She noticed his nose was a little off-center and nodded toward it. “Did it hurt a lot?”

“Bleedin’ right it did. It were that fellow looking for ye who broke it.”

“Yes, Lucy told me.”

Dagger spared a moment to glare at Lucy, who shrugged as she joined them at the table, too. “So I knew where she were working. It’s a good thing ye didn’t, or ye would’ve spilled yer guts to that thug.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Danny interjected. “He found me anyway. He’s dead, though, so you don’t have to worry about him anymore.”

“Yekilled him?”

Danny shook her head, explained, “He did that on his own when he got caught trying to kill me and ran. And the lord who hired him, he’s off to jail himself, so he won’t be doing any more hiring.”

“A lord?” Dagger exclaimed. “Wot the devil ’ave ye been getting yerself into, Danny?”

“Nothing. It was my past catching up to me. That lord, he knows who I really am. He wouldn’t say though, the bastard, and I still can’t remember. But I think he’s the one who killed my family. I was supposed to die with them, but my nurse protected me and escaped with me. Then Lucy found me.”

Dagger turned an incredulous look on Lucy. “Ye brought home anabob!”

“I don’t think I’m one of them,” Danny was quick to deny.

“That lord, he’s as crooked as they get, a thief himself. If my family was associated with him back then, maybe they weren’t so up-standing themselves. He did want us all dead, after all. To wipe out a whole family sounds like revenge no matter how you look at it.”

Lucy snorted now. “She were a nabob. Dressed like it, spoke like it. And lords kill each other all the time for all sorts of silly reasons that don’t bother us down this side o’ town.”

Danny rolled her eyes, was about to mention that not only nabobs talked like that, that even upper-crust servants did, but Dagger demanded of Lucy, “Then why’d ye bring ’er ’ome, eh? You bleedin’ well knew better.”

“Because she ’ad no one, and no memories, and was barely five years old. If ye think I’m that cold ’earted that I’d leave ’er in an alley to fend for ’erself, then I’m thinking ye need yer nose broke again.”

“But ye ’id wot she was, not just that she were gentry, but that she were a female. Why’d ye do that?”

“Because ye were going through one o’ yer desperate-for-money periods and were about to force me to whore for coins. I was furious wi’ ye, Dagger, over that. And I didn’t want to see the same thing ’appen to Danny. I wanted ’er to ’ave choices, and men get more choices.”

He was blushing by the time Lucy finished. “’Ow many times do I ’ave to apologize for that, eh?”

“Oh, shut up, Dagger. I made a good whore as it ’appens. But I’m thinking o’ retiring. I’ve met a man who wants to keep me exclusively to ’imself.”

Danny grinned and guessed, “That hack driver?”

Lucy chuckled. “Aye, ’e’s sweet on me, ’e truly is. Wants to get married! Who would’ve ever thought, eh?”

“So I’m going to lose ye, too?” Dagger said, looking crushed.

Danny thought that might be a good time to introduce one of her old wishes. “Dagger, have you ever thought of turning this into a real orphanage? We could get real jobs to support it, hire a teacher for the children, get them real beds. Lucy would probably help, too.”

He was staring at her as if she’d lost her mind. “D’ye ’ave any idea wot kind o’ money yer talking about, to run an orphanage? Teachers ain’t cheap, are bleedin’ expensive. And beds!”

“Itcould be done, Dagger. Think on it.”

“Bah, where would I be finding a real job, eh? Ye didn’t, did ye?”

“I did,” she said, her tone turning defensive.

“Then wot are ye doing back ’ere?” he demanded. “Got fired already?”

“No, I left of my own accord. It was a good job, I really liked it. But I was getting too attached to my employer, so I thought it best to leave.”

The moisture started gathering in her eyes again. She stood up, turned away from the table. Lucy was suddenly beside her, putting an arm around her shoulder all the while she was glaring at Dagger.

