“Don’t mock me.” She glared at him. “I may not be of noble birth, but I will not be mocked for your pleasure.”
“I’m not mocking you.”
“And Mr. Diard is a man who works for his livelihood, as do I. Neither of us need chaperones, as no one cares a jot about our reputations.”
“Unlike I, who am not a man who works for his livelihood?” His words had a bite of anger to them. “Do you think I sit about the place demanding people see to my every whim constantly, Dimity?”
“No, I don’t think that. But your life is different from ours.”
“And that is my fault, is it? I did not decide to be born into the world I live in, just as you did not choose the life you live.”
She knew he was right, just as she knew she owed him an apology.
“I’m sorry if my words offended you, my lord.”
“I forgive you,” but his words still had a sting to them.
“But I just don’t think it’s done for earls to take tea with companions.”
“Or maybe they do and you don’t realize it.”
“No, they don’t.”
“Well, we shall, and perhaps it will be the start of something new.”
“I doubt that very much,” Dimity muttered.
“Do you know, Miss Brown, I think you are far more concerned with convention that I,” his eyes held hers.
“Someone has to be.”
“Miss Dimity Brown, always doing what is right,” he said. “Perhaps you will be the next Heloise Tompkinson.”
“Pardon?”
“Heloise Tompkinson wroteThe Young Ladies Guide To Good Manners And Elegant Etiquette. I know this because my aunt purchased a copy for Abby.”
“And she read it?”
“She threw it out the carriage window on the journey home from said aunt’s house.”
Dimity pressed her lips together to stop from laughing.
“Now tell me about you and Mr. Diard. Surely you are not seriously interested in that French fop?”
Chapter Twenty
Gabe had left the house early, before his brothers rose, to speak to informants. He was determined to uncover something about Ombrage. He would not be hunted like an animal, nor forced to stay inside his house like a prisoner.
He had much to live for, and even more now he was to be an uncle. No one was taking that from him. He’d spent some time last night going through his papers, ensuring all his affairs were in order. His family would want for nothing. But who would they come to when they needed something? He was head of this family. Daniel, perhaps? He was a man of good sense. Perhaps Gabe should speak to him about this.
He needed to locate Ombrage.
It seemed after the initial meeting to recruit men, Ombrage had gone silent. There was no word about the attempted abduction of the king, but security around the monarch had tightened after Gabe told Geraint what he’d learned.
After coming up empty-handed with his informants, he’d decide to visit Nugget Lane. No one knew about this place; it was his and his alone. An indulgence that he felt no qualms about keeping. His brothers would be displeased that he’d left the house without one of them, but Gabe needed space and time to think. He couldn’t do that with one of them hovering.
Hunger had sent him to the teashop he frequented often, which had the best baked goods in the whole of London. Not that he’d tell his cook that.
