“It sounds like a pleasure,” Morgan muttered with a frown. God’s teeth, he’d made a very nice life out of avoiding the very kind of responsibility being thrown out before him now.
“It is, much of the time,” Brighthollow said. “I simply don’t want to sugarcoat it. This isn’t some estate that has been ignored or uncared for, so there’s no expectation that you would bring it back from the brink. However, I don’t want it to fall into disrepair or ruin. Too many lives depend upon its careful management.”
“And who was doing that duty before?” Morgan asked. “And why did they leave their post?”
To his surprise, Roseford and Brighthollow exchanged a look, and then they both began to laugh.
He tilted his head at the strange reaction. “Did I say something funny?”
“The current manager is being fired because he wants to spend more of his time making babies with his lovely wife, I think,” Robert teased.
Brighthollow inclined his head with a smile. “Though Roseford is a bit blunt about it, he does answer the question. I have been the sole manager of my properties since I took the title from my father twelve years ago. But Amelia and I have been married for three years and we are…” He smiled again. “Well, I have other priorities that don’t allow me to take care of my estate as closely. Do you feel you would be interested in taking on the challenge?”
“Of course he’ll take it,” Robert said, giving Morgan a pointed stare.
Morgan jerked at the statement, said as if he were a recalcitrant child rather than a man well past his majority. “Roseford,” he growled, unable to keep his annoyance from his tone.
Brighthollow cast a glance between the two brothers, and then he turned to Robert. “Roseford, why don’t you give me a moment alone with Mr. Banfield? Please.”
“Yes,” Morgan said, glaring at his brother. “That’s a very good idea.”
Robert opened and shut his mouth. He clearly wished to argue against the request. But then he threw up his hands. “Very well,” he muttered, pushing to his feet. “I suppose I will go observe your garden, Brighthollow.”
He walked to the door, but there he turned and speared Morgan with a glance. It spoke volumes. It said don’t cock this up. And Morgan bucked against the unspoken order. Robert might manage the estate that paid his bills, but he wasn’t Morgan’s father. No one had ever been that. Not really.
Once he was gone, Brighthollow got up and closed the door behind him. “So he won’t eavesdrop,” he explained with an easy smile as he retook his place on the settee.
“You know him so well,” Morgan grunted.
“I do,” Brighthollow said softly. He was silent a moment before he said, “You’re very clever.”
Morgan forced himself to hold the other man’s stare. “I try.”
That elicited a bit of a smile from his companion. “Roseford worries over you. A brother’s prerogative, and one I understand better than most. But it makes me wonder if I should worry about you, too.”
Morgan sat up straighter. There was something about the question, about the man who sat across from him, that made him want to prove something about himself. That was a new sensation and he wasn’t certain he liked it much.
And yet…
“No,” he said, and the mask he wore slipped a bit. “You wouldn’t have to worry about me.”
Brighthollow arched a brow. “Do you want this opportunity?”
Well, they had come to it and swiftly, at that, because the Duke of Brighthollow did not seem a man who minced around topics or played games. So the total opposite of Morgan, himself.
But this was a split in the road of Morgan’s life. He recognized it with a clarity that rarely accompanied such moments. There were the two paths. One where he scoffed at the idea of a different life, where he continued on as he always had and probably irrevocably damaged his relationship with Roseford.
But life had not been…perfect…as of late. Roseford wasn’t wrong when he said Morgan was troubled. He just hated that his brother could see it. That felt like vulnerability and Morgan had fought his entire life not to show any of that. Soft underbellies got knifed in his experience.
And that made him look at the other path that Brighthollow presented. One with a vocation that could provide instead of the dwindling inheritance Robert continued to bestow upon him. A future that went beyond gaming hells and brothels and a wastrel’s existence.
“Mr. Banfield?” Brighthollow said, tilting his head to examine Morgan more closely.
Morgan blinked. “I-I haven’t served anyone before,” he admitted softly.
“I know.” Brighthollow leaned forward. “But there is time to learn. I’ll teach you.”
Morgan swallowed. “You’re doing this for Robert.”
Brighthollow’s smile softened. “Yes. Does that bother you?”
“If it’s the only reason,” Morgan said.
“I understand that. You must know that Robert isn’t. I’d be a fool to hand over the keys to my kingdom just because of a friendship. In truth, I think you might be good at it. Everything Robert has told me about you says you would be if you applied yourself to it.”
Morgan wrinkled his brow. So Roseford had spoken to Brighthollow about him before, it seemed. And with…with pride? Something in Morgan flickered that he did not want to feel.
He cleared his throat and words he didn’t expect fell from his lips. “Then I’ll do it.”
“Excellent.” Brighthollow pushed to his feet and extended a hand to Morgan. He stood and shook it, slightly dazed by how this meeting had gone. He’d had plans for it, but now everything had veered to the side. “I will stay here in London for a few days so you may make any arrangements you need. And I’ll also invite Robert and Katherine to join us in Brighthollow.”
Morgan shook his head. “For what purpose?”
“To ease the transition.”
Morgan pursed his lips. He couldn’t imagine having Robert around, parenting him over his shoulder, would be easy. But then again, having people there he knew might help. “Er, that is kind of you.”
Brighthollow shrugged, as if the gesture meant nothing. Then he moved toward the door. “Well, let us see if Roseford is standing in the hallway with his ear pressed against my door? And then I’ll let you go so you may put your own house in order. We can meet again, perhaps tonight for supper, and go over these new beginnings for us both.”
Morgan followed him to the door in a daze. A new beginning. It had been a long time since he’d had one of those. He just hoped he’d know what to do with it.
Chapter 3
Lizzie strolled along the pathway in the vast expanse of the garden behind the manor house, notebook in hand, although she hadn’t been taking notes. There were many reasons for her inability to gather her thoughts.
Part of the distraction was that she loved being back home. The quiet of the estate, the beauty of the trees and fountains and flowers, it all made her feel so peaceful. She’d needed that after her recent time in London.
But it had been a week since she and Amelia had arrived home. They’d enjoyed many a casual stroll and happy supper and visit with shire friends. As time passed, though, she felt the expectations from her sister-in-law about the garden. When Hugh arrived with his new employee, probably shortly, he would likely have the same questions. After all, that was why she’d claimed she wanted to come here for a month during the height of the Season.