He laughed and turned to her when they reached a bit of traffic that brought them to a halt. He leaned toward her. “If I were injured, you’d feel very poorly for saying that to me.”
“No, I wouldn’t.” Her stiff posture said she was livid.
Gerard’s smile fell away. “Well, I know I’d feel terrible if anything were to ever happen to you.”
She seemed caught off guard by the statement. “Liar.”
He lifted a brow, his own anger sparking to life. “I was worried when they’d said you’d gone off by yourself. You may have grown up in London, but the streets there are familiar to you. They are all you know. You do not know this city or this area. While you are here, you are in my care. Don’t leave without an escort again.” He’d wanted to say that since he’d first seen her emerge from the alley. Alex had given him the address, but she’d not said whose home Rose was visiting.
Rose pressed her lips together and whispered, “Perhaps you are right. I don’t know this city, but I’ll not be held a prisoner in your house. I will come and go as I please.”
He inhaled and was forced to turn toward the road when traffic started to move again. “Not without an escort.”
“Gerard, you are not one of my brothers. I am a guest in your home. I am not a child.”
He steered the horses to the side of the road and stopped them before turning to Rose. “Rose, I am very aware that you are a woman. You’re a beautiful woman, and if you are not careful, you could get hurt. Do not leave the house alone.”
She was defiant in her silence and then said, “Where are we going?”
“I will not say until you agree to what I have said.”
A moment passed with the only noise being that of horses, carriage wheels, and shouts from the others around them.
“Very well,” she finally said. “I’ll not come to the city alone.”
He nodded and started the carriage again. “We’re going to the Avon Home for Foundlings.”
“You mean there remains a home for orphans here?” Rose asked.
He wondered at her use of the word remains. “Yes. It’s been around for years, though I admit I’d not paid it much mind until recently.” Getting to know Rose had prompted him to look into the efforts of the children’s home in his own town. When his father had found out, he’d not been happy, but since his father was not one to be called jolly on any occasion, Gerard didn’t let it bother him in the least.
Helping the city dwellers was the least he could do, and while most of his efforts took place with the farmers outside of Avon Circus, which was the heart of the city where all the major roads convened, he had taken notice of the foundling home.
“When was it founded? What is it like?” Rose asked excitedly. Her fingers danced rhythmically on her lap. “How many children do you have? Who cares for them?”
He sighed. “Rose, I can’t answer all your questions at once.”
“Well then, we’ll slow down. Oh, Gerard, this was a splendid idea. How long will we get to stay? I’m sure your other guests will be looking for you.”
He smiled and realized he’d done well to plan this outing.
He was under no illusion that she’d forgiven him for his absence, but he’d had no other choice. He’d needed time to think and untangle his thoughts. The distance made being around her now easier. He was back to seeing her as simply a friend.
A friend whose beauty surpassed all others, but a friend nonetheless.
It felt good to have his mind on right and to have his friend back.
He left the circus and went down another road that held townhomes in an older part of town, but that didn’t make the buildings any less sturdy. The high brick terraces curved with the street in classic beauty.
“We can stay for an hour or so,” he told her. “I didn’t come to the city alone. There is a midday play taking place at our theatre.” He’d slipped away to be with Rose and didn’t want to bother thinking about anyone else for the time they were together.
He told her what he knew about the orphanage. “The home was founded nearly thirty years ago, but the location they are in currently is not the location they started with. There are only twelve children, five boys and seven girls. Much like the Best Homes in London, the children attend classes, learning reading and arithmetic before training to do some sort of work. Some of the orphans from the past remain in the city.”
They arrived a moment later. The house was at the end of the street and led into a thick line of trees with a park on the other side. Gerard hardly got around the curricle in time to help Rose down. She was ready to meet the children, ready to give the blessing of her smile and good cheer to their little hearts.
But Gerard intended to give them more than that.
He went to the small trunk in the back of the curricle and removed two baskets full of bread, meat, cheese, and fruit.
Rose’s eyes widened and when she held out her hand to take one, he gave it to her. “You came prepared.”
“Would you believe me if I told you I’d planned this? It was only convenient that you were already in the city when we departed.”
She looked up at him with an affection he’d not seen in days. “You’ve surprised me. I like this surprise.” Then she turned toward the door, and Gerard followed while he tried to ignore the growing warmth in his belly.
* * *
10
CHAPTER
TEN
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Rose was introduced to the foundling home caretaker, a nice woman named Mrs. Ball, who was plump with kind gray eyes and rosy cheeks.
“You brought food?” Mrs. Ball asked Gerard before she placed a hand over her heart. “Lord Obenshire, you do so much for us. How could we ever thank you?”
“It is no trouble at all, Mrs. Ball.” Gerard removed his hat and ushered Rose inside.
