Chapter 9
Violet fought to control her breathing as Alexander stood and came into the lodge.
She was suddenly very aware of the limited space inside, made even smaller by his physical presence.
He wore a cologne that she had not smelled before, it was musky and very male.
Before she knew what she was doing, she had taken a deep breath.
Immediately, she flushed bright red, embarrassed at the thrill of pleasure that ran through her.
If he knew what he had made me feel by his presence alone, I would be mortified.
Except that was her common sense talking.
Deep down she felt an echoing thrill to the visceral pleasure she had just experienced.
That echo came from the thought that Alexander knew the effect he had on her.
He was looking at her, now that he was seated, the book between them on the table.
Those eyes were fathomless and seemed to strip aside the layers of protection that screened her inmost desires.
Like being undressed. Stop it! This is foolishness!
“Do I make you so nervous?” Alexander asked in a gentle voice.
“So nervous? What makes you think you make me nervous at all?” Violet said, congratulating herself on the control she was able to exert over her voice.
“I may not be an expert on etiquette, but I have sufficient experience of watching people to see your apprehension. You are holding the arms of that chair quite tight and your whole body seems rigid. I am not here to harm you and I can assure you that whatever reputation you have been made aware of is exaggerated.”
Violet forced herself to breathe normally and released her hold on the chair arms, shifting her feet and then crossing her legs.
She felt the tension in her shoulders and pressed them against the back of the high chair, then turned to look at Alexander directly.
She smiled. This close, she could see the slight flush that had arisen in his cheeks.
That could be the result of his foolish climbing of our wall. Or because I have the same effect on him as he does on me. Good Lord, what rot! I doubt there will ever be a man whom I have that effect on.
“Let us discuss first why I should not scream this place down and bring my Uncle and every other man in the house to my aid,” Violet said.
“I have,” Alexander replied, picking up the book.
Violet made to stop him but stopped, letting her hand fall.
Best to let him think there is no great significance to that volume. Then he will put it down all the quicker. Lord, please do not let him read the chapter I have just finished.
“You can help me discover who my father is?”
“I can. I am aware that you will not have access to the resources you would need to undertake a task of that magnitude. I do. I am a wealthy man with a solicitor on retainer and access to records that an ordinary person would not.”
“And who has told you that I have any interest in discovering who my father is?” Violet asked.
Alexander arched an eyebrow. “My tutors taught me an expression. Quid pro Quo.”
“Yes, I am familiar with it. I was taught Latin as a child.”
“Then you were lucky. All I learned as a child is trust no-one, do not become distracted when twenty feet up inside a chimney, and stay away from the Billy Boys.”
Violet found herself intrigued despite herself.
“How would a Duke’s son come to experience such things. And what is a Billy Boy?”
Alexander smiled bitterly. “They are an unpleasant gang from the west of Glasgow. Who dislike Catholics or boys from a Catholic orphanage. And as to the rest…”
He sighed and ran a hand through his long, unruly hair.
“I do not speak of this publicly. It is a chapter of my life that I would rather forget. But, I am forced to relive it by the cause I have taken on. That is the cause of saving any other boy or girl from experiencing a similar horror. Or even having their life curtailed as a result. The life expectancy of the poor is short enough.”
“You wish me to trust you. But I am told that you frequent low drinking establishments and gamble. You trespass on a lady while she is alone. And at night. I need something from you…Alexander. A token to know that I can indeed put my trust in you.”
Though your deep, dark eyes may be enough to persuade me. They are hypnotic. You are magnetic.
“My father sent me away. To a distant relative in Glasgow. A Mr. John Knox. I lived with him at his house in the Merchant City, in the middle of Glasgow itself. He began my education but died before I had been in his care for more than a year. I went to an orphanage, having no-one to care for me and no way of contacting my father. Nor anyone who cared to take me on. I was abandoned. The priests who ran the orphanage used the children in their care as a workforce. They were paid by local businesses to supply cheap labor. I became a chimney sweep.”
Violet sat with her hand over her open mouth, eyes wide with horror.
“How old were you?” She gasped.
“Five or six. I believe,” Alexander replied.
Tears filled Violet’s eyes. She knew that life was hard for the poor and that children born into poverty had an extremely hard row to plow. But, to hear it first hand in this way by one who had lived it took her aback. Impulsively, she reached for his hand, clasping it in both of hers.
“I see how things are. You mentioned a bill going through Parliament.”
“There is. But I am not taken seriously. Because I lapse into Scots vernacular. Because I do not follow the rules of society or the etiquette. I do not know how. Can you help me?”
Violet nodded, still holding his hand, squeezing it. She felt as though she wanted to communicate her compassion, somehow pass it into him.
“I see why you are the way you are. Your language, your accent. If you grew up in such a place, in such circumstances. Yes, you would be very different to the Ton. And they are not known for being accepting of outsiders. It must have been very difficult for you.”
“It is still very difficult. And as for my…reputation. I find that the people who frequent those low establishments are just the kind that accept anyone. There I can speak as I grew up speaking. Talk to men and women who understand my upbringing, because they had a similar upbringing here in London. I am not a dissolute man. I am not a wicked man. Put your trust in me lass, and you will find it well invested.”
Violet laughed at the term he had used. Part of her knew that it was precisely the kind of thing she needed to educate him out of. But part of her liked it. It seemed affectionate, like a pet name. There was a special warmth within her at the idea that he had given her a pet name.
“Very well,” she said. “I will help you. I will teach you all I know. But we cannot tell my Uncle. He was the one who warned me away from you.”
“Did he, indeed?” Alexander said, fire igniting in his eyes.
“You cannot blame him for that,” Violet insisted. “He is behaving exactly as a father should based on the evidence he has.”
Alexander lapsed into silence, looking away but scowling toward the house. “I am sick of being judged. It has been done to me for my entire life. It will stop.”
“It will,” Violet agreed. “I will help you achieve that. When you are able to speak to men like my Uncle without them even knowing you were not born to the rank you hold, that you are no different to them, then you will not be judged. You will have beaten them.”
She sensed that this line of reasoning would appeal to him. Men often thought in terms of fighting and battle. Alexander chuckled.
“Lassie, I don’t care about winning or losing. Only the Bill getting through Parliament and into law. After that, I’ll be content to go to my estates and never set foot in this bloody city again. I don’t want to be one of the Ton.”
“That is a shame. For I would not see you,” Violet said, almost without thought.
That brought Alexander’s head around sharply. Those dark eyes pinned her to her seat, stripping away everything to see into her very soul. She knew that she had flushed a bright red and fought to regain some equilibrium.
“That is to say, I find you interesting. And who knows how long it will take you to discover the information about my father,” Violet said.
It was only then that she realized that she still held his hand in one of her own.
Her eyes went to their clasped hands and she released his as though it were hot.
Alexander smiled and retook her hand, raising it to his lips.
The feel of his warm lips against her skin almost made her feel faint.
He lingered for a moment longer than propriety dictated he should.
Then abruptly released her. He cleared his throat and stood, striding to the lodge’s entrance, looking out into the darkness.
“Well, I thank you most humbly for your assistance, lassie. You dinnae ken jist how much this means to me. I cannae thank you enough.”
“We will thank each other by each holding to our promise. I will make you the very image of a respectable English Duke, and you will find my father,” Violet replied.