Finding Miss McFarland (13 page)

Two spots of pink tinged her cheeks as her grin faded. “I don’t prefer to think anything. In fact, I don’t think about it at all.”

Griffin laughed at the absurdity of her lie. Hell, even he’d been lying to himself. “It seems we are more alike than you’d care to admit.”

She opened her mouth to reply, but at the same moment, the boy bounded out of the sweet shop, carrying his treasures—two parcels tied with string, one smaller than the other, hanging by his fingers.

“You must have used your coin quite wisely,” Miss McFarland said, her smile returning. Griffin even caught a glimpse of the elusive dimple.

“The others’ll be agog,” he said proudly. “Soon everyone will want to come to work for your father.”

She ruffled his pale curls and gently tweaked his ear. “They will not work for sweets, and for now, that is all I can give them.”

Until she married
, the statement implied. All at once, their previous conversation in the Dorsets’ conservatory regarding her need for a husband—
in name only
—rushed to the forefront of his mind.

Did this have something to do with the reason why she was willing to marry a pauper? He wasn’t sure, because he didn’t even know where they were going. It was apparent by her words that it was a place where one could acquire a new servant. That was all he knew.

With a glance to Miss McFarland and knowing that she was as likely to reveal all her secrets as a pugilist was to have both hands tied behind his back, he decided another tactic was in order. “Mr. Simms, have you ever taken a ride in an open curricle or held the reins?”

The boy’s eyes went round as pennies. “
Cor!
No, sir.”

“Would you like to?”

Miss McFarland placed a hand on the boy’s shoulder before he bounced out of his skin. “Just what are you up to,
Mr. Cr
—”

“Not a thing,” he interrupted before she could complete his torment. “I just imagine it would be simpler for the boy to spy on me if he’s in same carriage. That is all.” He knew it would be easier for him to question the lad about his mistress as well.

“Buckley is quite resourceful. It would be wrong to underestimate him in any fashion,” she said, with such pride in her voice that the statement sparked a bit of admiration in him.

He smiled and touched the brim of his hat. “I’ve certainly learned my lesson on that account today.”

“Oh, but the day isn’t over quite yet, Mr. Croft.”

C
HAPTER
T
EN

A
lone in the carriage, Delaney was confused. Somehow, she’d let Griffin Croft get the better of her. Again. Without a single word of argument, she’d given him leave to take Buckley with him to Warthall Place. There was no telling what her
former
spy was revealing.

She blamed her confusion on the fact that Mr. Croft had surprised her. Outside the shop, a moment ago, he’d simply taken hold of her hand as if it was his right. The audacity of his action had bewildered her enough for her to imagine it gave her pleasure. She’d even felt a kinship with him, admiring the way he’d defended Buckley.

Unfortunately, she would have no one to talk to about it until she saw her friends later that afternoon. Then again, she couldn’t very well discuss this with Penelope, Emma, or Merribeth without revealing the sordid quandary in which she found herself—that the one man she’d sworn to avoid until her death was now challenging her to seek him out.

Now, arriving at Warthall Place, Mr. Croft was there in an instant, opening the carriage door. Again, he took her hand whether she wanted him to or not. Much to her ever-increasing astonishment, she wanted him to. Delaney liked the feel of his large hand surrounding hers. His touch was as warm as bath water. Not too hot. Just perfect for a good, long soak. She imagined what it would feel like to slowly sink into his embrace, those hands gliding over her . . .

She shook herself free of the distraction as she stepped down from the carriage. Feet firmly on the walk outside the tall, narrow stone structure of Warthall Place, she couldn’t fathom why her hand was still in his grasp—why he hadn’t released her or why she hadn’t snatched it back from him.

Taking advantage of her uncharacteristic stillness, Mr. Croft removed his hat and bowed. His gaze raked over her slowly. No doubt, he was taking in her exceedingly wild hair this morning, as well as the lack of flounces of her lavender pelisse. Instead, her garment was rather fitted, with small leaf-like points of fabric gathered over the bodice. As he appeared to notice every one, a thrill washed through her.

