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I’d spent the evening in my bedchamber, which was huge, trying not to think about Briar.

Where she was. Who she was with. What they were doing together.

It made my blood boil.

I didn’t have any claim over her, even if I’d wanted to. I didn’t own her. We’d made no promises to each other, and Briar had made it quite clear anything like that was off the table.

“No full names, no expectations, no hearts getting involved—definitely not broken.”

“I don’t—it isn’t that—I wouldn’t say,” Briar was still stammering.

I saw the conflict in her, and decided to put her out of her own misery. “Do not worry yourself about it. I’ll make sure tomorrow, I’ll put a waistcoat on. Or a cravat. Perhaps both.”

The gleam in Briar’s eye told me she would rather prefer neither, but I didn’t say that.

Whatever was happening between us…it wasn’t happening. At least, I wasn’t about to act on it, and I was pretty certain Briar wasn’t either.

It didn’t make sense. I hadn’t interrogated it anyway, and I didn’t know what it was. Did I just want to bed her? She was the best I’d ever had, and something about her left me with a hankering for more.

But right now, she was the only thing standing between me and bankruptcy. That had to come first.

At least for now.

“You know, I can’t stop thinking about our courtship,” I said with a grin.

Briar laughed. “What do I have to do to convince you that this isn’t a?—”

“Whatever you say,” I quipped, dipping my spoon into a cup of tea before taking a large mouthful. When I swallowed, I said, “I mean it, though. I’ve kept thinking about it.”

She frowned as she sipped her own cup. “I would have got you a reservation again if I knew how much you liked the food.”

I waved a hand. “Not the food.” It was the company, but I wasn’t going to admit to that. “I meant your idea. Your franchise idea, to take it to York, and all those other places.”

Briar perked up at that. “I didn’t…well. We wrote up the proposal.”

“You wrote it,” I pointed out.

I didn’t say that I had been significantly impressed by the work she’d done. I was just…a duke, just a member of the Gambling Dukes. I didn’t exactly have a role within the club, though Kineallen had threatened to make me do something. That was before I’d been found out.

It had all sounded far too much like responsibility to me. I’d declined.

My stomach lurched painfully.

I wasn’t going to think about my friends. No good could come from that.

“I had a few ideas,” I said aloud. “About the restaurant. Queen’s Head.”

Each word was spoken hesitantly, but I tried to put as much effort into my voice as possible.

Because I had. It was strange; at the Gambling Dukes, everything was taken care of by Kineallen.

Oh, I was there to help out, and in the early days I’d been the club’s dogs body.

A room needed booked at a gaming hell? Markham will do it.

Currency exchange needed? Markham will do it.

Writing out a banker’s note? Well, it’s not like Markham has anything else going on…

But ideas?

That came from Kineallen. Or Georgiana. Or Lilah. Not me.

“You’ve got some ideas?” Briar said, her surprise written all over her face.

Pushing past my disappointment that she obviously hadn’t considered ideas my forte, I pressed on. “Honestly, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it. I know you like the idea of replicating what you already have?—”

“It makes the most sense,” Briar said, leaning forward in her seat.

I swallowed. Just a glimpse. That was all I’d got. But damn, it was enough.

“But it also reduces your potential profit,” I said, trying to ignore my throbbing manhood. “You’d have to employ a significant staff. If you ran the businesses yourself, you’d keep more of the money. If I had—what would you need, another two thousand pounds?”

She raised an eyebrow. “You mentioned before that you were looking for things to invest in. Should I be considering you a competitor?”

I snorted. “Like I could get my hands on two thousand! No, I was thinking you should take the two thousand and put it straight into Queen’s Head. Now.”

“Now?” Briar was staring. “I can’t be that impetuous!”

“The place is up for sale and you already have a controlling share—just buy them,” I urged, excitement flickering in my chest at the very thought.

God, I missed this. This rush, this launching into something without considering all the plans.

“And then what?”

I grinned. “Well, you’d run the place. Obviously.”

Briar stared as though I’d just suggested she give it all up and go live as a nun. “Peregrine, this is me we’re talking about. I’m a lady.”

I waited for her to continue, taking another mouthful of toast, but apparently that was it. “And?”

“And I would have no idea what I'm doing if you tried to get me to run a restaurant!” Briar said, her voice full of disbelief. “I cannot work, I cannot be in trade—I’m the daughter of an earl!”

“You’re smart, Briar,” I said, with far more earnestness than I’d expected. “Smarter than you think. Smarter than most people!”

Her deep flush told me exactly what she thought of that. “I'm not?—”

“You are,” I said firmly, not quite sure where this determination had come from. “If you want to run a restaurant, buy one out, extend it, you don’t need a financial partner or man of business to run it for you. You could do it.”

She was gazing at me as though I was speaking nonsense—but I could see the glimmer of excitement in her.

Briar wanted to do this. She just didn’t have the guts.

“Do it,” I said with a shrug. “If it fails?—”

“If it fails?—”

“Then it fails,” I cut across her with a grin. “You’ve got plenty of money, right?”

Briar hesitated, then nodded. “Yes, but?—”

“But nothing,” I said, surprised at how strongly I felt about this. “You should follow your dream and do whatever it is you want to do. You can do it. You’re more than capable.”

“You…”

I watched her swallow. Watched her lips move, watched her eyelashes flutter—but I also watched the confidence I knew Lady Briar Weatherford should have rising to the surface.

I watched as she considered actually doing something for herself, by herself, with her own knowledge.

Watched as she started, just a little, to believe in herself.

Something against all the rules of Society, something that would shock, would scandalize—would make her known throughout the country. Perhaps throughout the world.

And she was still considering it…because I had suggested it.

A rush of warmth cascaded through my chest.

There was something about this. Something about her.

“You really think I can do it?” Briar said in a low voice.

Something caught in my throat, and I had to cough before I could speak. “Of course. Definitely—Briar, you would be amazing at this. You have to risk it all.”

She grinned. “What, like you risk it all?”

The words stung more than she could know, but I tried not to let it show. “Something like that.”

“I…I guess I could put together an actual business plan, rather than an investment proposal,” Briar said slowly.

But though her voice was hesitant, her body sure wasn’t. The cup of tea was abandoned as she moved over to the sideboard and pulled a notebook out, along with a pencil.

“I’d always thought, buying locally would reduce costs if we could get steady orders,” Briar said with a grin over her shoulder. “What do you think? If we kept the menu flexible yet ordered it around a core set of local ingredients?—”

“You’d have to have a close collaboration with the chefs,” I said, moving toward her.

I couldn’t help it. She was so eager, so excited. It was the perfect excuse.

I shivered as my shoulder clipped hers. “Sorry.”

Did she think I was just eager to look over her shoulder at the notebook?

I didn’t know. I was standing right behind Briar as she turned to gaze up at me, her warm breath tingling on my neck.

All I had to do was lean forward, just a few inches, and?—

“You’re sure you don’t mind helping me with this?” Briar breathed.

I swallowed. I had actually intended to work that morning on my own investment ideas. If I was going to get back on my feet, ever, I couldn’t ignore my own personal disaster. The duchy of Markham had debts, had bills to pay. I had hundreds of people depending on me.

Briar’s eyes shone.

“Yes, it’s no problem,” I found myself saying, clasping my hands behind my back to make sure I didn’t give into temptation and pull her close. “But it’s your idea, Briar. I'm just here to point out when you make a mistake.”

She breathed a laugh, and my heart skipped a beat. “Thank you, Peregrine.”