Beauty Tempts the Beast (Sins for All Seasons #6) - Lorraine Heath Page 0,42

not to take advantage of her. Which was the reason he’d added the thousand-pounds payment should she be disappointed by his efforts. He didn’t plan to intentionally not honor his agreement to teach her what she wished to know, but he also knew the fulfillment of it could create problems. He probably should have included in the terms that at any time, if unwanted emotions began to surface, either of them could bring a halt to the lessons without any forfeit.

“You seem troubled,” he finally managed once he was able to stop thinking about her mouth.

“I didn’t expect them to be . . . so normal. Tending gardens, pinning up hair . . . I expected them to be tawdry.”

“Oh, there’s a little bit of that. It’s the reason I need you to make these diamonds in the rough sparkle a bit. They’re open in their discussions. The topic is often sex rather than weather. They share crude jokes. They walk about scantily clad, but beneath it all, like everyone else they have things beyond their job that they enjoy. They have dreams.”

“And smiles that light tapers.”

“For some, yes. Don’t judge them by their covers.”

“I immediately liked Jewel the night I met her. She was kind, concerned, and teased you. I guess I thought her the exception.”

“In my experience, I have found her to be more the rule.”

Chapter 9

By the time they’d arrived back at the residence, luncheon had already been served and finished, the ladies of the night having returned upstairs to ready themselves for lessons.

So it was only Althea and Benedict being served at the large table that seated a dozen. She was surprised by the simple yet elegant style of the dining room. It was equal in taste to any found in the poshest of houses in Mayfair.

“You have a most excellent cook,” she said.

“Growing up in the rookeries, with so many siblings, I was always hungry. It was a situation I intended to correct as soon as I had the means.”

She thought of the coins he left on tables, the hansom cabs he so easily hired, the residence, its fine furnishings, the well-tailored clothing that accentuated his remarkably fit and tempting physique. “Now you have the means.”

“I do.”

“I’d have not thought being a writer was so lucrative.” Especially after only one book.

“It’s not, but my ships are.”

Another bit of information about Benedict Trewlove she didn’t know. Not that it would have made any difference in her decision to accept his proposition, but she’d been right that first night to think he was a man adept at keeping secrets. “You have ships?”

“A man must have a livelihood.”

He said it so simply as though it was of no importance. Yet, of all the ships she’d watched come and go, all the adventures she’d imagined the crews encountering, she’d never known anyone who actually owned a vessel that traveled the seas. “How many have you?”

“Four.”

“How did you come to have them?”

He swirled the glass of white wine a footman had poured for him. “When I was younger, about fourteen, I began working on the docks.”

Dear God. At fourteen. She knew the toll the dock work had taken on Griffith. She couldn’t imagine the challenge it would have presented to a fourteen-year-old boy.

“As I loaded and unloaded cargo, I would speak with the merchants who came to claim their wares, and ask questions of the captains and crews. I knew money was to be had in the shipping business. So I saved my earnings until I could purchase a ship. Took several years, of course, as ships are not without significant cost. With all my inquiries, I was able to determine a profitable route for acquiring merchandise for a host of merchants who liked that I was willing to charge less than my competitors in order to acquire their business. Soon, I had so many contracts that I needed another ship. And then another . . . and another. I’m thinking a fifth might be in order soon.”

“Have you traveled the world, then?”

He studied his wine. “When I acquired my first ship, I thought I might. Got as far as the cliffs at Dover. Ferguson—he was the first captain I hired—told me to take a good look because soon we’d be far out at sea with no land in sight.” He scoffed and gave her a wry grin. “I made him return to port. I didn’t want to be beyond sight of land, beyond sight of England. I’m not certain