Armored Hearts - By Melissa Turner Lee Page 0,6

a circle about the room, causing her to giggle with delight before setting her on the floor and kneeling again before her. “And ye need be headin’ to bed and sleep soundly, because not only do God’s angels be watchin’ over ye, but also the good fairies.”

Tabitha grabbed the man around the neck and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before giving one to Sarah.

“I’ll be up to tuck ye in after I finish in here,” Sarah said as she made her way to a stack of dishes.

Tabitha nearly ran into Gareth when she darted into the hall. Her eyes widened. “I’m sorry! I forgot to come watch for you.”

Gareth smiled at his little aunt. “That’s all right. I wasn’t quite ready to go up yet anyway.” He wheeled around and headed back in the direction he’d come from with Tabitha beside him.

“Why are you so worried about the townspeople?” Gareth asked as they headed for the stairs.

Tabitha shrugged, “I don’t know. I guess I think about how awful it must be to have just enough to get by and have someone come and take it from you. It’s just wrong.” She ran around the stairs, then up them and back. She smiled and said in a loud whisper, “All’s clear.”

Gareth smiled back and took flight from his chair to his chamber door. The orange tabby appeared beside him and raced him up the stairs. Tabitha soon joined him in his chamber, the orange tabby cradled in her arms. She set it down, plopped herself in the wing chair, and picked up his math book. He was supposed to finish working some numbers for Mr. Strong before his time of instruction the next day.

“Can I finish these for you?” She glanced up under long, dark lashes.

“That would be cheating. Besides those are too hard for you, and arithmetic isn’t healthy for the female mind.”

“That’s stupid and not true. I like numbers. Miss Duncan is teaching me higher arithmetic. She says I might need it someday if I end up a governess like her.”

Gareth dismissed the notion with a shake of his head. “You’ll find some gentleman to marry you and make you a lady. You won’t need to think at all then.”

Her face scrunched. “Maybe I don’t want that. I like to think about more than pretty dresses and my hair. I’d rather spend my days teaching children than worrying about what color dress I should wear.”

Honestly, he couldn’t imagine a girl who chewed her fingernails and hated having her hair braided would care about the color of her dress.

The cat pounced from the floor back into her lap, and she patted it absentmindedly. She let out a sigh. “I wish there was some way I could help the people in town.”

Gareth furrowed his brow and floated a few feet above his bed. He liked the feeling of weightlessness that came from not touching the ground or his furniture.

Tabitha bowed her head in what looked like a silent prayer before opening her eyes and starting on Gareth’s arithmetic anyway. “The way our finances are going, I will probably need to look for employment by my sixteenth birthday.”

“Have you been looking in Grandfather’s books again?”

“I can’t help it. Working numbers is soothing.” Tabitha pouted. “We are barely hanging on. I can’t, for the life of me, figure out why Sarah and Thompton stay. Did you know Lord Gerald had to cut their pay by half and they stayed anyway?”

Gareth blinked hard and lowered himself back to the bed. He had not known that. No wonder the other staff had left. He did know Grandfather had let out his home in London this year rather than visit for the season. They had little more than a title and the farmlands barley produced. Times were changing, just like the turn of the century. Those in trade had more in their bank accounts than their landlords. If Tabitha were legitimate, she would be Lady Smyth, daughter of an Earl. That could help her secure a good union when she became of marrying age. But instead she was penniless Miss Fitzgerald of dubious origins.

Gareth flew to his wardrobe and pulled out his coat.

“Will you take me flying tonight?”

“Not tonight. I’m going to assess the situation over on the east side.”

Tabitha leapt up from the chair, and the cat hopped to the floor. It eyed her indignantly. The girl looked around as if someone would hear her, and asked in a harsh whisper, “Where