She flushed, playing with her reticule. “Don’t be silly. It wasn’t your fault.”
I settled the baby against my shoulder, patting her back. “Have you seen him since you started at the Landcaster’s?”
“From afar. Once.” She gave me a tight smile. “He didn’t even notice me.”
“Vi, I’m sure that’s not true.”
“Come, we’ve never lied before to each other. Let’s not start now.” Tears welled up in her eyes, as she rested her hand on the baby’s back. “By the by, I’m no longer at the Landcaster estate. Instead, I’ve found work with a woman. She’s a young widow, a lady, and ever so kind. And she’s smart, Ginny. You’d like her. She says the most outlandish things, but they’re all true!”
My relief was immediate. “That’s wonderful. I hope nothing happened at the Landcaster estate.”
“Oh, the baby is beautiful, Ginny. Looks just like you.”
My anger flared. I knew when Vi was changing the subject. What had happened at the Landcaster estate? She’d scooped the baby from my arms and cuddled her close. Violet had five siblings, of course she would be a natural with children.
She pressed her face to the baby’s neck, breathing in her scent. Happiness washed over me. I should have known. Violet wouldn’t judge me. She was too kind, to empathetic to judge. She cuddled Izzy like she was her own. The only look in her eyes was one of complete adoration. And now that Violet was here, I felt at peace in a way I hadn’t in a long time. She was my family. Mrs. and Miss Lamier, Izzy, and Violet. I needed no one else. I had more than I could have ever hoped for.
“Come.” I slid my arm around her waist and led her toward the kitchen. “There is so much I need to tell you.”
Violet kissed Izzy on her downy head. “Indeed.”
Chapter Five
Gabriel
“Stroll in the park? Really, brother, how domestic.”
The sound of Chris’s familiar voice set my teeth on edge. Had he happened upon us, or had he purposefully meant to follow and taunt me? The longer he remained in London, the more I wanted to ship him back to the continent. “Apparently it’s what one does when one has a fiancé.”
Chris tore his gaze from me and focused on Miranda, who stood a few feet away, showing off her ring to Lady Alice, a woman of good fortune and questionable standards. Since the death of her husband, she listened to no one, obeyed only herself, and set tongues wagging. Ginny would like her, no doubt.
“Please,” I muttered. “Feel free to move on. No need to stop for pleasantries.”
He rested upon his cane and grinned. “Now, what kind of brother-in-law would I be, if I didn’t stop to say hello to Miranda?”
I had the urge to kick that cane out from underneath him. “A decent one. She doesn’t need to faulter under your bad influence.”
He laughed. “My bad influence? Do you know your fiancé at all? And do you not worry about Lady Alice and her influence? She has quite the risqué reputation.” He narrowed his eyes. “Come to think of it, perhaps I should let Lady Alice influence me.”
“Lady Alice is smarter than that. She doesn’t stoop to seducing men who act like boys.”
“A boy?” He huffed. “Come, I’m not all that bad.”
I didn’t bother to respond to that. “Since I didn’t see you last night, I assume instead of only just waking, you’re on your way home to go to bed?”
How much money had he spent at the gaming tables? How many notes would I be receiving by week’s end, veiled threats to pay his bills.
He pulled out his pocket-watch. “Eleven in the morning is a perfectly respectable time for a member of the ton, especially an unattached man from a titled household, such as myself, to return home.”
“What do you do all day?” Ginny had asked me a year ago. “You don’t work. Do you have something you enjoy, such as reading?”
“I do nothing. I’m a lazy lord.”
It was the first time anyone had questioned my worth as a valuable human being to society. I remembered it clearly. Then again, I remembered everything she’d said to me, from the first moment I’d met her in the Landcaster library, to the last night we’d been together.
I started toward Miranda. I wasn’t surprised when Chris followed. He did love drama. No doubt he’d provoke and stoke the flames, if he could.
Lady Alice was similar to my fiancé in coloring, if not age or