“A low blow,” she muttered. He knew how adamant she was about refusing any monetary aid, no matter how trifling. But in this case it was hard to be angry with him.
Raven and Hawk tumbled down from the pile of baggage, anexpectant look on their grimy faces. They occasionally delivered notes to his house, where she suspected the servants plied them with sweets.
“They were spotless when we left,” said Charlotte with a harried sigh. “How is it that boys are a magnet for dirt?”
Jeremy answered with a chuckle. “It is one of those immutable truths of the universe. I imagine Sir Isaac Newton has written something about it in his laws of motion.”
“Quite likely.” She would have to ask Wrexford.
“Oiy!” Raven looked offended. He held up his hands, which for him were relatively respectable. “Look, they be clean as a whistle.”
“Theyare,” she corrected, even though she knew the mistake was deliberate. “Now, make your bows to Lord Sterling, and then, if your fingers pass muster when we get inside, you may have some apple tart.”
“Huzzah!” They scampered away, pulling their shirttails loose in order to scrub their hands.
“They’re good lads,” murmured Jeremy.
“They’re heathens,” she said wryly, hoping her underlying fears did not edge her voice.
“Being clever and curious makes them different. However, that’s not a bad thing.”
Charlotte hoped that was true. But given her own checkered experience, she wasn’t convinced of it. There was something to be said for a staidly conventional life.
Her expression must have betrayed her thoughts, for her friend added, “Living within the tight strictures of society may be safe, but it is challenges that bring out the best in us.”
“An admirable philosophy,” replied Charlotte. Assuming one was strong enough to survive.
Jeremy offered his arm. “Shall we go inside?”
She looked up. It was naught but a modest century-old stucco and wood building standing in an orderly row of similarstructures that stretched the full length of the block.Two floors. A tiny attic tucked under the pitched slate roof.But compared to her previous residence it looked like a mansion.
A tiny sigh escaped as she thought of the bare rooms, and her meager furnishings. The stark emptiness of the rooms would not be an edifying sight, but she couldn’t very well take the coward’s way out and retreat. There was no other place to go.
Numquam rediit retrorsum et deinceps semper. Always go forward and never turn back.
Strangely, it was Jeremy who hesitated. “I must give you fair warning, Charley. . . .”
She stiffened, which made his expression turn more baleful.
“I brought something a bit more substantial than tarts,” he went on.
Damn him.Charlotte let her hand slip away from his sleeve. “I take it you aren’t referring to a joint of roast beef?”
“No.” Her sarcasm brought a slight flush to his cheeks, and yet rather than flinch, he took firm hold of her wrist. “A house needs more than food in the larder. Please do me the courtesy of observing what I’ve done and hearing my explanation before ringing a peal over my head.”
God knows he deserves that much. And so much more.
It didn’t mean she had to like it.
“Very well,” said Charlotte, swallowing the bitter taste of bile that had risen to the back of her throat. “Lead on.”
Set on the far left side of the house, the front door opened into a shallow entrance foyer holding a simple boot box and a Turkey carpet in muted tones of indigo and burgundy red. From there, a corridor, half-filled with a set of narrow stairs leading to the second floor, ran back to the rear of the house. The first door on the right opened to a main parlor with a wide-planked wood floor and well-proportioned mullioned windows.
Charlotte gingerly stepped inside.
A large fireplace occupied one end of the space, and in frontof it a sofa covered in navy and taupe stripes faced two leather armchairs. Between them sat a brass-cornered tea table made of oiled teak.
Sucking in her breath, she shifted her gaze. A large bookcase—already half filled with various leatherbound volumes—was at the other end of the room. A game table inlaid with dark and light checkered tiles, several straight-back chairs and sideboard completed the grouping.
