Three Nights with a Scoundrel (Stud Club #3)(105)

“You own what, precisely?”

He began pulling ledgers from the wall and plunking them on the desk before her. “Various properties,” he said, plunking down a black leather-bound volume, “including most of the immediate neighborhood. Several textile mills.” A green ledger joined the first. “Miscellaneous investments.” This one was bound in a reddish brown.

“Have a look at them,” he said. “Better yet, here—” He yanked a folio from a high shelf and opened it, spreading the contents on the blotter before her. “This is last year’s report. Income and expenses.” He pulled one sheet apart from the rest. “Total assets are listed here.”

Lily didn’t look at it. She looked to him, agape.

He took a seat in a straight-backed chair across from her. “Mainly, I produce and sell cloth, wholesale. That’s the reason behind Julian Bellamy’s striking style. I’ve been setting the fashion trends to benefit my trade.” He gestured toward the papers and ledgers. “Go on, have a look.”

Lily couldn’t deny that she was curious. So she did as he suggested. First, she flipped through each of the ledgers. Of all people, she could appreciate a well-kept ledger, and these were meticulous. In every case, the income eclipsed the expenditures. In the Miscellany volume, she found several pages of charitable donations in astounding sums. Then she turned to last year’s summary, where she had to peer at the “total assets” portion for a solid minute, performing calculations in her mind to check the arithmetic before she could completely believe the final balance was correct.

He was worth a fortune. And not a small one. He was worth far more than Leo had been, if one discounted the entailed property that came with the marquessate.

“How did you amass all this?” she asked, lifting her head.

“Investments. I did have some seed money. A thousand guineas.”

“Where did you get a thousand guineas?”

“Blackmail.”

“Blackmail?” He said the word so baldly, with no equivocation.

“Yes. You recall the fixed horse race. I bled the ten conspirators for a hundred guineas each. A small fraction of their ill-gotten gains.”

“And from that, you did all this?” She gestured around at the ledgers.

He gave a modest nod.

Lily marveled at him. To think of all he’d accomplished, entirely on his own. A boy raised in the gutters, orphaned in his youth. All this, and yet he didn’t flash his wealth around for amusement’s sake, and certainly not for pride’s. No one had any idea. She couldn’t even bring herself to be angry with him for the deceit. She was too overwhelmingly proud. If only his mother could see her son now.

She dabbed away a tear. “I always knew you were a remarkable man, and I’ve long suspected there was more to you than the world supposed. But I’m ashamed to say even I could not have imagined this. Julian, I—” She broke off, biting her lip. “Do I still call you Julian?”

“I don’t know.” He shifted in his chair, looking serious. “I have been living two lives, under two different names. Neither one is precisely my own. My mother was Mary Bell, but you already know I’m uncertain of my Christian name.”

“Surely you could find out, if you went to the church.”

“I’m not certain I want to know.” A smile tugged at his lips. “What if it’s something dreadful, like Jedediah or Jehosephat?”

She cringed. “I see your point there.”

“My solicitor tells me my legal name can be whichever I choose. All I need to do is settle on one identity, and then transfer everything to that name.”

“Which name?”

“That’s for you to decide.”

“I think you should choose James Bell,” she said. “Don’t you? It honors your mother.” Although secretly, she would find it difficult to call him anything other than Julian. And she hated to admit, Lady Lily Bell sounded unbearably precious.

“That may be. However, I married you as Julian Bellamy. Changing to Bell now … I worry it could invalidate our union.”

Secretly relieved, she said, “Well, we can’t have that.”

“Are you absolutely sure?” His brow creased. “You wouldn’t prefer it that way?”

What? She sat back, stunned. How could he even say such a thing?

“Come now, Lily. A noblewoman of royal lineage, married to a man in trade? You know as well as I, it just isn’t done. When I proposed to you, I planned to sell it all. I’ve been making arrangements to do just that, but it takes time.”

“Really? You meant to sell off everything?” The magnitude of the sacrifice pained Lily, even in the abstract. Not the wealth or possessions, but just the sheer accomplishment represented by the documents on this desk. This was his life’s work.

“You deserved a gentleman. So I meant to play at being one for the remainder of my days. But I’ve come to realize—and I think you’ve come to realize—living like that, I will always feel something of a fraud. If I’m to prove myself worthy of you, it must be on my own terms.” His gaze made a slow circuit of the busy office, then came home to hers. “I’m good at this, Lily. It’s what I’m meant to do. I don’t want to give it up.”