From Rags to Kisses by Shana Galen

Thirteen

Jenny gasped. “ ‘Arley?” she said. “Yer ‘Arley?”

“Who wants to know?” the girl said, sounding suspicious.

“Sir?” the gray-haired man who worked for Aidan said again. “What shall I do with it?”

“Bring her inside and fetch refreshments,” Jenny said, using her lady’s tone and accent. “And be quick about it. We’ll need another blanket.”

Aidan seemed to understand what she had planned because he opened the door wider, showing the fire and tea tray. “Won’t you come in and warm yourself?”

“I just want me blunt,” Harley said.

“I’ll have to send for it. I don’t have ten pounds in my pocket.”

Jenny doubted that. He probably had twice that lying about, but she didn’t argue. Instead, she entered the room first and moved closer to the fire. She was cold and shivering, and she’d never admit as much to Aidan, but she wouldn’t mind more tea and a cake or two.

“It were twenty pounds,” Harley said, following her into the room and moving close to the fire. “Not ten.”

Jenny nodded. “That’s right. It was twenty.”

Aidan gave her a narrow look. “I said ten.”

She shrugged. “I said twenty, and she’s ‘ere now.”

The girl looked up at her. “Ye one of them or one of us? Ye keep changing yer voice.”

Jenny wasn’t quite sure how to respond to that as she was a bit of both. “I’m somewhere in-between, I suppose. I used to be like ye and now I’m a little more like ‘im.”

Aidan made a strangled sound, but she ignored him.

“I didn’t want to come,” the girl said. “Everyone told me it were a trick. Is it a trick?”

Jenny considered. “It is in a way. ‘E will give ye the money, but we wanted to talk to ye too.”

“Is this about the orphanage? That nob FitzRoy with the pretty wife is always trying to catch me and put me there.” She wiped her nose, which was running. “ ‘Is wife is a nice lady, but I’m not going to no orphanage.”

“Sit down and ‘ave a cup of tea,” Jenny said, indicating a chair close to the fire. “I’m freezing and a body can’t think when it’s shivering.”

Harley looked at the chair and then at Jenny. “I’ll ruin it. I’m wet and dirty.”

“Oh, that’s alright,” Jenny said cheerfully. “ ‘E can buy another.” She shepherded Harley to the chair and ignored the glare Aidan gave her as Harley plopped her soggy behind on the expensive upholstery. Jenny poured a cup of tea and handed it to the girl, but she looked at it suspiciously.

“ ‘Ow do I know ye didn’t put something unnatural in it?”

“Suspicious little creature,” Aidan muttered.

“Fine. I’ll drink it too.” Jenny poured herself a cup, sipped, then nodded at Harley. But the girl narrowed her eyes.

“ ‘Ow do I know ye really drank it? Maybe it’s a trick.”

Jenny had to give the girl credit. She had street smarts and would not be an easy mark. Jenny moved closer to the child and fought not to wrinkle her nose. She smelled of the streets, which was a scent Jenny remembered well and did not like to revisit. She made a show of drinking the tea so that Harley could see it enter her mouth and then she swallowed it. When Harley frowned, Jenny rolled her eyes and opened her mouth to show it was empty.

That seemed to be all the encouragement Harley needed. She drank the tea and then held out the cup for more. Jenny looked at Aidan, who gave a pained expression and filled the teacup again. “Anything else?” he asked. Either Harley didn’t note the sarcastic tone of his voice or she didn’t care because she pointed to the tea tray.

“One of them sandwiches.”

Fearing a mutiny on Aidan’s part, Jenny rose and brought the plate of cakes and sandwiches to Harley. The girl took it but then looked at Jenny. “Do ye want me to take a nibble of each?” Jenny asked.

“Just...” She took her time deciding. “This one.” She pointed to a small biscuit, and Jenny lifted it, took a bite, and smiled. Harley downed the rest of her tea, set the cup aside, and started inhaling the food. Jenny stepped away to stand next to Aidan. In unspoken agreement, they moved away from Harley, toward the rain-streaked window.

“Wot do ye think we should do next?”

“With her?” He shrugged. “Take her to the orphanage. Let’s get that done so we can finish our discussion.”

“Wot discussion? Ye asked me to marry ye and I said no. ‘Ow many times do ye want me to reject ye?” She didn’t want to admit that his admission that he’d gone back for her had affected her. He hadn’t forgotten her. He’d kept his promise to come back. Clenching her fists, Jenny reminded himself that none of that mattered. He’d left her once, and she wouldn’t let him do it again.

His look was steely. “None. That’s why we need to talk.”

