With a bit of frustration, Benjamin said, “I am not the type of gentleman who takes advantage of a young lady.”
“I never thought…” she began.
“You did,” he conceded, “but it is wise, especially for a woman in the City to do so. Therefore, I cannot fault you.”
She sighed heavily. “I fear I fail miserably when I am expected to speak half-truths.”
“Why do we not begin again?” he suggested. “But, first, I must provide Mr. Stanton with a destination.” When she frowned again, he amended his request. “There is a small tearoom near the drapery shop. Might you consider sharing a cup of tea and a cake or two as being more acceptable than my seeing you to your door?”
“Thank you, my lord,” she said softly. “You have been very solicitous to me.”
He reached for the trap to present orders to Mr. Stanton, then Benjamin switched seats so he might sit across from her and view her features better. “I thought you might wish to know more of me,” he began cautiously, while asking himself what a woman of her nature would want to know. “As Lord Orson mentioned, we are ‘brothers,’ but not brothers of the same lineage. Lord Macdonald Duncan, a Scottish lord, with an additional English title and a prominent place in the United Kingdom’s government, took each of us in to protect the peerages we were meant to claim. It began with Lord Duncan’s wife, Lady Elsbeth. When the lady did not deliver his lordship a son and knew, instead, a series of failed attempts, she suggested they bring in Orson as an ‘adopted’ son of sorts. Next came Lord Aaran Graham, another Scottish lord who sits in Parliament to represent his home country. Then, Beaufort, who is an Irish earl who holds an additional English barony. He has been elected repeatedly by Ireland to serve in Parliament.
“Fourth was Lord Alexander Marksman, whose estate marches along with Duncan’s English one. The Marksman’s earldom had lost the first three heirs before the fourth son was found and put in place to save it for Alexander Dutton. I was the last of those who joined the Duncan family. Neither Marksman nor I knew Lady Elsbeth, but we were part of her vision for her husband’s future.”
“How lovely,” Miss Whitchurch said in tones of pure appreciation. “She must have been a remarkable woman.”
“I was still quite young when my father and uncle, the previousearl, were attacked and killed. I am constantly asking myself if either or both would have approved of the Duncans’ generosity. I think they would, but perhaps not my new family’s role in keeping the United Kingdom safe. My father would wish us to assist others, but sometimes we are seeking answers from our government’s most dangerous enemies. Then again, I could have erred in my opinions. I was quite young when he was taken from my mother and me, and how I saw him then may not be how he would be today.”
“Anyone would feel likewise,” she said softly.
“When his brother, the previous earl, passed,” Benjamin explained, “My father was called up from his position as a vicar to claim the earldom, but he, too, was killed. As Duncan had done with each of my brothers, he removed me from danger and from my mother’s care, for she was in no position to protect me, assuredly, not as he could. In that manner, when I reached my majority, I would inherit the family’s peerage,” he admitted.
“Did your brothers suffer similar fates?” she asked in what sounded of amazement.
“Lord Duncan’s version of family is quite different from what we each experienced. All of his ‘sons,’ as we are often called, faced danger from someone who should have been securing our best interests and our futures.” He sighed heavily. “I do not know why I shared all this with you. It is just that you were not likely to have been conducting business in this part of London. In fact, it appeared that you were coming from the direction of the Lyon’s Den.” He held up his hand to prevent her denial. “I am not judging you, Miss Whitchurch, but know that whatever brought you to Whitehall today, I am willing to assist you. No conditions beyond the hand of a son of a vicar extended to the daughter of another vicar.”
The lady looked upon him with first wonderment and then denial. His honesty was obviously not what she wished to hear: Miss Whitchurch was not yet prepared to trust anyone, at least not him,with her secrets. He knew, if his father was still alive and Benjamin had had a sister, there would have been no means that Mr. Ernest Thompson would have permitted said daughter to live alone in London. It was not the place for young and genteel ladies to be without a friend to assist them.
“I believe, Lord Thompson, that I should not tarry too long today, for there is still much to accomplish on my free day. Please forgive me if I must ask to be set down soon. I do not mind if a walk is necessary,” she said with a slight shift of her shoulders into a defensive slant.
Benjamin nodded his acceptance. “As you wish, Miss Whitchurch, but I insist that I am permitted to escort you as close to your quarters as you will tolerate.” He reached in his pocket to claim one of his cards and extracted a pencil from a side pocket along the seat. He scribbled his directions, as well as Duncan’s on the back of the card and handed it to her. “The first is directions to my home. The second to Duncan Place. I live comfortably in Cheapside. I do not seek the grandeur my brothers do. If you ever require my assistance, present the card to the butler at either house, and they will protect you until they can locate me.”
