An Affair So Right (Rebel Hearts #4)(11)
“Of course not. For someone else and at another time. You’re a lady in mourning,” he insisted, despite knowing he’d no right to tell her what to do.
“I am in mourning, and that is why I must work.” She leaned close to him. “I prefer to be busy doing worthwhile things. I’ve never had the temperament for doing little, as many ladies are prone to do. I have worked for my father, secretly, since I was a girl, and those skills will help Mother and I recover our lives now.”
“I see. But…”
Her expression hardened, and he quickly fell silent. “Your disapproval reminds me that English society might not yet be ready to appreciate an independent woman who works for a living. I would have had a much greater chance of employment had this happened in India. No doubt Mother and I will return there as soon as I’ve amassed funds enough to travel.”
He studied the woman, astonished by her quick decision-making ability at such a time. “I am surprised you already have half a plan in mind.”
“If you knew me, you wouldn’t say that.” She regarded him with one brow raised. “They say you are not the usual frivolous aristocrat strutting about Town. Should I believe such gossip?”
He drew back. “Frivolous?”
“Carefree?” She rubbed her temple firmly enough to leave a red stain on her pale skin. “Forgive me if my words offend you.”
“I do forgive you, and easily.” He’d not truly been offended, only surprised that she thought of him at all. Truth be told, he’d rather have a reputation for frivolity than ruthlessness any day. “I can well imagine the strain you are under.”
She sighed. “Don’t worry. I don’t faint.”
“I never imagined you would.” Smart, prickly, and impertinent—an intriguing combination in a woman. Ladies like Theodora Dalton were rare and would never fall apart in public. They would keep their pain private, as his late sister had. The thought brought a chill racing down his spine at the realization. He looked her over carefully, suddenly worried for her state of mind. He did not know her, but he had learned she did not have a great many friends of her own age coming to call. Who would look out for her now? “Did your father approve of your work?”
Tears filled her eyes again. Quinn cursed himself for uttering that foolish question. Perhaps the less said about the late Mr. Dalton today, the better.
“He believed in hard work.” She cast a frown around the room. “Does your secretary believe in hard work?”
He glanced behind him to the untidy stacks of correspondence littered about the place. He’d get to sort it all out eventually. “I don’t have a secretary at present. The last man abandoned his duties—to marry, of all things.”
“How shocking.”
“Well, he loved the woman he married, so I couldn’t easily find a way to change his mind. Bribery did not sway him, and he’s not the least bit sorry he’s left my employment, either. Finding a suitable replacement has been a trying business, I must say.”
She studied the desk. “Would you employ me?”
“I beg your pardon?”
She dragged a pile toward her and shuffled the unopened correspondence. “Employ me. I’ll have this room straightened in under a day and your social calendar brimming with engagement you will enjoy by the end of the week.”
He took the letters from her gently. “Miss Dalton, you’re not thinking straight. You’ve just lost your father and your home. This is hardly the time to discuss what I need.”
“This is exactly the right time and place. How else could I learn of the situation you find yourself in? You are in danger of being smothered by so much paper as I’ve never seen. Employ me and save us both. You will gain the services of a dedicated employee. The work will distract me from my loss and from here, I can keep an eye on the recovery of my mother’s property.”
She began flipping through the papers on the desk in earnest, sorting fresh mail into neat new stacks as if she intended to start immediately.
Alarmed, he stilled her hands again, discovering them very cold. He rubbed them briskly to warm her. “Absolutely not. Think what your mother will say about this when she wakes? She will need you, and she surely will not approve of you working for me.”
“My mother is in no fit state to think, let alone disapprove. We can help each other, my lord. I must have funds, and you,” she glanced away, her breath shuddering past her pretty lips, “you need someone to throw out scented letters you clearly were not desperate to open.”
He winced at that.
“If you require further incentives to employ a woman, I could be of help in other ways.”
Miss Dalton glanced up at him under her lashes, and he was alarmed by the desperate gleam in her eyes enough to clutch her slightly warmer hand tightly in his. He wanted to help her, and he had the means to do so. He could set the ladies up in a residence until they found their feet.
Theodora laid her other hand firmly on his chest.
His pulse kicked up a notch as she toyed with the buttons of his waistcoat, and by the way her lips parted. Her tongue flicked out, wetting them.
He swallowed hard and released her hand. “What did you mean when you suggested you could help me in other ways?
“You watch me.”
Quinn raised a brow in surprise. He had never hidden his appreciation of women. Beauty and grace deserved a man’s full attention and respect. He admired many women, but Theodora Dalton had shown no interest in him before today. “I imagine many men do.”