When at last he lifted his gaze to hers, a full grin widened his mouth. Surprisingly, his teeth were not perfectly straight. Not perfectly in order. Their slight crookedness seemed to coincide with the glimpses she’d had of the impulsive nature he kept locked inside him. It was a decidedly wicked grin.

She felt her lungs constrict and drew a breath to inflate them again, though it didn’t seem to work as long as she kept her gaze on Mr. Croft.

Pulling her hand free, she turned to the driver. “Dorsey, please return to the market and retrieve Tillie and Betsy. I should be finished in an hour.” Normally, when she went on these early morning excursions without Bree or Miss Pursglove, she took Tillie with her. Today, however, Tillie had wanted to go with Betsy to the market, and Delaney decided to be generous and have the driver drop them off first before taking her and Buckley to that horrid shop.

With a nod and a flick of the reins, Dorsey set off. Packages in hand, Buckley ran past her without a word and up the steps to the large lacquered door. Since Mr. Harrison left it unlatched during the day, he only had to nudge it open with his shoulder—which left her quite alone and out in the open with Mr. Croft.

She looked down the street both ways, hoping this encounter—and the one at the shop earlier—would go unnoticed and not wind up in the
Post
.

Mr. Croft seemed to find her worry amusing, as he, too, peered down both ends of the street. “Looking for a way to escape, Miss McFarland? I believe I see a horse cart coming our way. Perhaps the man driving it is in need of a wife with a good fortune. Should I hail him, do you think?”

“You make a habit of taking enjoyment in matters which are no concern of yours.”

That grin reappeared, but he did not bother to respond to her question. “Young Mr. Simms tells me that you are teaching him a trade, and he intends to manage your accounts when he is older.”

She wondered if that was the only bit of information he’d managed to winkle out of Buckley. “He deserves to have a sense of purpose as much as anyone else.”

“And what is your purpose, hmm? To have everyone believe that you exist solely to charge up your father’s accounts and make a nuisance of yourself?”

She clenched her fists at her sides and felt her nostrils flare as she drew in a breath. So many scathing comments crowded together on the tip of her tongue that she was left fuming in silence.

He used it to his advantage. “If there is one thing I know about you,” he said, his voice low as he took one step closer, “it is that you have a reason for every action you take.”

There was no reprimand in his tone but something resembling admiration instead. She hardly knew what to make of it. Then, in that instant, their discourse altered. With his nearness, she felt those crackling flames lick over body. Heat rose from her flesh, blurring the air between them.

She wet her lips. “How can that be true of someone so often accused of being impulsive and reckless?”

“Because you are too quick-witted for your own good. I shudder to think what a mind like yours could do if it were bent on world domination instead of on vexing me.” He leaned in ever so slightly and traced the silk piping along the outer edge of her sleeve. The sensation was so sharp, she felt as if her clothes were part of her, connected by nerve and tissue. “No doubt, there would be a special prison for men with sloppy cravats.”

Though she wore the finest cambric chemise, it suddenly felt coarse, causing her nipples to pucker and ache. That same sensation traveled lower as well, as if she wore bristly fabric on the inside of her skin. Below her navel, her insides drew up tightly like the cords of a reticule being cinched closed. Looking over his attire, from his
mathematical knot
down to the buttons of his striped waistcoat, she wondered if he were conscious of the way his shirtsleeves felt against his skin, of what
his
shirt would feel like against
her
skin . . .

“It takes little effort on my part to vex you,” she said, hearing a slight tremor in her voice. The same tremor that rushed through her limbs.

“Then I fear your keen mind all the more,” he said quietly and without amusement. The lake water in his gaze churned as if a cauldron brewed beneath the surface. Abruptly, he removed his hand from her sleeve, straightened, and took a step back.

As he had during the Binghams’ dinner, he swept the tips of his fingers against his lips.

Delaney drew in a breath, off balance by the chaos his gesture wrought within her. She pressed a hand to her stomach, as if to keep those reticule cords from being cinched too tightly. “You were the one who challenged me.”

“I beg to differ.” He shook his head slowly. “You’ve been a challenge to me since the moment we met and every meeting since.”

