He did as she requested and then sat back and waited. She fiddled with her gloves, smoothed her skirts, and finally, she took off her bonnet and placed it on the seat beside her. He knew she wasn’t deliberately trying to delay telling him. She was simply gathering her words.
“I would firstly like to thank you, my lord, for taking me in your carriage when you had no idea what I was undertaking or why. I fear few people would be so generous.”
“Do you know, Claire, I believe that is the first compliment you have ever paid me.”
That produced a small smile, but she did not comment. Instead, she began her story.
“I do not need to ask that you keep what I tell you a secret, because soon you’ll understand the gravity of the situation.” She didn’t speak in the confident, haughty tone she saved especially for him. Her words were husky, almost as if her throat was raw. “The day before I ran into you, my lord, in that lane, I had received a note telling me my brother Anthony–he’s–”
“I know about Anthony, Claire.”
She nodded. “The note stated that Anthony had left something in France and I was to go to Tuttle Lane and meet someone there to collect it.”
“However you ran into me, and that put an end to that.”
She nodded again before continuing. “Do you remember the day you and Eva brought Georgia to visit with me?’
This time, Simon nodded.
“My brother intercepted a note meant for me whilst you were there, and that is why he did not rejoin us.”
Simon said nothing as she fell silent again, her fingers beginning to pleat the skirts of her smooth dress. He was good with silence. He’d had plenty of practice in his youth, and he had soon realized it made people uncomfortable–so uncomfortable, often they uttered the first things that came into their heads, which, in some cases, were the last things they wanted anyone to hear.
“The note said I was to be given another chance, and that Anthony had a child and I was to go to Liverpool to collect it, and if I did not go within the time they stipulated, then it would be abandoned. I have to call it…it, as I have no idea whether it’s a boy or girl.” These last words tumbled out in a breathless rush and they left Simon sitting in stunned silence.
CHAPTER EIGHT
A myriad of scenarios had run through Simon’s head since he had found her on the steps of Daniel’s house, yet none of them had come close to this. He’d had her fleeing from a man her brother had wanted her to marry, and then, on the other hand, fleeing to a man her brother disapproved of. Neither of these had sat well with him.
“And you are going to get the child?” Simon questioned her.
“Yes, because my mother and Mathew will not.” She lifted her chin, and he saw the determination. She would go to Liverpool even if she had to ride all the way by donkey.
“And you went to that lane to see these people who have the child, just as you are now to go to Liverpool on your own, with no support, and presumably a vast amount of money tucked away on your person?” Simon hadn’t meant to raise his voice, but he couldn’t believe anyone would attempt anything so foolish alone.
“I had no other choice, can’t you see?” Her hands clenched into her skirts in agitation. “I will not let my niece or nephew be abandoned on the streets of Liverpool. If need be, I will take him or her and disappear to one of my brother’s estates. However I will do this for Anthony, as he would have done for Mathew, were their roles reversed.”
“You were going to travel by stagecoach or hired carriage for a three-day journey to Liverpool,” Simon continued, undaunted by the fact she was upset. Bloody little fool–anything could have happened to her even before she’d left London if he hadn’t intercepted her. “You were to stay with the other travellers dressed like that?” He pointed to her clothing. “Christ, Claire, I had thought you a woman of sense. It appears I was wrong.”
She leaned towards him, her eyes shooting sparks. “Don’t insult me, my lord. I have an old cloak and bonnet to change my appearance. Furthermore,” she added as he scoffed loudly, “I am doing what the circumstances necessitated I do. Should I perhaps have asked my brother’s coachman to drive me, or perchance the butler to book me a ticket on the stage to Liverpool?”
“I do not know Mathew well, Claire, yet he does not seem an unreasonable man. I’m sure he felt he was making the right decisions for his family. Did you try to talk this through with him? What of your mother? She would want to know if Anthony’s child was alive, surely.”
Pain flashed across her face. “My mother does what my brother tells her to, and as he does not believe there is a child, Lord Kelkirk, neither of them will take steps towards checking the validity of the claim. Mathew refuses to see reason. Therefore, he has forced me to take action.