“Raymond Petit has served me excellently so far as manager.”
The business discussion suited Annie so much more than personal discussions. Her body still thrumming from the effects of last night, she wanted to distance herself from the experience as fast as she could manage it. To look back on the night as her moment of madness, with wisdom and knowledge, not with the yearning for more that was ripping her apart. Every decision she took from now on had to take her farther away from last night. She wanted to enshrine it, not recall it with the raw edge cutting her open from the inside.
“I imagine the legal details could take some time.”
He shook his head. “Not so much if we set our lawyers to work as soon as possible. We will have the banns read and we will marry in a month.”
Shock reverberated around her hollowly. Her paperwork just became reality.
He steepled his fingers. “I would expect that you prefer to live in my house. It is larger, and better situated. You may use this one purely as business premises.”
“I wish to continue running Cathcart’s.”
His lips firmed. He was not pleased, but on this she would not budge. “I expect you to bear my heirs.” Put like that, the process sounded impersonal, but the words brought a gleam to his eyes. “Given that, I wish you to take a step back rather than imperil yourself or the child.”
Had they reached a sticking point already? She could not allow him to take control out of her hands. What the devil was she to do with herself all day? Sew a fine seam and engage in gossip with the other wives?
“Then I will spell out my conditions, sir. I wish to see the books every week.” She tapped the ledger open before her on the desk. “I always initial them. I wish every major decision that is made about Cathcart and Sons to involve me.”
He regarded her from under lowered lids. A lesser being might have given in to such a protracted silence, but Annie was made of sterner stuff. She waited him out. Eventually he spoke. “Your request sounds reasonable. In return I want your promise to act as my hostess and stand with me in all important decisions. Our union comes first.”
She could not imagine that her small company would be so important to him. He controlled a network of establishments. Why should he care about hers?
Cathcart’s was not the only maker of silver wire in the country, although she had to admit there were only half a dozen or so. The machinery was expensive, and skilled workmen hard to come by. “Our agreement would of course preclude your use of my machinery and workers. They would be under the same conditions as they are to everyone else.”
He nodded. “Believe me, dear lady, your conditions serve to strengthen both of us. I would also add that if we have the good fortune to conceive a child, that you not over-exert yourself during your pregnancy. Some women take the condition hard.”
“I was healthy all through both my previous pregnancies, sir.” Discomfort at discussing her condition so coldly reddened her cheeks. “But I can undertake to take the greatest care of any children I might bear you.”
He stood and held out his hand. “Thank you. The rest we can arrange with our lawyers.” She took his hand and his hold tightened. “Now come out from behind that desk and we will seal our bargain in the traditional way.”
When he kissed her, he did it with a thoroughness Annie could not help comparing to the way Gerald had kissed her. He’d lavished caresses, while Joseph banded his arms around her, holding her in place while he took his pleasure. Would he be that way in bed? Now she had more experience she recognized her late husband had been too gentle with her, and too careful. Gerald had ensured he pleased her. Joseph, she suspected, would please himself.
She could bear that, or try to show him what she wanted. At present, if he had essayed her, she would have merely waited for him to finish. She was letting another older man into her bed, one she did not want at all.
Her heart and her memory was filled with one man only, and it wasn’t the man currently in her arms. He cinched her so tightly she could barely breathe. She endured, even though she was seeing stars by the time he lifted his mouth from hers.
“Then we have a bargain, madam. We will set about the business immediately.”
CHAPTER TEN
Three weeks later
“DO YOU PREFER THE PINK, OR THE GREEN?” Holding two lengths of fabric before her, Elizabeth posed prettily for Gerald.
Gerald didn’t bother to suppress his sigh. “Either will do, Elizabeth. You are beautiful enough to wear both. You’re wealthy enough to buy both. Why does it have to be a choice?”