“I said all I ‘ave to say. And if we take her to the orphanage, she’ll just run away. We’ll be right back where we started.”

“No, we won’t. FitzRoy will see I tried, and that will be the end of it.”

“I thought ‘e was yer friend. This is ‘ow ye treat yer friends?”

Aidan closed his eyes briefly. “Fine. What do you suggest?”

“Well.” She straightened her shoulders. “Since ye asked.”

“I won’t like this. I can already tell.”

“I suggest we take ‘er ‘ome.”

“Whose home?” His brow furrowed. “Not my home.” The look on his face was one of complete and utter abhorrence, and Jenny had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing. Oh, she was even more determined to bring the child to his home now. It served him right for all that he’d done to her. She had everything planned out, everything just right, until he’d come along. Now her only friends were forced to leave England, not only leaving her alone but jeopardizing her income. Could she really manage the business on her own? Roland had always taken the lead in that area, and now thanks to Aidan, she would soon have the entire weight of it on her shoulders.

“Ye ‘ave enough room,” she said. “Why not?”

“Why not?” He seemed to be searching for a reason, and she could almost see when he snatched one out of the air. “I can’t have a young girl in my house unchaperoned.”

“She’s ‘ardly a girl. She’s a street urchin.”

“Which makes her even more vulnerable. She should go to your home.”

“Oh no, ye don’t. This is yer problem. I won’t solve it for ye.”

Aidan looked like he wanted to argue, but he swallowed instead and nodded. “Fine.” Taking a deep breath, he approached Harley, who had almost finished with the tray of food. “Miss Harley.”

“I ain’t no miss. Just ‘Arley.”

“Very well, Just Harley.”

The girl gave a small smile at his quip.

“You said you do not want to go to the orphanage. I understand your suspicion of orphanages. I’d like to you to see it before you decide. What would you think of coming home with me and touring the orphanage tomorrow?”

“Nope. I just want me twenty quid.”

A look came into Aidan’s eyes that Jenny knew well. It was what she assumed his business adversaries saw when they sat across the table from him. “I’ll give you ten now and ten after you tour the orphanage.”

“That weren’t the deal,” she said, standing and glaring at him. “I was to come ‘ere, and I got twenty quid.”

Aidan lifted a shoulder. “I’m changing the deal.” He moved around the desk, opened a drawer, and withdrew a stack of notes. He took his time flipping through them as Harley’s eyes widened. Jenny could see her counting the money, just as Jenny would have done in her place. Finally, he took a ten-pound note from the stack, put the money back, and closed the drawer.

“I thought ye said ye didn’t ‘ave the money with ye.”

“I said I didn’t have it in my pocket.” He held out the ten pounds. “As you see, I don’t.”

Harley snatched the note and stuffed it in her dirty shirt.

“Now,” Aidan said, “you can take that money and go or tour the orphanage and receive another ten pounds.”

“ ‘Ow do I know this isn’t a trick?”

“You don’t, but if you know anything about me—and I assume you did your research before you came calling—you know I can be trusted to keep my word. I do business with the richest men in London. In the world. They wouldn’t even look at me if I couldn’t be trusted.”

Harley seemed to consider then looked at Jenny. “That true?”

Jenny considered. Aidan had always kept his word to her—except the once. And then he had tried to keep it, in his own way. She saw that now. “Yes. That’s true.”

“I ain’t going to ‘is ‘ome alone. I’ll go if ye come with me.”

“Capital idea,” Aidan said. Jenny glared at him then gave a loud sigh.

“I’ll go and ‘elp ye settle in.”

Harley shook her head. “Ye ‘ave to stay as long as I do. I ‘eard of girls being taken off the street and sold to brothels or worse.”

Jenny looked at Harley who was as skinny as a lamp post and just as flat-chested. She seemed an unlikely candidate to be sold to a brothel, but then there were men who lusted after children. Harley was not wrong to be careful. What she didn’t know was that by asking Jenny to stay with her at Aidan’s, she was putting Jenny at risk—not physically, no. But it would be easier to protect her heart from Aidan if she wasn’t under the same roof.

Jenny gritted her teeth. “Fine. I’ll stay as long as ye stay,” she grumbled.

“And ye promise not to let ‘im force me into the orphanage?”

“I promise,” Jenny said. “Let the devil dance on my grave if I’m lying.”

Harley seemed to consider just as Aidan’s secretary tapped on the door then entered with more tea and a stack of blankets. Jenny took them and draped one over Harley and took one for herself. Her fingers were no longer blue, but she was still shivering. Harley reached for the plate of food. “I’ll take that.”

