In truth, this was probably his nature. A kill-or-be-killed attitude that one might find among animals in the wild. That he was always on his best behavior around her probably took conscious effort.
She glanced around. “Is there anything more you must do here?”
“No, that’s all I planned to accomplish at the house today.”
“Then let’s go to the orphanage. But we must take separate carriages. Mrs. Garland is still feeling too poorly to leave her bed, and I cannot be seen riding alone with you.”
“Understood. Take your two footmen with you. They ought to be guarding you no matter where you go or who you intend to meet.”
“All right. Give me but a moment to collect my gloves and reticule. I’ll meet you at St. Brigid’s shortly.”
She meant to dart off, but Gideon held her back. “I’ll walk you home.”
“But it is only a few steps away.”
“I know,” he said as they walked out of his house. “But you must never let down your guard, Berry. Anything can happen, and within the blink of an eye.”
This was the primal animal within him speaking, she knew.
And he was not wrong. There was a hired carriage standing just off Duchess Square that she had noticed earlier this morning when walking overtohis home. Well over an hour had passed since then and the carriage was still there.
She would have thought nothing of it but for the fact it was a hired hackney. Why would it still be sitting there and not taking on new customers?
“Gideon, did you see that carriage over—”
“Yes, I noticed,” he said, taking her by the elbow and propelling her forward. “Don’t look back and don’t point to it. As soon as we leave the orphanage, I am going to engage a Bow Street Runner to follow Hawthorne around. I’ve had dealings with one of the best.”
“Oh, who?”
“An investigator by the name of Homer Barrow. The men he has working for him are also quite clever and reliable. I helped him out on an important investigation last year, placed his men as dealers at one of my copper hells.”
“Yourcopper hell?”
“Yes. Well, mine and Bonham’s.” He turned to her and groaned. “Those seedy gambling houses are a part of ourbusiness. It is how we built our wealth. Nor am I ashamed of it, so do not give me any moral lectures. I have never cheated anyone, and I do not allow anything beyond gambling to take place there.”
“You seem to think I disapprove.”
“Don’t you? Shouldn’t you?”
“Those in thetonthink I should, but this is because they wish to maintain class differences to protect their privileges. Morality and righteousness have nothing to do with it. Selfishness and entitlement are their reasons. The ones fighting hardest to protect the benefits of their rank are those who are least deserving, men such as Hawthorne. They offer nothing helpful or productive and yet demand the most.”
“That’s remarkably forward thinking of you.”
“You seem surprised.”
“In truth, I am. Perhaps because I am coming to think of you as atondiamond. You do have a lovely brilliance about you. If one were to put forward an example of why the nobility is better than us, they would point to you.”
“You are full of compliments for me today,” she said, feeling the heat of a blush sweep upward from her neck to her cheeks.
“May I ask you a personal question, Berry?”
She nodded.
“You are a diamond in every respect, and I mean that sincerely. You are one of those rare ladies who are lovely inside and out. Why have you never married? You must have had a line of suitors out the door.”
“I did,” she said with a frown. “But my heart never sang for any of them. I do not think I will ever make a love match, not among thetonelite.”
His eyebrow shot up. “Why is that?”
