CHAPTER FIFTEEN: THEO

“I see you’re trying your hardest to seduce her with your body.”

I stared at my grandfather across the coffee table. “Don’t ever say such a sentence again. I need to bleach my ears.”

“What other reasons do you have to wander about the cottage without a t-shirt on if not to seduce Chloe, my dear grandson?”

So, I was his ‘dear grandson’ now? I was a little swine earlier.

What a turncoat.

“I’m used to not wearing a shirt at home, so I forget to put one on sometimes.” I sat back on the sofa and dropped my head back on the cushions, looking up at the intricately moulded ceiling. “Why did you really come up here?”

“I told you—I’m checking on the renovations. Robin called and said there was an issue with the restoration of the tiles in the old servants’ kitchen, so I came to deal with it.”

“And the rest of your reason?”

“I wanted to see if you two had made any progress with your relationship.”

“There is no relationship.” I rested my arm on the back of the soda, bending it to sink my fingers into my hair. “I know what you’re trying to do, but Chloe doesn’t think of me that way, so give it a rest.”

“How is it possible that you’re living together and you still haven’t managed to convince her that you aren’t a heartless workaholic?”

I sat upright and sighed, staring at my grandfather. “That and whatever you’re thinking about are two completely different things.”

“Mmph,” he grumbled, folding his arms across his chest. “You’re going to show her around here tomorrow, aren’t you?”

“I thought you said the staff would.”

“The staff are far too busy.”

“That’s the excuse you gave for her not coming up to the house today.”

“I only said that so you’d be the one to give her the tour tomorrow.” Gramps cackled. “You know the history of our family and the manor better than anyone.”

Only because he’d made me take extracurricular history lessons on our family when I was a child. I hadn’t minded, but he was a terrible teacher in general.

“That’ll be because Grandma took over the lessons when she realised you were treating them more like a board meeting than a tutoring session,” I said dryly. “I didn’t learn a thing from you.”

Gramps sniffed. “You learnt how to run a business from me. Then again, I think that was more to do with your brains than anything else. God only knew your cousins received the same opportunities and squandered it all.”

That’s because my aunt was spoilt, and my cousins were idiots.

I wasn’t going to say that part out loud, though. Gramps would only get offended.

As he should. He was the one who’d made her spoilt in the first place.

“Mm.” I turned my head and looked out of the window at the side garden. “I’ll ask Chloe if she minds me being the one to show her around, but if she says yes, someone else will have to do it.”

Three knocks sounded at the door, and we both turned in that direction as one of the housemaids pushed in a small trolley. “I have the whiskey you requested, Your Grace.”

“Thank you,” Gramps said. “Just put it on the table and leave us until dinner.”

She set down the tray with the decanter of whiskey and two glasses and left us without another word.

“She’s new,” I said once she’d closed the door behind us.

Gramps nodded, sitting forwards and reaching for the decanter. “Jodie went on maternity leave two months ago. Alanna is her cover.”

It was amazing how he could remember everyone’s names. “Makes sense. But why are we drinking in the middle of the afternoon?”

“Because we can’t do it with your father around. He’s such a grouch.”

That wasn’t how I’d describe my father, but I wasn’t going to argue with Gramps today. “And now the other reason.”

He eyed me. “You’re too smart.”

“Would you prefer I be an idiot like my cousins?” I asked dryly.

“Please, no. Three idiots are enough in your generation.” He handed me a glass before sitting back on the sofa and stretching one arm out across the back of the cushions. “Did your father call you yesterday?”

“No. I thought I was supposed to call you this weekend.”

“Then aren’t you lucky I saved you the job?”

“More like you didn’t trust me to call you.”

“I’m glad we’re on the same page,” Gramps said. “You should be aware that your aunt is trying to set Francesca up with Anthony Grandstein.”

I was sick and tired of hearing that damn name.

“Why is she doing that? I thought she’d try to set her up with Henry. Isn’t he the eldest?”

“Mm. It seems he’s not interested in inheriting his father’s title, so Rupert is naming Anthony as the heir to the viscountcy once Henry officially renounces it.”

“Which is why Aunt Caroline is setting them up. Is Fran even interested in Anthony?”

“I think she’s interested in anyone that can provide her a lifestyle in which she doesn’t have to work,” Gramps said flatly. “I tried warning your aunt that I don’t think the Grandsteins fit the bill with their current business woes, but she isn’t listening.”

“When has she ever listened?” I asked. “Are the Grandsteins happy with that arrangement?”

“Given that Rupert sent an official marriage proposal to me for you and Emily, what do you think?” He raised his eyebrows. “He’s old-fashioned, and from what I know, Anthony is happy with the arrangement. Seems he had a crush on Fran when they were in school.”

I tapped my fingers against my knee. “I remember that. He asked me to introduce them, but she wasn’t interested.”

“She is now.”

“I suppose that has nothing to do with him becoming his father’s heir.”

Gramps’ eyes twinkled. “Funny how things change, isn’t it?”