The secretary made a sound, but Aidan flicked his hand, and the secretary closed his lips. “Anything else, sir?” he said through a clenched jaw.

“Call for my carriage, Pryce. I’m to escort these two ladies home.”

***

AIDAN WATCHED HARLEYlook out his window with her mouth agape. He imagined she looked something like Jenny would have looked if she’d been given a ride in a carriage like this at the age of ten, which was the age he guessed Harley to be. He tried not to think about what stains she might be leaving on the expensive velvet squabs, but fortunately the blanket was between most of her and the upholstery. Still, he would have to have the entire vehicle cleaned and aired out. He’d already decided the child must have a bath as soon as they arrived home, and he knew it would be an issue. One thing he’d learned living in the rookeries was that baths were a luxury, and some were suspicious of bathing.

Jenny hadn’t been. Whenever they found clean water, she would dip a rag and wash her face and neck and hands. But clean water was hard to come by and they were usually so dirty by the time they did come across some that it seemed hopeless, and they chose to drink it instead.

“Will there be more of them tea cakes at yer ‘ouse?” Harley asked.

“There might be,” Aidan said. “But you’ll have to wash and change before I allow you to sit on any of my furniture.”

Harley looked down at herself. “Why? The rain washed away most of the grime.”

“Not enough of it. You’ll have to bathe, and we’ll burn those clothes.”

“Oh no, ye won’t!”

“We’ll find ye something else to wear first,” Jenny said, her voice calm and soothing, though her gray eyes flashed silver lightning in his direction. “Will ye wear a dress or do ye prefer trousers?”

“She’ll wear a dress,” Aidan said. Jenny flashed those eyes at him again. Perhaps he said it just so she would.

“I’ve worn a dress before,” Harley said. “ ‘Ard to climb in and out of windows in skirts, though.”

“And why might you need to climb in and out of windows?” Aidan asked.

Harley raised a brow. “No reason.”

“Fine. We’ll get ye skirts and trousers. Then ye can choose,” Jenny said.

Aidan added skirts and trousers to the long list of things he would need to make sure were either produced or procured before he could pull Jenny aside and speak to her alone. The one thing about Harley that pleased him was the child had given him more time with Jenny.

He should be annoyed that his meetings for the day were cancelled, and he was dragged away from his offices. But truth be told, he didn’t mind. He was with Jenny, and that was more important than any business ventures he’d had planned.

The thought shocked him. He couldn’t remember when anything had been more important to him than making money. But at this moment, there was nowhere in the world he’d rather be.

“Oooh! Look at that big ‘ouse!” Harley said.

“Just wait,” Jenny muttered.

“Harley,” Aidan said. “That’s an unusual name. Is it your given name?”

“Sure. Given to me ‘cause no one ‘arley sees me.” She made a swaying sort of slithery motion with her body. “In and out of the dark like a shadow. That’s me.”

Aidan frowned. “But you can’t see a shadow in the dark. You need light for that.”

“Exactly.” Harley pointed at him.

Aidan decided the argument was pointless. “Harley was the name given to you in the rookeries. What name did your parents give you?”

“Wot’s it matter?”

“I’d like to know.”

She crossed her arms. “Well, I don’t remember. Never had much use fer me parents anyway.”

Jenny exchanged a look with Aidan, and he nodded. The girl was lying, but they’d not force the information out of her. They’d have to gain her trust, and Jenny was more likely to accomplish that than he. He added another two tasks to his mental list: discover Harley’s real name and find out what happened to her parents.

Harley had a predictable reaction when she was admitted into his home. Her jaw dropped to her knees, and she wanted to know how much everything cost. Aidan could have told her, precisely, how much everything in the house cost, but instead he sent Jenny and a maid with her to bathe. He gave his housekeeper the task of finding something for Harley and Jenny to wear. Then he went into his library, sat at his desk, and opened letters that had arrived earlier that day. But he couldn’t read a single one. The words just swam in front of his face as though the rain still slapping against the windows outside had blurred the ink on the paper.

His gaze strayed to the windows where Jenny’s desk had been. It was gone now as were the pigeons, and though he’d always relished his solitude, he wished both were back. He wished Jenny were here. He wished the two of them could sit in companionable silence again—well, at least he had been silent. She was forever exclaiming over something in the journals. Aidan wondered what would happen to the find from his larder now that Chamberlayne and his lover were to travel abroad. Would it be returned to him? Had anything of value been discovered?

