Читать книгу Ella - Virginia Taylor - Страница 8

The best part of the house faced north where the sun shone all day in summer. Edward Lynton stood staring through the French doors of his library, across his close-clipped lawns, past the tall cast-iron fountain ringed with his rose beds, and toward the rolling hills in the distance.

Stained by the red clay soil, sheep dotted the gentle rise beyond his boundary fence. His shepherds rode his fine strong horses around his flock, bringing in the dusty strays for shearing.

“Good view,” said a deep voice behind him.

He turned. “The view would be better if you were outside supervising the men. Look at those two slackers on the right.” His head indicated, and his grandson stared, his hands deep in the pockets of his fine, English-made woollen trousers.

“I wouldn’t say they’re slacking.” Charles, as if idly, flicked the pages of a leather-bound notebook on the library table. “I don’t doubt they’re discussing tactics. They have a mob in front and a mob behind, and the dogs are trying to join the groups.”

“If you’d been there, two groups wouldn’t have formed,” Edward said, his jaw stiff.

“Ah, so you do have faith in me.” Charles gave a lazy grin.

“You’ve been here long enough to know the workings. How many have been brought in now?”

“I couldn’t say off hand.”

“It’s your job to say—off hand.”

“If it matters to you, I can ask.” Charles raised his gaze from the book, his expression guarded. “But first I want you to look over my figures, if you would. I’ve been working on this for months and I—”

“I’m not interested. I’ve spent enough money on you as it is. Look at you,” Edward said, loading his tone with contempt. “Dressed by London tailors, shoed as well as the princes of England, clad in silk and linen shirts and damn me if I didn’t even import the finest mahogany furniture for your bedroom. Do you think those men outside who are doing your work for you will ever sleep in sheets as soft as you have?”

“I believe that they have the potential to be any—”

“Balderdash. None had the start you had. And they’re outside earning their wages while you stand here trying to inveigle me to spend even more money on your toys.”

“I’m inviting you to invest—”

“Just like your father. Money, money, money—that’s all you want of me. Be damned to you. If you want money, you can work for it the way I do.” Edward snatched the notebook out of Charles’s hands and threw the thing at the carved red cedar fireplace. He watched the pages flutter in the updraft from the empty grate.

Charles stood staring at him for a moment, then he nodded. “I see. I’ll get the sheep yarded and counted, and I’ll report to you.” He squared his wide shoulders, ignored his notebook, and left the room.

Edward ripped up each page separately and put the scraps into his wastebasket. The matter had now been dealt with.