Skull and Dagger

“A toast!” Henry Sutton, wealthy colonial sharecropper and soon to be British noble, announced.

“A toast!” The forty-nine landholders seated at the long, chestnut dinning table all arose, holding their wineglasses up high.

“To wise investments and a more prosperous tomorrow!” Henry proclaimed with a cultured smile.
Glasses clinked as the elite of North Carolina shared in his toast.

“Although perhaps not quite so prosperous as our host,” Daniel Stewart commented, nodding his head in Henry’s direction. “Tell me, how ever did you manage it? Married into the House of Lords – quite an amazing accomplishment, even for you.”

“Especially given your daughter’s, er…spirited tendencies,” Thomas Archer agreed.

Henry laughed. “I can assure you,” he began, “the Williams aren’t accepting my offer because of Annabelle's charming personality.”

“All about business then, is it?” Archer inquired.

“It is a shame that so many of our fatherland’s nobility have fallen into such hardship in recent years,” Henry agreed in a manner that indicated all too clearly that all he cared about the matter was how it had benefited him personally.

“The Williams have indeed fallen upon hard times in recent years. And, if they’re eager to ally with the ample estates I’ve set up here in the colonies in order to rebuild their wealth, who am I to object?”
Stewart laughed.
“Even though their son must endure a marriage with young Annabelle?”

“From what I’ve heard, this Parker of theirs is quite the philanderer,” Henry said dismissively.
“They’re glad to have him settled down…at least officially.”

“And Annabelle is not so displeasing of countenance,”
Archer joked lightly. “At least he’ll have that consolation after they’re wed.”

Henry raised his glass in agreement. “I figure she’ll be able to at least bare him a few good sons. Fair trade all around.”

“If he can break her in properly,” Stewart commented wryly. “You never quite managed that, did you, Sutton?”

Henry hid his displeasure at what he considered to be the greatest failure of his life. Everything else in his work, his landholdings, his family, and his social circle had come off perfectly, expect for that stubborn daughter of his who just refused to bend to his will as any proper lady of her standing should.

“It’s her husband’s task now,” he made light of the subject, unwilling to let anything mar this, the night of his crowning achievement. Marriage to nobility was indeed rare with colonial families these days.

He had already received reports of the stir it was causing back in good, old England. But all that really mattered was that the Williams's were desperate enough to go through with this arranged marriage.
Thankfully, the recent piracy on the Atlantic had reduced the old Lord’s holdings to virtually nothing.

“May her husband reign her in better than her father has,” Stewart pressed the point a bit bitterly.
After all, who wouldn’t be jealous of Henry’s recent success?

Henry gave him a tightlipped smile and raised his glass in agreement.

“To the taming of the shrew,” Archer laughed, joining in the most recent toast as well, “provided she doesn’t pull another of those stunts of hers first…”