It showed just how much Jenny had distracted him that these issues had not occurred to him before. He was never one to allow an opportunity to make a profit to go unexplored. Jenny had done what he didn’t think was possible: distracted him from business and profit. It was nothing new. She’d always been able to make him forget that he was hungry or cold or miserable. She’d made poverty bearable. Now Aidan realized it was more than that. She’d made his miserable existence bearable, worthwhile even.

Now his existence was far from miserable, but these past few days without her in his life, it had lacked any color or flavor or meaning. He needed her. Before she’d come back into his life, he’d been an empty shell of a man, but he hadn’t known it or perhaps he’d only sensed it. Now he knew he was nothing without her. And he was about to lose her and face a lifetime of nothingness.

“That was an ordeal,” a familiar voice said, and Aidan looked up from the yawning maw of blackness that was his future. It was Jenny, of course, and she was dressed in the simple garb of a servant, the black color of the dress making her look pale and wan. Her dark hair had been pulled back and secured at the nape of her neck, showing the fine bones of her cheeks and jaw.

He could hear the fire in the hearth crackle and pop softly and realized the rain must have eased to a drizzle. Aidan rose hastily to his feet. “Where is Harley?”

“In the nursery.”

“I have a nursery?”

“It’s not furnished as such—in fact, it’s not furnished at all—but yer ‘ousekeeper said it was the chamber best suited to that purpose and asked yer footmen to move two beds inside.”

“Two?”

“One for me and one for ‘Arley.”

For a moment the tightness in his chest eased. “You’re staying then?”

“One night.” She held up a single finger. “I promised ‘Arley I would. Just until she gets a look at the orphanage.”

Aidan moved around his desk. “I need to find out her real name and discover what’s happened to her parents.”

Jenny leaned against the door, not seeming inclined to come any further into the room or any closer to him. “Then find it out. That’s yer problem, not mine. I left ‘er eating from a tray of vittles stacked to the ceiling. If ye offer ‘er sweets, she’ll probably tell ye anything.”

“I think you’re more likely to get answers from her than I.”

“Thanks to ye, I ‘ave a business to run and no time for games.” She cocked her head. “Wot’s that?”

Aidan had heard the clicking sound as well. “Rain on the windows.”

She started across the room, toward the windows her desk had once overlooked. “I don’t think so.” She reached the curtains and opened the drapes. Aidan saw nothing but darkness, but Jenny turned the latch and opened the window.

“What are you—”

A pigeon hopped inside, a small sack on its back.

“Peggy!” Jenny looked outside, presumably for more birds, then closed the window. “Clever girl,” she said, stroking the pigeon.

Aidan looked at the window then the bird. “Why is there a bird tapping on my windowpane?”

“Roland must have trained ‘er,” Jenny said, opening the sack on the bird’s back and removing a slip of damp paper.

“Trained her to do what?”

“To see this as ‘ome. She’s a ‘oming pigeon. She always returns to ‘er ‘ome.” She drew in a sudden breath.

“What is it?”

“ ‘E ‘as tickets on a ship leaving in two days.”

“Who? Chamberlayne?” Aidan moved behind her, looking at the paper over her shoulder. He shouldn’t enjoy this closeness. She was obviously distraught. He should be comforting her, not thinking of how he might seduce her.

“ ‘E wants my permission to spread it about that I ended the betrothal.”

“That’s good of him,” Aidan said. “It spares you any questions about your character.”

She rounded on him. “And creates a dozen about ‘im! Now everyone will ask why I ended it. What if the rumors about Oscar surface again?”

“Ah. Good point.” She glared at him, and he took a step back and raised his hands. “I admit I don’t know everything about the mechanisms of Society, but I have friends. I’ll ask their advice.”

“No.”

“No?”

“Ye can’t tell them the truth about Roland.”

“Give me some credit.”

She bit her lip then slowly nodded her head. “Ye’ll go tonight?”

“In this weather?” He gestured toward the window.

“Oh! Yer so fine now ye can’t get a bit of water on yerself?” She put her hands on her hips.

“That’s not it.” At least that wasn’t all of it. “I don’t want to leave you and Harley.”

She took his arm and tugged him toward the door to the library. “We’ll be ‘ere when ye return.”

Aidan dug his heels in. “And you’ll try to discover her name?”

“Always trying to make a deal. Fine. I’ll see if I can find out ‘er name. Ye tell yer friends we ‘ave ‘er and ask ‘ow to save Roland. But don’t ask it that way, if ye know what I mean. Be subtle.”

Aidan took her shoulders and looked down at her. “I know what to do. You’ll wait up for me?”

She narrowed her eyes. “Just to talk.”

“Of course.” He tried to look innocent. Tried to look as though he wasn’t mentally stripping that maid’s uniform off her, but the way her eyes narrowed further made him think he didn’t quite succeed.

