Confessions of a Royal Bridegroom(26)

“Oh, yes. Whatever you say.” She transferred her attention back to the baby. “Would you mind if I held him?” she asked Rose in a shy voice.

“Not at all, dearie,” Rose replied. “He’s a sweet one, and that’s a fact, but I won’t deny that I could use a bit of a rest. Two babies at a time is wearing me down a lot more than a night on my back at The Golden Tie. At least there I can get the gents to do some of the work, if you take my meaning,” she finished with a wink.

“Oh, quite,” Miss Brightmore managed in response to that bon mot. She took a deep breath and carefully accepted the swaddled bundle from Rose.

“There you go,” Rose said with approval. “Looks like you’re bang-up to the mark.”

Miss Brightmore gave the other woman a lovely and open smile, one that made Griffin wish he was on the receiving end of it.

“Thank you, Rose,” she said. “I’ve always liked babies. When I was a girl, my aunt would allow me to help with my younger cousins when they were still in the nursery.”

Her soft, wistful tone tugged at something in the center of Griffin’s chest. Her pretty features had gone soft, too, and her blue eyes shimmered like a clear pond on a summer’s day.

Griffin had to resist the impulse to rub the tight place over his heart where his tattoo had been inked into his skin. Looking at the fetching Miss Brightmore rocking the baby, crooning sweet nothings to him under her breath, made Griffin yearn for things he’d never had—things he thought he’d long ago given up wishing for. It was a muddle of inconvenient emotions and sensations he didn’t appreciate one damn bit.

He stood abruptly, inadvertently knocking his chair back a few inches. “Excuse me, but I have pressing business. Miss Brightmore, Rose will get you settled in your room and introduce you to the rest of my staff. I’ll instruct Phelps to supply whatever you need to take care of the infant.”

Ignoring Dominic’s scowl and the startled expressions on the faces of the women, he strode from the room.





CHAPTER Five



After a quick knock on the connecting doors, Rose stuck her head into Justine’s bedroom. “Mr. Griffin wants you in the drawing room, love. He said to give me the baby and come down as soon as you can.”

Ignoring the little jolt to her stomach at the very mention of her host’s name, Justine looked up from the letter she was writing to her brother, Matthew. “Did he say why?”

In the three days since she’d moved into Griffin Steele’s house, she’d done everything she could to avoid him. For some reason that defied analysis, the man made her unaccountably nervous. Any rational person would surmise it was because he made his living off the wages of sin, but Justine didn’t think that was entirely the case. One could not have a spy for a father without encountering those who led unsavory lives. It was a hazard of the profession.

She would be lying, however, if she claimed it didn’t bother her that he owned a brothel. How could it not? Prostitution was a horrible profession by any measure, and she hated that any woman had to earn a living by peddling her body. But Rose was sweet if rather outrageous, and Mrs. Reeves and the other girls Justine had met had been nothing but kind. They didn’t seem the least bit downtrodden, either. Still, the activities next door made her shudder, so she did her best not to think about them at all.

Fortunately, adorable little Stephen fully occupied her attention.

Rose wandered over to check on the baby, sleeping in the middle of Justine’s large bed. “He just said to hurry down and that I was to stay with the baby.” She gave an exaggerated roll of the eyes. “Best not keep him waiting, love. Never a good thing to get on Mr. Griffin’s bad side.”