Rose looked at the two in surprise. When Gerard had mentioned knowing about the home, she hadn’t expected his knowledge to be so intimate, yet it was clear that while Mrs. Ball was surprised by the baskets, she’d not been caught off guard by Gerard’s presence. She’d even called him by name, which meant they’d met.
He’d claimed that he’d only become more informed about the home recently, but she wondered how recently
“How long has Lord Obenshire been a sponsor of the home?” Rose asked.
Mrs. Ball paused to think and then looked at Gerard. “Well, my lord, I believe it has been over a year, hasn’t it?”
Gerard inclined his head. “That would be correct.”
A year. She assumed he’d become a sponsor around the time of Miss Best’s commemoration. Many of the wealthy had given charitable donations to the homes in London, but she didn’t know if any other lords or ladies had thought to care for the children close to their estates.
“Come in,” she told them both as she moved through the foyer and around the stairway.
The home was much finer than the one in Padmore that Rose had grown up in. While smaller, the floors looked new and the walls freshly painted.
Mrs. Ball spoke again as they moved to the sitting room. “We moved into the house once Lord Obenshire gave us leave to.”
Rose froze and turned to Gerard. She found his golden eyes looking over the room as if inspecting it for improvements.
“You own this home?” she asked him.
He nodded and turned to Mrs. Ball. “Where are the children?”
“In the middle of a lesson.” Then she spotted someone in the hallway and called, “Johnathan, come get these baskets from Lord Obenshire and his friend, Miss Rose.”
A young man with blond hair and bright blue eyes came into the room and bowed before taking the baskets. His clothes fit his tall frame well and looked to be well cared for. Rose smiled when she noticed his shoes. Shoes were a treat for orphans. “Hello, Jonathan.”
He’d not met her eyes until she�
�d addressed him. “Miss.”
“How old are you?”
He straightened. “Twelve, miss.” And he was nearly her height.
“Twelve?” She’d have thought him years older than that.
Mrs. Ball came to stand by them. “The children outgrow the orphanage around thirteen. Some go to work for the factories while others seek house employment.”
Rose nodded and turned back to the young man. “And what is it that you wish to do once you leave?”
He looked away. “Mr. Tate, who owns the mill, said he might have work for me come that time.” And though it would be a fine job for any man, Johnathan didn’t seem to want it.
“But if given the choice, what would you do?” Rose asked as she stepped closer. “If you could do anything, what would it be?”
Jonathan looked around the room and his cheeks colored before he said, “The mill would be fine for one such as me, my lady.”
“I’m not a lady,” Rose told him. “I was an orphan just like you.”
The young man’s eyes widened, and he turned to look at Mrs. Ball for confirmation, but the woman was of no help. She was just as shocked at Johnathan. They both turned to the one with all the authority in the room.
Gerard’s eyes were on Rose, and he wore a small smile. “It’s true. Miss Rose grew up in the Best Home in London.”
“Best?” Mrs. Ball asked. “But surely you were too young to have known Miss Best herself.”
“I was a year old when she died,” Rose told her.
Mrs. Ball turned to Jonathan. “Tell Miss Milly that we’ve guests and that she should bring the children.” To Rose, she said, “Do you wish to meet them?”
“Yes.”
Jonathan took the baskets from the room and it took everything for Rose not to call him back and demand he tell her his innermost dreams and aspirations. She hoped he would also come back with Miss Milly and the other children.
“I never met Mrs. Best personally,” Mrs. Ball went on, “but I do know that the woman I worked for, Mrs. Clark, knew her very well. They were friends, and Mrs. Clark helped found the first foundling home.”
It was the best way for Mrs. Ball to distract Rose from going after Jonathan. There were questions she wanted to ask and perhaps Mrs. Ball knew the answers.
But not in front of Gerard. For some reason, it all felt like a personal matter, a secret with which Rose had been entrusted. She wanted to know about Lord Blackblood and how to get into the attic, but perhaps that would all have to wait until another time. Whatever she discovered would be for Alicia and Mary Frances alone.
They sat. Gerard remained by Rose’s side as they began to speak about the home, and more than once she noticed Mrs. Ball look at them as though wondering how the two had become acquainted.
When Gerard began to ask for the children by name, Rose was once again amazed and wondered if she knew her friend very well or if at all. She recalled him repeatedly meeting her at Best Home whenever she went to read to the children and knew he was a sponsor of the homes there, but was it possible that there was even more to this man who sat beside her?
But of course there was. She’d known it was more than his beauty that drew him to her. She’d known his heart was kinder than many other gentlemen she’d met. She wondered if he’d inherited those attributes from his mother. They didn’t speak of the Duchess of Avon often. From what Gerard had told her, she’d been nothing like his father, but he’d said nothing about their relationship.
She understood why. She was an orphan, and he didn’t wish to make her feel uncomfortable.
Another woman who didn’t seem that old came into the room, followed by a group of children.
“Milly, come meet Miss Rose. Miss Milly is Mrs. Clark’s granddaughter.”
