“I don’t expect to die any time soon, but after we’ve discussed our business, I want to discuss power of attorney. I wish to pass my personal estate to Faith, should that event come to pass.”

“No!” She’d seen too much death to think about another.

Especially him. “I don’t want to think about it.”

“With these estates, we have to,” he said gently, enfolding her hand in his own. Even through their gloves, his heat warmed her.

“My dear, I’m wealthy in my own right. Much more than the dowager knows.”

She stared at him, her eyes widened in shock. “I thought you had a respectable independence.”

“I intended to give that impression. I don’t want anyone connected with the Graywood holdings to know, not yet. I want to see how the land lies.” He retained his hold without apology and she was glad of it. “The dowager and Roker want the estates merged. Most of the Graywood estate is entailed, together with a few separate investments, which I intend to put in the hands of Thomas here. That means if I die without an heir, the crown takes it. Times are changing and I’m not sure I want the whole estate in one person’s hands. While I have no objections to the estates merging eventually I only met the earldom’s man of business last night. I definitely don’t wish to add my private holdings to the entail. Although I have no reason for concern, I don’t know him like I know Thomas. So I’d appreciate you keeping the information you learn here today to ourselves for a little longer.”

“Very well.” She understood the importance of knowing the people she did business with. John would need to take the word of this man.

Thomas opened one of the ledgers set on his desk and they began to review recent transactions and upcoming ones.

Apart from a few terms she didn’t understand, Faith followed most of the reasoning. And realised she was married to a wealthy man in his own right. Except that she wasn’t married to him. The information made her wonder how she could cope. The soldier she’d admired from afar had turned into a brilliant businessman.

“All this in two years?” she wondered.

“No,” John told her. “I always invested, from when I realised I would be nothing if I did not. After a time, I wanted to do something else. I turned to soldiering when my fortune had grown large enough for me to ensure my continued independence.”

That made sense. John was a man of honour, and if he’d thought his country needed his assistance, making money wouldn’t have been enough. “I never imagined...” she began.

“Wealthy men often become targets,” John said. “If people had known, I’d have been captured, maybe ransomed, and I would certainly could not have moved around as freely as I did. When you have a private fortune, people expect things and you receive begging letters, petitions and so on. I didn’t want that, either. Now I’m the earl, I fear that might come to an end.”

“Did you think of walking away?”

He gave her a particularly warm smile. “Not when I discovered I had a wife.” He glanced at Thomas who sat, seemingly engrossed by a column of figures. “I didn’t know about her, Thomas. I had a head injury, remember?”

Thomas glanced up and smiled. “Ah. I see.”

Faith wondered what he saw.

Thomas had concerns everywhere, all over the world. She would find it far more difficult to get away, if she decided to take that course. But increasingly she was wondering if she had not choosen the coward’s way out. Her concern remained that she was barren and wouldn’t provide him with the family he so obviously needed.

She could still go. If she lived in a small town, went about her business as a humble widow, he would not find her. Her only problem would be money, which, when she listened to the fabulous sums John and his agent were discussing seemed altogether ridiculous. “I lived comfortably on a hundred a year,” she said. “I thought myself lucky.”

John smiled at her, warm and understanding. “You’re an excellent manager. It’s why I want you involved in this. What you did in a small way you could do in a much larger way. Forget about the noughts at the end of a number. Think of what it does and how it can perform best.”

If she did that, cut the last part of the number away, he was right, she could think of it as a tangible amount. See through the dazzling wealth to what the money was actually doing. Making them wealthy, providing employment, paying taxes that helped the government run the country. That was the theory, anyway, and John was fulfilling his part.

When John pulled out his watch and pressed the repeater, the paucity of tings shocked her. Only one. They’d been here for two hours? He glanced at Faith and rose. “I have another call to make before I can return home. I intend to visit Roker in his offices.” He grinned. “Without an appointment. It should be interesting. I don’t want to give him time to prepare.”