The reminder of
the incident
instantly doused the flames within her. She was almost grateful for the reprieve from the heat. Still, she could not pass up the opportunity to scold him. “What a very ungentlemanly remark, Mr. Croft.”

“Yes, and there was nothing of a
gentleman
in me when I said it but someone far more primitive,” he said but made no apology.

She would have continued the exchange and asked him to clarify his statement, but in the same moment, Mr. Harrison appeared in the open door.

“Miss McFarland,” he said with a wrinkly grin that lifted his jowls. His gaze moved from hers to Mr. Croft with the reserved assessment of one who’d spent a lifetime in service. “How kind of you drop by.”

She suddenly felt like a guilty child who’d been caught sneaking slippers from her mother’s wardrobe. To make sure he didn’t have the wrong idea—not that there was a right idea when it came to Mr. Croft—she proceeded up the steps to the door. “Mr. Harrison, you’ll be delighted to know that Mr. Croft has taken a particular interest in your mission.”

Unable to remove years of being a butler, Mr. Harrison kept his hands to his sides and bowed his head. “Very good, sir.”

Inside the incomparably polished, immaculate house, seven young men of varying heights stood in a line near the base of the stairs. Even Buckley filed in—second place from the last, according to his height. And like him, each of the boys had suffered either the loss of a limb, multiple digits, eyesight, or even burns.

As the boys were introduced, Delaney glanced up at Mr. Croft. If he was surprised, he didn’t show it. Strangely, she felt nervous. She’d never brought anyone here, not even her closest friends. Bree knew of the place but only by name and by the constant pleas to her father.

Still, Mr. Croft didn’t reveal what he was thinking, and it was driving her mad. For some unknown reason, she wanted his approval. But what surprised her most of all was that she wanted him to know that she was more than just a dowry.

G
riffin was stunned.

Certainly it wasn’t every day one encountered a place like Warthall, or even a retired butler like Mr. Harrison. But what stunned him the most was Miss McFarland. This was not an act of charity for her. He could see it in the way her eyes brightened with determination.

Mr. Harrison walked with a pronounced limp as he escorted them into the parlor. Two of the boys, along with Buckley, were sent off to the kitchen to have a tray of tea prepared, while the others were told to return to their work.

Over the next few minutes, Mr. Harrison went on to explain how this institution had begun. “Many years ago, I encountered Lord Warthall near Saint Giles after he was set upon by ruffians, beaten, and robbed of his purse. Even though I was a lad at the time and passed over because of my clubfoot, I did my best to see the master home. In return, he gave me the chance to prove myself and hired me on here in this very house. Throughout my youth, into adulthood, and even in the later years, I was always offered opportunities to achieve great things.” He sat up a little straighter. “I was head butler for this house for forty odd years until His Lordship’s passing. And when he left me this house, along with a generous endowment, I wanted to give others the same chance to live a life of purpose.”

At that, Griffin looked to Miss McFarland. He wondered about the enigma sitting in the chair beside his. Making sure these children felt a sense of purpose was something for which she lived.

His admiration for her grew by leaps and bounds.

Was this part of her reason for wanting to marry a pauper in name only? Was she afraid that if she married anyone with whom she couldn’t strike a bargain, then she wouldn’t be permitted to aid Mr. Harrison in his quest?

He mulled over the last thought, feeling a sudden tightness in his gut. By all that was right, a husband took control of his wife’s funds and would do with them as he saw fit. Most men of good character would permit their wives an allowance. Of course, there had been quite a few who’d spent their own fortunes only to bleed through their wives’ in under a year.

So that begged the question, what would her husband do?

His gut clenched again. Abruptly, Griffin stood and moved to the open parlor door, as if to examine the boys at their tasks across the hall. The truth was, he felt restless. An image of Montwood flashed in his mind. Would the infamously charming rake take her up on her offer for a marriage in name only and two separate addresses? Or would he decide a more intimate agreement should be made? And once the cad spent all of her money and used her body, would he abandon her and their children, forcing her to beg for a place back inside her father’s home?

“Mr. Croft!” Miss McFarland hissed as she stepped beside him. “Has the door offended you in any way for you to abuse it so?”