He glanced at Miss Dean, walking beside him, her hands clasped behind her back. Would she creep downstairs on Christmas Eve this year? What would she do if she discovered him again? Keep quiet in her corner then grant him a kiss? He almost groaned. The line of her jaw was tight, and despite the wind whipping color across her cheeks, the rest of her skin was too pale.
“Is something amiss?” he asked.
She watched her feet for several steps, then said, “I told you about what happened. Last Christmas Eve.”
He should be commended for not stumbling. “I assume you mean the”—he lowered his voice—“intruder.”
A nod. “As Timothy leaves today, others arrive.”
“More foundlings?”
“Guards.”
He did stumble, covering it as a purposeful pause. “Afraid I need some explanation.”
“My brother has developed something of an obsession with the intruder. Thinks the man set out to personally insult him. His obsession has grown the closer we come to Christmas. He’s hired men to secure the premises and, I’ve been told, they have instructions to shoot any prowlers on sight.”
Prowlers? Nico was not a prowler! “He’s trying to protect… his own self-importance?”
“He’s predictable in that way.”
“Why are you telling me this?” Did she know? Had she suspected him all this time?
She bowed her head, picked at the loose threads of her rust-colored shawl. “I do not want the intruder hurt.” Her voice so soft the wind could eradicate it.
But he heard, and he cupped her elbow, though she wouldn’t welcome it. “What do you think I can do about it?”
“Let it be known about town. There are guards. If the news is shared far and wide, he’ll hear, and he’ll stay away.”
“Do you truly think so? He’s a ne’er-do-well.”
“He’s not.”
“Such fellows as he are hardly cautious.”
“He must be.” Pulling her elbow from his palm’s embrace, she faced him. “I think… I know… he has a good heart, a courageous soul. Hemustbe cautious.”
Good heart and courageous soul.Do not grin like a fool.“The intruder might not even be planning to visit the children this year.” He was. “He might know his gifts were confiscated last year. He wouldn’t want to waste his time.” The joy the children must have felt to wake up warm on Christmas morning and find a small miracle nestled near their feet… hardly a waste of time. Worth every callus on his hand and every bead of sweat on his brow, even if the damn toys were confiscated.
“I hope you’re right.” Her words were feathered with wistfulness, though. It could be his vivid imagination, wishful thinking, but it sounded as if she wanted to see the masked intruder again. She certainly admired him. “He’s an absolute nodcock if he tries to squeeze through that window again.”
Nico winced and swung back into an easy amble down the worn path. Perhaps her admiration was tempered by her usual carefulness. After all, the intruder broke through windows. She patched them back up. “I’ll spread the news about town. Do not worry, but…”
She joined him, tilting her chin up and twisting to study him. “But what, Sir Nicholas?”
“Promise me… If you hear something go bump in the night on Christmas Eve, do not investigate it.” He clasped his hands together behind his back to keep from reaching for her. Touch could be as persuasive as logic, and he longed to make his argument with knuckles stroking down her cheek. But silver could not be managed in the same manner as lead or copper. And this woman—certainly made of steel—could not be managed with softness. It would take a direct hit with a powerful hammer. “Should the intruder strike again, and should it be found you allowed it to happen, your brother will not be pleased. He might blame you. He could send you away.”
And these children needed her.
“I cannot promise.”
“Goddamn it,” he mumbled. Then louder, “Miss Dean, you are not to put yourself in harm’s way.” He would never harm her, but her brother would if he thought her an accomplice to his humiliation.
“If I think the children are in need of me, I will act to protect them.”
“And you think the intruder with the kind heart and courageous soul will hurt them?”
“No!” She drew away from him, her eyes striking lightning. “He would not. But those guards… I do not trust their bullets to not go astray.”
