‘Yes.’
‘You need money to start. Do you have any?’
No sense in denying it. ‘None.’
‘Then how—’
‘I must do it as my father did it and my grandfather.’ Not to mention a large portion of the world. He looked down at his hands. He had not wanted it to come to this. Indeed, he had spent most of his life looking for another way to find coin. How bitter it was to admit that he had failed.
‘You are going to marry it.’ There was no condemnation in Lord Wenshire’s tone. It was how most of his peers and compatriots made their coin. The process was as old as the aristocracy.
As his bride, a wealthy girl would eventually become his countess, and he would have the funds to make something substantial for himself, his sisters and his children. That was the plan. All it needed was a moneyed wife.
‘You look to my daughter.’
‘Yes.’
‘I have money in cargo,’ Lord Wenshire said. ‘And money in a bank in London. But my real asset is this ship.’ He leaned back and fondly stroked the wall. ‘She’s beautiful, isn’t she?’
‘Absolutely.’
‘And she will go into my daughter’s dowry. This boat plus whatever I make from the cargo below. It will all be hers.’
His breath caught and his heart soared. That would be a great start for him. Especially if he could learn from Lord Wenshire. He could figure out a cargo that wasn’t controlled by the East India Company. Or maybe he could find a lucrative arrangement with the company. That was, after all, what Lord Wenshire had done.
It was possible. There was hope!
‘I will honour my vows to your daughter. I am not a man who cheats at cards or any other venture. And I will learn from you and work hard. This I swear to you.’
Lord Wenshire held up his hand. ‘You misunderstand me.’
‘What? I am asking for Lucy’s hand in marriage. I am asking for her dowry of a ship and its cargo. And I swear I will care for her and our children. I can give them a good life and she will be a countess one day! Surely that is far beyond what you had imagined possible for her.’
The man’s brows went up and his tone darkened. ‘Why? Because she is Chinese?’
And a bastard, but he would not say that aloud. They both knew that the English aristocracy would not easily accept one such as her. But it was possible. If she came in as a future countess.
‘I will support her,’ he vowed.
‘But she does not have the dowry you want.’
It took a moment for his words to reach Cedric’s brain. ‘What?’
‘Grace’s dowry is this ship and the money from the cargo below. I haven’t dowered Lucy yet beyond whatever she gets from the spices.’
His thoughts had been on Lucy, never Grace. He needed a woman who could become a countess, not a wild girl who ran the sails like a sailor. ‘But you have adopted Lucy, as well. You said as much.’
‘Yes, I have. But Grace and this ship go together. She is the one who knows how to sail it. She is the one who can navigate better than any man. She is—’
‘But Lucy understands the buying and selling of cargo. That is where the profit is.’
‘And Lucy looks at you as if you hung the moon and the stars.’
Cedric frowned. He was to be punished because his choice of bride liked him?
Lord Wenshire scoffed at Cedric’s confounded expression. ‘I am not a fool. I have seen women destroyed by a bad husband.’
‘But I’m not a bad husband!’