At last, the carriage halted in a run-down street outside a plain two-story red brick building.A sign over the front door proclaimed it as the London Welfare League Home.
Dalton glanced up and down the grimy street, where a few men shambled along with no apparent purpose.“Do you consider this a safe place for you to visit?”
She rolled her eyes.Spare me from overprotective gentlemen.Her answer was crisp.“It has been so far, and I have been working here for five years.We take precautions.My footman, Joe, is always with me.”
“Does Elizabeth ever accompany you here?”
“To date...no,” she answered.“Dr.Logan is often here, and Mrs.Courtice.Would you permit your sister to come here if she was accompanied, as I am?”
He looked uncomfortable about the idea.“Probably not without me.”
Jane stifled her protest about his paternalism and wondered how his sister could live in such a straitjacket.She couldn’t.
Jane rang a bell by the door.“Are you always so protective of women, Lord Dalton?”she asked.
Before he could answer, the front door was opened by a young woman in a drab gray dress.They entered a small foyer and stopped to peel off their cloaks, gloves, and hats, leaving them with Joe, who seated himself beside the front door, ready to act as temporary porter.
Following a long passageway, they passed a series of open doors.Inside each room, women were stitching various types of apparel, from hats to petticoats.
Jane provided a monologue of explanation as she led him along the corridor.
They arrived at the end, and Jane pushed open a heavy door, holding it for Dalton before he could step forward to assist her.
“We don’t demand that these women be deserving poor.For whatever reason they are poor, they all need our help.”
Dalton’s mellow voice delivered his considered response.“In answer to your earlier question, Miss Brody ...yes, I believe I am always so protective of women.That is the role I have been given in this life.I have many female relatives, and as the senior male of the family, it is my responsibility to protect and care for them.”He looked very serious and sounded resigned to his fate.
Jane halted abruptly in the middle of the office.In the distance was the murmur of many voices and the sounds of work, but it seemed to her that they were in a cocoon of silence, hearing only each other’s words.“What about women who are not your relatives?What do you do for them?”
“I believe I give them what I am able to.Money to assist with causes such as this one.”
“What of middle-class women who wish to make their own way in the world without the assistance of men, or because their menfolk are nonexistent?The best way you can help them is to give them their rights and equality so they can support themselves.”
Dalton took a step closer.
Jane looked up at him in surprise.He was crowding her again, forcing her to acknowledge him.Her heart stammered.
“What about you, Miss Brody?How can I help you?”
Jane was struck dumb.What could he mean?After a pause she asked, “How do you think I would need your help, Lord Dalton, except with our cause?”
“Do you never need a friend on a dark day, Miss Brody?”
Confused, she hesitated before answering, her eyes watching his, trying to understand him.“Yes, I can always appreciate another friend.”
She continued to gaze into his eyes, captivated by the esteem she thought she saw there.When he held out his hand to her, she extended her small, ink-stained one.She glanced down.Poised in the air between them, it trembled a little before Dalton took it firmly in his.His grasp was strong, and Jane felt warmth spread up her arm.
Dalton nudged the door behind him closed with one of his glossy Hessian boots.“How else can I help you, Miss Brody?”He moved one step closer.She shivered in anticipation.“As a friend when you are in need of comfort?Like this?”He kissed her forehead.
She closed her eyes as the softness of his lips brushed her skin.“Perhaps,” she breathed.I should make him stop.
“Or like this?”He trailed a slow line of kisses from her temple across her cheek to the corner of her mouth.A blush followed their path.
Don’t stop.“Yes.”
His warm hand released hers and slid around her waist until they were standing toe to toe, her face tilted up by the long fingers of his other hand.His fresh cologne reminded Jane of their waltzing last night.
His lips feathered across hers, and she felt them tingle, sparking a warmth throughout her body.His arms wrapped around her, and he drew her even closer.His lips trailed kisses along her tilted neck, his facial whiskers tickling.From a distance, Jane heard herself gasp and sigh.
