He really did not wish to denude the ancient forests on his property. But he could not deny his need for cash.
The door opened again and Higgins stepped inside. “Lady Forsham has arrived, my lord.”
His sister pushed her way into the room before Tensford could do anything save grimace.
“Good afternoon, Tensford.”
“Fanny.”
“Oh, good.” Spotting the tray, she seated herself next to it. “Send up a fresh pot, won’t you, Higgins?” She made a shooing motion with her hands. “Thank you.”
Tensford sighed as Higgins shut the door with rather more force than was necessary. “Do refrain from ordering my servants about, please, Fanny?”
“Oh, posh! This is my home, too.”
“It was your home, sister dear. You are Forsham’s problem now.”
“Do stop funning, William. I am here on serious business.”
He already knew what sort of business.
“I need a small loan.”
He mouthed the words at the same time as she spoke them.
“Oh, do stop! Why are brothers always so loathsome? I am utterly serious. I don’t need much. Nothing above five or six hundred pounds, I shouldn’t expect. I simply must redecorate the front parlor. It’s still in the Egyptian style, William! Dreadfully out of date and so humiliating!”
Tensford pinched the bridge of his nose. “Let me explain to you again how this works, Fanny. You are Forsham’s wife. If you wish to redo Forsham’s parlor, then you must use Forsham’s money.”
“He doesn’t have it,” she said bluntly.
“Then how does this qualify as a loan?” he demanded.
“Oh, he’ll have it eventually. He’s due for a turn-around of luck. Even he cannot lose all of the time.”
“Well, there you have it. Redecorate when your husband’s luck turns.”
“Oh, no. He has a long list of creditors panting after him. I cannot wait until he pays them all off.”
“Neither can I.”
“Oh, posh. Mother always managed to find money for me when I needed it. It’s not easy keeping to the forefront of fashion, brother.”
“It’s Mother’s mismanagement of the family money that has put us all in these straits. Don’t quote her mistakes to me.”
She huffed in disapproval, but paused to look over the scones. Choosing one, she eyed him closely, clearly deciding to change tactics. “William, dear, you know you’ll have plenty of money soon enough,” she said in a wheedling tone. “And I must have the parlor done in Indian fashion. It’s about to be all of the rage, I just know it. I have visions, William! Elephants and golden figures of Buddha and palm fronds and brilliant embroidery! Don’t you wish to be sister to the leader of fashion in the ton?”
Plenty of money soon enough. He knew to what she referred. The time-honored tradition of an impoverished peer. She and his mother and aunt were waiting for him to marry for money.
She was still talking, but he’d quit listening. “Fanny,” he interrupted. “If you and Mother and Aunt Camille are so eager for me to marry a fortune, then perhaps you should not have spread the rumors that make it an impossibility! Thanks to the three of you, the women of the ton wish nothing to do with me.”
“I—spread rumors? Mother and I?” She took up her cup and raised her brow over it. “If you must blame someone, blame that meddlesome Lady X. She’s the one who stuck you with that loathsome nickname.”
“Oh, I know exactly who to blame.” All the women in his family and Lady X, too. And now he was expected to sacrifice his future to set it all to rights. He’d be damned if he would.
“In any case,” his sister continued. “There are other women, brother dear.”
“I’ll not be marrying that merchant’s daughter that Mother keeps pushing at me,” he declared. “She sat in the parlor at the dower house, estimated the cost of every stick of furniture and painting on the wall and gave me a rough number of the worth of the furnishings before she’d finished her first cup of tea.”
“No, that one is unacceptable, I agree. But I introduced you to Miss Vouchell. Her father is a banker. She has quite a sizeable dowry and a biddable nature.”
“Are you so sure of that?” He sat back and raised a brow at her. “I’m surprised to hear you push the match, sister. I heard her tell her mama that the first thing she means to do when she marries is to set up a receiving room in the Indian fashion.”
His sister’s teacup clattered into the saucer. “No! The little baggage! She wouldn’t have the faintest notion of Indian decor without my guidance. Well.” She straightened. “We will find you someone.”
The door opened once more. “Mr. Sterne has arrived, my lord,” Higgins intoned.
Tensford stood. “Barrett!” He left his desk to greet his old friend.
“You made it,” Sterne grinned. “I know you said you were coming for the Season, but I didn’t quite believe it. You sounded too utterly happy to be at home last year, with your estate improvements and your fossils. I was afraid you would succumb to their peaceful lure again.”
Sterne was a man of science as well. He had come out to Greystone several times to hunt fossils, although he was not as much as an enthusiast as Tensford. His uncle, however, was one of the foremost experts in the field.
At his jest, Tensford cast a jaundiced eye to his sister. “I begin to wish I had.”
His friend
