“He took them to Scotland?”
“Two months ago. Rose will work in his factory, and young Will is going to attend school while a nursemaid tends to the baby.”
Mrs. Forbes took Lilah’s hand. “I have you to thank, Miss Hart. You persuaded him to visit us and to see our work. I owe it all to you.”
“You have nothing to thank me for, Mrs. Forbes,” Lilah said. “It was all his doing.”
Mrs. Forbes smiled. “If I were twenty years younger, I’d be smitten with the man. That is, of course, if he were not so smitten with you. He is indeed a most excellent creature. It’s rare to see a man of such high honor these days.”
Mrs. Forbes’s words only served to increase the pain in Lilah’s heart. He had every reason to be bitter and resentful. He faced bankruptcy, yet he still thought of others! To think that such a man had once placed her in high regard.
Would she ever be able to come to terms with what she had lost?
Chapter Twenty-Seven
When Lilah returned home, Thea was waiting for her in the parlor, together with Sir Thomas.
“Ah, Delilah, dear, we’ve been waiting for you. Do join us.”
Lilah looked from one to the other. “This looks serious,” she said.
Thea and Sir Thomas exchanged glances.
“Should we ask Dexter to join us?” Lilah asked.
“Our brother has seen fit to go to the country,” Thea replied. “It seems as if he has a prospective bride lined up and is planning to rent a property in which to keep her.”
“You make it sound like a prison, Dorothea,” Lilah said, “with Dex as the jailer.”
Sir Thomas frowned, then he turned to Thea. “Miss Hart,” he said. “Perhaps I should address Miss Delilah on her own.”
“I’m rather tired,” Lilah said. “Perhaps another time.”
Thea stood, and Sir Thomas followed suit. “Delilah, I insist you speak with him,” she said.
“Oh, very well.” Lilah dropped her reticule on the chaise longue and sat beside it.
Thea curtseyed to Sir Thomas. “Please excuse me.”
After the door closed behind her, Sir Thomas crossed the floor and sat beside Lilah.
“I’ve been anxious for the opportunity to speak to you alone,” he said, “ever since your disappointment.”
“My disappointment?”
“Molineux,” Sir Thomas said, his tone hard. “He’s a cad for abandoning you. There was nothing wrong with your articles, yet he judges you as if you ransacked Clayton House yourself!”
“How do you know about Clayton House?”
His glance shifted sideways before he resumed his focus on her. “Everyone’s talking about it.”
“And the articles,” she said. “How did you know I wrote them?”
“I’m an avid reader of the City Chronicle,” he said. “When I stumbled across a scrap of paper in the drawing room, I read it out of curiosity and recognized the words.”
“You’ve been reading my papers?”
“I applaud your talent. Your writing—the articles, the poems—they’re worthy of the highest praise.”
His gaze shifted as if he had something to hide. Was he the mysterious benefactor who’d passed her poems to Sandton?
“You deserve every success, my beloved Delilah. That cad deserved to be ruined.”
Her heart jumped in defense of Fraser.
“What sins has he committed to deserve such a fate?”
Sir Thomas took her hand, then knelt beside her.
“He’s made you unhappy,” he said. “And I won’t have anyone making my beloved girl unhappy.”
She tried to free her hand, but he tightened his grip.
“He’s a fool for believing you were responsible for those leaflets.”
“How do you know about the leaflets?”
His eyes narrowed, and he stiffened.
“I…” he hesitated. “I must have overheard someone mention it at Whites.”
He lifted her hand to his lips. “Don’t you realize how deeply I feel for you, Miss Hart?” he asked. “Or, perhaps, I may be permitted at last to call you Delilah?”
“Sir Thomas…”
“Call me Tommie,” he said. “Or, better still, ‘my love.’”
He caressed the back of her hand with his thumb, but rather than the crackle of need which she had experienced at the hands of another, she felt nothing but irritation at his familiarity.
“Don’t you know how I deeply admire you, Delilah?” he asked. “You’d make any man the perfect companion. To think how you would shine as Lady Tipton, and how I might prosper with you at my side!”
She snatched her hand away. “Are you hunting my fortune?”
His mouth thinned into a harsh line. “You wound me, dearest Delilah,” he said. “Unlike most men, I don’t love you for your fortune. And unlike that cad, I’m not merely after your person. Don’t you realize I’ve loved you ever since your brother introduced us? I have loved your intelligence, your wit, and I’d count myself the most fortunate of men to have you as my life’s companion. I want you for yourself, dearest Delilah. Were you a pauper on the streets, I would still love you!”
He took her hand again. “Make me the happiest of men, Delilah.”
She shook her head. “Sir Thomas, I cannot,” she said. “I don’t love you.”
He opened his mouth as if to argue, then closed it again. “I see I must be patient,” he said, “and I’m a very patient man when my heart’s desire is before me.”
“I have no wish to marry you,” she said.
“Nevertheless, I shall ask every day.”
“And every day, you’ll receive the same answer.”
He squeezed her hand. “My love for you is so great that I shall wait forever if I have to,” he said. “Nothing can prevent me from believing you’re the woman to make my life complete.”
He moved to embrace her, and she pushed him away. “Please, don’t touch me.”
“Of course.” He stood and gave her a bow. “I am your servant, Miss Hart. Now and always.”
He bowed again and left the room.
Delilah waited for her sister to return. Most likely, Thea had been listening outside, eager to hear the outcome of Sir Thomas’s proposal and demanding to know why Delilah had rejected him. And when Dexter returned, doubtless he’d question her, too. And give her a lecture on the benefits of obedience and raising the family’s position in society.
But even if she’d wanted to marry Sir Thomas, it was impossible. When he discovered her secret, he’d want nothing to do with her.
As she reached for her reticule, another bout of nausea rippled through her, threatening to expel her tea.
Delilah could no longer deny the truth. She was pregnant with Fraser’s child.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
“I’d love to see that delightful young woman again, Fraser,” Ma said. “I can’t think why you didn’t bring her with you when you returned home.”