her heart made a foolishthumpas Vaughan materialized to help her down. She took his hand, and the feel of his black-gloved fingers steadying hers brought a flush to her face.
Those hands.
Brand himself was waiting for them in a rather grand study. Known to be a ruthlessly competent businessman, he had a broad face and slightly jowly cheeks that gave him the look of a tenacious bulldog.
Despite the affectionate way he was embracing his daughter, there was no mistaking the frigid air of displeasure that emanated from his stocky figure. The corners of his mouth turned down as he disengaged himself from Violet’s tentacle-like hug, and Daisy’s spirits dropped as he shot an awkwardly loitering Perry a cold glance, then nodded curtly to Vaughan.
“Your Grace, good morning.”
“Mr. Brand.”
“And Miss Hamilton, I see. Well, what a party this has become.” Brand’s tone was icy.
He gestured to a group of chairs and settees positioned near a large globe. “Please, have a seat.”
Violet tugged Perry down to sit beside her on one of the love seats while Brand settled in a leather-and-mahogany library chair. That left Daisy and Lucien to share a green velvet chaise longue, and Daisy tried not to fidget as his long thigh brushed against her own.
He was definitely doing it on purpose, but the look on his face betrayed nothing but lordly disinterest. He was an excellent dissembler, and she had a sudden thought about what it would be like to work with him on a case for King & Co. He would make a formidable partner.
“So, you’re married,” Brand said brusquely to Violet.
“I am.” She nodded, and there was a trace of defiance in the slight jut of her chin that made her look remarkably like her father. Violet might seem like a fragile little flower, just like her namesake, but beneath her pretty frivolity she apparently had a will of iron. Daisy’s opinion of her went up several degrees.
Brand gave an unhappy grunt. “Without my permission.”
Violet tossed her golden ringlets and opened her mouth, but Daisy decided to intercede.
“Mr. Brand. Please accept my apologies for failing to complete the task you set me.”
He turned to her, and his eyes narrowed. “A failure indeed. I must tell you, Miss Hamilton, that I am most seriously displeased. King and Company came highly recommended to me, but it seems my faith was misplaced.”
Daisy felt her cheeks heat at his chastisement. She hated the fact that she’d failed—and that his anger was justified.
“You have forfeited your payment, of course,” he said severely. “And if anyone asks me about your firm, I shall caution them against engaging you for anything but the most basic of tasks.”
It was hard not to defend herself. Lucien was the one at fault; he’d thwarted her at every turn, but she refused to pin the blame on him.
“Again, I apologize. If there’s anything King and Company can do to make amends—”
Violet, apparently reaching the belated realization that her father’s indulgence only extended to herself, interrupted her.