“That I have the reputation as a rake and a seducer of innocents—my brother’s innocent.” He waved one hand wearily, as if the matter was negligible. “I still won’t let you risk your pretty neck in St. Giles. Either you let me accompany you and protect you or I’ll go to Wakefield and Thomas. Your choice.”
He tilted his tricorne over his eyes and folded his arms across his chest, as if settling in for a nap.
She watched him incredulously for a moment, but he didn’t move. Obviously, he’d said all he was going to say.
The carriage door opened, and George, one of the two brawny footmen she’d chosen to accompany her, looked curiously in. “My lady?”
“Yes,” she said distractedly. She turned back to Reading and cleared her throat. “I’m going to inspect the building site now.”
Reading didn’t move.
Well! If he was determined to be rude, she wasn’t about to stay and try to get the man to respond. Hero got up and descended the carriage with George’s help.
Lifting her skirts, she picked her way down Maiden Lane to the spot where the Home for Unfortunate Infants and Foundling Children was being rebuilt. But as she neared, her worst fears were confirmed. The building site looked deserted.
Hero dropped her skirts and frowned.
George shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “Shall I see if anyone’s about, my lady?”
“Yes, do,” Hero said gratefully, and watched as George disappeared into the facade of the construction.
She sighed. It was going to be a wonderful building—if it was ever finished. They’d bought the houses around the burned wreckage of the previous home and had them pulled down. Now the foundation and facade of what would be a lovely brick building took up most of this side of the street. Hero pivoted and glanced at the other side of the narrow lane. The buildings there were built so close it looked as if they propped each other up. Wooden structures against crumbling brick, tilting upper floors precariously hanging over the lane. It was a wonder the whole mess didn’t fall down.
“My lady.”
George hailed her as he came back, trailed by a disreputable-looking character.
“This’s the only one I could find about,” George said, indicating the fellow. “Says he’s the guard.”
Hero looked in astonishment at the man. He held a half-eaten heel of bread and wore a bedraggled blue coat several sizes too big for his frame.
At her glance, he swept a tattered flat hat from his head and bowed precariously low, his graying shoulder-length hair nearly touching the ground. “M’lady.”
“What is your name?”
“Pratt.” He clutched his hat and piece of bread to his chest, his expression angelic. “If’n it please you, m’lady.”
Hero sighed. “Where are the workmen, Mr. Pratt?”
The guard screwed up his eyes as if in deep thought and looked upward. “Don’t rightly know, m’lady. I’m sure they’ll return in a bit.”
“And Mr. Thompson?”
“ ’Aven’t seen ’im in a while.” Pratt shrugged and took a bite of his bread.
Hero compressed her lips, glancing away from the man. Mr. Thompson was the architect of the new home and was in charge of building it. He’d been perfect in the planning stages, producing a lovely drawing of a new home with exact specifications. Both she and Lady Caire had been quite pleased with him. But when the actual construction began, Mr. Thompson became less reliable. Materials that were supposedly already ordered had been absent, and then their delivery delayed, causing the crew of workers that had been hired to find other work.
Lady Caire had pushed back her tour of the continent until the foundation had been laid. At that point it had seemed that the worst of the construction problems were over. They had their material, a new crew was hired, and Mr. Thompson’s apologies and assurances were profuse. But a mere month after Lady Caire’s departure, things began to go wrong again. Construction was slow; the expense reports Mr. Thompson submitted didn’t make sense to Hero; and when she made polite inquiries, he either gave vague answers or ignored her questions entirely.
And now in the middle of the day no one was at the building site!
“Thank you, Mr. Pratt,” Hero said, and turned to walk back to the carriage. “Is he sufficient to guard such a large site?” she asked George quietly.
George looked a little startled at having his opinion asked. He scratched his chin. “No, my lady, I don’t think so.”
Hero nodded. George was only confirming her own fears. She’d have to hire more guards immediately if nothing else.
She had half expected Reading to have deserted her, but as she entered her carriage, she saw that he slouched against the squabs in the same pose as when she’d left him almost an hour before. She sat and watched him as the carriage lurched forward.
He wore a rather shabby brown coat with a bottle-green waistcoat and dark brown breeches and boots. His long legs took up most of the space between the seats, his scuffed boots nearly under her seat. His black hat was still tipped over his eyes, and she noticed for the first time that his jaw bore a heavy stubble. Had he been out all night since the ball? He hadn’t moved when she entered or when the carriage started, and she could hear a faint snore coming from his parted lips. Her gaze dropped to those lips. The bottom was fuller in sleep, lax and sensuous, contrasting with the deeply masculine shadow of the stubble about his mouth.
Hero looked quickly away.
“Have you decided?” he asked, making her start.
She inhaled. Had he been feigning sleep all this time?
He sat up and stretched lazily, then glanced out the window. “Headed home, are we?”
“Yes.”
“How was it?”
“Worse than I thought.” She pursed her lips. “The architect appears to have decamped.”
He nodded, unsurprised. “And my bargain?”
“You mean your blackmail.”
He shrugged. “Call it what you like, but I’m not changing my mind. You go with me or not at all.”
She stared at her hands in her lap. Her fingers had curled into fists. She had no doubt that he would indeed tell both her brother and her fiancé if she did not take his “bargain.” Mandeville would disapprove, but it was Maximus who would put a halt to her seeing the home—and possibly to her being the patroness. She listened and obeyed her brother in all other matters, but not this one. She saw again the sweet faces of the children as they struggled with the hymn they’d practiced for her.