Milly had pale red hair and the roundest blue eyes Rose had ever seen. They were layered with long dark lashes that she seemed to lower in the presence of Gerard.
Milly curtseyed to them both. “Miss Rose. My lord. The children wish to recite their verses for you.”
Rose and Gerard retook their seats and listened as the children quoted their various scriptures. They ranged in age. The eldest girl, who looked to be twelve or so, held a baby. The rest were between four and ten.
Rose was impressed by them all and showed her enthusiasm by clapping after the performance. Gerard joined her.
Once they were through, Rose insisted on meeting every child, telling them about herself, the rest of the Smith family, her work at the library, and then encouraging them all to think of one another as a family and to work as a team and help one another be and do their best. Where would she have been if not for the people who’d looked out for her as a child?
She finished their time with a story and then Gerard escorted her toward the door. She was saddened that she’d not seen Johnathan again but decided she would ask after him during her next visit.
“That was splendid,” she said once they reached the line of trees by the building. She was hardly aware that Gerard was not leading her to the curricle. “I do love children, and I hope they take in earnest what I said. There’s no reason to be a laundress when you can be a seamstress, not that there's anything wrong with washing clothes for a living. If you wish to wash clothes then that is what you should do, but if you want to make clothes, or build hats, or surround yourself with books as I do—” She gasped as Gerard backed her into a tree. He took hold of her chin and lifted her face toward his. Her heart fluttered wildly, as if it were a new bird that had yet to test its wings, yet had jumped from the nest.
Gerard caressed her cheeks and stared at her with an expression of wonder. “You are… where would one start to describe you?”
She licked her lips. “I don’t know.” She hoped they’d start with good things.
“Untainted.”
“What?” It was not a word she would have thought anyone would use to describe her.
“Benevolent,” he went on, his hands continuing to stroke her. The gold rings in his eyes were bright, even in the shade of the leaves. “You’re like a lily that grew through cobblestone. You truly refuse to let your past have any control over who you or anyone else is.”
“Why should I?” Her heart was still racing, and she leaped when his fingers moved to her throat. She’d been called a rose but never something as delicate as a lily. “Why should circumstance stop those children from being who they wish to be?”
“What if one of them wishes to be the king?” Gerard asked.
She tilted her head. “Anything is possible.”
He laughed and settled his hands on her arms. “Don’t you think it's… dangerous to raise their hopes in such a way?”
“Not at all, because we’ll help them.”
“We?” he asked, his expression growing serious.
She nodded and settled her own hands on him. “You’re already helping them. Surely, you care about what they become once they leave.”
He narrowed his eyes. “There’s nothing wrong with working at a mill.”
She moved closer. “Only if you were meant to be more. Why can’t we all simply be… happy? What is wrong with the world that it can’t be so? If we’ve the power to make someone smile, then shouldn’t we?”
He only stared at her.
“Shouldn’t we?” she pressed. “Imagine a world where there was more cheer than bitterness. I like that reality, and you’re already fast at work to make it so.” She smiled. “Gerard, I’m so very proud of you.”
He looked away and color touched his cheeks. “That’s not why I brought you here.”
She laughed. “I know, but I’m glad you did. I like this side of you.”
He turned to her again and then she was in his arms. He pulled her into a close embrace and Rose settled against his chest. He smelled wonderful, like forest and earth. One of his hands gripped the back of her neck and held her fast.
“Rose,” he whispered but said no more.
She remained quiet and slowly closed
her eyes.
“I dream of happiness,” he told her.
She gripped his side. “And what would make you happy?” Her heart cried that he would choose her, because hers had already chosen him long ago.
He pulled her face away but kept the rest of her close, forcing her to crane her neck up to meet his eyes.
Choose me.
Choose me.
* * *
11
CHAPTER
ELEVEN
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“I would have liked to build ships,” Gerard told Rose, breaking their embrace and leading her back to the carriage. He got underway, hoping she didn’t notice how his heart raced at the half-truth.
Going after Rose this afternoon had been a mistake. Gerard had miscalculated his feelings, believing them nothing more than a passing notion, but that had certainly not been the case when he’d watched Rose express, with the greatest of passion, her wishes for the children at the foundling home. He’d seen how moved they’d become by what she’d said and by who she was. It seemed Rose understood the great position she was in. She’d been born with circumstances not much better than theirs, but somehow she’d risen above them and had become the most vibrant being any of the children had likely ever seen.
That was the case for Gerard, at least. He’d listened to Rose and admitted that he had been moved. He’d never dared to dream the way she spoke.
His destiny had already been mapped for him since before he’d been born. Gerard de Gray had never mattered to his forefathers except in the concept of him one day continuing the family line.
However…
Rose had been sitting quietly in the curricle since he’d pulled her from the trees and helped her into her seat.
The Games the Earl Plays Page 7
