“He is not as close-minded as he appears, but I am his only chick.”
“No, he is right to be wary of impoverished gentlemen, with you his heiress. We could all be fortune hunters. I am glad he would not give your hand to the first needy man who offered, but, deuce take it, I wish your uncle were not so wealthy!”
Adam could have bitten his tongue off. He had no more made his impulsive wish than Hobart reentered the room and whispered in Beasdale’s ear. The banker’s high complexion faded to the white of his neckcloth, and he half rose, sending Lucky to the floor.
“What is it, Uncle?”
“Ruined. We are ruined.”
Jenna and Adam were both standing now, ready to go to his aid if necessary. He waved them away and sank back onto his seat. “The Majestic Star went down with all hands, with all its cargo. We are ruined.”
“Did you not have insurance on the ship?” Adam asked.
“Leonard Frye, the bank’s junior partner, was supposed to pay it. He ran off as soon as he heard about the ship, and no one knows where. There is suspicion he embezzled the insurance money and fled when the loss became known. We are ruined.”
Jenna was weeping. “All those men. Dear Captain Ingersoll.”
Adam naturally put his arms around her in comfort.
Beasdale was shaking his head. “Good thing you did not marry that dastard, poppet.”
“Captain Ingersoll?” Adam asked.
“No, Frye,” Beasdale answered. “And take your hands off my niece, Standish. I cannot let her wed a poor man now. How would you keep her? In a pigsty? No, she has to marry money, so I know she and her children are cared for, now that I cannot see to their welfare. I owe my sister’s memory nothing less.”
“Uncle!” Jenna protested while Adam was frantically trying to remember the words of his latest wish, that Beasdale not be so wealthy. He desperately unwished it.
And Hobart came back, with a handsome, well-dressed man of about Adam’s age, who was out of breath.
“Frye?” Beasdale stared at the man. So did Adam, whose hopes of winning Miss Relaford’s hand were again as dashed on the rocks as the Majestic Star.
“Yes, sir. I am sorry I took so long to get here, but I raced to the harbor myself to verify the ill tidings, and I have excellent news! It was the Majestic Tzar that went down, not our ship!”
“Not . . . ?”
“No, sir. The Star is reported on course and on time.”
“And the insurance? It is paid?”
“Of course, not that we will need it, I trust. Why do you ask?”
“No reason, none at all. Good job, Frye. You’ll stay to tea, won’t you? Jenna, my dear, fix Mr. Frye a cup. You know how he likes it.”
Frye did not like the dog, which did not sit well with Mr. Beasdale. Frye did sit next to Miss Relaford, in the choice seat Adam had so recently occupied.
Adam refrained from wishing the well-favored young man to perdition, although he was sorely tempted.
And Jenna suggested that, since Adam was staying on in town until her party on Friday night, perhaps he might care to see the sights, the galleries and exhibits. Adam would go look at a pig dancing on a dung hill if it meant another minute in Miss Relaford’s company, so he accepted.
Frye spilled his tea, and Mr. Beasdale went “Harumph.” Jenna offered Lucky, not Mr. Frye, the last biscuit, and Adam went back to Cresswell House whistling.
8
The rest of the week passed too quickly, and too slowly. For Jenna, the days passed too slowly. She was waiting for the dancing and the mistletoe and a chance to slip away for a private moment or two, away from the careful chaperonage her uncle insisted upon for the sightseeing excursions. She knew her own heart and thought she knew Adam’s, but he was too much the gentleman to speak without her guardian’s approval. When Uncle saw Sir Adam among their friends and acquaintances, surely he would relent. When he saw that the baronet was the only man of all she had ever known whose very presence delighted Jenna, surely he would put her happiness above Adam’s finances. If not, surely the mistletoe and wassail and her low-cut red velvet gown would encourage Adam to set his scruples aside for the evening. Who knew where that could lead? To the altar, Jenna wished with all her heart.
For Adam, the days rushed by too quickly. He feared these were his last hours of contentment: the bliss he found in seeing Miss Relaford’s smiles, the joy in feeling her touch as he helped her up stairs, the warmth of her thigh next to his on the carriage seat, the elation of knowing—hoping—that she was coming to care for him as much as he cared for her. What if there was not time enough to win her affections, to convince her that his love could provide what was important, what his income could not? He would have to return to Standings to a cold, empty, barren life, for Adam doubted he could ever love another woman.