One of Nathan’s brows was lifted slightly, as was the corner of his mouth. The look of dry amusement was cool and remote on his features. “Oh?” he said blandly.
“You’re laughing at me,” Lydia said. “Go ahead. I don’t know why men can use any excuse to drink themselves silly and a woman can’t even do it when she’s witnessed two deaths in the space of an hour. Charlotte was not my friend, Mr. Hunter, but I had come to know her in these past few months and I think the world’s poorer for her passing. I wanted to offer her baby a good place to live, with people who care, and he never had even the tiniest chance. I couldn’t get a doctor who wasn’t a drunk to come here. I couldn’t make a difference.”
Raising her hand to her mouth, Lydia managed to hold back a harsh sob. She finished quietly. “Watching Charlotte go like that…the life just seeping out of her…just seeping out.” She forgot about the handkerchief and swiped at her tears with the back of her hand. Impatient with herself, angry about injustice, unfairness, and her own inadequacies, Lydia pushed past Nathan and headed for the door. “I’ll take myself home, thank you.”
Nathan stopped her, hooking his hand around her elbow and bringing her up short. “Oh, no. I promised Pei Ling and Father Patrick—” Lydia tried to shake him off, “—that I would bring you home safely. I don’t—” She yanked harder and found herself brought flush against Nathan’s hard body, “—don’t think it matters if I bring you home drunk.”
Lydia stopped struggling. Her eyes, when she looked up at him, seemed impossibly large for her face. They darted over Nathan’s face, trying to measure his sincerity. “Really?”
“Where do you want to go?”
“I don’t know,” she admitted. “I don’t really know any places.”
Nathan eased his grip on her elbow. “Does it really matter where we go?”
She shook her head. “But I don’t want to stay here.”
“That wasn’t what I had in mind. What would you say to the Silver Lady?”
“In the gambling hall?”
“In my suite.”
Lydia didn’t say anything for a moment.
“Have you changed your mind?” Nathan asked. It was difficult to read the course of her thoughts as they played on her features now. “You can, you know.”
“No.” The chin was thrust forward again. “No, I haven’t changed my mind.” She hesitated a beat, then said quickly, “I was embarrassed before…in the alley, when you…and then you insisted I go to your room…I didn’t…that is, I’ve never done anything like that before. I couldn’t imagine what you might think of me, or rather Icould.That’s why I left. And then you showed up at my party—as my father’s guest. I was…mortified.” She closed her eyes a moment, reliving the memory. “That’s why I treated you so abominably. You’d seen me in that alley with those men. I thought you might believe I was—”
“Asking to be assaulted?” he finished for her.
“Something like that.”
“And you’re telling me now, that even though you’re going to accompany me back to the Silver Lady, it’s strictly because of your newfound interest in liquor.”
“I was?” She flushed a little. “Yes, I suppose I was.”
“What did you think you were saying?”
“Thank you,” she said. “I was trying to say thank you.”
Chapter 3
The suite was cold. The heavy fog that had cloaked their passage from Miss Bailey’s to the Silver Lady pressed against the windows like a living thing. While Lydia stood huddled by the door, Nathan closed the drapes and started a fire.
He sat back on his haunches and raised his palms to the heat and crackle of the flames. Without looking in Lydia’s direction he said, “Are you coming or going? I can’t tell.”
“I haven’t changed my mind, if that’s what you mean.” Although her words held a touch of bravado, Lydia’s eyes were still darting nervously about the room, taking in the things she hadn’t noticed on her brief first visit.
The suite was rather expensively appointed, indicating again that Nathan Hunter had money to spend. There were two small damask sofas facing each other on either side of the fireplace. A bright Oriental rug filled the space between them. The brocade drapes were ivory and they matched the high-backed armchair situated between the two windows. The end tables, sideboard, and wainscoting were all dark walnut, lending the room a rich, warm elegance.
Lydia avoided looking to her left where the door to
Nathan’s bedroom was only partially closed. Some things were better not explored.
She realized that Nathan was watching her. As if he could read her thoughts, a half-smile played at the corners of his mouth. Lydia’s own mouth pursed primly in disapproval.
“Shall I take your cape?” he asked blandly, coming to his feet. “Or would you rather wear it the rest of the evening.”
