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Chapter Eight
Henry led Dinah to the stairs where he expected they would part so she might dress for dinner.
He would not have guessed, earlier that day when he’d seen Dinah collapse and had moved to catch her, that she would be up and calm this afternoon. He’d placed a lot on her just now—between his expectations for their relationship and the enormity of his family—yet she walked beside him with her head up and her shoulders relaxed. At least she hadn’t pried to learn more into the truth of the late Lady Stanton. He wasn’t ready to discuss such details. Dinah probably ought to know, though; perhaps he could persuade Uncle to fill her in?
Henry sighed. Now he was just acting the coward.
I am not afraid to meet your family, Henry.
Dinah hadn’t been too afraid to rescue a little girl or slip across Town in the middle of the night, either. Did nothing scare Dinah? He simultaneously respected her for it and worried over her because he had no idea what her fearlessness might lead her to do next.
“Pardon me, my lord,” Rutley, his butler, said as he met them in the corridor. He bowed. “There is a gentleman wishing to see you.” He held a calling card out to Henry.
He didn’t need to give the card more than a glance to know it was from Mr. Harding. His brow dropped. He hadn’t expected to hear from the gentleman today, and usually, unexpected meetings only meant one thing. A plan had gone wrong.
“Who is it?” Dinah asked, leaning across him to see the card.
Presumptuous as well as fearless. But Henry found he didn’t mind. He tipped the card in her direction so she might read the name, even while speaking to Rutley.
“Have him meet me in the drawing room.” Then he turned toward Dinah. “If you will excuse me, this won’t take long. Perhaps you would care to dress for dinner?”
“Thank you, no,” Dinah said and even surprised him by taking his arm more firmly. “I think I would much prefer to see Mr. Harding myself.” She smiled up at him as though she wasn’t inserting herself where he hadn’t expected her to be.
It was a bit like how she’d inserted herself into his very life.
Was this going to be a constant thing with her?
His first instinct was to dislike the notion, yet he led her back toward the very room they’d just left all the same.
Once they were alone again, Henry spoke but kept his voice low. “You realize he may need to speak with me on confidential matters.”
“Does your family know what you do?”
“You mean with Mr. Harding?”
She nodded.
“No, they certainly don’t.”
“Well, I do. Therefore, I don’t see any reason why I can’t stay.” Leaving his side, she took a seat on the settee. It wasn’t as close to the hearth as the two wingbacks but would provide a better arrangement for a meeting.
Very well, then; it seemed she wasn’t going to give him a choice in the matter. Henry sat in one of the chairs next to the settee but had no time to say anything more before the door to the drawing room opened yet again.
It wasn’t only Mr. Harding who walked in, however. Beside him was none other than the little girl he and Dinah had worked to save.
“Adele,” Dinah said, in a joy-filled tone.
The little girl ran toward Dinah and hugged her tightly. “It’s you!”
Dinah held the girl for several minutes, and when the two finally pulled apart, Dinah drew the girl over toward the settee. “Come and sit with me.”
“She was most anxious to see you one last time, Lady Stanton, before I take her back to her father.”
At hearing the wordsLady Stanton, Henry felt a jolt of panic crash into him. It took him no more than a blink to realize that Mr. Harding had, in fact, been referring to Dinah and not Henry’s mother. Still, the panic echoed about inside him. It would clearly take Henry some time to get used to other people calling Dinah by the same title his mother had once borne.
“Well, I’m glad to receive you both,” Dinah said before returning her attention to the little girl.
With a gentle tug on Henry’s elbow, Mr. Harding pulled him aside. “We’ve run into a bit of a problem.”
