Page 12

Because it was a courtship. No matter what Lady Briar said, I saw the way she kept glancing at me. She was wearing a new perfume, one that made me breathe deeply and think of the elegant curve of her back as she?—

Well. That was in the past, I was pretty sure. Lady Briar wasn’t stupid enough to bring me into her employ as an advisors or whatever it was she was doing, then bed me again.

Even if I wanted her to.

But Lilah’s sudden appearance had taken all the wind from my sails. The aching gap in my chest was reopened and with it, all the memories of the arguments we’d had.

“You completely betrayed ? —”

“Betrayed is a little strong, don’t you think?”

“What would you prefer, Markham? Lied, stole, undermined…”

I swallowed, and tried to plaster the smile I had practiced onto my face. All I had to do was fake it for another hour. Then I could go back to the townhouse I was about to lose and think in the cold dark about all the mistakes I’d made, all the things I wished I could go back and change.

But until then…

“You don’t have to stay, if you don’t want to.”

I blinked. Lady Briar was staring with those light blue eyes of hers, piercing, as though she could see the pain in my chest. As though she’d heard every thought that had scattered through my mind since Lilah had been so cold to me.

“I don’t know what you mean,” I said automatically, looking at my starter. It was cold.

Lady Briar chuckled lightly. “I may not always be able to read you, Peregrine, but I'm not an idiot. You feel pretty awful, am I right?”

I glared up at her, unwilling to say anything. I wasn’t going to admit to?—

“If you just want to head home?—”

“You said this was a business meeting,” I said, trying to hold onto that fact and not about how delicious Lady Briar’s breasts had looked in that gown she’d arrived in. “I wouldn’t walk out of a business meeting just because of an awkward moment. That’s all it was. An awkward moment.”

It was so much more than that. But I wasn’t going to admit it.

Lady Briar’s smile suggested she was well aware of that, but apparently that was good enough for her, for she took a bite of her own starter and swallowed before speaking.

“You don’t always have to be the tough man, Peregrine.”

I swallowed.

Damn, how did this woman manage to unravel me with her kindness? I could defend myself against blows, against hurtful accusations—had laughed them off, time and time again.

But kindness? For that, I had no defenses.

“Why did you want to meet here?” I said abruptly. That was it, change the topic entirely. Lilah who? “This place in particular, I mean. The Queen’s Head.”

And there was that shift. I don’t think Lady Briar was even conscious she was doing it, but whenever she was asked her opinion, her shoulders slumped and she became somehow…

I don’t know, smaller. Younger, even. She could not be more than one and twenty, but whenever she was asked what she thought, the woman seemed to retreat into herself.

“You don’t like it?” she said quietly as I wolfed down my starter as swiftly as possible.

Christ, it was delicious. Perhaps that was the answer after all—the food was just really good.

“I like it,” I said, sipping my wine. “It’s one of the best restaurants in London. What I don’t understand is why you chose it for tonight.”

Because it was…romantic.

Hell, I couldn’t court Lady Briar Weatherford. She was not only a debutante, but an heiress twice over, a woman of the best stock of England. I had nothing, was nothing. Had nothing to offer but increasing debts and a terrible reputation, was nothing but a liar and a thief.

And she knew that.

Briar could do so much better than me. Surely she knew that?

“I wanted your opinion of it.”

I raised an eyebrow as our plates were cleared. “Why, thinking of bringing a future spouse here?”

Her face flushed immediately. “No! I don’t even—that doesn't matter.”

Had there ever been murmurs of an alliance between Lady Briar Weatherford and another house? I assumed there had been talks at one point—a young lady of such beauty and such wealth surely could not be left alone. There must be bachelors all over the place who would dearly love to wed the woman.

How on earth was Lady Briar not snapped up? She was beautiful, rich—and despite all that, she was a good person. Far better than I was.

“I wanted your opinion,” Lady Briar said doggedly, evidently deciding to ignore the heat in her face, “because I was thinking of buying it. Outright, I mean. With full ownership, I could develop it. Perhaps open another just like it—maybe several.”

And that was when my heart sank.

Oh, if only I could lie my way out of this one.

There was usually a lie I could fall back on, it wasn’t difficult—but this was essentially a yes or no question, wasn’t it?

Do you think it’s a good idea for me to buy this restaurant, that is special specifically because there is only one of it, and then make more?

Heaven help me.

“I wouldn’t,” I said shortly as our mains were placed before us.

My eyebrows raised. I’d looked at the menu before we’d arrived. Cornish turbot with a cucumber and oscietra caviar, fallow deer with a smoked beetroot, walnut, and juniper purée, and roast vegetables that were crisped to perfection.

And she wanted to franchise this? Put one on every street? Was she mad?

“You wouldn’t?” Lady Briar said, picking up her cutlery as she started to eat. “Why?”

I did everything I could not to roll my eyes. Well, I just had to be calm and direct. Keep it simple. Ensure I didn’t talk down to her or offend her.

How hard could that be?

“It would be a bad idea,” I said, taking a mouthful of the turbot.

