The Bachelor's Bride (The Thompsons of Locust Street #1) - Holly Bush Page 0,10

figure out a way.”

“Muireall?”

“Our eldest sister. She and our brother James manage the business. Kirsty, Payden, and I do as we’re told.” Miss Elspeth smiled with a shrug.

“A tough taskmaster, is she?” Alexander asked.

“No. Not tough, it’s just that . . .” Miss Kirsty trailed off.

“She’s been in charge of our family with Aunt Murdoch since she was twelve, when our parents died,” Miss Elspeth said and raised one brow. “One hates to disappoint her.”

He nodded. “There is a look my mother gives me that is worse than any beating my father could administer or any embarrassment concerning Mr. Schmitt. I’ve gone to some extremes to avoid that look from her.”

“She is special to you, then?” Miss Elspeth asked.

He looked at her directly. “I’m very lucky to be her son. She’s the center of the family. She’s our foundation.”

How jealous she was momentarily! Her teeth clenched and her good humor fled as she stared at him. But to be envious that a man loved his family, particularly his mother? How petty she was being. Certainly, she had enough grace in her heart to be glad for him, even if the pain of missing her parents still stung. There was one question, though, that she could not contain.

“What does she think of you working for Mr. Schmitt?”

“An arrangement was made between Schmitt and my father,” he said.

“She wasn’t in favor of it?”

He shook his head. “But she did understand Father’s reasoning.”

“I will admit that I don’t.”

“What do you mean?”

She lifted her shoulders in a shrug and looked out at the buildings that were passing by in a blur. “I don’t understand why you would want to work for a man such as him. It’s not even all about his visit to that . . . that house.” She turned her head and looked at him. “He was crude and cruel and violent that day. You are nothing like him, I don’t think.”

“I’m not like him. But I do work for him.”

“He must pay you quite well to afford a fine carriage such as this.”

Pendergast shook his head. “No, he does not pay me enough to afford this. This is a family carriage I use on occasion.”

“No need to explain yourself to me,” she said, realizing how ridiculous she sounded as she said it since she’d been the one to bring up the subject in the first place.

Kirsty giggled and then laughed outright. “If Aunt Murdoch heard this conversation, you’d be in your room for a week!”

They’d pulled up to 75 Locust Street, and Elspeth felt her face color. “That was rude of me, Mr. Pendergast. My apologies.”

And then he smiled a full-face smile, and his eyes twinkled. “We have a tendency to argue when we meet, Miss Thompson, but I confess I enjoy it.”

He jumped out of the carriage and signaled the driver to stay where he was. He offered his hand to Kirsty, and she slipped away into the house. Elspeth watched as he put his hand out again to her and looked at him, her heart pounding. Why did he make her feel this way? They did argue, yet she agreed with him: she enjoyed it too. He was staring at her now, their eyes connected, his hand offering a steady anchor as she climbed down. When she straightened near him, she could smell some masculine fragrance, and she felt a shiver trail down her spine as his eyes dipped to her lips for just a moment. He was dangerous, and she was unsure why that word came into her head, but that was the word to describe this. Whatever “this” was, she wanted nothing to do with it or how she felt at this moment.

“Thank you, Mr. Pendergast.”

“May I call on you another time?”

“I’m very busy with our family business and other obligations,” she said as she turned toward her door. “But thank you for bringing us home today. My sister and I appreciate your kindness. Good day to you.”

Muireall was waiting inside and glanced outside as Elspeth passed her, as if to be sure he was really gone.

“What did Mr. Pendergast want with you?”

“He saw us near City Hall and offered to bring us home,” she said as she pulled her straw hat from her head.

“I mean now, Lizzie, as you stood staring at each other on the street in front of everyone traveling by and our neighbors too,” Muireall said.

It was then she realized that her older sister was angry. “We did not stand and stare