“Something like that. Why are you telling me all this in person? Couldn’t it have been done on the phone?”

“I’m warning you because I suspect ill intentions from both your aunt and Rupert Grandstein,” Gramps said. “There’s only so much I can do when it comes to the business. I believe Rupert is trying to tie their family to ours in the hope we’ll invest again, and your aunt will do the same. She’s been on the warpath ever since I rewrote my will.”

I paused. “You rewrote your will?”

“Mm.” He sipped. “I changed it so those useless louts she calls her children won’t get a penny off me until they turn forty-five. She almost threw a chair through the window when I told her.”

Was that even legally possible? “Did you apply the same condition to my inheritance?”

“No.”

“That’s why she almost threw a chair through the window, Gramps.”

“No, she almost threw a chair through the window because she has anger issues.”

“She thinks you favour me.”

He grinned. “I do favour you.”

“You can’t say that out loud.”

“Why not? If she wanted me to favour her children, she should have taught them not to be such lazy little bastards,” he retorted hotly. “Besides, you’re their heir to both my business and my title. The title by birth, but the business because you’ve worked for it. They haven’t. Why should they reap any of the rewards of your hard work until they’ve done something with their own lives?”

He made an excellent point—not that I would ever tell him I was agreeing.

“How did you find out what Aunt Caroline is doing?” I asked.

“She told me.” He rubbed his nose. “Then had the audacity to ask for my blessing if they decide to get married.”

I was a little afraid to ask this, but… “What did you tell her?”

“I told her to piss off.”

Yup. That was why I afraid to ask. “Gramps…”

“What? Of all the men in this country, she chooses that one to set my granddaughter up with? I knew my daughter was a sneaky thing, but I didn’t think she was this sneaky. She knows how I feel about those bloody Grandsteins.”

“All right, calm down, or you’ll make yourself ill again,” I told him. “You know there’s not much you can do if Fran wants to marry him.”

“Do you mean I can’t disinherit her?”

“Yes, you cannot disinherit her just because she’ll be marrying a man you don’t like.”

“That seems unfair.”

I rubbed my hand over my forehead. “Well, I suppose you can. It’s your money. You can do whatever you please with it.”

“Then I will leave Fran’s share to Chloe.”

“You just want to watch the world burn, don’t you?” I shook my head. “I can picture you now in the afterlife with a glass of whiskey, laughing as you watch the chaos you’ve left behind because you screwed with your will at the last minute to do something like that.”

He shrugged. “I like Chloe more than Fran.”

“That’s a terrible way to talk about your granddaughter.”

“Then you should hurry up and make Chloe fall for you so I can finally talk nicely about a granddaughter of mine.”

“I’m starting to feel as though you’ll disinherit me if I don’t marry Chloe.”

“Now, there’s an idea,” Gramps said brightly. “Do you think she’ll feel sorry for you and marry you out of guilt?”

I stared at him. “I would rather be disinherited than be married out of pity.”

“Mmph. Luckily for you, none of your cousins are remotely competent enough to run this estate or my company, or I might have considered it.”

I had no doubt that what he was saying was true. It really was a blessing I was the only one born with a desire to work for the family company.

Actually, that was unfair. My cousin, Piers, had once had a desire to work for Black Ink Corporation, but that was where it’d stopped for him. Gramps had made it clear that he’d split the business between us if necessary, but Piers’ problem was much the same as Francesca’s.

Aunt Caroline had spoilt them both as well as their youngest brother, Louis, to the point I wasn’t sure any of my three cousins had any idea what work actually was.

I hadn’t got my place in the company by nepotism, but once upon a time, those three sure had.

“Anyway, just be careful. With our recent issues with them, I expect Rupert to reach out sooner rather than later. Withdrawing our investments from some of their subsidiaries has hit them hard, and now that Anthony and Fran are supposedly seeing one another, he’ll probably look to reconcile.” Gramps stared into his glass, then raised it to his lips and peered over at me. “He’ll reach out to you first because he’s a coward. When he does, tell him it’s nothing to do with you and call me.”

“Why don’t you just let me and Dad deal with it?”

“Because you’ll deal with it wrong.”

The man was a control freak.

“All right,” I said, holding up my hands. Arguing with him wasn’t going to get me anywhere. “I’ll do as you say.”

He nodded. “Good. By the way, Patricia made a cheesecake this morning. It’s in the fridge. You should take a slice back to the cottage for Chloe.”

“Why would I do that? She doesn’t like cheesecake.”

Gramps paused. “Yes, she does. She used to take it whenever I brought it in for her.”

I eyed him. “Really? She hates cream cheese. Melody brought a small cheesecake in for Daniel’s birthday because it’s his favourite, and Chloe passed, citing that as the reason.”

“Damn it. She’s too nice for her own good.” He huffed. “There goes my plan to make you seem like a thoughtful man by bringing her a slice.”

I shook my head. “Just go back to London, Gramps, and take your little Cupid’s bow with you.”