Chapter 14 #2
“It was a total waste of time,” she said again, and then asked him what had been happening at the mills, and he told her, and brought her up-to-date. Everything had gone smoothly in her absence.
* * *
Victoria was happy to get back to her routine, checking on the mills, walking through the factories, a day in Yorkshire to check on things there.
Thor came with her, and they agreed on most of what they saw and needed to be done.
He had turned out to be an excellent administrator and was an effective go-between among various factions, Victoria, and the workers.
He was a perfect representative, and he had grown as a result too.
The only area where he felt inept and out of his league was in regard to his feelings for her, which grew deeper all the time, and which he didn’t dare express to her, for fear of ruining what they had.
She relied on Thor for everything, but considered him a friend.
* * *
Victoria had a similar experience to the one with Vergil Jackson in June, when a French count contacted her, saying he wished to meet with her in London if possible.
She knew his name, and that he produced beautiful silks in the south of France.
She had been wanting to visit his mills for years, but never had the time.
She still wanted to work on the Banning mills and refine them further, so she was interested in meeting with him.
She asked Thor if he wanted to go to London with her, but he was busy meeting with the union and trying to avoid another strike.
She went to London the night before, and had invited Count d’Armesson to lunch at the house.
He arrived looking like the perfect French aristocrat, tall and handsome with jet-black hair, blue eyes, and impeccable manners.
He was charming and they spoke of everything but business throughout the meal.
He charmed her totally and finally arrived at the purpose of his mission over dessert.
They were having delicate Grand Marnier soufflés.
“You make the most beautiful silks in France, Arnaud. I’ve wanted to come and see your mills for years. I haven’t had time since the war ended, but I’d like to come in the fall. I know you’re closed in August.”
“Yes, we are, and I would be honored to receive you in September. I had no idea you are so young. You are very young to run an operation as large as yours.” He had met Bert years before and was expecting a much older widow. Victoria’s youth, beauty, and dynamic energy came as a surprise.
“I have very good people who work with me. I inherited it all from my husband, and fortunately he taught me a great deal about it before he died. Our mills have become my life. He died six years ago.”
“Oh, such a young widow, how terrible,” he said. He was somewhere in his fifties, and very dashing. “I am a widower too, you know. Do you have children?”
“No, I don’t. I have mills and mill workers,” she said, and he smiled. “Do you have children?”
“Yes, I have five sons,” he said, and looked into her eyes.
“You must not forget to live as well. We all learned in the war that life can be very short. The Anglo-Saxons are always so serious about business. We French are more engaged in the quality of life,” he said meaningfully, and she couldn’t decide if he was there for business or romance, or maybe both.
“I recently spent a week in Yorkshire, visiting friends, and I had the opportunity to visit your mill there. You’ve done a very good job, and I’m currently interested in expanding into wool.
I come to England quite a lot. I love the British.
I attended Oxford for a year, it was a wonderful experience. ”
“My father went to Oxford,” she said, as Parker served coffee with pear liqueur after the soufflés.
“I would like to buy your Yorkshire mill from you, if we can agree on a friendly price.” Victoria didn’t know what a “friendly price” was in his mind, but she had no desire whatsoever to sell her wool mill in Yorkshire.
“It’s not for sale,” she said firmly with a smile. He had not expected resistance to his offer and thought the purchase would be easy. Victoria’s resolve was unexpected.
“So I was told by your foreman, but everything has a price. And it must be inconvenient for you, so far from Manchester, when you have so much to manage there.”
“I’m used to it.” She smiled at him. “My administrator goes there weekly.”
“Ah, yes. Why don’t you think about it and see if we can come to an agreeable price?” He was insistent and dismissed her negative response.
“I don’t think so, Arnaud. I’d like to expand more into wool myself.”
“Why don’t you consider my offer over the summer, and we’ll talk about it when you come to Provence, when I show you my silks. We’ll have a good time.”
“That won’t change my mind. I’m not selling. If anything, we want to increase the operation in Yorkshire,” she said clearly again.
