Page 13 of Pining for Lord Lockhart
But the door opened, and Charity stepped out. She was hardly dressed to be seen. But she looked as though she were sneaking. She had a bundle and a satchel, and she looked up and down the street before stepping out. As soon as she faced forward and almost stepped into him, she yelped. “Lord Lockhart.”
She did not meet his eyes but seemed in too great a hurry for this hour of the day.
“Hello.”
“Good morning. I think I shall be seeing you at the salon.”
“Yes.”
“It’s not for several hours yet.”
“Not for another five, certainly.”
She nodded. “Are you here early? Or are you going for a walk very close to my door?” She adjusted the satchel on her shoulder and stepped further out into the street.
“I’m here early.” He waited. But when she merely looked as though she would faint from not hurrying off, he took pity on her. “You’re going to feed those children.”
“I don’t want to hear anything about it. They’re hungry, and we have more than enough.”
“I’m coming with you.”
“What?”
“Certainly. But has it occurred to you that we don’t know where they live or anything about them?”
“It has, yes.”
“And you’re still determined to do this today.”
“I am.”
“Excellent. Then let’s find a carriage, shall we?”
“Where is yours?”
“Well, I think I left him over there.” Andrew pointed back in the direction of the park.
She stepped up beside him. “You know, it’s rather remarkable that you are here.”
“I agree. And it’s remarkable that you are thinking of precisely the exact thing I am thinking of.”
“I am?”
“Yes, well, perhaps not precisely. But I’ve come early to talk to you, to ask your advice on how to best manage my affairs so that I might help with the poorer classes, with the children, all of it. I went over and over it all in my mind and by the end of it all, I determined only that the best first course of action would be to seek your counsel.”
She stopped in her path and stared for a moment. In all his knowing her, he didn’t think he had seen her speechless before. But she rallied and smiled. “Well, then let’s get talking. We have food to deliver and a salon to host. No time to spend it discussing the weather.”
“As if we ever discuss the weather.” He snorted. “Can you imagine? It is rather lovely today, don’t you think? Last night was freezing, even the warming pan—”
“Lord Lockhart.”
He laughed. “Righto. So I have this detailed list.” He pulled the folded paper he’d written last night out of his pocket.
“What is this?”
He felt suddenly very vulnerable in front of the woman who was adamantly always working on something to improve not just her life but all of England. He cleared his throat. “So what we have here is a list of all the things that could be improved with a little money.”
Her eyes widened, and she leaned closer to look over his shoulder. The hint of mint filled the air around them. With a smile, he tilted the paper toward her so she could see.
