“Do you have siblings, sir?”
“I do. There were nine, but Beth passed when she was a babe, and now there are eight.”
“I’m so sorry. I lost my parents—my mother when I was but young, and my father only four years ago. I miss him and the memories I did not make with my mother.”
“I’m sorry, that must be hard. We keep Beth’s memory alive by talking about her.” Daniel didn’t usually mention his sister to anyone but family. She was a dark, angry place inside him, as she was for the older children in the Dillinger family.
“Eight is a great many children.”
“It is, and there are moments where I crave solitude.”
She laughed, a soft chuckle that suited her. Everything about this woman was sweet. An angel with a cupid’s bow mouth and pale skin.
“I know you have brothers, but how many are there, Abby? Do you have sisters also?”
“I have brothers, too many brothers,” she muttered. “But no sisters.”
“How many is too many?”
“More than one.”
“And they spoil you atrociously?”
That had her snorting. “I love them, of course,” she said quickly. “And for the most part they are gentle and loving, but there are times when I wish they would take a long voyage somewhere.”
He laughed. His sisters would love her.
“Are you a governess?”
“Pardon?” She turned wide eyes on him. “Why would you say that?”
“Your speech. Unless you are nobility, which I doubt considering where I found you and the fact you were alone.”
Chapter 3
Stay calm, Abby. He can have no idea of your true identity.
“I am, yes… a governess.” If only for tonight. She was lying to Daniel, but the lure of being someone different just for a brief moment almost made her light-headed.
The night she’d sat next to him and talked freely while Eros played his lute had been wonderful and liberating. Never had she done such a thing without a family member or companion nearby.
“Do you enjoy it?”
“It is a position that I can do and do well,” Abby said, hoping that would satisfy his curiosity.
“Which doesn’t tell me that you enjoy it.”
“It has its moments.”
“And your brothers live nearby so you can see them often?”
“Yes.” She didn’t add anything to that for fear the lies would trip her up. The guilt sat heavily on her shoulders, and yet after tonight she would never see this man again, so she would seize this moment and force down the regrets.
They walked on, letting the sights and sounds settle around them. Weak light from the gas lamps cast shadows on the walls and exposed narrow winding lanes. Abby tried not to search the shadows for more homeless people. She’d known, of course, that there was no father coming to collect that poor girl.
“And you, Daniel, what is it you do?”
She’d thought about him a lot since that night in the Duck and Goose. Thought about the way she’d felt alive conversing with him. She’d convinced herself this was due to no one watching her every move or listening to the words they spoke; her reaction to him this evening suggested there was much more to what she felt.
“I do a great many things, actually.”
He was tall, near the size of her brothers, and handsome. Dark features, and hair that curled slightly on the ends. She’d not seen him in the daylight hours but had got close enough to know his eyes were a deep, rich brown, and when they were focused on her she felt a strange sensation in her belly.
She wanted to ask more questions, but if she asked questions so could he, and she did not want that.
No man but those who shared her blood had ever touched her without her consent, and yet twice tonight that had happened. The first had been dealt with by Daniel, and then he’d lifted her off that chair, and his touch had made her toes curl inside her shoes. He was assured, she thought, and confident in who he was. She knew men of noble birth like that.
“Do you live nearby, Daniel? Is that what had you in the Duck and Goose again? Or is it as I suspected, that you love to listen to Eros as much as I?”
“My secret is out,” he drawled, making her laugh.
“It is safe with me.”
“Actually, I was walking my sister home before attending my weekly lesson, but as I had some time beforehand, I thought to take some refreshment in the Duck and Goose.”
His voice was nice. Deep and comforting. Which made no sense at all.
“Lesson? At this hour?”
He hesitated.
“Forgive me, I should not pry. You don’t have to tell me.”
“I have as yet not even told my family what it is I do on a Thursday evening.”
“So now I am extremely curious but will not push you for an answer.”
“Of course you will, because like my sisters, you will do it subtly. Dig little pieces of information out of me until I have given you all the answers you require without even realizing it.”
“I had wondered if it was just me who does that.” Abby looked at his profile again and felt her heart beat a little faster.
“I suspect all girl babies are born with the ability.”
“It is a lesson well learned at a young age, sir, and a hugely valuable one.”
His laugh was low and deep and the hand that touched her back once more, guiding her around a puddle, reassuring.
A gentleman, she thought, even though he did not hold a title.
Abby stayed silent. Often when she wanted to get something out of her brothers, this was the tactic she used.
“My family would not believe it if someone told them.”
“Then don’t tell them, Daniel.”
“Thus far I have managed to keep it undetected.”
“It?”
“What I need for the lesson.”
“If I guess, will you tell me if I am correct?”
“Possibly not.”
Abby laughed. “Oh, very well,
