“I’m a papa,” Walden said. “I can go out in public in any state I please. As long as one of my daughters is grinning at my side, clutching me by the hand, I will be forgiven any number of minor imperfections in my wardrobe.”

“This imperfection is a jam stain,” Rex said, “not a badge of honor.” He retied Walden’s cravat so the stain wasn’t visible.

“It’s both,” Walden said, using his reflection in a glass breakfront to survey Rex’s handiwork. “I hope you learn that one day soon. My solicitors, unlike the leeches you employ, can have the documents drawn up within the week.”

“I won’t be here.”

Walden fluffed the cravat, so the jam stain peeked out from beneath his lace. “Running off to brood?”

“We’re peers,” Rex said. “I am among the very few men who can call you out, Walden. I’m running off to France.”

“Licking your wounds? Do you think you’re the only duke who’s had a rotter or two among his relations?”

Rex stalked across the room, forcing Walden to stop preening and to instead look at him. “Where would you be without an auditor who could spot larcenous thoughts as they formed in the heads of your clerks, tellers, and customers? Where would you be without a woman quietly toiling away out of sight, a lady who knows every rig and scheme ever attempted at a financial institution? You have built a reputation for scrupulously fair dealing, Walden, but you’ve maintained that reputation in part because Eleanora Hatfield has been patrolling your bank’s ramparts.”

“She was born to perform that office,” Walden said. “She thrives on it. I gather you seek to steal her away?”

“I seek to offer her a real option.”

Walden consulted a gold watch, though the mantel had an eight-day clock that looked to be keeping good time. The duke was stalling, then, considering options of his own.

“Eleanora likes to remain beyond the notice of the customers and managers,” Walden said. “She wanted a post answering directly to the partners, and she’s done well with that arrangement.”

“Do you know why she sought such anonymity?”

“I have my suspicions.”

Rex silently commended Walden for guarding a lady’s secrets, but that very display of caution confirmed that Eleanora’s problems extended beyond a grandparent ruined by scandal and a cousin absconding with two hundred pounds. Lord Stephen had all but said as much over a morning cup of chocolate, but he too had refused to provide details.

“I will leave you to flaunt your finery,” Rex said. “I suspect a certain young lady is packing for a voyage, and I do not intend to let her sail alone.”

Walden had somehow positioned himself between Rex and the door, though Rex hadn’t noticed him doing it.