Before the night was over, she had a feeling he would wring every single story from her.
She sighed, memories flooding back. “At the time, I was head of Programming for a startup in London. It was an exciting place to work. The owner of the company was ambitious and creative but...he had no boundaries.”
His gaze sharpened. “In what way?”
“In every way. He was interested in me, I wasn’t interested in him. I told him no but he continued to be...inappropriate with me. I should have quit. I was building up to that, actually. I loved the work but was so tired of his pestering. Meanwhile I had the obligatory holiday party to get through so I asked David to go with me. For once, I thought having Viscount Summersby along to have a word with my boss might help clear the air and make my situation more bearable so I could stay.”
Her leg throbbed with pain suddenly and she tried to force her muscles to relax their sudden tension. “I should have simply handled the matter myself. If I had been stronger, if I had stood up for myself firmly and decisively, Colin would have had to back down. There was no need for me to drag my brother into it. No need at all.”
“Did your brother mind helping you?”
“No. He was glad to do it, actually. He pulled Colin aside and subtly gave him a talking-to at the party about proper behavior in the workplace.” Despite her pain, she had to smile a little, thinking of her protective brother standing up for her.
“As a brother myself, I can tell you I love when my sisters or brothers ask me to help them with something. I think David would have minded more if you hadn’t turned to him for help.”
Despite his quiet tone, his words seemed to resonate straight to her heart. He was so right. David had been thrilled when she reached out to him.
She thought of how happy he had been, almost giddy, after talking to Colin. He didn’t go full viscount very often but when he did, David could be formidable.
“I also don’t think he would like the idea of you spending even a moment blaming yourself for what happened. I imagine he would want you to go ahead and embrace your life and all the adventures to come.”
She could almost hear those very words coming out of David’s mouth. Tears threatened again but this time she managed to blink them away.
“How did you know I’ve been needing to hear that?”
He smiled. “Lucky guess. Am I wrong?”
“No. I guess I needed the reminder.”
“Good. Which still doesn’t explain why you’re traveling incognito, your Ladyship.”
Oh, she liked him. More with every passing moment. “I have spent my entire twenty-eight years being Lady Gemma Summerhill. There are obviously certain expectations that go along with that. People always treated me differently, from primary school to university to my career. I never knew if people wanted to be my friend because they truly liked me or because my father is the wealthy and powerful Earl of Amherst.”
“You are eminently likeable,” he said, his voice rather gruff.
She could feel her face flush. “Being Lady Gemma in the technology field was more of a curse than a benefit. Every time I was introduced, people would make a big deal about it. After David died, I became not just Lady Gemma but Poor Lady Gemma, which was only about a thousand times worse. When I decided to take the job with Caine Tech, I wanted to be done with all of that. To begin somewhere new without history constantly hanging over me. Does that make sense at all?”
He smiled softly, leaving her feeling lit up from the inside. “Perfect sense. There’s an incredible freedom in starting over without the expectations of the past, isn’t there?”
“Yes. Exactly.”
“I won’t say anything, I promise.”
“Thank you,” she said and was astonished at the complete trust she had in him.
Joshua Bailey was a man a woman could count on. She didn’t know how she could be so certain, but something told her that when he met the right woman, he would do everything possible to make her know she was loved and appreciated every day of her life.
She wanted to be that woman suddenly, with a ferocity that astonished her.
It would be terribly easy to fall in love with him.
The thought should have scared her. Oddly, it only filled her with a strange,