Page 6 of Lord Heartless

It was amazing how two dissimilar minds could work in concert.

Insufferable prig, he was thinking.

Insufferable boor, she was thinking.

"My lord,” Carissa finally said into the awkward silence. Hartleigh's eyes were closed, but the rigid muscles in his jaw and the clenched fist told her he was not asleep. “I know of a home for wayward girls in the city. An unfortunate maid at Sir Gilliam's needed a place to birth her baby."

Carissa's voice trembled still, to think of something like that happening in a household she ran. It would not happen again, by heaven. A footman had been dismissed, and most of the maids went home at night now.

"I want no doxy tending my daughter."

"We have no choice. Neither did that maid, as a matter of fact. She was forced. Besides which, Sue's mother was obviously no better than she ought to be!"

"Sue's mother, Mrs. Kane, was a princess, by Jupiter."

"Who abandoned her child into the care of a drunken rake.” She hurried on, cursing her wayward tongue. “The home might have a girl there with milk enough for two babes."

Byrd had been awaiting directions, head swiveling between the two. “Lands, you're thinking to saddle us with another infant, missus? I'll be bunking in the stable, Cap'n, and you can find someone else to look after your threads."

Two infants in the house? Lesley thought he might have to move back to Grosvenor Square to get any rest. He nodded toward the housekeeper, though, signaling her to give Byrd the address.

Recognizing Mrs. Kane, the director of the girls’ home was inclined to be sympathetic to Hartleigh's tale of an orphaned ward. He was wise enough to be sympathetic to any potential patron, in fact. Reverend Garapie might not have believed the taradiddle, but neither did he accuse the widow of wrongdoing, nor the peer of philandering. Unfortunately, he did not have a solution to their problem. Most of the girls left the home as soon as their infants were born, the clergyman explained without mentioning what happened to either the girls or their offspring.

The only two nursing mothers now in residence were not suitable. One was sickly, which was why she remained, and the other was unbalanced since the birthing and could not be trusted with her son. The home was trying to locate her family to take her away. Reverend Garapie shook his head. “Such things happen, the good Lord knows why.” He kept sorting through the stacks of papers on his desk. “We do have two young women near term, however, my lord, Mrs. Kane. A week or so should do it, then a few days for recovery."

"I don't have a few days, much less a week, damn it. Ah, dash it, Reverend."

"The good Lord cannot be hurried, Lord Hartleigh.” The reverend adjusted his spectacles and read one of the papers. “Hmm. We did have a girl here last week whose infant son was born dead, God keep his innocent soul. Perhaps she is still in milk."

Lesley sat up straighter. “We'll find out. Where is she now?"

Mr. Garapie was not to be rushed either. He kept reading the paper and “hmming” to himself until the viscount almost snatched the document out of his hands. Finally the cleric looked up and removed his spectacles. While he wiped them on his handkerchief, Garapie spoke to Mrs. Kane, seeing her to be the more understanding of the pair.

"The girl's name is Maisie Banks, and it is a familiar enough story. She was gainfully employed as a parlor maid when the poor child was accosted by her employer. Her titled employer,” he added, looking at Hartleigh now. “He refused to take responsibility, which I am happy to see is not the case here. Maisie had to come to us, and heaven alone knows what was to happen to her or the child after, for no one hires servants with besmirched reputations or babes. As I said, the infant died. I believe the poor girl was forced to return to Lord Cosgrove's house to seek her position back. She had no references, you see, and no family to take her in."

Carissa could well understand the girl's plight. Encumbered by an infant, she herself had had enough trouble finding a position, even in her widow's weeds. And her father had refused to lend assistance, since she'd wed against his wishes. If it weren't for a friend of her great-aunt's, who knew one of Sir Gilliam's partners, Carissa might have been forced to accept such a situation. If not for Sir Gilliam, she and Pippa might have found themselves on the street.

Mr. Garapie was shaking his head. “I am sorely afraid the poor child will be back here in a few months."

Not if Carissa Kane had anything to say about it. Lord Hartleigh was all for rescuing the chit too, if it meant his daughter would be well cared for. Besides, Lord Cosgrove was a sore loser. The dirty dish was also a frequent loser, Lesley told Carissa and Byrd as they made their plans before re-entering the carriage, with a wife he kept in the country while he spent her money as fast as he could here in Town. “I knew he was a nasty piece of goods from the start, when he wasn't paying his gambling debts on time, but to rape one of his own servants..."

Carissa was pleased to see that his lordship had some antipathy toward Lord Cosgrove's dastardy, right after his poor sportsmanship. “Do you know his direction?"

"Aye, but I will take you and the children home first. No need for you to speak to such a blackguard."

"I'll go, Cap'n,” Byrd offered, pulling a pistol out of his coat pocket, to Carissa's horror. “I'll have the mort back in Kensington afore the cat can scratch its ear."

"Stubble it, Byrdie. We cannot kidnap the girl. He might be a rum go, but I'll convince Cosgrove to part with the maid, one way or the other."

"You are both being precipitous,” Carissa put in, “besides itching for trouble. We don't know if this Maisie Banks can feed Sue, or if she wishes to, with her own infant dead. I'll go talk to her myself."

In the end, Lord Hartleigh entered Cosgrove's front door, Mrs. Kane and the two children entered the rear, and Byrd entered the nearest pub.

