He cuddled her until her breathing grew deep and even. How long had it been since a pretty girl had drifted to sleep in his arms? How long would it take, once Eliza was gone, for Mark to grow accustomed to the empty rattlings of his house, the interminable stretch of his days?
He needed a plan to launch Eliza into a confident, contented, law-abiding future. He would feel better knowing that she was securely set up somewhere safe. But Mark realized he couldn’t do it alone, for Eliza did not need a lover, a sponsor, or even a friend.
What she needed most was afamily.
CHAPTER TWENTY
He was going to be late for work, yet duty called. Mark’s morning commute required a detour through Piccadilly, where he must interrupt his sister’s breakfast.
Ann sat at the little rosewood table in her morning room, sipping coffee and slathering a slice of toast with apricot jam. She paused, knife arrested above her bread, when he stepped through the doorway.
“Mark, what a surprise!” Her wide-eyed look of shock gave way to fear. “Is everything alright?”
He nodded as he came to her with his hat in his hands. “Don’t worry. All is well. I was on my way to the Bank…”
“Then you’ve just missed Sid. He left for work not fifteen minutes ago.”
He’d hoped to find his sister alone, for—as decent and loyal as Sidney Cooper was—Mark wanted privacy the favor he would ask. “It is you I’ve come to see.”
Her dark brows raised. “You’d better sit down.” Ann gestured to the empty seat at the table, and then hovered her fingers over the coffee pot. “Will you have something?”
“Nothing, thanks.” He waved her off.
She refreshed her coffee cup while waiting for him to begin.
“Firstly, I feel I owe you an explanation for yesterday,” he said, at last. “You were right to suspect that I was meeting a woman for luncheon, but you couldn’t begin to fathom the full truth. I’ve come to confess, and to beg for your help.”
Mark told her of Eliza’s plight. Ann sat in stunned silence while he recounted the events following that night he’d delivered her to the Duchess of Bodlington’s ball. He explained the theft of fifteen hundred pounds and Eliza’s run-in with the desperate, dangerous residents of Seven Dials. He spoke of his houseguest’s isolation, though he omitted discovering her in his bed.
“Miss Summersby is lonely,” said Mark, “so I’ve come to ask you to befriend her.”
His sister blinked at him from across the breakfast table. “You wish formeto become friends with a common criminal? An urchin? An unmarried girl who is currently residing inyourhome?”
It was indecent to even suggest such a thing. Ann was a lady, a virtuously sheltered member of society. She was also a mother, intelligent and tenderhearted, and the only woman in London he could trust.
“It would mean a great deal to me.” He explained, “Miss Summersby is alone in the world and has now come into a life-altering amount of money. When she is capable of leaving Green Street, she’ll need lodgings, clothing, advice, and instruction. She cannot go back to her old life and is woefully unprepared for a respectable future.
“She needs a confidant who can offer a leg up into an honest living,” he said. “I thought you’d be the perfect candidate—for the time being. She’ll be on her way soon enough, and then she won’t need either of us anymore.”
Mark dreaded the day that Eliza would leave him, but he dared not hold her back. He wanted to elevate her, to help her rise to her potential. He knew that Ann could never resist doing a good turn for a deserving lady.
“Is it Miss Summersby who keeps you from courting Miss Prevost?”
He frowned. “I’ve known Hilda Prevost since she was fourteen. She’s a child to me. Besides, we discussed this yesterday. I don’t want a financial alliance, and I refuse to live under her father’s thumb.” Mark searched his heart to answer more truthfully, “I desire a wife whose values align with mine, and whose ambition surpasses my own.
“Where would Sidney be without you?” he asked, using his sister’s marriage as an example. In his mind, the Coopers’ loving union was the gold standard for banking families. “He’d likely be laboring at Stannard-Hopeley for the next twenty years, working beneath his potential as a junior officer until his eyesight failed and he’s put to pasture on a board filled with outdated ideals and mediocre capabilities.”
Ann was Sidney’s champion. She supported and encouraged her husband, and maneuvered behind the scenes to advance his career. She prodded Mark to seek out a position for the man she’d married at an institution that would both challenge and reward him.
Like Ann, Mark wanted a spouse he could be proud of.
He wanted a partner in more than name.
His sister sensed his devotion to the girl. “I’ll agree to become Miss Summersby’s friend if you promise me that she isn’t your…paramour.” She had the decency to blush at the suggestion.
Mark balked. “Don’t you know me better than that, Ann?”
“A few years ago, I might’ve thought I did, but now I’m a wife. I have a baby. I understand what happens when men and women reside together.” She reached across the plate of toast and jam to grasp his hand. “Swear to me, Mark, that your behavior in this matter is all that is gentlemanly.”
