Taming of the Beast (Scandalous Affairs #2) - Christi Caldwell Page 0,116

trusted you were capable of.” Snip, snip, snip.

As the other man cut away at the little errant leaves, disrupting its otherwise flawless shape, Tynan sought to make sense of what the marquess was saying. “But you said—”

“There’s a difference in ‘not helping’ and letting you pay a price with your life, Tynan.” Lord Lothian spoke with a gentle, but firm, insistence. “Surely you don’t believe I would ever leave you at the mercy of Polite Society.” This time, he paused in his cutting, his heavily wrinkled features a study in affront. “Hardly right that they should escape persecution for their crimes and sins and expect you to pay a steep price because you don’t have their influence.”

Emotion formed a ball in his throat, making it impossible to swallow or speak. He didn’t deserve the other man’s kindness.

Lord Lothian snipped away at his boxwood. “Of course you do,” he said, perfectly following Tynan’s guilty musings. “You were always good enough. You just failed to see it and believe it.”

Tynan rested his palms on the smooth surface of the marquess’ worktable. “With your views of the nobility, you and Miss Poplar would get on well.”

Lord Lothian paused, and the rotund lord wiped away another bead of sweat trickling down his high forehead. “Indeed?”

Tynan smiled a wistful smile. “Yes, even as she belongs to the peerage, she takes exception to the privilege granted those of her station.”

She was determined to let right win out over wrong. Justice prevail over evil. And he loved her madly and deeply, with such an intensity it brought his eyes shut and sucked all available air from his lungs.

The marquess patted his hand. “I trust the lady and I would very much get on well.”

It was so much. Not too much. Before Faye, it would have been. Back when he’d thought the only way to live was behind the protective walls he’d erected to guard himself and his sister. He realized now that it had always been more about self-preservation. And knowing that at last sent a lightness zipping through his being, filling up every corner of his person, and he felt… freed.

He smiled. “I came because I wanted you to know all of this.” Helping Tynan years earlier hadn’t been an effort in complete vain.

“You don’t have to leave,” the marquess said when Tynan meant to go.

“It is late—”

“No. No. I mean, London. This can be your home. I cannot return Newgate to you, but perhaps another prison.”

He stilled; afraid to breathe. Afraid to hope…

“Bridewell is a prison for unruly women, petty criminals,” Lord Lothian paused. “children without homes. There’s an infirmary and work rooms but it could benefit from your capable hand. It can be a new beginning, Tynan,” Lord Lothian said softly. “A prison in need of a steady hand. A place run fairly and justly. Where the imprisoned aren’t abused.” He held Tynan’s gaze. “You can leave and start over. Or you can remain here and help a whole community.”

A new beginning; one still here in London, doing the work that had felt purposeful and right. Where he’d also be close to the boys who relied upon him. Where he’d still be close to Faye.

Faye.

Tynan collected his hat and played with the brim. “I… Thank you…I…thank you,” he said, his throat thick with emotion.

Lord flashed a gentle smile. “Now, there’s just the matter of the lady, eh?”

“She wanted a future with me and I….” Pain threatened to cleave his chest in two. “I rejected her,” he said hoarsely. And he wanted her. He wanted her desperately. He wanted her laughter and her smiles. Hell, he even wanted her side-eyed looks. Tynan sucked in a shuddery breath. “She’d be within her rights to turn down any offer from me.”

A little glimmer lit Lord Lothian’s eyes. “Eh, if she is as clever as you say—”

She was.

“—then you are both bound for a new life together.”

God willing.

Tynan set his hat on his head. “Lord Lothian—”

“No thanks, Tynan. None at all necessary. Knowing you have found your way is gift enough.”

Tears clogged his throat, and discomfited by that swell of emotion—perhaps he always would be—Tynan managed a nod and headed for the door.

“Oh, and, Tynan?”

He looked back.

“You were always more than your father and that workhouse. You just failed to see it in yourself… until now.”

Until Faye. Faye had helped him see the better parts of himself, parts he’d not even believed were there or real.

“Do let me know whether you change your mind about my offer,” Lord