A Kiss Away From Scandal

‘Why would it suit her to...?’

‘Lie?’ The girl finished his question with the same strange, knowing smile. ‘Because in recent years, the truth has been quite unpleasant. She prefers to live in the past where things were easier.’

‘But what does any of that have to do with me?’

‘She would like my sister to be as happy as she was, in her youth. To achieve that, she must find a man for Hope.’ Charity paused for a moment. ‘Or men. I am unsure how many of the stories she tells are true, but they are always very colourful.’

‘I see.’ In truth, he did not. ‘What does that have to do with me?’

Miss Charity looked over her glasses at him. ‘You are male, are you not?’

‘Of course. But what...?’ And then, the truth came clear. ‘You cannot mean—’

‘I would not take it personally,’ Charity interrupted. ‘My sister has been uninclined to search for a husband outside of the one outlandish candidate she waits for. If Grandmother chose to throw a handsome man into her afternoon without warning, it was more of a call to awaken the senses rather than an actual attempt to mate the pair of you.’

At the clinical way she described it, he could see why Leggett had not hesitated in tripling his fee. ‘That is a comfort, I suppose.’

‘But you are not here to settle my sister’s future,’ she said, watching him more closely than he liked. ‘How goes the search for the missing entail?’

‘I do not anticipate any problems with it.’ He kept his tone polite, professional and opaque.

She gave a shake of her head. ‘The whole enterprise is unnecessary, of course.’

‘You think so?’ he said, surprised. Unlike the rest of the family, she seemed unaffected by the impending audit.

She gave a slight nod. ‘If my plan comes to fruition, we need not worry about staying in the heir’s good graces. But since you have been hired to complete the inventory to satisfy the rest of the family, feel free to grab items at random that fit the bill. What will some American know if every bell and button in the house is not just as my grandfather left it?’

‘I suggested much the same,’ he said. ‘But your sister requires greater accuracy than that.’

‘Hope appreciates order and is no good at dissembling,’ Charity replied. ‘She refuses to believe that the rest of us can get away with an adjustment of the truth because she knows she cannot.’

‘Such honesty is a thing to be prized,’ he said. ‘You make it sound like weakness of character.’

‘You do not have to live with it,’ Charity said. ‘At least, not yet.’

He stared at her, waiting for clarification, but none was offered. Perhaps she’d intended it as a joke. He had been told she was a rather odd girl.

‘And how do you get along with my sister?’ she added, which did not help his peace of mind at all.

‘She has been most helpful in establishing the provenance of the item we have found. I appreciate her assistance and anticipate no difficulties in our working together.’ He gave her what he hoped was his most distant and professional smile.

‘I see,’ she said in a way that made him want to demand an explanation of exactly what it was she saw. ‘I am sure she will say much the same of you.’

‘I am glad to know it,’ he said, feeling strangely unsettled by the compliment.

‘And is the restoration of the entail your only job for our family?’ Charity’s searching look had returned, prying at his composure as if looking for a crack.

There was no way she could have known the full scope of his mission. ‘What would make you think I was here for another reason?’

‘Because I know Mr Leggett,’ she said. ‘Before he met my sister, he was a rake who did not care at all for propriety, much less love. But now?’ She clasped her hands and gave a mocking flutter of her eyelashes. ‘He wants everyone to be as happy as he is.’

‘That is commendable of him,’ Gregory responded.

‘Forward is what I would call it,’ Charity replied. ‘He is right to think that Hope should not wait needlessly for the coming of the Earl. She will find that for herself if we leave her alone.’

‘Of course,’ he said.

‘But it would be just like a man to try subterfuge once he realises reason will not work. A distracting flirtation, for example...’

‘What the devil are you implying?’ He regretted the curse immediately, but the words had been so blunt that he’d forgotten he was talking to a young lady. ‘I was not sent here to take advantage of your sister.’

‘You are a problem solver, are you not, Mr Drake? Why would you not think of the most direct solution?’

‘Because I am a gentleman,’ he said. And because he knew from experience just what ruin such a thing might cause.

She touched a finger to her chin. ‘You claim to be a gentleman. But I can find nothing of your past, or your parentage.’

‘If it does not matter to Mr Leggett, why should it matter to you?’

‘Because he does not know this family as well as I do,’ Charity replied. ‘And because, if I am honest, he is not as intelligent as I am. If he had thought through the implications of leaving a stranger to ferry his sister-in-law around London, you’d have already had this conversation with him.’

Gregory had not got as far in life as he had without remaining calm when faced with bigoted questions from the gentry. Normally, he would have spoken of his extensive résumé and presented references from other men of stature who had been satisfied with his performance.

But today, it did not seem to be enough. Only the whole truth would do. ‘You could find nothing of my parentage because I do not know it myself. I have been told that my mother was from a good family, but died in childbirth. My father was less so. He seduced her, then abandoned her to her fate. When she died, her family was faced with the problem of an infant whose very existence was a blot on the family honour and the good name of a lost and presumably beloved daughter. They provided for my care and education anonymously, but have never shown an interest in the child I was or the man I have become.’

‘I see,’ said Miss Charity.

Her assessment annoyed him. ‘If you truly do, then you will know that your sister’s reputation is perfectly safe with me. Since I cannot prove my honour with a pedigree, I have done it with my behaviour. I have no intention of being the man my father was and leaving a lover dead or disgraced, or a son abandoned to the care of strangers and left to field such questions as the ones you are asking me.’ He stared back at her with the same unflinching intensity she had been using on him.

It did not seem to bother her in the least. At last, she sighed in what he hoped was satisfaction. ‘Very well, then. You are honourable by choice. That is probably a better reason than those who claim their good name is enough to swear on. My apologies for pressing you to reveal so much of your past. But despite what the family sometimes thinks, I do love my sisters and will not stand by and let them be hurt.’

He answered with a respectful nod.

‘And no matter what Mr Leggett may have asked of you, do not interfere too strenuously in Hope’s future. It will sort itself once I make her aware of certain facts.’

He gave no response to this at all. Since she was not his employer, what she wanted did not signify.

She pushed her spectacles up her nose, which seemed to magnify her already large hazel eyes, and fixed him with a gaze that would have been quelling had it come from a man. ‘And most important of all, you must not meddle in my affairs, no matter what my sister may wish of you. Keep Hope occupied with restoring the entail. Come to me when you reach the inevitable impasse and I will help you. But until then, do not bother me with it, for I am occupied with more important matters.’

‘And what are these matters, Miss Charity?’ he said and followed it with his most winning smile.

She touched the side of her nose and winked. ‘All in good time, Mr Drake. But I assure you, they have nothing to do with husband-hunting at Almack’s.’ She glanced at the door. ‘Do not let me keep you from your own business.’

And thus, he was dismissed for the second time that day. He bowed to her, as he had to her sister. ‘Nor do I wish to keep you from yours, whatever it may be. Good day, Miss Charity.’

‘Until tomorrow, Mr Drake.’

Chapter Four (#u4070f45f-a864-5b81-a75e-1689b2bcb13c)