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the notion that I should be her eyes and ears here. She’ll be frightfully put out when I tell her you have rejected the agent of her choosing. I wouldn’t be surprised if she withdraws her funds.”
    “Then I’ll find another partner.” He turned to leave.
    “Blanche will probably be so upset she’ll refuse to see you,” Daisy predicted.
    That stopped him. He needed to see Blanche again, like a starving man craved food. Lucian turned and levelled a stare at the insufferable Miss Drake. “If my father learns you’re on his property, he’ll—”
    “What? Have me arrested for trespassing?” She laughed lightly. “Unlikely, since you obviously intend to permit me to join you in your endeavour.”
    “Only under duress,” he said icily.
    Lucian was reluctant to admit, even to himself, that his father’s hatred for the lord of Dragon Caern was excessive, given the nature of Gabriel Drake’s offense. Other lords had spurned his father’s request for investment in South Sea as well, but the Cornish baron had been Lord Montford’s last hope.
    Sometimes, Lucian suspected the earl teetered close to madness. Fear of seeing his father tumble into that dark abyss was part of what drove Lucian to improve the family fortunes, but it was certainly not something he’d confess to a Drake. Especially not this Drake.
    “You don’t understand—” he began.
    “I know perfectly well that your father holds an unreasonable grudge against my uncle, but I don’t see why that should extend to our association.”
    “We have no association.”
    She heaved an annoyed sigh. “I meant our business association, of course.”
    The sound of a raised voice echoed down the hall. By the slurred speech and the crash of broken crockery, Lucian suspected his father was already in his cups, and noon still hours away. Lucian strode to the desk and rummaged through the top drawer.
    “What are you doing?” she asked.
    “Looking for a way to alter your appearance,” he said as he finally found the glasses case he sought. The previous owner of the desk had mistakenly left them in it, and Lucian kept them only because sometimes it eased his own eyes to wear them if he read too much late at night. “If my father recognizes you, there’ll be hell to pay.”
    “I doubt that he will,” Daisy said as he settled the steel frames on her nose, distracting attention from her moss green eyes. She blinked over the rims at him. “After all, you certainly didn’t.”
    He decided to ignore that jab. “But he might. Unlike my father, I’m not fixated on your family, and you do have a definite Drake look about you.”
    One after another, the Drake girls had assaulted London’s fashionable set, their golden hair and golden fortunes the talk of the town. Lucian remembered hearing that Daisy hadn’t managed to snag a husband, but given her proclivity for maiming and mayhem, perhaps that was understandable.
    Some things even a boatload of pirate gold couldn’t smooth over.
    A loud crash sounded in the hall. His father was getting closer.
    Daisy cast him a slightly cross-eyed look.
    “Now, if you’re serious about continuing as Blanche’s agent, you’ll leave the talking to me,” he said under his breath as the earl staggered into the room. “Good morning, Father.”
    “Nothing good about it,” Lord Montford said with a snort. He fixed a bleary-eyed glare on Miss Drake. “Who the blazes are you?”
    Lucian stepped forward, partially shielding her from his gaze. “This is Miss . . . Clavenhook. Miss Clavenhook from Knightsbridge. She’s come to help with the Latin translations.”
    “So, my son’s dragged you into this mad business as well,” the earl said. “Nothing in that field but extra heartache.”
    Lucian’s lips drew together in a tight line. This conversation was a vicious little circle with no end. One they had already worn smooth with constant repetition.
    “Better put your mind to courting, lad,” Lord Montford said.