By the time Gerald returned, they were at the end of the street, with the rest of the journey still to go. She glanced at him as he alighted from a hackney. He was dressed far plainer, in a brown coat and waistcoat that could pass muster in the city. He’d dressed for work.
It took him a few minutes to see what they were doing, and by then he’d caught up with them. “I brought the keys.” He handed her a set, and she shoved them in her pocket with an absent sense of relief. She’d been prepared to break in.
She drew him aside. “I’d considered coming to Mayfair and begging you to let me change my mind.”
“No begging,” he said fiercely. “Never.” His expression shifted. “Except for one situation. Then I will go out of my way to make you beg.”
Heat rose to her cheeks when realization hit her with considerable strength. “Gerald!”
“Gerald!” he mocked gently. “When you’re screaming my name, then I’ll be happy.” His merriment overflowed.
As she turned her back and headed back to where her men were rolling the machine, Annie could not suppress the smile on her face. His brightness had infected her. Although she’d been in despair that they could accomplish this task in time, now she knew they would.
He injected that kind of confidence into her, made her believe anything was possible.
It took an hour to get the machine around to Bunhill Row, by which time Annie had given Gerald the details. “If it was not for this machine, we’d still be hammering the silver. The evenness of the sheets it produces makes for far better control of the stock, and a more uniform end product.”
“I see,” he said thoughtfully. “That may explain one or two matters. Are these machines common among makers of silver wire?”
“Not at all,” she answered readily. “We bought ours from abroad. They are still rare in London. My late husband saw one in action and moved heaven and earth to get hold of one. That was before our marriage, because, he told me later, he had nothing to leave a child, so why marry before then? He and Jem made all the wire themselves before this. Now, as you can see, I employ six men regularly and more on a casual basis when business perks up.”
“Ah.” He drew her closer and lowered his voice. “I have other news. I set about making inquiries to discover exactly why Mr. Joseph Stephenson was so keen on marrying you. My curiosity was aroused, madam, as well as my sense of injustice.”
He paused, as if to say something else, but he took a sharp breath and continued on his course. “The other reason I will speak of in due course, but not here. Suffice it to say that Mr. Stephenson wanted your business as much as he wanted your lovely self.”
A sense of rightness came over her. That made sense. “Joseph could have had a mercer’s daughter, or one of the big goldsmiths in town. Instead he chose me. My business is very small compared to his. I thought he wanted—me, but he did not. I don’t think he did, though he tried to demonstrate...” She moved away, not her body prickling with uncomfortable heat.
“He owns all the other silver wire businesses in the City,” he said softly. “Either that, or he has a controlling interest in them. Yours was the sole independent concern. The matter has concerned him only recently, as if he realized the industry was easy to control.”
The news shocked her, when it really should not have done. Mutely, she nodded, slotting the information into place in her mind. Now she could see the whole picture. That was why Joseph had approached her, and why he selected her above all the women he could have had. At first she’d thought him in love with her, but then, understanding the way love worked, she knew that was not true.
Because she loved Gerald. God help her, she adored him. She’d fought the inexplicable feelings, but there was no getting past it. When their one night together kept repeating itself day after day without surcease, she knew it. When she found herself wondering what he was doing, she knew it. Most of all, when she missed his touch with an agony she could not surmount, she knew it.
That left the mystery of Joseph, which Gerald had solved with a few words. “He wanted complete control. If he’d taken them directly, the Guild would likely have taken that amiss. It advocates free trade, not monopolies. At the very least he’d have found himself answering questions. But in the marriage settlement he was careful to ensure the business was kept separately in trust for the boys. I thought it was because I insisted upon it. But as his wife, I would naturally do as he wished. I would not set up in opposition to him.”
“Have you signed that agreement?” Gerald asked sharply. “Will I find myself in the middle of a lawsuit?”
“Why should you?” He was giving her the house, for which she would pay the appropriate rent. She would make that clear later, and if he would not take it, she would pay it into an account for him.
“Because I don’t intend to be merely your landlord. I gave you the house, if you recall.”
“I have the deeds. You can have them back.”