“There’s also the consideration,” her father continued, “that if we sell The Barbarian to the Cynster Stables, we can be certain the horse will be valued for what he is and well looked after. In terms of honoring Henry’s memory and his trust in bequeathing the horse to me, that will be quite comforting.”
Struck by that insight, Addie nodded again. “So really, we’ll be doing right by the horse, Henry, and ourselves by entertaining and accepting Cynster’s offer.”
“It certainly seems that way,” her mother agreed.
“Very well.” Addie placed her palms on her knees and swiftly scanned her father’s face. Would he want to meet Cynster himself? It would be better for the family if they could avoid that. “If you’re willing, I’ll meet with Cynster and negotiate the best price—the best deal all around.”
To her relief, her father sank back in his chair. He glanced at her mother and waved vaguely at Addie. “Please, my dear. I really don’t feel up to discussing details. I would be grateful if you would handle it. I’ve been distant from the world of horses for so long that I really have no idea what the beast might be worth, and your wits are sharper than mine in such matters.”
“Thank you for your confidence, Papa.” Addie pushed to her feet. “Oh—Cynster mentioned papers. Documents about the horse.”
Her father nodded. “Yes, indeed. Being a Thoroughbred, The Barbarian came with a full set of bloodlines and such. The papers—all of them—should be in the safe in the study.”
“Yes, I’ve seen them there.” Addie hesitated, then added, “Cynster is staying at the Angel in Grantham. He said he would return after luncheon to hear your thoughts on his offer.”
Her father waved her off. “I’ll leave the matter in your capable hands, my dear.”
“In that case…” With a last smile for her parents, Addie turned for the door. “I’ll see you at luncheon in a little while. I want to spend some time looking into the going rate for top-class horseflesh.”
As she closed the door behind her, she reviewed the past half hour and was relieved at how well it had gone. With the path before her clear, she headed for the study.
Once there, the first thing she did was to open the safe and extract the papers pertaining to The Barbarian. She discovered several sale notes pinned together and what looked like a detailed pedigree bearing the stamp of the Jockey Club. After rifling through all the other loose papers and confirming she had retrieved everything relevant to the horse, she stacked The Barbarian’s papers neatly to one side of the blotter, closed the safe, then went to the shelf on which the estate ledgers for the past several years were housed. She selected several, carried them to the desk, and settled in the chair to peruse them.
Both her father and Dickie had bought prime hunters within the past five years. The prices they’d paid gave her a place to start in estimating The Barbarian’s potential value.
“Given the Cynsters want him for breeding, presumably, he’ll be worth considerably more.”
Eventually, she settled on a base price of two and a half times what the estate had paid for Dickie’s new hunter. She studied the figure she’d jotted on a scrap of paper, then softly snorted. “If Cynster will pay that or more…”
Such a sum would greatly assist in keeping the estate on an even keel financially. There were always repairs, some of which were inevitably unexpected, on top of the routine household expenses, the boys’ school fees, and Dickie’s expenses, even though, as young gentlemen born to noble families went, her brother was no profligate. He didn’t gamble, which was a huge relief, being more interested in horses and hunting than anything else. Indeed, although Dickie was still in what she thought of as the typical hedonistic phase through which young gentlemen of the ton invariably passed, underneath, he was a sensible man, and in her heart, Addie knew she could rely on him to stand with her through any disaster.
Unfortunately for them all, Dickie wasn’t her father’s heir.
That honor fell to Phillip Sommerville, her father’s eldest son and his only child by his first marriage. Her father’s first countess had died when Phillip was a child, and Phillip had never reconciled himself to his father’s second marriage. In actuality, Phillip’s relationship with the earl had grown only more strained with the years, in tandem with the expansion of the earl’s second family and their relatively happy family life.
Phillip had grown nastier and meaner, falling out with his father, ignoring the current countess entirely, and cutting his half siblings dead.
The staff hadn’t fared much better, and gradually, the estate as a whole had washed its hands of Phillip, as he had with it.
“Estranged” didn’t come close to describing the gulf that now existed between the earl and his current family and his heir.
After a moment of dwelling darkly on what couldn’t be fixed, at least not by her, Addie shook aside all thoughts of Phillip and focused, instead, on the matter before her.
All in all, she’d definitely warmed to the idea of selling The Barbarian to the Cynsters. Concluding the sale was shaping in her mind as a pleasant prospect; all that was required to achieve that reality was for her to meet with Nicholas Cynster and agree on a price.
She tried to imagine how subsequent events would play out. No doubt, once they’d agreed on the deal, he would leave and, subsequently, send a bank draft with a groom, who, after handing over the draft, would take possession of the horse.
After their meeting this afternoon, she would, very likely, not see Nicholas Cynster again.
Her reaction to that scenario was unsettling. Some part of her wanted and demanded that she engineer more time with him, which was ridiculous given she’d only met him less than twenty-four hours ago.
Regardless, instead of feeling relieved that their interaction would be so limited, some heretofore unsuspected part of her was wishing she had time to explore…
Explore what?
Exasperated, she shook her head. She was becoming nonsensical. Foolish even, and she really had no time to waste on such mental maundering. She had more than enough on her plate, what with steering her family and the estate through the unfolding drama occasioned by her father’s encroaching illness.
If only her half brother wasn’t such a threat.
