The Bareknuckle Groom - Holly Bush Page 0,19

he said with laugh, “not admonishing her for scrubbing walls with the maids or sorting sheets in the laundry room. She claims that feeling useful makes her very happy. Perhaps that will stop when we have a child.”

James tilted his head. “Do you think so?”

Alexander shook his head. “No,” he said with a laugh. “She won’t change, and that is fine with me.”

“So what about this strangely worded note you sent me?”

A maid arrived with coffee and cakes, and James gladly downed a few. He needed to keep his weight up until the next fight, and all his workouts had made him drop a few pounds. He leaned back in his chair and stared at Alexander.

“I’ve a proposal for you via my father and uncle. They thought it might be best received from me rather than two old men,” Alexander said with a chuckle. “And I agreed.”

“A proposal?”

“Yes. A proposal. I’m sure you’ve thought ahead to the time when you are no longer able or no longer want to box to make your living. I also know you have a stake in your family’s canning business and don’t really know if the income from that would be enough to start a family someday.”

James was staring at him, listening, but he was unable to get past Alexander saying that someday he would no longer be able to box. That comment had stopped him dead in his tracks. What could he possibly mean by that? Why would he ever give up boxing? He loved it, and it paid him handsomely.

“The idea is to build a modern gymnasium for boxers to train and to hold matches with permanent rings. To have large seating areas and comfortable dressing rooms and training rooms with their own rings. Maybe even have other events in the main area, such as musicals or shows.”

“I’m not sure I understand,” James said, quelling the rapid beat of his heart.

“They want you to run it, use your name in the boxing world, from New York to the Carolinas, to build a modern, profitable business. They would put the seed money in to start it but allow you, and maybe a few others, to purchase it from them over time.”

James was flummoxed. Why would he want to quit boxing? Start a family? He was only twenty-five—hardly an old man. His future was his family, boxing, and willing women. Why would he ever stop?

But it occurred to him that it seemed like yesterday he was twenty and green behind the ears. Would five years seem that same short bit of time when he was thirty or thirty-five? And where would his family be then? In ten years, Kirsty would be married with children on the way, Aunt Murdoch could be bedridden for all he knew, and MacAvoy was already making his own family, much like Elspeth. Other than Muireall, his sisters and brothers would have their own lives. Would he just be the aging uncle, not quite right in the head from the number of years he’d been in a boxing ring?

He realized he’d been silent for some time.

“Just think about it, James. Maybe in a few years, you would be interested,” Alexander said smoothly and shuffled some papers on his desk. “When’s the next match I can look forward to?”

“I . . . I’m not sure of the date. I’ll have to ask MacAvoy. He always keeps those things straight,” he said and stood. “MacAvoy said he’d be here seeing Mrs. Emory if he was done at the mill in time. I’ll check with him and let you know.”

James walked out of the room and out a servant’s door to where there was abundant air to catch his breath.

“What is it, Giselle?” Lucinda said as she finished writing a letter to a friend in Virginia.

“There is a man, a gentleman, in the foyer, and he is causing a disturbance.”

“A disturbance?”

“Yes. He is saying he will not leave, and he is raising his voice to Mr. Laurent, who has told him he must have an appointment to meet with the family.”

“Thank you, Giselle.”

Lucinda waited until the maid had gone from the room. Her father was at his club with business associates, and Aunt Louisa had come into her rooms a short while ago, a crumpled letter in one hand and a lace handkerchief in the other, saying she was going to lie down and did not want to be disturbed. She would not bother her aunt with this as, although she had been