Page 16 of Regency Whispers: Scandalous Matches

‘Did you have a bad dream?’

He nodded, a minute movement of his head against her chest.

‘Did you want to tell me what it was about?’

‘I can’t remember.’

‘Sometimes when I have bad dreams I just want to have a cuddle with someone.’

‘I wanted my mama,’ Edward said, his voice breaking and the tears starting again. ‘I want my mama.’

‘I know you do, little one,’ Jane murmured, stroking his hair. She sang to him, a song she had sung hundreds of times before to her little sisters whenever they had scraped a knee or bumped a head.

‘Lavender blue, dilly-dilly...’

Finally, after what felt like thousands of repeats of the gentle lullaby, the little boy’s body grew heavy in her arms and his breathing deepened. Jane stayed in the same position for a while longer, ensuring he was deeply asleep before she set him down on the bed and tucked him in.

Mr Stewart shifted by the door and she realised he had been there the whole time.

‘How did you do that?’ He was looking at her in awe.

‘He’s a child. He needs comfort and security and someone to hold him tight and make him feel as though they will protect him from the world.’

‘It’s not me that he wants to do that.’

‘Of course it’s not. Edward wants his mother, but she isn’t here, and you are.’

Mr Stewart closed his eyes and shook his head, as if trying to rid himself of the morning’s events.

Jane knew she shouldn’t push the man. He had suffered the bereavement of his sister and taken in his nephew, but even though she didn’t know him well she thought he was capable of more for the child.

‘Do you want children, Mr Stewart?’

‘Good lord, no,’ he said quickly as they walked side by side down the hallway.

‘Any reason for the vehemence of your reply?’

He shrugged. ‘It isn’t in my plan for my life.’

‘May I enquire what is in your plan?’

He paused and turned to her, and Jane felt the full force of his charm. He smiled at her and for a fraction of a second she saw what gave him the reputation of a rake. The women in ballrooms whispered about him whilst biting their lower lips and looking on longingly. It was ridiculous, but she could see the basis of their infatuation. Mr Stewart was an attractive man, with his dark hair and green eyes, but it wasn’t just his appearance that made him so popular. There was something about his smile, the way he looked at you, something that made you want to be in on the joke he was telling or the tale he was spinning.

Quickly she caught herself. It was superficial, the gift of a charmer and no more.

‘To stay blissfully free and single and unencumbered.’

‘No wife, no children?’

‘Are you volunteering yourself again, Miss Ashworth?’

‘No. I’m just surprised. You are a wealthy and influential man. I thought the ambition of all wealthy and influential men was to marry a submissive young lady and then ensure their house is filled with enough heirs to carry on the family name.’

Leaning in a little closer, he smiled. ‘You may be right that is the wish of many gentlemen, but I have no title to pass on, no inflated sense of my family name. I am quite content with living my life to the full rather than ruining another generation.’

‘You are dedicated to a life of pleasure, then?’

‘Is it so surprising?’ They had reached the stairs and he spun to face her. Jane felt a rush of anticipation, as if she were being swept into his confidence. ‘What other purpose do we as humans have? We are born, we work and then we die. Surely the only way to make a life worthwhile is to enjoy it to the full for the few short years we are here?’