“You already have a lot to manage, my dear,” he said, as though he would do her a huge favor by taking the Yorkshire mill off her hands.
“In fact, what are you doing for dinner tonight? Our little bit of fun could start now, here in London. I would love to take you to dinner, to thank you for this exceptional lunch.” Women rarely resisted him, but Victoria was not impressed.
“That’s very kind of you, but I’m going back to Manchester tonight. We have union meetings tomorrow.” Thor had told her he was struggling, and Victoria had promised to be at the meeting with him tomorrow.
“You see, you are much too serious, my dear. And Yorkshire must be an added burden.”
“Actually, it’s not.” She stood up from the table then, and they moved to the drawing room, to give him a hint that lunch was over.
His charm wasn’t getting him anywhere. He wasn’t going to convince her, but he was tenacious if nothing else, and seemed to think he would overpower her because she was young and a woman.
He didn’t know who he was dealing with. As Thor said, Victoria could be as stubborn as a mule at times.
Arnaud d’Armesson clearly hadn’t gotten that message.
“You’re sure about dinner?” he asked her, as she walked him unsubtly toward the door, and Parker arrived to open it for him.
“Quite sure,” she said, sounding very British. All that charm was wasted on trying to buy a mill she had no intention of selling. She was a force to be reckoned with.
“Let me know when you want to come in September.” The opportunity to see his silks had become much less appealing with his insistence about her mill in Yorkshire. His visit had been a waste of time for them both.
She glanced at her watch on her way upstairs. She had an hour before she had to leave for the station. Time enough to change.
The chauffeur drove her and she got to the train on time.
She had taken the newspaper with her to read on the train, and when she did, she was intrigued by a story on the front page.
Oxford had admitted female students for years but refused to give them degrees.
They had changed their policy and were going to start awarding degrees to women a year from now.
If she took classes there, she could get a coveted Oxford degree.
It was as though someone had granted her fondest wish ten years too late.
Victoria would have given anything to go to Oxford ten years before.
She thought about it on the way to Manchester.
She couldn’t see spending three years there now, at her age.
But what if she could do a year and get a degree?
With Thor as the administrator, what if she could spend a year at Oxford and go home to Manchester on the weekends?
She had a light dinner on the train and fell asleep, dreaming of Oxford.
She had visited it many times with her father, wishing she could attend classes there.
And now it might be possible, if they’d allow her to get a degree of some kind after a year.
It was ten o’clock at night by the time she got home.
She didn’t call Thor in case he was asleep.
He’d had rough meetings all day and had sounded exhausted when he called her before she left London.
She unpacked her suitcase and went to bed.
She had to get up early to be at the mill at nine to meet with the union man to attempt to resolve a dispute between the workers and management.
It hadn’t reached crisis level yet, but it easily could.
And Thor said he needed her there to lend her weight to his arguments.
* * *
Thor smiled as soon as he saw Victoria arrive. She looked wide-awake and full of energy as he greeted her. “How did it go yesterday with Prince Charming?”
“He’s only a count, not a prince, and he’s not so charming. Or rather he is, but also stubborn and transparent. He wants to buy our mill in Yorkshire.” Thor looked surprised.
“And what did you tell him?”
“No, of course. We don’t want to sell it.”
“No, we don’t,” Thor agreed, as the union man arrived. She didn’t get a chance to tell him about Oxford, which she considered far more interesting news than the count.
The mediation took all day, but the dispute was settled with a little compromise, which Thor handled extremely well. Victoria was only there for moral support.
“Do you want to have dinner at the house tonight?” she asked him, and he accepted with delight. He enjoyed his evenings with her, and Patrick’s cooking.
Over dinner, she told him about Oxford awarding degrees to women next year, and he didn’t seem particularly interested in it. Neither of them was of university age.
“That was my dream, Thor,” she said pointedly. “A degree from Oxford.”
“You’re not thinking of applying, are you?”
“It crossed my mind,” she confessed, excited about it, which he could see and which took him by surprise.