Or it could have her branded a brazen hussy. A strumpet. A rake of the female persuasion. She might have to return to Tideswell to escape the gossip.
Besides being a seamstress, what would I do for my living?“I may have already done it,” she added, grimacing when she remembered her kiss with Daniel.
His brows furrowing in confusion, Callum watched as she helped herself to the butter biscuit and ate it in three bites.
“Applied for a position, you mean?” he asked.
“Indeed.” She lifted her timepiece from where it hung on a chain around her neck and sighed. “I should be getting back to my rooms. If you’ll escort me to my building, this will be my treat,” she offered, waving to the table. “My rooms aren’t far from here.”
“Deal,” Callum said happily, watching as she fished several coins from her reticule and placed them on the tabletop.
He stood and offered his arm, and the two took their leave of the coffee house to discover the rain had stopped. The sky hadn’t cleared, though, the gray clouds suggesting the rain would resume at any moment.
When she directed him to her building, Isabella was sure to mention the number—twice. With any luck, Callum would pass on the information to Daniel when the two next met at a pub for dinner.
CHAPTER 3
NEVER ADMIT ANYTHING TO A MOTHER
The following afternoon
Madeline Sinclair set the tea service on the middle of the parlor’s low table and took her regular seat facing the door. “Really, Daniel, must I learn of your improprieties from the neighbor?”
Having left his office early when the continuing rain and dark gray gloom had darkened his office to the point he could no longer work on the McDonald project, Daniel headed for Sinclair House rather than to his favorite pub.
The event from the day before still haunted him—although not necessarily in a bad way. If anyone knew who his caller had been, surely it would be his mother.
Daniel gave a start at hearing her query, though. “Improprieties?” he repeated.
Her quelling glance had him falling into the chair opposite hers.
“Kissing a young lady for just anyone to see?” she said, before lifting the teapot. Hot water splashed over the strainer, and he winced knowing there would be tea leaves aplenty in the bottom of his cup. “I thought I raised you better than to be a... a rake. A rogue,” she added with disgust in her voice.
“I didn’t kiss her. She kissed me,” he argued.
Madeline paused before pouring the next cup. “That’s not how the gossip has it happening,” she said on a huff.
Remembering she had made reference to the neighbor, Daniel furrowed his dark brows. “I don’t understand how anyone can even know of this,” he complained. “I was alone in my office?—”
“You have a secretary,” she reminded him.
Daniel’s eyes widened with understanding. “Who is about to become unemployed,” he ground out.
“Now, dear, don’t be hasty. Mr. Peabody has been a good secretary, and you hardly pay him a living wage,” she warned.
“He only has to see to my calendar and copy contracts?—”
“Do your correspondence, pay your invoices, and run your errands for you. Act as a courier,” she went on. “You must admit he has beautiful penmanship. I should hire him to do my correspondence,” she added.
“You’re welcome to him,” Daniel said, his manner rather grumpy.
Madeline stirred a lump of sugar into her tea. “Who is she?”
Daniel poured a dollop of milk into his tea and sighed. “I was hoping you might know.”
His mother straightened in her chair, blinking several times as she regarded him in disbelief. “A woman waltzed into your office?—”
“She walked in, Mother. Arthur escorted her,” he corrected.
