A Most Unconventional Match by Julia Justiss

she was kind. And though she’d claimed to be ignorant of how best to help her son, she was without question deeply committed to working out how to do so.
    She’d even called him clever. Him, clever! Of course, Nicky and Ned often told him so, but that was concerning such masculine affairs as hunting, fencing or horsemanship. Without being arrogant, he knew he was excellent with a foil, a dead shot with any weapon, a tireless rider and skilled in all the attributes men considered important. ’Twas just in the polite society of ladies that he felt clumsy and backward.
    No female had ever even hinted she found him intelligent. Probably intimidated by his size or put off by his monosyllabic speech, behind their fans and polite words they regarded him with expressions that said they thought him a dolt or a dullard. Like Mama did.
    The mantel clock chimed, reminding him he had work to do here before going on to a meeting with several brokers in the City. He needed to focus on the task at hand, not linger here daydreaming of earning another smile from Elizabeth Lowery.
    The canal project that had occupied him in the north was to open a new phase and he intended to buy in from the beginning. Transportation was the key to the further development of the British economy, a means to deliver raw materials to the mills that could turn them into finished goods and bring the products of England’s fertile fields and small workshops into the cities, benefiting both the country folk and the burgeoning urban population.
    Horse-drawn transport was the way of the past. Rather than refuse to acknowledge that and try to hang on to practices that must change, there was both economic benefit and profit to be made in investing in the future.
    He paused, ledger in hand as the idea suddenly struck him. Even without as yet possessing all the papers he needed to get a complete view of the Lowerys’ financial condition, he knew he must persuade Mrs Lowery to sell some of her husband’s excellent antiquities collection. The proceeds of that sale would pay off the debts Lowery had accumulated and supplement the widow’s income until the estate’s crops came to market.
    He’d intended to use the modest fees from the rental of Lowery Manor to cover the repairs and improvements to that property; since apparently Lowery hadn’t inspected his estate in some time, there would inevitably be matters that needed attending to. Hal tried not to think unkindly of a man who’d not only borrowed beyond his means, but had neglected to properly oversee the assets he possessed.
    But if enough remained after the estate’s needs were met to fund an investment in the canal project, over the next few years Mrs Lowery might see large returns. Based on the performance of the shares he’d bought in the last project, such an investment might ensure that Elizabeth Lowery could live comfortably for the foreseeable future, whether or not she chose to remarry.
    Young and beautiful as she was, she probably would wish to marry again, Hal thought. And, no, he must not let himself even consider that prospect.
    She seemed to have genuinely loved her much older husband and would probably spend the full year society dictated in mourning him. If she then decided to remarry, Hal knew there would be a host of eager contenders to the hand of the beautiful Elizabeth.
    Men who truly were gallant and witty and all those things ladies so prized. The only asset he possessed in feminine eyes, his wealth, didn’t seem to hold much appeal for Elizabeth. He mustn’t forget that kind and appreciative as she was of his assistance, Elizabeth Lowery would never look twice at a man like Hal Waterman.
    He’d dreaded coming here today. He needed to cling to that sense of dread. Elizabeth the merely beautiful was dangerous enough to his peace of mind. He dared not imagine the damage that could be done to his well-ordered life by a lady who not only