“Thank you for reading to us,” Samuel said, his manner more reserved, but the longing in his eyes still very evident.
Ushering the children toward the door, Morgan glanced back at Fiona and caught a glimpse of unguarded longing in her eyes as well. He suddenly wondered if she wanted children of her own.
But then she turned away, and he knew this was not the time or place to ask those sorts of questions. The thoughts suddenly swirling in his mind, of a future where the five of them might be a family, were terrifying and new. He needed some time to think it all through before he did something incredibly foolish.
With a sigh, he led his family out into the night, feeling like a terrible father for having kept them out so late. His coachman was nodding off inside the coach, and he realized that the man had also been there all day. As much as he loved what he was doing at Brookhaven, he promised himself to be more considerate of others from now on. He had to limit his time here to something quite a bit more reasonable.
A few minutes later, the coach was moving through Kensington and headed toward Mayfair. Felicity had already nodded off in his arms, and Hannah had leaned her head against the padded wall, her eyes drifting shut. Only Samuel was still wide awake.
“Did you have a good day?” Morgan asked his son.
Samuel nodded emphatically. “Yes, Papa. I like being there. It’s a happy place.”
“What do you think about Mrs. Bohannan?” Morgan asked, unable to resist. “It was very nice of her to read to you while I was working.”
“She’s nice,” Samuel said softly, dropping his gaze. “She reminds me of Mama.”
“Does she?” Morgan stared at his son pensively. He didn’t see many similarities between the women at all, but he supposed that they both exuded warmth and kindness, though Anne’s spirit had been gentle and Fiona’s was forged in steel.
“I miss my mama,” Samuel said suddenly, his bottom lip trembling.
Morgan patted the seat beside him, and when Samuel moved across the aisle, Morgan used his free arm to hug his son tightly. “I do, too,” he whispered into his hair. “I do, too.”
Chapter Nine
Roger paced the opulentflat where he’d once kept his mistress, fuming at the fact that he couldn’t go back to his home in Mayfair. That would be the first place that his stepbrothers looked for him, and he had no doubt that they’d already heard he was back in London.
He’d just completed a very disheartening visit with his solicitor, who’d been managing his holdings while he’d been gone. It hadn’t gone well. Between the devastation Adrian had wrought as Prometheus and his own lack of attention, his holdings had dwindled to an abysmal level. He was practically a pauper!
His father had been the first to invest in brothels and gaming halls, and the profits had always kept the earldom quite nicely in the black. Now, he’d been informed that he had very little available cash, and nearly all of his illegal businesses had been shuttered.
Thank god he still owned plenty of property. He’d simply have to open up a few more establishments and wait for the money to begin rolling in once again. Unfortunately, he needed a cash infusion to get him started.
Luckily, he knew just the person to ask. Earlier, he’d sent an invitation to his stepmother, and he was hoping she’d choose to come. She’d always been very supportive of him. As much as he hated her sons, he loved her and his half-sister, Allison.
He busied himself looking through the papers his solicitor had left for him, and a few hours passed. He was so involved in what he was doing that he almost didn’t hear his butler until he cleared his throat.
