Page 85 of The Duke's Only Desire

“No.” He looked past her into the dark stairwell, as if not trusting the landlady not to be eavesdropping. “May we talk in private?”

When she hesitated to agree, Sophie added, “It really is about your daughter. We didn’t lie about that.”

“Is she sick?” Cora demanded with immediate concern. “Is something wrong with her?”

“Not that we know of,” Sophie assured her in a deliberately calm and even voice. “Please—will you give us a few moments of your time? And then I think—” She cast a questioning glance over her shoulder at Shay. “I think we can take you to see your daughter, if you’d like.”

Her lips parted, stunned. In that moment’s hesitation, Sophie could see the woman fighting down the urge to immediately agree to anything just to have that opportunity. But she’d lived a hard life already, and certainly she also knew not to raise her hopes.

“We can talk out here,” she told them, closing the door behind her and folding her arms protectively over her chest. Her posture was one of pure distrust. “No one will overhear.” Her eyes locked on Shay. “What do you want with Ruby and me? I would have thought you and your family would have been happy to be rid of us.”

“We didn’t know your daughter existed,” Sophie answered quietly, “or we would have come to help you long before now. We found out only a few days ago. The hospital said she was placed with a wet nurse and that you’re still involved with her life as much as you can be. Is that true?”

She confirmed that with a wary nod, still untrusting. Sophie didn’t blame her. “What do you want with me?”

“We need your help.” Shay’s deep voice was quiet, as if he didn’t trust the strangers coming and going in the street around them. “And in return, we want to help you and your daughter.”

Miss White darted a surprised glance between Shay and Sophie. Most likely, it was the first offer of help anyone had made to her since she arrived in London. Her eyes narrowed suspiciously. “Why would you help me? I’m nothing to you.”

“You were at Ravenscroft the night my brother died in the fire,” Shay explained. “You saw what happened, didn’t you? You left the barn, but I’m certain you lingered outside the stable until the fire started before you fled for home.”

She pulled in a deep breath, then nodded, her arms falling to her sides. “I left when you two had words. I didn’t want no part of that.” She lifted her head in a misplaced show of pride. “But John hadn’t paid me yet, so I waited around for my blunt.”

“You saw the two of us fight?”

She nodded. “He didn’t like what you were saying and came after you.”

“You saw that for certain?” Sophie pressed, resting a hand on Shay’s arm. “That it was John who started the fight?”

“For certain,” she repeated resolutely. “John was in a foul mood that night. He’d been itchin’ for trouble since he walked into the tavern. I should have stayed away from ’im, but I wanted the money and knew he was in just the kind of state to pay more than he should. I took advantage of him the same as he took of me.”

What John did to her was far worse than she made it sound, but Sophie bit her tongue and let the woman cling to whatever little bits of pride she had left.

“You saw me leave?” Shay pressed.

“Yeah.” Bitterness colored her voice. “How was I supposed to get my blunt, then, with him passed out in the straw? I blame you for losing what I was owed.”

“As well you should,” Shay muttered in agreement. “And the fire? Did you see any of it?”

She looked away guiltily. “It had already started by the time I snuck back inside. I tried to wake him—pushed him, kicked him, slapped him—but he wouldn’t move.” Her voice became impossibly small. “I had no choice but to leave to save my own skin.”

“I know,” Shay said quietly. “No one blames you for that.”

“Don’t they?” Her eyes burned as they fixed back on him. “That’s what your sort does. You blame people like me, and you would have blamed me for the fire and for murdering him that night, too, if I’d stayed. You were running back to the barn, in fact. So I took off as fast as I could across the fields.”

“No one’s blaming you for anything that happened that night,” Sophie assured her. “It was all a terrible accident. We know that, just as we know how frightened you must have been. No one blames you for fleeing.” She added softly, “I would have done the same.”

Cora White gave a disbelieving snort. “Not a lady like you! They’d have been fussing over you and givin’ you all kinds ofcordials and smelly vials in case you swooned, while they’d have been locking me up in irons.”

“No, they wouldn’t have,” Shay corrected gently.

“Why not?” she demanded. “I was the convenient criminal.”

“Because I was even more convenient to suit their ends.”

He told Cora White the events of that night, how he had rushed back to save John only to arrive too late, how the barn had collapsed on top of him…how he was blamed after for his brother’s death by both his father and his uncle. Shay spared no details about the accusations both men had made against him, nor did he hide any details about how Malcolm was attempting to manipulate them now.

Cora White listened silently, her eyes glued to Shay’s scarred face.