Henrietta’s jaw dropped. “But he told me?—”
“Yes,” Darien said, a hard edge to his tone. “But he had a different answer for the son of the Marquess of Langford. Does that surprise you?”
She snapped her mouth shut and turned to her task. Lord Darien had achieved her purpose, not because her cause was just, but because he was a high-born man. It didn’t matter that she was the daughter of a knight, sister of a baronet, step-granddaughter to the Earl of Warrefield, niece to Sir Pelton, or subscriber to the Minerva Society. She was a woman, and her wishes mattered only if a male chose to humor them.
Outside, the carriage bowled toward them, and James scrambled up beside the coachman. “All your cards are trumps now,” he called to Mary Ann. “Miss Hetty collects strays where’er she goes. Got me out of the Fleet, she did.”
Darien’s gaze swung to Henrietta. “You found your groom in prison?”
“In for debt,” James snapped. “Not thievin’.”
Henrietta took the baby as Mary Ann struggled up the carriage step. Seeing the expensive equipage, a crowd of peddlers formed, eager to display their wares. Henrietta gripped the baby as the sudden horde jostled her.
“Tag-rag and bobtail,” James shouted. “Fall back, ye bung nippers, or I’ll thump ye on the jolly nob! Miss Hetty, mind they don’t file your pockets.”
Henrietta struggled to free herself from the tugging hands. Not once in all her forays in Rossendale, Bath, or Bamford, the small village on her estate, had she ever had reason to fear for her purse or her person.
Suddenly, the jostling stopped. A warm, firm heat enveloped her back and bore her like a strong wave up into the carriage. Before Henrietta knew quite what had happened, she was seated on one of the plush benches of the Wardley-Hines carriage, and Lord Darien crowded next to her as he slammed shut the door. The coach dipped as the footmen leapt to their posts in the back, and the conveyance jerked forward at a shout from James.
“I’ll go with you for a way, if you don’t mind,” Darien said. “You may set me down anywhere you like.”
“Lord Daring, in my coach,” Henrietta observed. “I suppose this ensures my name will be all over the scandal papers. What will the Daughters of Minerva think of me now?” She ought to feel despair at her certain ruination, but instead she felt soothed by his competence, his calm strength.
“Do you not have a maid to accompany you?” Darien’s glance took in the new leather and velvet curtains of the coach.
“Oh, do you mean, do I pay a young person to follow me about and hold my packages?” Henrietta held the baby close to her breast. His tiny eyelashes fluttered, and the little lips made sucking motions. “Not when their time could be better spent. Do you know, if I had a signature on my petition for every person who follows your daily activities in the gossip sheets, Parliament would abolish slavery on the instant.”
“That ought to redeem my name in the historical record,” Darien said. “What is the direction of this place?”
“Are ye certain they’ll take me, miss?” Mary Ann said anxiously, her thin hand bunching her dirty skirt. “I’ve no coin to pay for me and Elijah, but I’m willing to work, I am.”
“That matter can be settled once you and the baby are well,” Henrietta said. She had not forgotten that the Benevolence Hospital was overflowing, but she could not leave Mary Ann and her babe at the workhouse. “The Sisters will take you and see you both back to health. Once you find work, they may collect a placement fee, but they will ask no payment nor charge a surety for—” She bit her lip. Most hospitals required a commitment in advance that someone would pay for burial fees.
“A private hospital?” Darien inquired.
“A charitable institution supported by the Minerva Society,” Henrietta replied, “and staffed by a lay order, the Sisters of Benevolence. One of several they run in London and nearby. You might consider offering your support, milord, if you are interested in the cause of mercy.”
She held the swaddled baby against her chest, wondering how many women and their babes, in his career, he had bundled off to such circumstances. She must hope no one who saw them would cast their mission in such a light. What a relief that Henrietta was impervious to his charm.
Mary Ann’s eyes widened as they arrived at the large, gracious façade of the hospital. She dabbed at tears when they were turned over to the matron with promises that she and her babe would be fed, clothed, and comfortably settled wherever room could be found. The girl looked as if she could not quite trust she had actually found refuge, and her lip trembled as she faced Henrietta.
“Mum, I don’t know what to say. What you’ve done—you’re an angel, you are.”
“Far from it,” Henrietta said, stroking Elijah on the forehead as he squirmed and mewled. “It is the Sisters who are angels. I shall check on you tomorrow and hope to find you comfortably established, and Elijah feasting.”
And, she decided, she would bring a large purse for the Sisters. She was saving up to buy an old mill near her estate, but this expense she could spare.
Her heart was still aching from Mary Ann and Elijah’s plight when she stepped out to the street to find the infamous Lord Daring lounging against her coach. He looked as if he had just come fresh from the hands of his valet, not as if he had spent the morning in the workhouse.
The realization nearly lifted her straight off her feet. She had accomplished a rescue of her very own today. With his help.
“I owe you thanks, Lord Darien.” She released a shaky breath. “Whatever it took to bribe the master, I will repay you.”
“The Langford title is better than gold.” Darien straightened from his indolent pose. “Why this girl and her poor sickly brat? When there are dozens, if not hundreds of women and children in the workhouse?”
“They would have taken Elijah from her. He’d never survive at a baby farm. At least here he has a chance.” Henrietta’s heart twisted as she thought of that too-small, too-quiet baby. Fanny had been small for her age too, tough in her temperamentbut not her constitution, which was one reason the fever had ravaged her while leaving her siblings untouched.
Daring’s eyes followed her movement as she touched the white armband on her sleeve. “But you are not responsible for the girl or her condition.” He sounded puzzled.
