His lips twitched. “Exactly.”
A short chuckle escaped Verity. “Is this your way of asking for my help?”
“No, but should you be mindful of any art, I suppose this room could use some brightening up.” He glanced around before changing his mind. He didn’t want to talk to her about paintings. He wanted to talk about her. About what she knew. “Do you like accounting?”
“I like anything to do with numbers and language. And art,” she added after a short delay.
Dominic nodded slowly, thinking. “But you don’t read gossip journals? Your sisters noted how you pay them little mind.”
“I pay them an appropriate amount of mind,” Verity corrected him. He caught sight of a small smile while she turned away to retrieve her cup of coffee again. “Why? Do you like them?”
“I don’t read them often, I suppose.”
She paused. “Is this your way of asking about the newspapers?”
Of course he had to take note of the countless papers that came into the house. Especially since they were always delivered strictly to him though he kept telling the footmen that most were meant for Verity. It had been a surprise, one he didn’t mind.
“I find news in general interesting,” he said slowly, feeling his way carefully through the conversation. He had no intentions of surprising her or scaring her. It felt like he was trying to dance around a sleeping tiger. “Especially how fast it can spread through society. The scandals, the factories, the ships.”
Verity’s gaze shifted away before she swallowed her tea and clutched the cup with both hands. “It is fascinating. But that’s society for you.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean that society sets us apart from animals. We talk. We do more than talk. We share what we talk about. That creates a society. And more than that, we give meaning to everything we say. Shakespeare said it before how little is good or bad, but thinking makes it seem that way.”
He gave a slow nod. “I suppose you are correct.”
“Certainly I am,” she said without guile, just honest and calm. “The scandal sheets do us a great favor, really. London is a very large hub. Not only can we know what people are doing when we are unable or uninvited to an event, but we can prepare ourselves for our next social function; we know who to avoid, who to greet. This not only benefits potential marriages but business and law as well. Half of what Parliament decides takes place amongst the soirees and balls though no one should like to admit it.”
The precision with which she spoke, diving further into the women’s salons and gentlemen’s clubs, was impressive. She understood gossip to a degree he had never given thought previously. There had been no need.
Is there a need now? Will there be a need?
Dominic couldn’t tell the future. No one could. But his gut told him that someday he would eventually have to ask Verity the truth.
It bothered him the potential need to ever raise the question about how she knew so much. Why she might be involved in something like that. And it bothered Dominic even more that he might know her answer and hear something else.
If I ask, when I ask, will she be honest with me?
CHAPTER 14
Verity allowed Dominic to lead her along the next afternoon during a promenade, a very public walk in the park where they were constantly stopped by familiar faces.
Usually, she enjoyed it.
But today it felt different. Just a little out of the ordinary. She glanced up at Dominic who was rather quiet after the last two conversations they’d had upon seeing her friends.
Lady Isabel was with her parents and they were doing very well. Then she’d talked with Lady Hemphill, who frequently clued her into useful materials for her journal. The older woman had much to share as Hamhearst was a particular topic of late based on some recent wealth he had come into. It was a reoccurring topic for the last year, actually, and no one knew anything close to the truth.
Perhaps he simply doesn’t care for gossip, for guessing. He’s only discussed the topic because I have.
“Aren’t you curious about Hamhearst?” Verity couldn’t resist asking a moment later. “It’s strange is it not?”
“Hm?” He was eyeing a duck near them, fluttering its wings and looking like it might cross their path. But then he jerked his head up. “Hamhearst?”
She nodded. “The lord we were talking about. His wife and daughter merely say his investments paid off over the last year after a lot of unfortunate luck. What do you suppose?”
After opening his mouth, he closed it less than a breath later. Her brow furrowed. “Perhaps. If we are hosting Lady Isabel and her parents for supper tomorrow, what menu were you considering? I believe one of them has a fish allergy?”