Pickering caught Faith’s attention with the grin that transformed his features. “He did that to me until he trusted me.”

“Don’t take anything for granted, my friend,” John said with an answering smile.

“Your husband,” Pickering continued, “Is a financial genius. He works through me and others, but he remains in control.”

John shrugged, obviously uncomfortable by the way he stared out the window instead of meeting the gaze of anyone inside the room. “I have some skill, but don’t ever forget that I also had some luck at the beginning of my career. I heard something that I used to my advantage.”

“Very few people would have had the nerve to do that,”

Pickering said. “You threw your money at it, and it could have ruined you.”

John laughed. “I had no dependents, so I could afford to take that risk. I still had the army, I wouldn’t have starved.” He got to his feet and helped Faith up. She loved how he treated her like china one moment, but trusted her to understand complexities that many would consider way over a mere woman’s head. A fascinating mix she wanted to experience again and again. His hand brushed her waist. “My secret?” He paused and waited, a wicked grin on his lips.

“I never thought too much about it. I never gave money the respect it demanded. It’s a tool, nothing more.”

In a blinding flash of understanding, she saw how brilliant, how ruthless he was. Someone who didn’t care for money but knew how to use it would always beat a person overburdened with caution.

It seemed impossible that he would want her for long, since he moved from project to project. Except his consistency as an army officer was never in doubt. He’d never let anyone down and had led his company in the worst situations imaginable.

Faith had never felt so alive, or so out of her depth. Her two years of quiet living seemed tame, and she began to wonder how she’d managed with the lack of excitement. Maybe she’d needed that time to hide away and heal. Now she felt ready to begin again, although she still had serious doubts about her ability to keep up.

For now, she would try.

Having escorted her to the Royal Exchange John excused himself to walk to Roker’s office nearby, leaving her Robinson and the footman. Faith had visited the Royal Exchange a few times before. She enjoyed its heady blend of business and commerce. It contained many of the finest stores in London, even though the fashionable world had moved on to the West End. Its three tiers, ranged around a central courtyard, where businessmen gathered making deals and exchanging information, held a mixture of small, select shops, coffeehouses and businesses. Unfortunately, women never darkened the doors of the coffeehouses, although some inns had begun to put rooms aside exclusively for the use of women.

They should have done that years ago, Faith thought, since there must be a lot of business available. The recent meeting must have caught her interest, because she found herself wondering about women-only public places of refreshment, examining the establishments with an eye to privacy, ease of access and commercial possibilities.

Damn, she was thinking like her husband, seeking out business opportunities. Instead, she turned her mind to her purchases and within half an hour had a selection of mourning goods. She spread the largesse over several establishments and ensured they knew she was the Countess of Graywood, and that she could bring them useful custom if she wished. Making an impression, telling people she had arrived. After a while, she found her progress easier. Word must have passed around the traders, messenger boys and runners exchanging the information so shopkeepers were waiting to usher her into their establishments, a chair set ready for her. She wasn’t sure she enjoyed it after the first few visits. Several had known her as Mrs. Dalkington-Smythe. They used that information for all they were worth, lavishing her with “My lady”’s and “Your impeccable taste” and other such blandishments which she didn’t appreciate in the least.

The expedition tired her more than shopping as an ordinary person. Sometimes she’d seen the grand ladies in the Exchange, felt herself nudged aside so the proprietor could accommodate their needs. But now she discovered that being at the receiving end exhausted her just as much. People watched her, stared at her and she had to keep smiling, as if their attention didn’t disturb her. She was still Faith, although nobody treated her that way. Except for John.

After she left the shop she sent the footman ahead to stow the packages in the carriage, and order the driver to get ready. Robinson remained with her. If John was tied up with Mr. Roker, she’d go home and send the carriage back for him.

Home! Already, the large house seemed to contain some of those attributes, even if the dauntingly grand suite assigned to them still appeared to belong to someone else. Not her. Maybe John, after what she’d learned about him today.