Page 40 of A Winter Scandal

“Not like anybody around here.” Once again the man thought for a moment. “I’d guess he was from the city.”

“London?”

The innkeeper nodded. “I’ve only been there a few times, you understand, but that’s how he sounded to me.”

Gabriel nodded, then went on, “Have you seen a lady recently, even one without the child? She’s about this tall.” Gabriel gestured at his shoulder. “Her hair is dark blond, and her eyes are blue. She’s very pretty. About twenty years old.”

The man regretfully shook his head. “There’s been no lady traveling alone, sir. There was one woman, but she had a companion with her, and both of them were up in years. A man and wife, a few men. A schoolboy and his tutor.” He paused, thinking. “That’s all I’ve seen, sir.”

Gabriel asked him a few more questions about anyone in the area who might have a baby of the right age, but the man could think of no one except the solicitor and his wife, who had a brown-haired, brown-eyed child under a year of age. Gabriel thanked him, pulling out a gold coin to hand to him.

“If you see or hear anything else about this woman and child,” Gabriel went on, “I would appreciate it if you could get word to me. I’m at the Priory, near Chesley.”

“Of course, sir. I’d be happy to. I shall keep my ears open, you can count on that.” The innkeeper bowed more deeply than Thea would have thought possible for a man of his size and left the room, pocketing the coin.

“What do you make of that?” Gabriel turned toward Thea.

“Someone else looking for Matthew’s mother? I have no idea.” Thea frowned and sat down. “I suppose he could have been looking for someone else entirely, although that seems unlikely.”

“It would stretch my belief in coincidence too far.” Gabriel began to pace. “It could be the woman’s husband or father, I suppose. She has run away, and he is searching for her.”

“In that case, Matthew would have nothing to do with you or your sister.”

Gabriel nodded. “But if so, why would the baby have had Jocelyn’s brooch with him?”

Thea agreed that it made little sense, but she could offer no other possible explanation for another man inquiring after a woman and child. She could come up with a few tales fit for the pages of a lurid novel—kidnappings and lost heirs and such, but all ended in the same impasse. Why would the baby have had Jocelyn’s brooch pinned to his underclothes?

They ate the hearty luncheon that the innkeeper brought to them, and the warm spiced wine did much to rid them of the chill from the winter drive. Afterward, they visited a few nearby shops, asking the owners the same questions they had posed to the innkeeper. No one recalled any stranger with a baby, though the apothecary said that someone had been in the shop asking the same questions the day before. His description matched that of the innkeeper, even down to the man’s not having been “from around here.”

Their last stop was the haberdashery, where Gabriel bought a number of pieces of cloth, not only for diapering, but also for making more clothes for the baby. Thea knew a widow in Chesley who would be grateful for the money to sew up a few little gowns. Thea had decided to crochet another blanket for Matthew, and so, while Gabriel was sidetracked by the haberdasher into a perusal of quality neckcloths, she looked at the shop’s yarns. She wound up purchasing enough not only for a blanket but a little sweater, as well. Finally, she could not resist adding a few ribbons and a length of blond lace. It was foolish extravagance, she told herself, but even that knowledge could not dampen her pleasure over the purchase.

The return trip to Chesley was quieter. For some time Gabriel drove, his eyes intent on the road, without saying anything. Thea, watching him, did not wish to disturb his thoughts. It was, she found, surprisingly enjoyable to simply look at his profile. His black lashes were absurdly long, his chin and jaw strong. She could see the beginning of a shadow over his cheeks and jawline as the day wore on. She was aware of an urge to reach out and trace his straight black eyebrow with her forefinger or to slide her finger along his jaw. Just imagining it made her shiver. Thea looked away, tucking her hands under the lap robe.

“Cold?” Gabriel looked over at her and reached out with one hand to pull the traveling rug higher, tucking it in more firmly against her side.

Thea smiled at him, that same treacherous longing fluttering in her insides. “Thank you. I’m fine, really.” She paused, then went on, “What are you going to do now?”

He shook his head. “I’m not sure. Frankly, I don’t know what to do. Clearly, if Jocelyn is Matthew’s mother, if she left him here, she does not want to be found.”

“I’m sorry.” Thea could hear the hurt in his voice. What must it feel like to know that one’s sister, missing for over a year, had been so near and would not even contact him? “It very well may not be her.”

“I know. But it is hard to think otherwise, with her brooch pinned to his clothes.”

“The brooch could have been stolen. Or perhaps she sold it.”

“But why attach it to a child and then place that child only minutes away from where I live? I cannot believe in such a coincidence. If he is not Jocelyn’s child, I think it is very clear that someone wants me to believe he is. But why?”

“She might hope it would insure her child’s future. If someone could make you believe the child belonged to Jocelyn, perhaps you would take the baby in. Even if you did not accept him as your nephew, you might very well provide him with the necessities of life, maybe even more—an education, a start on some sort of career when he is older. If I were starving and alone and I had that brooch, that would seem a much better use than selling it for a few coins.”

Gabriel looked at her. “I did not think of that.”

“You doubtless do not have people turning up at your door homeless and hungry, the way a man of the cloth does.”

“No. I suppose not. But how did she get her hands on the brooch? And how would she know that much about Jocelyn?”

“I don’t know. She would have to know something about you, as well—that you are at the Priory, for example. And that you are the sort of man who would care about such an obligation. There are many gentlemen who would not lift a finger to help such a baby.” Thea hesitated, then asked somewhat hesitantly, “Do you think there is any possibility that what I suspected at first might have some truth in it?”

He glanced at her, his expression wry. “What? That Matthew is my by-blow?”