Andrew paused, his eyes wary.
“It’s time, love.” He let the endearment fall between them. “I need to leave home. I’ve stayed close to my parents all my life. They supported me and protected me. Then I had to protect Val from his own idiocy.” He scratched his neck as he tried to put his case. “Val decided he would become flamboyant and dangerous. He gambled for terrifying stakes, bedded any willing female who came close enough, became known as a roaring boy. I’d say it was all because of me, but of course it was not. He enjoyed it, but he started on that course to provide a smokescreen for me. It’s time I lived my own life the way I want to, faced my critics on my own terms.” He swallowed, trying to think of the right words. In the end, he spoke what was in his heart. “I want you to live here with me.”
“How can I do that?” Andrew’s answer came immediately, sharp and hard. “You know it’s impossible.”
“No, no I do not.” When Darius reached for him, Andrew shook him off and stepped back. “Listen. Give me the courtesy of that, at least.”
Walking over to the opposite door to the one Andrew had opened, Darius showed him a similar room, mirroring the first. “This house is more substantial than it appears from the street. It goes back a long way. There is plenty of space.”
“You’ll jiggle around like a dried pea in a rattle.”
At least Andrew had not left. Of course he hadn’t. He would stay and listen before he said no.
Darius could not argue with a man with such a fine mind, such a gift for persuasion, so all he could do was to open his heart. “I will not. I should not have told you so precipitately, I know that, but it is what I want above all things. However, there is something else. Another plan.”
Sticking his hands in his breeches’ pockets, he went into the room. This was the twin of the one across the hall, except this one contained a desk and a chair. Nothing else. Not yet. “If you cannot live here with me, I have another proposal to make.”
He was making a complete mull of this. He needed to regroup, but if he did, he’d lose his chance. He had begun with his brother. He should continue. “Val is married and happy now. He doesn’t need me any longer. For a time, we were inseparable, but we have always known we would separate. Val asked me to make my home with him and Charlotte. The thought of that melancholy fate drove me to think, really think. What did I like? What did I want?”
He shrugged. “I knew immediately. I love working on the insurance business with Val and Ivan. That gave me the greatest satisfaction I have known. For once, I was useful, and I could make myself an income.” He flashed a smile. “A very good one, actually. Society has long lost its appeal, if it ever had any in the first place. I do not want a wife, and I don’t need to curry favor with anyone. I am perfectly happy attending one ball a week in the season, not three a night.”
Andrew leaned against the wall and folded his arms. Darius could tell nothing from his expression.
“Go on.”
“My father suggested that I take a seat in Parliament. I thought it over, and while I’m not dismissing the idea, I want to develop the company first.” He waved his hand. “This house is not in the most fashionable part of London, but it is respectable and close enough to Mayfair.” He nodded out the window. “With Bedford House looming across the square, it is not devoid of fashionable life. When I told my parents I was buying this house and I intended to live in it, my mother told me to look for somewhere nearer to the Park. But then it would not be close to the Inns of Court, would it?”
“Why would you want that?”
“It’s where your chambers are situated. It’s where you work.”
“Only a small part of it.”
“Look.” He went to the desk and opened the top drawer, plucking out one of the two pieces of paper that lay within. He handed it to Andrew. “This is from Miss Childers. She asked me to pass it on to you.”
Andrew strode forward and took the paper. Stony-faced, he read it. Darius watched him, waiting in tense silence.
Andrew looked up. “It’s a formal offer of employment.”
Darius nodded. “I swear her decision had nothing to do with me. She has consolidated her plans. That is all, and she definitely wants you. She is willing to pay you an amount in order to ensure your attendance on her cases.”
“It sounds rackety to me.”
Darius allowed himself a small smile. “She’s wealthy enough to indulge herself.” Now for the difficult part. He took out the second paper. “This is something else.” He wished he’d had more than one chair put in here now.
“This is an offer for you from the company of which I hold a third. It’s an offer of partnership.” As Andrew opened his mouth, Darius continued hurriedly. “No, it’s not charity, and it isn’t a gift. You are worthy of this, Andrew. We have seen you at work, and we want you, all three of us. We are expanding at an almost frightening rate, and we need new people. We need managers and people who can devote more time to the enterprise. All three of us are determined that what started as a way of entertaining ourselves, and—” He broke off sharply before recommencing. “I have to tell you something. Ivan and I opened this partly to stop Val from wasting so much money on the tables. What started as a pastime was rapidly becoming an obsession. We were concerned, and decided to nip it in the bud. As we thought, working out risk and balancing our portfolio engrossed him. In fact, we prospered.”
He crossed the room and took Andrew’s elbows, holding on while he gazed into his lover’s face. “We truly need someone to help us, and with your legal expertise you are perfect. If I had not fallen in love with you, I would have considered you anyway. If we are to cope with the rapid expansion, we need someone ready to sit in the meetings, make decisions, and carry through the legal decisions.”
Andrew licked his lips. “Shipping insurance?”
“Mainly, yes. Together with some small investments in cargoes.”
“Slaves?” He snapped the word.
Darius shook his head. “That trade does not sit well with any of us, so we agreed to avoid it, if we can.”
Andrew’s mouth twisted in a smile. “Some ladies in the City are forming a society. They have printed scarves and fans.”
“Maybe we should buy some.”