“What did you do to the exhibitionist in my bed?”
“The naked nanny, as you put it, was taken to her father’s. The baron was mortified, well heexhibitedmortification. I made sure that the incident would never be mentioned. Lady Lavinia and I came to an understanding. Your reputation is safe. She still gets to come to my dinner and the Widow’s Ball.”
“Safe? So, even though I was not here at the time, you believed I would get blamed?”
“Maybe, maybe not. You’re an amazing barrister, a very good man.”
“Apparently popular too. It’s incredibly frustrating to have principles and standards and still be held under an air of suspicion.”
“You’re triply blessed, my boy. A scandalous father, an unprincipled swindler uncle, and—”
“And skin darker than a Corinthian gentleman?”
She offered him her polite, encouraging smile. The same one she gave when she asked a street urchin to join her for an ice. Daniel accepted. It was the best decision his nine-year-old mind had made. And she was patient to undo the damage and rage living a year on the streets did to his soul.
He sighed and rubbed at the tightness in his neck. “I must be doing something right to earn a naked nanny gambit and Lady Lavinia’s attention.”
He flopped in the chair next to Lady Shrewsbury and began untying his slippers.
Maximilian, his beloved pug, came from under his desk in the corner and sank at Daniel’s feet. “There you are, Max. You could’ve chased them off. Right, boy?”
After petting his pug, fluffing his curled tail, he shrugged. “Perhaps people will remember that I possess the Thackery temper too. I can break things as well as I’m given to protect.”
“Daniel, my love, you are many things, but impassioned enough to be cruel, I’ve never seen.”
She tugged on his arm. “That’s not a bad thing. It’s what we wanted, what we hoped for.”
His aunt said, we . . . Lady Shrewsbury still honored that missing seat. His mother feared for Daniel, being a boy of mixed race in line to inherit a fortune and a peerage.
He dropped his head to back of her chair. “I know Mother would be proud, and she would laugh at these antics.”
“Gertrude would. She’d be glowing at all you’ve accomplished, starting with regaining her house. You’ve restored it these five years to such grandeur.”
“Uncle’s fault. He gambled too much. I was able to buy it from his debtors at a bargain.”
“Well, the man tried to lose all the Ashbrook holdings when he realized you’d inherit, and there wasn’t a thing he could do to stop it but live forever. Making arrangements with your father’s card-playing friends to take the fool for what they could for a commission was brilliant.”
“Aunt, your attempts at distracting me won’t work. I’m not Jemina St. Maur.”
“You fussing with her again? I heard that you two had warmed up to each other. Rolling about in fun.”
Daniel didn’t want to sort through his feelings for Jemina with his aunt. That was for his vingt-et-un gents, not that he’d ever bring up the mysterious woman to them. “Let’s try another problem. Why did you let Hope cry? You were wrong for that.”
“I was right there. She was safe. It’s a tough thing to let them cry it out, but—”
“No. No. No. She’s not even four. I won’t have her bottling up her feelings so soon. She has to be free for as long as she can.”
Lady Shrewsbury put a hand to her mouth. Her face reddened. “Is that how you feel, dear? Bottled up?”
Caged at times.
On display at others.
He released a long soul-emptying sigh. “I haven’t minded becoming a hermit. But don’t tell me I’m coddling Hope. Don’t tell me I’m not a good father.”
“Never. I can’t conceive of how you’ve become such a good one. Neither of my brothers were decent enough to you. Your father tried, but his fondness for drink took a toll. My older brother, the late Lord Ashbrook, I can’t conceive how the two of us are even related.”
“Nice character testimony, Aunt, but this is my judgment. My Hope will not cry it out, she’ll not be made a man at four or six or eight. She’s been through too much.”