She gave him a push. “Go then.”

And Aidan, who took orders from no one, went.

***

AT THE DRAVEN CLUBhe didn’t find Neil Wraxall, who was married to Lady Juliana, daughter of the Earl St. Maur. Lady Juliana was benefactress of the Sunnybrooke Home for Boys, where Colin FitzRoy had tried to persuade Harley to go. Aidan sat at a table to write a note to Neil, informing him of his plans to visit, just as the Duke of Mayne stepped into the room. Aidan looked up in time to see the duke try to retreat without being noticed.

“Too late,” Aidan said.

Mayne’s shoulders slumped. “Listen, Sterling. The Lords just adjourned, and it’s been a long night. All I want is a drink and quiet. I don’t want to discuss tariffs or taxes or shipping insurance.”

“Fine,” Aidan said. “I give you my word, I won’t mention anything to do with business.”

“Forgive me if I have my doubts,” the duke said.

Aidan sat back. “I really have been an arse, haven’t I? Lately, every time I see you—any of you”—he gestured to the empty reading room—“I have an agenda.”

Phineas moved closer to the chair Aidan occupied. “That does seem to be the case of late.”

“No wonder you tried to avoid me.”

“I wouldn’t say we avoid you.”

Aidan gave him a look, and Phineas smiled. He had boyish good looks, and when he smiled, he looked particularly mischievous. “Alright, we avoid you. These past few months, you’ve been...obsessed.” He sat opposite Aidan and gestured to the paper on the small side table between their armchairs. “What’s that? Your plan to take over the Continent?”

“A note to Neil. I found that little orphan Colin’s been looking for, and I’m taking her for a tour of the orphanage tomorrow.”

Porter entered just then with a tray and a bottle of wine.

“Is that the ’89?” Mayne asked.

“Yes, Your Grace,” Porter answered. “I took the liberty of bringing two glasses in case Mr. Sterling might also like to sample it.”

Aidan hadn’t intended to have anything stronger than coffee, but in the past, he’d found Phineas an excellent judge of wine. “Very well,” he said and took a glass. When the wine had been poured and sampled—it was indeed very good—Mayne peered at him over the rim of the glass.

“What’s happened to you?”

“What do you mean?”

“You aren’t prodding me about tariffs, you rescued an orphan, and you’re here, rather than at your office.”

“Nothing has happened. I came because—” He looked at Mayne. A duke would certainly know everything there was to know about Society’s rules. “I had a question.”

“For whom?”

“You’ll do.”

Phineas sipped his wine. “I’m honored, as usual.”

“Here is the situation, a lady and gentleman wish to call off their engagement. The lady is concerned about casting the gentleman in a bad light. But the gentleman insists on the lady calling off the betrothal to spare her reputation. Is there any way she might also spare his?”

“That’s the most cordial ending of a betrothal I’ve ever heard. Perhaps they shouldn’t call it off at all.”

“It’s done. Now there’s just the scandal rags to manage.”

Mayne sipped his wine again. “The gentleman is right to allow the lady to jilt him. If he jilts her, she’ll be deemed unmarriageable. I don’t see why her calling it off should be any blight on him, though. Everyone thinks ladies are fickle and indecisive. No one will blame a man for a female’s capricious whims.”

Aidan sat back. “It’s a good thing no women are about to hear you say that. We’d both lose our heads.”

Phineas smiled. “I didn’t say I thought that about women. My wife is the cleverest person I know. She’s more decisive and logical than I ever have been, but we’re not talking about how my wife would react. We’re speaking of the ton as a body.”

“Agreed. And let us say, for argument’s sake, that there is a need to protect the gentleman from unseemly rumors. How might that be accomplished?”

“That’s easy enough. The lady should make the reason for the break public in advance of the announcement. If the reason is something benign, then in all likelihood, that will be the end of the rumors.”

“You could have done very well in business,” Aidan said.

Mayne shrugged. “My ancestors would turn in their graves if I ever did a day’s labor for wages. I do agree that it takes the same sort of cunning to survive in Society as to negotiate the purchase of a company. It’s all about making the other party believe the truth as you see it.”

“Agreed.” Aidan rose. “I should have this letter sent and return home.”

“Of course. It was good to have a drink with you, Aidan,” Mayne said. “Let’s do it again soon.”

“Of course.” He started away, surprised at the pleasant feeling flowing through him at the duke’s compliment.

“And let me know when I’ll be introduced.”

Aidan turned back. “Introduced to whom?” he asked the duke.

“To the lady breaking her betrothal for you.”