Page 57 of Give Him a Chance

Clearly, Lucy’s mother, the Countess of Lindow, was fully aware of the plans too. Today was payday. The workers had come on their lunchbreak to collect their wages…from Lucy.

Lucy was grinning. “I want women in work, Bernard—where they want to work, obviously, and where they can work. Mrs. Marithorpe and Miss Sharpe have each spent months in prison for… Well, perhaps I had better not say. Suffice to say, I would much prefer them working in the newest Alexander and Marjorie’s Municipal Manufacturing Company Limited than where they were before.”

On the streets, undoubtedly, though Bernard did not give voice to the thought. “You… You employ them?”

“Oh, well, technically, Alexander and Marjorie employ them, but I am their representative here in Brighton. For a small fee, naturally.” Lucy laughed at the expression on his face. “I know—nobility, doing more than just owning a business and stepping back, actuallycaringwhat goes on there! Zander has lost a fair few friends in our circles for going into trade, though I would argue they were never friends to begin with. And don’t worry,” she added with a chuckle. “Most of the nominal sum Zander insists on paying me goes straight to the Prison Reform Society. I’m not about to start my own business.”

But if any woman could do it, Bernard could not help but think,you could.

This woman. This powerful, energetic, intelligent woman.

Was there anything she couldn’t do?

“You amaze me,” were the words that slipped through his mouth before he could stop them.

And Lucy’s cheeks pinked as she avoided his eye, and Bernard tried not to think about whether that was because she had been praised, or because he had been the one doing the praising.

“It’s nothing, really,” she said quietly, in a tone that said quite clearly it was not nothing. “It’s just… Well, partnering with Brighton Prison and trying to help women who are leaving its loving embraces into work… I just feel like if the opportunity to earn an honest living is there—”

“You have partnered with the prison?” Bernard interrupted, dazed at how thorough the woman’s planning had been.

Lucy stared in clear surprise. “Well, yes. We’ve spoken about this before. I am going to make a difference.”

Of course she was. Bernard wondered why she wasn’t mayor of Brighton, though now that he came to think of it,wasthere a mayor of Brighton? Well, it was almost certainly a man if there was one.

This woman was going to change the world—no, hadalreadychanged the world. For Mrs. Marithorpe, and Miss Sharpe, and those other women, their worlds had already been changed. Their lives would never be the same again: a skill, a trade, that was something that would put bread on the table not just today, but for the rest of their days. As long as they could work, they would.

Those fortunate few would all survive this challenging life, Bernard could not help but think, thanks to Lady Lucy Chance.

“You’re looking at me that way again.”

Bernard blinked. Lucy’s cheeks had passed pink and were now approaching red. “‘That way’?”

“Like—like that. Like you…admire me.”

There was hesitancy in her voice, but Bernard was clever enough to see that there was hope there.

Hope, that he truly did admire her.

Bernard swallowed. This was dangerous territory; even he could see that. Any day now, Hovell would appear from the ether and spirit him away to… Well, he did not know where. Not here. Not with Lucy and her family.

And even if there was no Hovell, he couldn’t stay. He couldn’t marry her—what had he to offer her, even should he reveal the truth, but a broken family and no money to speak of?

“I do admire you,” Bernard said quietly. Well, how could he deny it? “You are a woman who puts her money where her mouth is. You believe what you believe, but you then act on it. You… You are a very special woman.”

Lucy laughed and looked down at her hands in her lap. “Oh, I don’t know about—”

“I do,” interjected Bernard. “Trust me. There are plenty of people in the world who say they wish to help, say that they would do something if they could. Well, most people could. Most people can. But they don’t do anything. They wait for someone else to fix the world and complain in the meantime.”

Her laughter this time was kinder, and she lifted her gaze to meet his. “You sound like me.”

“I think we are rather alike in this matter,” Bernard said honestly, perhaps saying more than he should.

He could see immediately that he had made a mistake. Lucy leaned forward, clearly eager to know more.

“Tell me,” she said urgently. “Tell me what you did before… Well, before your descent into skullduggery.”

Bernard could not help but laugh. “Lucy!”