“Wot’syourChristian name, sir?”
The question seemed to take him by surprise. Charlotte realized that she, too, had no idea of the answer.
“I can’t remember,” quipped Wrexford.
“Come, sir, what’s good for the goose is good for the gander,” she murmured.
He frowned in mock concentration for a long moment. “I believe it’s Alexander. But I ought to check Debrett’s Peerage to confirm it. It may be Agamemnon or Aloysius.”
Raven snickered.
“I choose Alexander,” said Hawk solemnly.
Another flourish. “And here we have Alexander Hawksley Sloane—known to all as Hawk.”
“Alexander Hawksley Sloane,” repeated Hawk in an awestruck whisper. A delighted smile spread the width of his narrow face.
“It’s an awfully big handle for an awfully small runt,” teased his brother.
Although the older boy was very good at hiding his emotions, Charlotte could sense that he was secretly just as pleased.
“Thank you, milord,” she murmured.
Hawk took up a pencil and began to write out his new name in large, curling copperplate script letters.
“I see that no more serious study can be expected,” observed Charlotte wryly. “So you two might as well take your swift feet—and exalted monikers—and fly off to Mr. Henning with my note. Lord Wrexford and I have some private matters to discuss.”
* * *
“How do you know that?” inquired Wrexford as he watched the boys gratefully snap their books shut and scamper for the door.
“Because, as you’ve taken pains to point out, you despise social pleasantries. You’re a pragmatic man, milord. So since you are here, I assume there’s some sordid matter in which my skills or my knowledge can be of use to you.”
Am I really that unfeeling to my friends?Sheffield’s oblique criticism suddenly cut a little more sharply against Wrexford’s conscience. Despite the complexities that shaded their relationship, hedidthink of Charlotte as a friend.
“Perhaps I have come to wish you well in your new residence.”
She let out a low laugh. “And perhaps pigs have learned how to fly.”
Some men might have been offended. However, he liked to think hypocrisy was not one of his many faults.
“I may always count on you to bring my vanity down to earth,” he murmured.
Charlotte turned away and began straightening up the jumble of books and papers on the table. “It was merely an empirical observation, not a criticism. We both know you despise tender sentiments.” Her hands stilled on the paper bearing Hawk’s carefully written name. “That said, I’m truly grateful to you, sir. Your solution resolved a very thorny problem.”
“As we both know, seeing a problem from a different perspective often reveals a simple answer.”
More shuffling. Charlotte shifted her stance, and in the flickering of the shadows, he thought he detected a look of uncertainty pinch at her features. However, it was gone in a flash as she looked up and tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear.
A thin smile twitched on her lips. “Which, I take it, is why you are here.”
Wrexford allowed an answering smile. “Close enough to the truth that I won’t quibble over semantics.”
She sighed and signaled for him to have a seat on one of the stools. “Why is it that I suspect this concerns last night’s murder?”
“Because you have very good instincts.”
“I thought you told the lads it was merely a falling out among criminals.”