“I’m not here to stay, Dagger,” Danny continued when she got control of her emotions again. “I’m just here to leave my things with Lucy for a few days while I look for another job. And I missed you all, and the children. I know you told me not to come back, but—”

“Hush, luv,” Lucy cut in. “Ye can visit for as long as ye like. Ain’t that right, Dagger?”

It was said in such a threatening tone that Dagger merely mumbled something under his breath, grabbed his hat, and left, probably to find the nearest tavern. But as soon as he was gone, Lucy turned Danny toward her, studied her tear-reddened eyes for a moment, then hugged her close.

“Ye poor lass, yer not pregnant, are ye?”

“No, at least, I don’t think so.”

“Then ye let yer ’eart get broken?”

“There was no stopping that. I thought if I left sooner rather than later, then it wouldn’t be so bad, but I—I didn’t think it would hurt this much.”

“There’s no chance for the two o’ ye?”

“No, I told him I was leaving and why. He didn’t try to stop me.”

“Because he’s upper-crust gentry?”

Danny shook her head. “He might have a huge family full of titled lords and ladies, but there’s members of it who buck convention, even his own father. He just doesn’t want to get married. He’s one of those confirmed rakehell bachelors. All he wanted to do was make me his mistress for a while.”

“I take it ye were ’aving none o’ that?”

“None a’tall.”

“Even though some men keep their mistresses for as long as they do their wives?”

Danny snorted. “He’s notthat type. Lucy, I swear he’s so handsome he could melt butter with a smile. He’s got women scheming and plotting to lure him to the altar by any means, while he’ll go to any lengths to avoid it. But it doesn’t matter. I want a family of my own. Jeremy Malory can’t give me that.”

Chapter 49

“I’MNOT SURPRISED,” Anthony was saying as the coach meandered through traffic late the next afternoon. “Saw it in the bone structure.”

James snorted at his brother. “You saw nothing of the sort.”

“Beg to differ, old man. Just becauseyou didn’t see it doesn’t mean someone with a more discerning eye wouldn’t. Maybe you need glasses in your old age?”

“Maybe you need an invite to Knighton’s after we finish with this mess.”

Anthony chuckled. Knighton’s Hall was a sporting establishment that specialized in exercise of the brutal sort. Both brothers had been known to spend many an hour there in the ring perfecting their skills at fisticuffs.

“Be glad to take you on anytime,” Anthony replied. “But fess up. You’re just annoyed becauseyou didn’t see this coming.”

“And how was it even a remote possibility that Jason would remember an obscure meeting that took place over twenty years ago? He’d only met the chit once back then.”

Anthony laughed. “Because it annoyed him. He felt he should know her, so he bloody well wasn’t going to stop thinking about it until he recalled why she looked familiar to him. I’m not surprised either that he hied himself back to London just to blister your ears over the matter.”

“It wasn’t my ears he was after. He went straight to Jeremy’s house, but my lad wasn’t home. Impatient as our brother is, I then became his second target.”

“Don’t envy you. Wouldn’t want to have to tellmy son that he has to give up such a prime piece.”

James snorted. “You don’t have a son. And I ain’t telling mine any such thing. The youngun’s a man now, he can make his own decisions on what to do about this mess. ’Sides, just because Jason says so? Not a chance.”

Anthony grinned. “I’ve been having devilish good luck lately, to have been on hand for his tirade. I know bloody well you wouldn’t have told me about it after the fact.”

“Course I would have. Misery loves company, don’t you know.”

They didn’t find Jeremy at home either, but unlike Jason, James knew whom to ask for his whereabouts.

“’E’s gone to find the wench,” Artie informed James. “She abandoned ship.”

“They had a fight?”

“Don’t think so. She’s gone off to get a new job, according to the kitchen wench.”

“In what direction did you send him?” James asked mildly.

“Didn’t. The kitchen wench did, though. She told ’im the lass was going ’ome first, before she looked for a new job.”

