The Leopard Prince (Princes #2)(57)

“Aye.” Will stood up, poured a cup, and carefully handed it to him.

“Ta.” Harry sipped and scalded his throat. He winced and waited, but his stomach felt better, so he took another mouthful.

“I cut some bread for toast, too.” Will brought a plate for his inspection. “They’re not so nice as yours, though.”

Harry looked at the uneven slices with a jaundiced eye. He wasn’t sure his belly could take solids at the moment, but the boy needed praise. “Better than Lady Georgina’s try.”

His painful smile died as he thought about what he’d said and done to his lady last night. He gazed at the fire. He’d have to go apologize sometime today. Assuming she would still talk to him, that is.

“I’ll toast them.” Will must be used to sudden, awkward silences. He went about skewering the bread on the crooked fork and finding a spot to hold it over the fire.

Harry watched him. Will had no father, thanks to Granville, nor mother, either. Just that old woman, his grandmother, and a less loving woman he’d rarely seen. Yet here he was, competently tending to an adult sick from too much drink. Perhaps he’d had to care for his grandmother after a night of swilling. The thought was bitter in Harry’s mouth.

He took another sip of tea.

“Here we are, then,” Will said, sounding like an elderly woman. He set a pile of buttered toast on the table and bustled around to another chair.

Harry bit into a piece of toast and licked melting butter off his thumb. He noticed that Will was looking at him. He nodded. “Good.”

The boy smiled, revealing a gap in his upper teeth.

They ate companionably for a while.

“Did you have a fight with her?” Will swiped up a drip of butter and licked it off his finger. “Your lady, I mean.”

“You could say that.” Harry poured himself more tea, stirring in a large spoonful of sugar this time.

“My gran said gentry was evil. Didn’t care if regular folk lived or died, so long as they’d gold plates to eat off of.” Will traced a circle on the table with a greasy finger. “But your lady was nice.”

“Aye. Lady Georgina’s not like most.”

“And she’s pretty.” Will nodded to himself and took another piece of toast.

Aye, pretty as well. Harry looked out the cottage window, a feeling of uneasiness beginning to build in him. Would she let him apologize?

“ ’Course, she’s not much of a cook. Couldn’t cut the bread straight. You’ll have to help her with that.” Will wrinkled his forehead in thought. “Does she eat off of gold plates?”

“I don’t know.”

Will eyed him suspiciously, as if Harry might be withholding important information. Then his look turned to pity. “Haven’t you been invited to supper, then?”

“No.” Well, there’d been that dinner in her rooms, but he wasn’t telling Will about that. “I’ve had tea with her, though.”

“She didn’t have gold plates for that?”

“No.” Why was he explaining himself?

Will nodded sagely. “You’ll have to go to supper before you know.” He finished his toast. “Have you brought her presents?”

“Presents?”

Will’s pitying look was back. “All girls like presents; that’s what my gran said. And I think she must be right. I like presents.”

Harry propped his chin in his hands and felt wire-stiff stubble. His head was feeling bad again, but Will seemed to think presents were important. And this was the most the boy had talked since he’d shown up the day before.

“What kind of presents?” Harry asked.

“Pearls, gold boxes, sweetmeats.” Will waved a piece of toast. “Things like that. A horse would be good. Have you got any horses?”

“Just the one.”

“Oh.” Will sounded disappointed in him. “Then I suppose you can’t give her that.”

Harry shook his head. “And she has many more horses than my one.”

“Then what can you give her?”

“I don’t know.”

He didn’t know what she wanted from him. Harry frowned into the dregs of his tea. What could a man like him give a lady like her? Not money or a house. She already had that. And the physical love he gave her—any halfway competent man could do as well. What could he give her that she didn’t already have? Maybe nothing. Maybe she would realize that soon enough, and especially after last night, choose never to see him again.

Harry stood. “More important than a present, I need to speak to Lady Georgina today.” He moved to the cupboard, took down his shaving things, and began stropping his razor.

Will looked at the dirty plates on the table. “I can wash these.”

“Good boy.”

Will must have refilled the kettle after making tea. It was already full and boiling. Harry divided the hot water between his basin and a big bowl the boy could wash the dishes in. The little mirror he used for shaving showed a ragged face. Harry frowned, then carefully started scraping the stubble from his cheeks. His razor was old but very sharp, and a nick on his chin wouldn’t help his appearance. Behind him, he could hear Will swishing in the water.

By the time Will finished the dishes, Harry was as ready as he was ever going to be. He’d washed, brushed his hair, and changed into a clean shirt. His head still pounded steadily, but the circles under his eyes had begun to fade.