Lord Gray's List by Maggie Robinson

Author:Maggie Robinson [Robinson, Maggie]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Romance
ISBN: 9780758269096
Publisher: Brava
Published: 2012-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER17

Ben forced himself to breathe deeply. He’d had no idea the damned trunk was here. If he thought about it at all, which he refused to let himself do very often, he’d supposed it was in some room at Castle Gray.

Once it had held his toys when he was a boy. It had also held him for an uncomfortable number of hours after his father locked him into it. He couldn’t imagine why his mother had it shipped down to the London townhouse—it was hardly a souvenir of their troubles either one of them would want. Maybe it had been filled with linens or china when they packed up and fled Scotland all those years ago.

He was glad to be getting rid of it, even if it was moving where it still would be over his head. But he might not be involved with The London List forever—he would eventually find a buyer, even if he had to take a financial loss. Evie could rob some other man of his sanity.

He stacked up a few ugly brown landscapes. Bare walls would be preferable to these pictures. Whoever they hired might have plenty of belongings of their own anyway. He emptied a carton and shoved mended sheets and chipped china haphazardly into it. The pile by the door was growing with basic household requirements.

He was a damned generous employer, wasn’t he? Ironic, when all he’d wanted to do was close down the gossip factory that Evie started. Those back issues he’d seen this morning had none of the sensational stories she was so good at writing. Of course, they were so dull they were only good to line a cat box.

There must be a happy medium. Ben had made compromising a fine art, and so he would reform the paper, one edition at a time.

He was so lost in thought that he startled when Evie put on hand on his shoulder. “I think I’m finished on my side. We should get back in case we have men show up early. What have you got there? You’ve been staring at it forever.”

“A teapot. The lid is missing.”

“It’s pretty.”

It was hand-painted, patterned with vines and roses and purple violets, an ultra-feminine object. “You can have it if you like it. I can’t see a strong, strapping pressman putting his leaves into it.”

“It’s far too fancy for Mr. Ramsey, too.”

“Save it for when you’re your sister.” The absurdity made Ben laugh, and the knot in his chest loosened. “Do you ever miss corsets and petticoats?”

“Not often. The usual state of our finances made my options somewhat limited when it came to fripperies. And I was always at least a season or three behind in my gowns. Pantaloons liberate me from all that silliness.”

“You’ve enough money now to indulge yourself. How long are you going to continue this masquerade?”

“It depends, doesn’t it? When you’re ready to give up the paper, perhaps I’ll return to my former life.”

Then Ben had best get cracking finding a buyer.

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