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Chapter Eighteen
Jasper pushed himself away from the frame and sauntered in, his eyes briefly flicking to hers in discomfort before they locked with Jim’s. ‘You have more chance of finding gainful employment with a reasonably able body than you do without.’
‘Shows what you know, Your Lordship!’ Ashamed and afraid, Jim lashed out. ‘I’m no use to anyone lame! You need a strong pair of legs to lift and carry! Not that a spoiled toff like you would understand.’
‘I understand that there are better jobs than hauling barrels, young man.’ Jasper’s tone was more of reprimand than pity as he stood tall and proud in front of the window, commanding the boy to look up at him rather than away. ‘Do you know your letters and your numbers?’
‘What do you think, idiot!’ This was spat with such venom even Hattie, who had been at the receiving end of Jim’s sharp tongue many times, was taken aback.
But Jasper wasn’t the least bit cowed by the tone or the insult. Outwardly, he found them amusing and simply raised his brows as if he wasn’t fooled by the bravado for a minute. ‘Then it occurs to me that a sensible chap would use his long convalescence to learn and better himself. Plan for a proper future rather than wallow in impotent self-pity while he waits for others to decide what is to become of him. There are plenty of good jobs for the literate which pay better too, and none require a strong pair of legs, merely legs that work.’
In one fluid movement and without pausing, he sat on the mattress and rested his elbows on his knees, relaxed. ‘I have such a vacancy myself for an apprentice jack of all trades and seeing as we are currently neighbours—’ he gestured out of the window towards his club ‘—and I am in the process of hiring a governess to begin Izzy’s education anyway, I would be happy for you to attend those lessons on the understanding that if you apply yourself diligently and always try your hardest, that apprenticeship will be yours.’
That knocked the wind out of Jim’s sails. To be frank, it had also knocked it out of Hattie’s. As they both blinked at him, stunned, Jasper stared at Jim levelly.
‘The wages are ten shillings a week to begin with, plus board and lodging of course.’ A king’s ransom for a child like Jim who had barely scraped a third of that with two jobs. To Hattie, it was obvious Jasper was making this all up on the hoof to help Jim out while saving the boy’s pride, but Jim didn’t know that.
‘It goes without saying that if you prove yourself to be a lazy and rude ne’er-do-well, or a dishonest and untrustworthy scoundrel, I shall toss you out on your ear. I will not accept thieving, malingering or surliness in any way, shape or form. I would also expect you to continue with your lessons after your recovery as I need an educated apprentice, one who can learn every aspect of my business, and will adjust your hours accordingly to fit those in. You’ll get every Sunday and Christmas Day off. From both work and your lessons.’
A slack-jawed Jim couldn’t believe his luck and was already so thoroughly seduced he just kept staring at Hattie, bewildered as if he was hallucinating.
‘It also means having your leg fixed by Dr Cribbs is non-negotiable, young man. And your employment and your wages start the day you have that procedure.’ Then, as his green eyes stared unrelenting, daring Jim to be stupid enough to turn him down, Jasper stuck out his hand for the boy to shake. ‘Do we have an accord, Mr Bradley?’
Overwhelmed and entirely lost for words, Jim nodded and produced his own hand.
‘Splendid.’ Jasper pumped it vigorously, then stood, slapping the boy on the back as if they were now the best of friends. ‘Once the procedure has been done, I shall arrange the first times and dates of your lessons through Hattie. Now if you will excuse me, Jim...’ Those unrelenting, unreadable green eyes locked with hers. ‘I need to borrow her for a minute.’
She followed him outside into the hallway with the fakest smile he had ever seen pasted on her face. But as her blue eyes were as hard as nails Jasper knew she was angry at him for yesterday, just as he had suspected she had been when she had offered him her clipped goodbye at the park.
He also knew, despite all his mortifying behaviour yesterday, exactly what she was most angry about. He knew because he had replayed the same awful sentence over and over again in his mind ever since he had uttered the damn thing. For how on earth could she be anything other than hideously insulted to be told that everyone had clearly gone daft in the head if they thought he would ever marry her!
At the time, he had intended a very different version of that dreadful sentence, one where their roles were reversed. But at the last moment, he had become flustered and reasoned that saying what he had intended would also be a confirmation that Izzy, Mrs Mimms and his blasted cook had got things right. So the sentence had come out garbled and he had unintentionally hurt the one person he never wanted to hurt. He had seen that in her eyes the moment he had barked it out and still saw it now as she waited primly for him to speak.
‘Hattie, I...’ Good grief this was awkward. ‘I wanted to...’ What? Explain? Retract? Confess? ‘Yesterday...at the park when Izzy...’ Her lovely eyes widened in horror then began to blink rapidly, momentarily putting him off finding the right words to correct his callous mistake. ‘I handled things badly and for that I am sorry.’
Her breezy roll of her eyes was as fake as her smile had been. ‘Children will be children and it really doesn’t matter.’ Before he could counter, she briskly filled the silence. ‘That was a lovely thing you just did for Jim. Thank you. If I had realised it was his reluctance to return to the poor house which had caused him to refuse treatment, I would have handled things differently from the outset, but Jim is a stubborn boy and a proud one. Yet you managed to give him hope where none existed before, and all by thinking on your feet as I presume you haven’t yet hired a governess for Izzy, have you?’
She was trying to let him off lightly by changing the subject, and it would have been so easy to let her. However, brushing his behaviour aside would not banish her hurt and he knew he wouldn’t rest until he had rescued her from that.
Which necessitated a level of honesty he had hoped to avoid for the sake of their friendship. ‘In my ham-fisted way, I insulted you yesterday. It wasn’t intentional and it certainly wasn’t meant how it sounded.’
‘Please, Jasper...’ There was an air of panic about her expression. ‘Let us not discuss it. I can assure you that there really is no need. Izzy asked a ridiculous question which neither of us were expecting, so you answered in a manner which I took no offence at. It is just as well that you did, because I was so shocked by the question I couldn’t think of a single response and...’ She was babbling again, a clear sign that she was nervous, and he sympathised entirely because so was he. ‘If you hadn’t nipped it in the bud, she would have only asked worse. So...’
He caught her hand and gently traced her fingers, staring at them rather than her initial response to his confession in case she was thoroughly appalled by what he was compelled to say. ‘The truth is...’ This was probably a mistake. A huge, ill-considered mistake which could kill their friendship stone dead—and maybe that was for the best in the grand scheme of things. For her at least.
‘If my life wasn’t as complicated as it currently is and wasn’t about to implode in a scandal, you are exactly the sort of woman that I would want by my side. You mean the world to me, Harriet Fitzroy.’ The sheer truth of that absolute fact made him dizzy. ‘And I meant every single word I said to you yesterday, right up to the moment I put my big, fat, clumsy foot in it because Izzy had hit a raw nerve. If I could...if only I could... I would send you a hundred robust crimson tulips every single day.’
With one eye scrunched closed he risked looking at her with the other to gauge her reaction and she simply stared at him in wordless shock. Or perhaps horror. Which was likely his cue to leave, seeing as he had no right to question which it was.
‘Anyway...’ How to kill a perfectly good friendship in a single moment, or two if he counted his insult yesterday. ‘I just wanted to explain my reaction.’
As all she seemed capable of doing was opening and closing her eyelids, he shrugged apologetically, then to spare them both more awkwardness, strode towards the door.
‘Jasper—’
He slowed but did not turn around.
‘How much of my conversation with Jim did you just hear?’
