He went on, “In fact I have very little family to speak of, and my start in life was very humble. Please...” he faltered again “...be aware. I alluded to your father that I was a self-made man, but I did not tell him just how far I have made myself.”
“How far is that?” And now she was really intrigued—but also worried. Her parents would struggle with the notion ofhumble.
He stared out at the field beyond the garden. “I began life as a servant, Tessa.” He looked back, his blue eyes fast on hers. “I was... a serving boy, a footman, a groom, and valet all rolled into one. I served a man who would become an earl. My mother had been a lady’s maid to this man’s mother.”
“A servant,” Tessa repeated.
She was endeavoring to arrange her own marriage to a former servant.
My parents will never consent if they know, she thought.
Ifthey know.
The heap of half truths continued to grow. Three? Four? Tessa felt herself begin to sweat. She looked again at the smooth wool of his jacket, the fine leather of his boots. His face was like that of an angel. He was as handsome as any man she’d ever met, and yet now she noticed a handful of marked distinctions. The strength of his build—the physicality in his movements, powerful and deliberate. There was no loll or lazy graze to his touch. When he brought her hand to his arm, he took it firmly, placed it securely. When he walked, he strode. When he looked, he stared.
He was not a blithe observer of life, he was an achiever. He came across as capable most of all, and she was shocked by how much this thrilled her.
It would not, however, thrill her parents.
“Are you alarmed?” he asked. “Does it put you off?”
She shook her head, not trusting her voice. “No. Not put off. I am impressed.” This was the truth, she was impressed. But her parents? Dear God.
She said, “But how did you...?”
“How did I come up in the world? The story is not so riveting, I’m afraid. The earl for whom I worked saw some potential in me beyond servitude and hired tutors to educate me.”
“Of course he did,” she laughed. “What else would an earl do when faced with such potential?”
“Well, it was a sacrifice, because I was a valuable servant. You should see the polish I put on a pair of boots.”
His tone was light and teasing. He was so very confident, even about this. Especially about this.
She said, “Not only a servant but a skilled one.”
“I am nothing if not skilled.” Another wink.
Tessa felt her cheeks go hot. She’d known she would flirt with him today, but she had not anticipated how effectively he would reciprocate. She put a hand to her throat. He was... irresistible. Irresistible and totally unsuitable for her parents’ expectations.
“But the earl spared you as valet?” she prompted. She would hear it all and determine some way to frame it for her parents. Or conceal it.
“Before I was educated, one of my roles was as the earl’s... sort of... arms bearer, I suppose you’d call it.”
“His what?”
“He was a bit of an adventurer, and I worked in his service when he traveled abroad. While I was an excellent valet, I believe I was even handier in a fight. There were years in Greece when our lives were rougher than... well, than life in his London townhouse.”
Tessa was fascinated. A fighter in Greece? Yet another detail her parents need never know, but she herself would squirrel it away to savor when she was alone.
“In any event,” he went on, “when the earl insisted that I begin daily lessons, it became clear that my brain was the asset to pursue. One tutor turned to two, then three. The older I got, the more my household duties fell away. Eventually, the earl sacked me as servant and sent me to university instead.”
“Unbelievable,” Tessa whispered. “And then he sponsored you in your shipping venture.”
“Ah, no. Then I refused his financial support and became wholly self-sufficient. The shipping company I’ve built with my partners is the result of hard work, ambition, and instinct.”
“And my dowry,” she added. She couldn’t resist.
He laughed. “Yes, and your dowry.”
