She swallowed dryly. She had yet to meet a man like him. He had nothing to gain from helping women, and yet…
She pressed her hands against her flushing cheeks and allowed her eyes to travel over his figure once more. She was quite certain that this man was far too good to be true.
“You gain nothing from it?” She did nothing to keep the shock out of her voice.
He shrugged. “It is the honorable thing to do.”
Her eyes locked onto his lips as he spoke, and she found herself uncertain which she considered more incredible: the shape of his lips or the sound of his words.
“What would you expect of me as a governess?” she pressed.
“To teach my sister,” he said. “To keep her safe. To be a friend to her when I cannot.” Something flickered across his face, a vulnerability quickly masked. “Cassie is… headstrong. Clever. She needs guidance from someone who understands what it means to be a young woman with more spirit than sense.”
“I see.” Her voice was clipped.
Hudson picked up a quill, spinning it between his fingers. “Is there anything you need?”
This was her moment.
She drew a breath and spoke before she could lose her nerve. “I wish to find my half-sister, Olivia. We grew up separately, but from what I know, our father sent her to Scotland when she was little to live with her mother’s aunt. After our father’s arrest, I haven’t had time to contact her. I have no idea about her well-being, her whereabouts…”
Hudson’s expression shifted, the mask of the employer giving way to something more human. “You want to bring her here?”
“I want to know she is safe,” Augusta said. “If that is not possible, then I want to at least write to her, to let her know that I am well.” She bit her lip, aware of how much she was revealing. “She is all the family I have left.”
He nodded, a faint tightness in his jaw betraying an unspoken emotion. “I will make inquiries. Quietly. I know people in Edinburgh and beyond.”
“Thank you,” she said, her voice unsteady.
He was silent for a long moment, his gaze fixed not on her, but somewhere behind her, in the uncertain darkness of the room. “You need not thank me. I know what it is like to worry for a sibling. It is… consuming.”
Augusta studied his face, looking for any sign of deception, any hint of the calculation she had seen in Reverend Leighton’s eyes.
She found none. Only a steady, direct gaze and a patience that seemed at odds with the controlled intensity of the man before her.
She had no choice. She had to remain in London to find her sister. She couldn’t leave for America without Olivia, nor could she try her luck without Hudson’s help.
This was the only way. The safest way.
“I accept the position,” she said.
The words felt less like a choice and more like a bridge collapsing behind her, leaving her with nowhere to look but at him.
Chapter Four
“Good,” Hudson said as he crossed to his desk.
He hadn’t expected the relief that coursed through him.
The drawer slid open, and he reached inside, fingers closing around a small leather pouch that sat nestled among account books and correspondence.
“This is an advance on your salary,” he said, watching her face. “Since the reverend saw fit to leave you without so much as a hairpin to your name.”
“Thank you, Your Grace,” she said simply.
It was a small concession—taking money from a stranger when one had none—but it told Hudson everything he needed to know. This woman was practical to her core. She would not allow pride to stand in the way of survival.
It was a quality he understood and, in this moment, appreciated.
