Page 35
“I suspect you’ll do what you like no matter what I might say. I’ve generally found it to be so.” She glanced toward her mother’s room. The slightest jot of acrimony tinged her words.
Life had taught her that bitter truth, and it didn’t sit well with him that he should be lumped with other nobles and gentry.
“I should check on Mama.”
“I have another matter I’d like to discuss with you. Outside, please.”
Eden gazed at him expectantly as they crossed to the door. “Yes? Can you give me a hint?” Sudden wariness slowed her steps. “It’s not more bad news is it?”
“No, nothing of that nature.” He opened the door and stood aside for her to pass. “Perygrim is in need of a housekeeper, and our gardens are not what they once were. I thought perhaps . . . What I mean is, given the regrettable turn of events . . . That is perhaps . . .”
Could he be any more fumbling or inept?
An uncertain expression, part hope and part skepticism skated across her features. She grabbed his arm and all but hauled him over the threshold with her. After closing the door behind them, she ventured in a quiet voice, “Are you offering Mattie and Old Ronald employment?”
He’d actually thought Eden might consider the housekeeper position herself, but given her immediate assumption he’d meant Mattie to fill the position, she likely would’ve been insulted at the suggestion.
Make her your mistress
That devilish part he kept well-subdued dared to whisper the provocative notion.
He soundly kicked the taunt to the stable manure pile where that kind of filth belonged.
Diligence and discipline, old chap.
Tucking the small jar of honey into his jacket pocket, he nodded. “I am, if you—”
“Oh, thank you. Thank you.”
Her grateful smile didn’t quite reach her sad eyes, now a shade closer to eggshell rather than the palest periwinkle blue they were when she was happy.
What color would they be filled with passion? Sapphire?
“I didn’t know what was to become of them, for I cannot hire a solicitor to fight Simon in court. And I simply do not have the means to feed two more people.”
He’d venture to guess, she didn’t even have the resources to feed herself or her mother.
“With your permission, I could retain a solicitor for you.”
Eden shook her head, her curtain of hair swirling around her shoulders and back as she made her way to the chicken pen.
He yearned to run his fingers through the thick mane. To gather her in his arms and assure her that she needn’t worry or fret over her future. But he had no business making any such promise on such short acquaintance. Any promises at all, truth to tell.
By the time he caught up to her, she’d tossed a few handfuls of cracked corn to the excited chickens, rushing here and there, pecking the grain and occasionally each other in their rush to gobble the most food. Brushing her hands together to rid them of the grain dust, she regarded him for a discomfiting moment, as if considering his offer.
Then with a slow sweep of her dark lashes across her sun-kissed cheeks, she shook her head again.
“Thank you, but I cannot accept. For even if I should prevail in court, my lord, I could never repay you. And though my station is humiliating, and it may seem ridiculous to you, I do retain a degree of pride. I’ve kept us out of debt this long, and I shan’t venture down that path now.”
He wasn’t surprised she’d refused. Eden’s pride wasn’t puffed up arrogance, conceit, or misplaced self-importance, as was often the case. Hers was more about dignity and self-respect, which showed in her strength of character and lack of self-pity.
“What will you do then?”
Her further reduction in circumstances abraded his composure. The unfairness chafed his sense of justice, and the dark temperament he’d meticulously kept under control, except for fleeting interludes, pulsed in his veins, demanding vengeance.
Another idea sprang to mind, but the inkling was so outside the bounds, Chester wanted to ponder it a bit more. Consider the feasibility. The ramifications for her as well.
“I have a few options.”
