Trondelaine Castle by April Lynn Kihlstrom

move?”
    “Yours.”
    He walked back to the table and sat down. As his
eyes took in the disarray of pieces, he exclaimed,
“Good lord! How did we ever reach this mess?”
    Wendy laughed again. “Does it matter?”
    He grinned. “I suppose not.”
    The game began to move more quickly and Wendy
was aware her opponent had suddenly, drastically
improved. Nevertheless, due to a superior position
when they resumed the game, she won.
    “You’ll have to give me another chance, you know,”
he warned her wryly.
    “Yes, but not now,” she agreed. “It’s teatime.”
    In fact, Gwen was rolling the tea trolley into the
library. “Very well, later,” Lord Richard conceded.
When Wendy had poured the tea and Gwen had left the
room, he said, “This must all have seemed quite bizarre
to you.”
    She shook her head. “Hardly! You’re not the only
one who ever gets stuck on a problem.”
    He smiled and it seemed to Wendy he had never
looked more human and approachable. She was
tempted to apologize for her outburst of the morning,
but instinctively she knew it would only remind him of
their respective positions and draw a curtain between
them again.

    Instead, she asked, “What do you do when you
haven’t any guests to play chess with?”
    The grin widened. “If I’m here, I commandeer
Charles-ever since I discovered he knew the game. In
London, I have a secretary who plays chess and, in
desperation, I sometimes turn to my valet. But he hates
the game.”
    Wendy smiled quietly. She could imagine the
servants describing Lord Richard’s eccentricity with a
shudder. But she only said, “What are you working on?
Or shouldn’t I ask?”
    “Well, in this case, one of the companies I consult for
has a problem. They’ve been doing the usual time trend
studies. Only now something is drastically wrong. I
have to try to find out what-and quickly. You see,
they estimate level of inventories and order raw
materials months in advance. If their estimates model
is wrong, it could cost them a great deal of money. I
have to determine whether the fluctuation is temporary
or part of a new trend. If it’s temporary, I need to find
the cause and probable length of the fluctuation. If it’s
not temporary, I have to design a new model. Do you
understand?” He grinned.
    “Not completely,” she admitted cheerfully. “But it
sounds interesting. So you’re a consultant?”
    “Not precisely. I own shares in a number of
companies. It is in my interest to see that they do well.
Each, of course, has its own staff to handle ordinary
problems. But when a problem like this occurs, I
handle it-if I can. I receive a fee for such consulting,
but the big return is from my share in ownership.” He
paused. “It’s true that much of the work in economics
seems dull. But in my position, I handle the most
interesting problems.”

    “You don’t sound much like your namesake.”
Wendy laughed.
    Lord Richard frowned. “Did I tell you about him?
When you’re off those crutches I’ll take you upstairs
and show you his portrait. Though, actually, his
half-sister was far more interesting. No, I’m not going
to tell you that family scandal. We haven’t a portrait of
her anyway.”
    “Was she illegitimate?”
    Lord Richard gave her a withering look. “Had that
been the case, my dear Wendy, I should never have
mentioned her at all.”
    Realizing she’d best change the subject, she asked,
“More tea?”
    He nodded and gave her his cup to fill. She poured
tea, he thought, as though she had been brought up in
an English home. But then, her mother was British. Or
so Wendy claimed.
    Wendy was not conscious of his gaze and she turned
back to Lord Richard to give him his teacup.
    He was looking at something on his desk. “Thank
you, just set it there,” he said and continued to study
the matter on his desk.
    Wendy felt as though she were intruding and said,
“If you will excuse me, I have some