The Formidable Earl (Diamonds in the Rough #6) - Sophie Barnes Page 0,12

to feel affronted by her lack of interest in him she showed. “Perhaps we can start with something simple. Like our ages.” How in God’s name knowing when they’d each been born would help forge a bond he’d no idea, but it was the first question that came to mind. And besides, he actually was curious to know how old she was. “I was born on September thirteenth. I’ll be three and thirty in a few months.”

“I will be twenty in July,” she said, angling her head just enough to glance up at him. “On the fifteenth.”

A soft sparkle in her eyes and the hint of a smile teasing her lips nearly made him loose his footing. She truly was stunning. Especially when she let down her guard. Unable to make his mouth work, Simon merely stared at her until she broke eye contact and returned her attention to the distant horizon.

Simon nodded, even though she wasn’t looking at him and would not be able to see. “How did you end up at Amourette’s?”

There was a brief hesitation and then, “Philipa Harding, the woman who owns Amourette’s, is my mother’s sister.” Simon didn’t know what precisely to say to that. As if sensing his befuddlement, Miss Strong chuckled. “I see I have managed to shock you into silence.”

They reached a wider street and crossed to the opposite side. Still unsure of how to respond, Simon kept silent and was glad when Miss Strong continued with her account.

“My mother and aunt were orphaned when they were six and ten. Thankfully, a decent couple who couldn’t have children of their own took them in. But they had little more than love to give them, so Mama and Philipa were forced to leave and find work for themselves when they each turned sixteen. Both lacked the necessary education required for well-paid employment, so it was a struggle. Eventually Philipa gave up and turned to prostitution. By the time Mama had to find work for herself, Philipa had earned enough to ensure her younger sister would not have to head down the same path as she. She paid for Mama to take cooking lessons. When Papa sought a cook for his new home in London, she answered the advertisement, and that’s how they met.”

“That’s quite a romantic tale.”

“One that came to a very sad end the day Mama died,” Miss Strong reflected with a wistful murmur. They turned a corner. “Papa was away at war when consumption took her. When he returned and I told him what had happened, the light in his eyes faded and never fully returned.”

“He must have loved her deeply.”

“Yes. He did.” She gave Simon an assessing look – the sort that seemed to pierce his soul. “Papa was a good, kindhearted person. He was raised as a gentleman, so one would think Mama’s relationship to a whore would have put him off. But it didn’t.”

“Because his love for her was greater than his concern for respectability?”

Pity—for him, he realized with some indignation puckered her brow. “No. It was because a person’s character always mattered more to Papa than where they came from or what they did for a living.” She gave a soft snort and turned her attention away from him once more. “And as far as character goes, Philipa possesses one of the finest.”

Except she was still a whore as well as the owner of London’s most infamous brothel. Simon considered this for a moment and almost felt compelled to give his cravat a tug. As a man who’d always avoided the tiniest whisper of scandal, who’d sought respectability at every turn, deciding to seek adventure with a woman who sold herself to men for a living filled him with discomfort. Not that he was about to renege on his new arrangement with Miss Strong, but he supposed it would be odd if the situation didn’t alarm him to some degree. After all, he was completely new to risking his reputation. Going to Amourette’s was the most daring thing he’d ever done in that regard. It had been meant as a brief departure from Social stricture. Instead, it had launched him straight into danger and mayhem with a woman he barely knew and with whom he would have wanted nothing to do until he’d met her last night.

Hell, if someone had suggested he’d be risking his social standing right now in order to help a traitor’s daughter he’d found in a brothel, he would have laughed and then