about the outing or about being with my grandmother and me. But then I saw you at the modiste’s and realized if you weren’t afraid of the Three A’s, you weren’t one to be afraid of me and my grandmother or a trip to a shop.”
Temperance shared her first smile with Dare’s sister.
As they started up the steps of the townhouse, the other woman stopped. “I . . . may like you, after all.”
Given what was expected of Temperance and Dare, Kinsley’s admission was a step toward their completing one of those terms of the duke and duchess. And yet as she followed behind Dare’s sister, it wasn’t the money connected to the girl Temperance thought of, but rather the comfortable sense of family that she’d so missed . . .
Chapter 16
One outing.
That was all it had taken for Lady Kinsley to strike a truce with Temperance.
And five days later, the pair had become inseparable.
As such, Dare should be relieved. Working her way into the young lady’s good graces would only benefit him and Temperance. That was, after all, one of the requirements laid out by the duke—that Dare cultivate a relationship with his sister.
And yet there was nothing mercenary about Temperance’s motives.
But then that had always been what separated her from everyone else in the Rookeries. She would have rather worked harder, for less, in the name of honor and respectability. It was why, with his commitment to theft and flagrant disregard for the law, they’d been miserably ill suited.
Regardless of Temperance’s intentions, Dare stood outside the music room, observing the happy pair.
Lady Kinsley played a quick tune on the pianoforte, while Temperance, crouching low, held on to Rose’s hands and danced the little girl about in a circle to the unlikeliest of songs—an old tavern ditty, sung in raucously loud tones by Dare’s . . . sister.
Be merry my hearts, and call for your quarts,
and let no liquor be lacking,
We have gold in store, we purpose to roare,
untill we set care a packing.
Then Hostis make haste, and let no time waste . . .
He should be relieved. Temperance was doing what he had not and could not do—form a relationship with Lady Kinsley. That she’d managed the seemingly impossible should be enough. So why, as the outsider of that group, did he find himself wishing he could be part of it?
Because you’re bored.
Because you’ve nothing else to do, and you really should be out on the streets, doing what you do best . . .
This time, those whisperings in his mind didn’t have the same convictions they always did.
You should go . . .
There’d be nothing worse than being caught spying.
Peeking in, however, on that happy tableau held him rooted to his spot, for it was so very reminiscent of long ago. That one he’d seen as a boy looking in on his parents and—
Lady Kinsley looked up from the keyboard, and her fingers collided with the keys in a discordant tune. For as much as his sister had come to like and trust Temperance, there was still only a wariness and dislike in her gaze when he came ’round. All levity and warmth immediately faded.
Breathless with laughter, Temperance stopped midtwirl. She followed the other woman’s gaze across the room.
Her eyes brightened. “Dare!”
She’d been the only one to ever look at him like that. As if he were the center of the world.
“I . . .” He tugged at his cravat before he caught Lady Kinsley’s knowing eyes on him.
“Spying, were you?” Lady Kinsley shot back.
Mortification curled his gut, and he balled his hands at his sides. Dare cleared his throat. “I was . . . looking for my wife.” Which wasn’t altogether untrue. He’d wanted to see her. She, however, had proven elusive these past days. “I thought you and Rose might benefit from a visit to the park.”
Surprise rounded Temperance’s eyes. “With you?”
Rose clapped excitedly and bounced up and down before plopping down on her buttocks.
His neck heated. “Uh . . .” Had he ever been charming? If so, it was all a distant memory to him.
“That would be lovely,” Temperance blurted, and just like that, the sincerity in that wish to be with him and in his company proved buoyant, lifting him up. Picking up the little girl, Temperance turned to Dare’s sister. “You must come with us.”
No!
For just like that, he came crashing back to Earth. Bloody hell. That . . . was decidedly not what he’d intended.
“I’m sure the last thing she wishes