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She hadn’t gone to Aidan that night, but that didn’t mean she’d slept. She’d lain awake most of the night, listening to Rosaleen’s quiet breathing and wondering if Aidan was asleep. Half a dozen times, she sat up and almost climbed out of bed, but then she laid down again and forced herself to stay where she was. If she went to him, her heart would be his.
It had been easy to go to bed with him when it was only about physical attraction or their shared history. But the last few days she had seen a side of him that stole her breath away. She could picture him as a father, perhaps even the father of their children. The way he treated Rosaleen, as though she were the most important person in the room. The way he looked at her, as though she was the most important person in the world. A few weeks ago, he’d been preoccupied with work every time she saw him. Now he hadn’t mentioned it all day.
She was beginning to believe he really did love her. And she had no doubt if she went to him tonight, he would prove it with slow kisses and soft touches and words that would make him impossible to resist.
And Jenny Tate, who had shivered and starved and fought off arch rogues for seventeen years of her life without a second thought, was scared. She hadn’t believed anyone could ever love her. Her mother hadn’t. Her father hadn’t. When Aidan left, she told herself he hadn’t.
But he had. He’d loved her enough to leave her. He’d loved her enough to go back for her. Now he loved her enough to pursue her. He loved her enough to keep proposing, even when she had told him no and walked away. She’d thought that would make her feel powerful. Finally, she was the one who’d walked away from him. But she’d just felt confused and sad.
She’d loved Aidan since she was thirteen. She loved him still.
But she wasn’t any good at saying those sorts of words. And what if he’d changed his mind overnight?
She must have finally slept because she was shaken awake by Rosaleen the next morning. “Wot is it? Wot’s wrong?” she asked.
“I’m ‘ungry.”
“Then go eat.” Jenny turned over and put the pillow over her head.
“Ye ‘ave to come with me.”
Jenny moved the pillow enough to see the girl. “Ye don’t still think Mr. Sterling will snatch ye and send ye to the orphanage.”
“I don’t trust no one.”
“Ye trust me.”
“More than ‘im.” She shook Jenny again. “Come on. I can smell the food!”
Jenny rose, dressed, and tried to do something with her hair, but Rosaleen pulled her away before she could do more than secure it in a tail down her back. She was aware she looked more like the girl Aidan had left than the lady she’d tried to be when she sat down to dine across from him that morning. He didn’t seem to mind. His dark eyes met hers with a heat that made fire ignite low in her belly.
So perhaps he hadn’t stopped loving her overnight.
“Shall I help you fill your plate, Rosaleen?” Aidan asked.
The girl started at the use of her real name, but then she nodded. “I can fill this one. Ye fill the other.”
Aidan didn’t comment on the fact that she was filling two plates. He did as he was bade and then sat down again and sipped tea while Rosaleen ate as though she hadn’t seen food in days.
“Sir, Pryce is here to see you. Shall I send him to the library?” The butler stood in the doorway, his gaze anywhere but on the urchin with the two plates piled high.
Aidan’s gaze met Jenny’s. “Go ahead,” she said. “We’ll eat while ye see to yer business.”
“This actually isn’t just about my business,” he said. “It has to do with Rosaleen.”
The girl stopped shoveling food in her mouth and looked up. “Me?” she said, her words garbled from the food stuffed in her mouth.
“Bring him here, Pierpont.”
“Yes, sir.”
Aidan pushed his tea aside. “Last night I sent word to my secretary with your real name,” he told Rosaleen. “He’d already been looking for the parents of a girl named Harley. Now he was looking for those of a Rosaleen.”
“Ye didn’t ‘ave to do that,” Rosaleen said. “I could ‘ave told ye they were dead.”
“I did ask.”
Rosaleen shrugged. “Didn’t know ye very well then.” She took a bite of a scone. “Died of the cholera.”
Just then Pryce walked into the room. Jenny recognized him from Aidan’s offices.
“Is that right, Pryce? Miss Rosaleen tells us her parents died of cholera.”
“To the best of my knowledge, sir, that is correct,” Pryce said, seeming not to mind that his efforts were for naught. “They were a Molly and Tom Baker. They died in the outbreak about six years ago.” He handed a folder to Aidan who opened it and perused the contents.
“You’re ten,” he said to Rosaleen.
She screwed up her face. “Sounds right.”
“Born Rosaleen Jane Baker.”
“That’s me.”
Aidan looked at his secretary. “That will be all for now, Pryce.”
“Yes, sir. Will you be in today, sir?”
“I don’t know, Pryce. I trust you can handle things without me, yes?”
“I can sir, but—”
“Then you are in charge.”
“Me, sir?”
“Yes. And I imagine that means you have a lot to do. Best to hurry, Pryce.”
“Yes, sir!”
Jenny rose from her seat and went to kneel by Rosaleen’s chair. “ ‘Ow are ye feeling?”
“Same as before,” she said. “I knew I was an orphan.” She pointed a fork at Aidan. “Not that I’m agreeing to go to that orphanage.”
“You don’t have to go, if you don’t want,” Aidan said.
“I don’t?”
“Are ye sending her back to live on the streets?” Jenny asked, surprised at how angry the thought made her.
“I don’t mind,” Rosaleen said. “I ‘ave me twenty quid now.”
“I’m not sending her back to live on the streets.” Aidan stood. “In fact, I wanted to ask you a question—both of you, actually.”
Jenny knew that look in his eyes, and she took a shaky breath.
“Rosaleen, I wondered if you might like to live here, with me.”
Rosaleen’s eyes narrowed. “Wot do I ‘ave to do?”
“A great many things, actually,” Aidan said, pacing across the room. “You’ll have to go to school or learn from a tutor. There will be lessons in reading, arithmetic, and writing. Plus, dancing, piano, and drawing.”
“Will I get to eat whatever I want?”
“You’ll never be hungry,” he said.
“What about ices?” she asked.
“I’ll buy you ices and toys and dresses—as many as you like.”
She opened her mouth, presumably to agree, and then looked at Jenny. “Wot about ‘er?”
“I’m hoping she will agree to live here too.”
“Well, ye ‘ave to ask ‘er.”
“Jenny,” he said, coming to stand above her. He held out a hand and she took it and allowed him to pull her up. “Miss Tate. I know I will never deserve you, and I know you probably don’t believe I love you, but I do love you. More importantly, I will never leave you. I don’t want to spend another minute without you at my side. I—”
“Oh, shut yer potato ‘ole,” she said.
Even Rosaleen gasped.
“I love ye too,” she said and threw herself into his arms.
He caught her, swung her around, and kissed her.
“Oy! None of that now!” Rosaleen objected.
Aidan smiled and looked down at her. “Later,” he said.
She nodded. “After we go shopping.”
“Shopping?”
“For a ring!” Rosaleen said, pushing herself between them.
“Of course!” Aidan lifted Rosaleen into his arms, and the two of them held her as the warm summer sun streamed in behind them.