Jo Beverley - [Malloren 02] by Tempting Fortune Read Free Book Online

Rivers turn shallow in summer, and flood in winter. A canal just sits there, always calm and ready to transport goods at a fraction of the cost."
    "But the cost of construction..."
    "Ten thousand guineas a mile, apparently."
    Andover's jaw fell. "How can Bridgewater ever recover those kinds of costs? I heard him say earlier that he's not just going from his coal pits to Manchester. He's going to push to the sea. That's another twenty miles or so. It'll cost a fortune."
    "It's already cost his. He's over thirty thousand pounds in debt..."
    "Zounds."
    "...and people are very reluctant to lend him any more."
    "Hardly surprising. And you've actually lent him money?"
    "All I can spare, and nearly all I raise at the tables."
    Andover slumped back down again. "I wondered why you'd taken to deep play again." He looked thoughtfully at Bryght. "I've never known you to back a failure. Perhaps I should make him a loan."
    "Perhaps you should, but I tell you honestly there's no guarantee in it. It's a damned risky business. Apart from technical problems—and they're working out how to do things as they go—there are plenty of people who want to see him fail."
    "All those with money tied up in river navigation schemes, for a start, never mind those with money in cartage." Andover chewed his thumb. "It'll be a lot cheaper to transport by canal?"
    Bryght took out his snuff box and offered his friend a nerve-steadying pinch. "Immensely. By road a horse can pull about a ton. On a canal, it can pull close to fifty."
    Andover's hand paused in the act of taking snuff. "Can it indeed? That is quite a saving."
    Bryght smiled. "Isn't it? Bridgewater's going to be able to sell coal in Manchester and Liverpool at a fraction of the present price and still make a profit. And he's going to be able to bring imported goods from Liverpool back inland at the same vast savings. We're going to change the face of England and grow very, very rich."
    "Or go bankrupt."
    Bryght closed his snuff box with a click. "That is a risk. But risk, as you know, is my delight."
    Andover chewed over this in silence, but then he asked, "How does Jenny Findlayson fit into this?"
    "I'm not willing to let this project fail. If we run out of money, I'll marry the woman and use her money to keep going."
    "Zounds, and I thought you were the idealist about women and marriage."
    "That was before I encountered the delightful Nerissa."
    "So, she turned out to be a beautiful strumpet. Just give thanks that Lord Trelyn won her hand rather than you."
    "Oh, I do," said Bryght.
    "And seek a better bride. Jenny Findlayson has all the makings of a shrew."
    "But a wealthy shrew. If necessary I'm sure I can find a rundown house and set her to scrubbing floors...."
    Andover burst out laughing. "You think to tame her? 'Struth, Bryght, you're a braver man than I."
    Bryght leaned back at his ease. "Perhaps I'm just well guarded against women now."
    * * *
    Portia twitched awake at a crash in the other bedroom. It was followed by a familiar curse. Thank heavens. Oliver was home! Then she registered that it was the dead of night. Where had he been till such an hour?
    Gaming?
    No, it couldn't be.
    She slipped out of bed, shivering at the icy chill, and wrapped the thin coverlet around herself. When she peeped into the next room the dim moonlight just allowed her to make out Oliver sitting on his bed, rubbing his shin.
    "Oliver? Are you all right?"
    "Yes. Don't fuss, Portia. Just crashed into the corner of the plaguey bed." She heard the slur of drink in his voice with relief. If brandy was the worst of it, that was not too bad.
    He stood and his voice brightened. "Tell you what, Portia. I had the greatest luck tonight."
    "You met someone who would help you raise the money?"
    He chuckled. "You could say that. And I won over two hundred guineas from him!"
    It was like a blast of icy wind. "Won?"
    "Plague take it, Portia. I tell you I won and you sound as if I'd been condemned to hang!"
    She gripped her