“And in which direction are you pointing me?”

“Ain’t,” Artie surprised them by saying stubbornly. “Unless ye bring me along to watch yer back.”

“Certainly. Wouldn’t have it any other way. Now where’s he gone looking for her?”

“Worse part o’ town ye can imagine. The slums of the slums.”

“Have you thought about an orphanage, Dagger?”

“No,” he mumbled. “Did ye even think it through? Wot ’appens if yer idea falls apart, eh? Ye give these younguns ’ope of a better life, then it gets taken away from them when we can’t meet all the costs. Then ye’ve got a lot o’ discontented younguns worse off than they were before. At least now they don’t expect better, so they’re ’appy enough as they are.”

So hehad thought about it. And she hadn’t considered that aspect of failing. But he was being too negative. With that attitude, of course they’d fail.

“I found a good job this morning, first one I applied for, too.”

“Wot’s yer point?”

“The pay is better uptown. If you could get a job in the same area, we could start the orphanage there. It’s a nice area of town, no gentry, mostly tradespeople.”

“Forget it,” he said angrily now. “I’ve never ’eld a real job.”

“You have. You’re an organizer, a manager, a foreman, and a host of other things you’ve been doing right here for years.”

“I know wot I know and I don’t try to reach for wot ain’t possible. Be gone with ye. Yer goals are too fancy for ’ere. The only way ye’ll get an orphanage is with government support or private support.”

“If I could get the private support, would you be willing to run the orphanage?”

“Sure, ye set it up, I’ll run it for ye.” But then the sneering tone was back as he added, “So ye’ve rich friends now, do ye?”

He said that only because he didn’t think she had a chance in hell of pulling it off. And maybe she didn’t. But it wasn’t something she was going to give up on.

“She does, actually.”

Danny swung around and gasped at the sight of Jeremy filling the doorway. He was staring at her as if he wanted to grab her and shake her—or hug her. In fact, so much emotion was in his eyes she simply couldn’t decipher exactly what he was feeling. But he finally tore his eyes off her to glance behind him at the pack of children who had gathered to ogle at a nabob in their part of town.

He tossed one a coin, said, “Be a good lad and watch the carriage for me. If it’s still there when I come out, there’ll be another coin for you. If it’s not, I’ll help you dig your grave before I put you in it.”

That brought Danny out of her daze. She rushed to the door. “He didn’t mean that,” she told the boy who was standing there with his mouth dropped open. “Just sit in the carriage and give a yell if anyone tries to take it.”

Then she moved away from Jeremy again before she swung around to demand stiffly, “How did you find me?”

“I had to beat that tavern behemoth to the ground and threaten to rip out his heart before he told me where your cohorts in crime were located.”

“You tangled withhim?”

“Well, no, sounded good though, didn’t it?” Jeremy said with a cheeky grin.

Danny didn’t find that amusing, but Dagger certainly did. He burst out laughing. Jeremy continued, “As it happens, money loosened his tongue without any coercion a’tall. Loyal bunch you have around here,” he added dryly.

Dagger’s laughter had drawn Lucy out of her room. She stared at Jeremy agape before turning an even more incredulous look on Danny. “Ye left’im? Cor, Danny, ’ave ye lost yer flippin’ mind?”

Danny started blushing, but Jeremy flashed Lucy a smile and said, “You must be Lucy. I owe you a debt of gratitude, ’deed I do.”

Lucy blinked. “Ye do? For wot?”

“For protecting the chit all these years until I could find her. Thank you. And you as well,” he added to Dagger. “For giving her the boot out of here so she could find me.”

Danny rolled her eyes. Dagger coughed. Lucy said, “Dagger, let’s go admire the bloke’s carriage for a bit, eh, and give these two a moment alone.”

“Only a moment,” Danny insisted, but they were already heading out the door. She then glared at Jeremy. “Why are you here?”