God, that was divine. “The whole attraction to this place is that it’s unique, right?

There’s only one place in London like this.

That drives up its desirability, makes it far more interesting.

Keeps prices up, keeps profits up. And you want to make more?

You’ll immediately divide the customer base in half. ”

Lady Briar nodded. “Yes, but?—”

“Say you had this one, and then one—oh, I don’t know, in Piccadilly,” I said.

It was crucial she understood. “You’re going to lose half your customers by definition, and you’ll have twice the running costs.

But you’ll also devalue the name. You’ll make it less attractive, your clientele quality will go down.

They won’t be able to afford the prices of these menus.

You’ll end up lowering the quality of the food to match their pocketbooks, and then?—”

“Peregrine,” Lady Briar said quietly. “I?—”

“Before you know it, it’ll be like any restaurant that you can find in every town in the country,” I said heavily. “Lady Briar, I'm sorry to be so blunt. But your idea? It’s terrible.”

Well. So I probably overegged it a bit there. But this was who I was, and I couldn’t sugarcoat it.

Even for someone like Lady Briar.

Despite my harsh words, Lady Briar was…smiling.

“You are correct,” she said quietly, taking a sip of wine.

I blinked. That was not the response I had expected. “You…you’re not offended?”

“Why would I be?” Lady Briar said lightly. “I’ve already had all those thoughts. That’s why when I said open up another Queen’s Head, I meant beyond London.”

Beyond London.

My eyes widened. “You mean?—”

“One in York, one in Bath, one in Edinburgh,” Lady Briar said, ticking them off her fingers, diamonds sparkling from the bracelet around her wrist. “I think starting there would be best. Then we could think of a few in the northern, maybe a Paris one?—”

“One in Wales, perhaps,” I said, enthusiasm rushing through my veins. “One per country, so you have to go to that one place to experience it.”

“Slightly different menus in each one—a signature dish,” Lady Briar said, her smile broadening. “Appeal to the wealthy crowd, encourage them to visit all of them. One in Lyon. One in Marseilles.”

I leaned back in my chair.

Well, damn. The woman had brains, and I had massively underestimated her. Again.

The idea was a good one. No, a great one. If I had just allowed her to get a word in edgeways, I wouldn’t have spouted my mouth off about the wrong idea—one she had already discounted.

“I'm impressed.”

Now it was Lady Briar’s turn to be shocked. “I beg your pardon?”

“I mean it,” I said with a laugh. “I underestimated you, and you showed me up. You’ve got a good brain, Lady Briar.”

She rolled her eyes at that. “Of course I do.”

Where had this uncertainty come from? There couldn’t be many people with her intellect and beauty who thought so little of either. What had happened to make her so…so insecure? So tentative?

I found myself playing with my fork, my plate cleared, the food was so delicious.

This Lady Briar Weatherford. There was something about her. A depth that wasn’t hidden exactly, but certainly not in plain sight. It took a few conversations for her wit to come out, for her boldness and shyness to meld together into the true personality she had.

Damn. She was…interesting.

Not something I typically looked for in a woman. But then, I’d only been interested in one thing from them in the past, and once I’d got it, I’d moved on. There was nothing else to interest me.

And then something dawned on me. “That’s why you had that ledger with half the thing in francs!”

Lady Briar smiled. “I’ve actually spent some time on this. I think it’ll work.”

“You are not just a pretty face,” I said slowly.

Lady Briar flushed. “Yes, well?—”

“I mean it.” Did the sincerity in my words not translate? I leaned forward. “Your ideas are good—and I think they’ll work. You’ve got the funds to invest, why not do something international? Why not go to Paris yourself, travel? I'm still not really sure why you aren’t doing that now.”

I watched her smile, watched the flush creep up her chest highlighting the tightness of her gown.

Lady Briar was something different to what I had expected. I’d talked nonsense about the desirability of this place, but it was Lady Briar I was swiftly starting to see was the real investment.

One day, a gentleman would come along and notice her. Really notice her. See the qualities in her that had taken me weeks to spot, and value them as they ought to be. He’d make her smile, make her happy.

Envy shot through me. And I’d hate him for taking her away from me.

I started, physically reacting to the thought, it was so strong. Where had that come from?

“Peregrine?”

I blinked. Lady Briar was examining me with a furrowed brow.

“Are you quite well?”

“What—yes, of course I am,” I said, shaking my head lightly as though ridding water from my ears. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

I tried not to notice the lilt of her lips.

“Good,” she said quietly. “Well, as this is a business meeting, and not a courtship…shall we talk numbers?”

“Numbers,” I repeated blankly.

Numbers? What numbers?

Lady Briar smiled. “Investment. This restaurant. International domination. Remember?”

Oh, yes. Because this wasn’t a courtship. This wasn’t a chance for me to try to put my best foot forward, forget all the mistakes in my past, pretend they didn’t exist. This was my repayment to Lady Briar for stealing her possessions.

Something Lady Briar wasn’t going to forget.

I forced myself to nod. “Numbers. Great.”