“Too many scoundrels like Hawthorne, men who are only interested in me for my trust fund.”
“But there are good men out there, too. I’ve met several.”
“I know they are not all fortune hunters. However, too many of them still think of marriage in terms of a business alliance. They will be kind and respectful of their wives, support them properly, and sire offspring to continue their line. But they also see nothing wrong in setting up a mistress and visiting her regularly. This is viewed as acceptable conduct for married men, but it is not an arrangement that would ever work for me.”
“You would want your husband to honor his wedding vows and be faithful to you.”
She nodded. “Since I will only marry for love, I would be devastated if my husband sought affection elsewhere.”
“What surprises me most,” he said as they reached her door, “is that you never found such a man. There must have been a dozen or more suitors in love with you and who would never stray from their marriage vows.”
She cast him a wry smile. “If there had been, they hid their feelings well. It doesn’t matter. I am not complaining about my situation. Nor am I worried about what’s to become of me now that I know you are to be Lord Berwick’s successor.”
Her remark seemed to please him. He smiled. “Run inside and fetch your gloves and reticule. I’ll wait until your carriage is brought around and see you into it before I wave down a hackney carriage for myself. In fact, I may walk over to that carriage standing next to Duchess Square.”
“Be careful, Gideon. What if Hawthorne is inside and has a weapon aimed at you?”
“I’ll be careful,” he said, a little too confidently for her liking.
She did not belabor the point. Gideon had risen above his poor beginnings through intelligence and being quick on his feet. He must have dealt with the dregs of society along the way, especially when establishing his gaming houses. He knew when to be cautious and when to spring into action.
She hurried inside and fetched her things. Her driver had already been instructed to bring the carriage around. She saw him enter Duchess Square and pull up in front of her home as she walked out with her two footmen.
Gideon nodded his approval and walked her to her carriage.
A tingle ran up her arm the moment he took her hand to assist her into her seat. She thought he might have felt the jolt, too. His eyes had widened just the littlest bit before his expression turned unreadable again.
While his touch was pleasant, Berry was not pleased by her attraction to him. This would complicate their professional arrangement.
“I’ll see you at the orphanage, Berry.”
She nodded. “Be careful about that hired carriage.”
“I will.” He cast her a feral look, one that revealed he had escaped far more dangerous situations.
It hurt her heart to think of what he had endured in those early years. She had been raised to the manor born, indulged and pampered like a princess. He had been abandoned on the London streets at the age of three.
It was a miracle he had survived.
But this began to raise more questions in her mind. Who had delivered him to the orphanage? A child that young could not have known to walk to St. Brigid’s on his own.
Was it possible the headmistress had a record of it in Gideon’s file?
Her grandfather had established a strict procedure of keeping detailed records on each child. She was suddenly curious to learn what a young Gideon had been like. Was he quiet and withdrawn? Rebellious and a troublemaker? A good student? The files were confidential, but she would have access to them all.
Had Gideon ever read his file? Surely he had to be curious.
Even if he were not, should she not be curious on his behalf?
Chapter Nine
Gideon’s heart shotinto his throat the moment he arrived at St. Brigid’s Orphanage. The mere sight of the well-maintained gray-stone building stirred up a wealth of feelings, some he would like to forget. Perhaps this was the reason he had not been back in almost twenty years, or why he could not find the courage to step out of the hackney carriage just yet.
Most of his employees or tradesmen he hired were orphans out of St. Brigid’s. But it was Bonham who had established the connection and always Bonham who attended meetings or conducted interviews with those orphans about to be sent out into the world.
Indeed,henever seemed troubled by returning here.
The reason could be that Gideon’s friend knew who his parents were and knew they had loved him. He had arrived here because they had died and there was no family left to take him in. While they had both been raised in the orphanage, Bonham had not grown up with a gaping lack of knowledge regarding his existence.
