Vanessa laughed and looked away. “I don’t know. He intrigues me, for certain. But it’s been weeks since I’ve seen him. I don’t know what caused him to break into my house that night, or come back a few days later, but he’s obviously lost interest.”
“I doubt that,” Fiona replied. “I’ve known him for many years, and he’s never done anything so reckless. He knew that was your window. I’m certain he wouldn’t have trusted the child to a stranger. Which makes me think he knows you in his other life. Either that, or he wants to.”
Vanessa frowned, furrowing her brow in thought. “I’ve racked my brain endlessly, trying to decide if I know him, but I don’t think so. I am certain that if we’d ever met, I would have remembered.”
“Think he’s that handsome, do you?” Fiona tore her gaze away from her charges to give Vanessa another cheeky smile. “Handsome, rich, powerful, good with children... No wonder you’re so taken with him.”
“Of course I think he’s handsome,” Vanessa agreed. “But that’s not why I like him so much. There’s a loneliness about him, a brokenness that I can relate to.” She gave a self-conscious shrug. “I feel like we could heal each other, if he’d just let down his guard and let me see him for who he really is.”
Fiona shook her head. “Lonely, broken men are usually that way for a reason. You can’t fix someone who’s broken, Vanessa. You shouldn’t even try.”
Vanessa raised a brow. “What do you know of broken men?”
“More than my share,” Fiona replied sagely, obviously unwilling to talk about it. “And that’s why I’ve never set my cap for Prometheus. He’s complicated and deeply unhappy.” She glanced around to make sure none of the children were close. “He has so much empathy for these children. Makes me think that maybe he knows what they’ve gone through.”
Vanessa caught her breath, pain twisting in the pit of her stomach. “Do you think so?”
“Well, it makes sense, doesn’t it? And there are things he’s said over the years, a brooding anger he has a hard time controlling.” Fiona stood up and patted Vanessa on the shoulder. “He’s a wonderful man, and his mystery makes him even more appealing. I just think you should be careful, that’s all.”
Vanessa forced a smile, but Fiona’s words had shaken her a bit. “Thank you,” she murmured. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
As though sensing her sudden change of mood, the boy came running over and inexplicably gave her a fierce hug. “Don’t be sad, Miss Vanessa,” he whispered in her ear. “I love you. My name is Gabriel.”
She squeezed him tightly, tears stinging her eyes. That he should finally break his self-imposed silence to try to cheer her meant the world to her. “I love you, too, Gabriel.”
She needed to stop spending so much time thinking about Prometheus and figure out a way to make Gabriel hers.
Her thoughts turned reluctantly to Adrian Strathmore. If he offered to make her his mistress, would it be possible to make provisions that would allow her to keep Gabriel with her when Mr. Strathmore didn’t require her company? Would it be worth the trade-off, to be able to give the little boy a home?
She buried her face in Gabriel’s hair, hoping Fiona couldn’t tell what she was thinking. She would never agree to such a thing if there was a chance Gabriel would find out what she’d become.
Whore was not a word she ever wanted this little boy to hear when it came to her.
No. She’d simply have to think of another way.
Chapter Five
