Change must happen. If they didn’t initiate the change now, it would be forced upon them soon. He meant to convene a meeting of lawyers and managers and discuss a new, more energetic direction for the company. Would Lady Fitzhugh join him?
Millie was dumbfounded—almost more by his request than by the company’s declining fortunes. From birth she’d been trained to be a lady. She knew nothing about the business. She’d never set foot in one of Cresswell & Graves’s factories. And until her honeymoon, never eaten from a tin.
It seemed almost blasphemous for her to participate in the running of the business in any capacity. Her mother never had. Her father, were he still alive, would be scandalized by any involvement on Millie’s part.
“What should I do?” she asked her mother.
“What do you wish to do?” said Mrs. Graves. She still looked pale and fragile in her widow’s weeds, but her old strength of mind was returning.
“I’d like to do what I can to help Lord Fitzhugh—and myself. But I’m not sure what my presence will accomplish. I haven’t the slightest experience when it comes to matters of business.”
“But the firm belongs to you. Without your support, Lord Fitzhugh cannot take over the management of it.”
“I’m astonished he wants to.” Lordships didn’t involve themselves in the nitty-gritty details of how their money was made.
Mrs. Graves tilted her embroidery frame to better examine it in the light. “I approve. A young man should have ambitious tasks with which to occupy himself. Even with all the work that remains to be done at Henley Park, the majority of the improvements will finish sometime in the not-too-distant future. But an ongoing concern such as Cresswell & Graves will always keep the man in charge busy.”
Millie remained awake half the night, thinking. In the morning, before breakfast, she sent out her reply.
I will start by the end of the week.
Lord Fitzhugh was on the platform, waiting, as Millie’s train reached London. She had not expected his presence. When she arrived at a destination behind him, she could always expect that he’d have dispatched a carriage for her, but he’d never before come to collect her in person.
He nodded when he spotted her, her face very nearly pressed to the window. Ever so beautiful, her husband, but there was something different in his aspect today. He was dressed rather formally, gleaming top hat, a black frock coat, a mourning band on his arm—but that was not it.
Then she realized that for the very first time since she’d met him, he looked genuinely excited. Unlike the earldom, which he took on most reluctantly, he relished the prospect of remaking Cresswell & Graves.
He offered her his arm as she disembarked. “How was your trip, Lady Fitzhugh?”
“It was fine. I had to wait overnight in Calais—too much fog on the channel—but other than that, quite smooth.”
“And how is Mrs. Graves?”
“Much better. She sends her regards—and she approves of your ambitions.”
“Your mother, without a doubt, is the most forward-looking person I’ve ever met.”
“She would have been very gratified to hear of it.”
“Then, I will be sure to tell her in person next time we meet. What of you, Lady Fitzhugh, do you also approve of my ambitions?”
She was speaking to a different person. Lord Fitzhugh as she’d known him had been a stoic who carried out his duties because it was expected of him. But this young man next to her had something he wanted to accomplish.
Mrs. Graves had called their joint decisions the foundation upon which to build a life. But after the foundation they’d need a framework. And Cresswell & Graves just might prove to be that framework.
“Yes, I do,” she said. “I think taking over the company is exactly what you should do.”
He handed her into their waiting carriage and climbed in after her, taking the backward-facing seat. “Thank goodness—I was afraid you’d consider it too distasteful.”
“The thought of you managing the tinneries, I’ll owe, is a bit shocking. But commerce and manufacturing is where the money is nowadays. Since I am not too ashamed to spend that money, I ought not be too ashamed to make it.”
“Excellent.” He tapped his walking stick against the top of the carriage. It pulled away from the curb. “When you’ve had a chance to rest, would you like to look at the summary I’ve made of the accounts and ledgers?”
“Yes, alongside those accounts and ledgers themselves.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Not trusting my mathematical abilities?”
“Far from it. But since our goal is to have you installed at the head of Cresswell & Graves, it is better for me to be as fluent in the condition of the company as you. If I am an ignoramus, then my word will carry very little weight.”
He tented his fingers before him. “On the other hand, if you are astonishingly well versed, they might find you too intimidating, and close ranks against us.”
“A fine line to walk, isn’t it?”
“Moreover, installing me at the head of the company is only a short-term victory. I need the longtime managers to come to my point of view, so I must make them think that my ideas are their own.”