Since it was still before noon, Lord Cosgrove was still abed. He was not pleased when his valet announced an insistent caller, one who was known to be handy with his fives. Lord Hartleigh was not pleased to be kept waiting for half an hour. He was pacing around the shabby parlor, kicking at the unlighted logs in the fireplace. Cosgrove was practicing economies, it seemed. He ought to be happy to be relieved of paying one maidservant's salary.

Cosgrove had a drunkard's nose, all red-veined and swollen. He had pouches under his eyes big enough to store a palmed ace. He had shaking hands, bad breath, and a stomach that sagged over his waistband. Lud, the viscount wondered, could he look this bad in the mornings? The thought was enough to keep him from accepting a glass of the port Cosgrove was pouring for breakfast.

Cosgrove slammed the decanter down. “So how much do I owe you, Hartleigh? I tell you right off I'll need time to recoup my losses, so you've wasted the call. Don't know why you're in such a rush, dash it. Ain't like you're sailing close to the wind, blast you."

"You do not owe me anything, Cosgrove, for I won't play with your ilk."

"What's that supposed to mean, ‘my ilk'?"

"I mean belligerent, bacon-brained gamblers who can't afford to pay their debts."

"What, did you come here to insult a man in his own house?” Hell, if Cosgrove didn't owe the Corinthian anything, he didn't have to take his arrogance.

"I came to ask you to release the young female in your employ who recently gave birth.” Lesley had no desire to air his laundry in this midden, so he did not mention the infant. The ton would find out soon enough, and this clodpole with them. “I am prepared to reimburse you for her quarterly wages."

"Maisie, eh? She gets pennies.” And none of his servants had received their last wages anyway. But Maisie? “Now, what would a swell like you want with such a dab of a maid? You've always had nothing but the highest flyers. What, did you hear she was a tasty morsel?"

"An adolescent parlor maid? Hardly. I need the milk, man, that's all."

A crafty look came over Cosgrove's shifty eyes. “I never thought of that. And I never knew you had such unconventional appetites. I'm not surprised the houses of accommodation cannot accommodate you."

"It's for an infant, you clunch."

Cosgrove ignored him, lost in a fantasy of his own. “I have half a mind to taste it for myself."

"No, you have half a mind, period. And I've a mind to put my fist through your nose. I want that girl, by Zeus!"

"It'll cost you a monkey then, Hartleigh. Right fond of the girl, I am."

"I'll see you in hell first.” He got up to leave, nauseated all over again, this time by Cosgrove, not last night's carousal. Byrd could come back later and kidnap the girl after all.

Meanwhile, Carissa was enjoying a nice coze in Cosgrove's kitchen. Pippa was playing with some string, and the baby was watching. Cosgrove's housekeeper was impressed at how well behaved the widow's daughter was, and even more impressed that her neighbor, the one they called Lord Heartless, was taking responsibility for his pretty little by-blow.

"It's not every man what will, you know,” the housekeeper declaimed over the second cup of tea. “And hardly any of the nobs. Think they can have their way with the girls, then ignore the consequences, they do. I warn my girls, over and over. Not that it helps in this household. Not at all, not at all."

She paused only long enough for Carissa to mention her own trials with young servants and older scoundrels. “I have the maids go home at night now, or sleep with Cook."

The older woman nodded and handed Pippa a biscuit. “I tried to hire old women, but they couldn't do the work. And the master don't care. Young or old, pretty or ugly, willing or not. I'd move on, I would, for such conduct is not what a body is used to, but jobs are worse than hen's teeth to come by. I don't have to tell you how it is, dearie."

Carissa agreed that life was hard for a woman earning her own living. “But perhaps I can make things easier for Maisie."

The other housekeeper shook her head. “I don't know. I'd feel better if she went, yet I don't want to see the poor child go from the frying pan to the fire. That Lord Hartleigh has a wicked reputation, he does."

Leaning closer, Mrs. Kane confided, “It's all a hum, but he doesn't want anyone to know. Why, the man positively dotes on little Sue. And he is taking the responsibility for her very seriously indeed. In fact, on the way here he bought every infant dress the store had in stock."

"And if Maisie comes, you're sure he won't...?"

"He wouldn't.” Carissa was certain of that. She couldn't explain how, but she knew without a doubt that Lord Hartleigh would never take advantage of a weaker opponent. “He treats me with respect, like a true gentleman. Naturally we would have to warn Maisie not to fall in love with him."

The housekeeper laughed. “That much of a charmer, is he?"

"Some women might find him so.” Never her, of course. She would never toss her bonnet after a silver-tongued devil, no matter how many dimples he had. Not again. Carissa folded her hands in her lap and waited for the housekeeper to send for Maisie.

The maid was barely seventeen, with red hair and freckles. She would have been comely except for the gap between her front teeth, that and the pale listlessness that draped her like a shawl. Until she saw the baby. “Hello, lovey,” she cooed to Sue after making her curtsy to the two housekeepers.

Carissa started to ask if Maisie thought she'd like to care for Sue, but Pippa exclaimed, “She already knows Baby's name, Mama!"

Maisie did not know much about babies. She never had the chance to learn, but she thought she'd like it just fine. And the milk was hurting something fierce. “I think I would be happier anywhere than here, Mrs. Kane, if it's safe."

"It will be, I swear. And when his lordship finds a new home for Sue, either you'll go along or he'll find a place in his household for you."

Maisie's satchel was already packed. They were all waiting in the carriage when the viscount stormed out of Cosgrove's house. “And good riddance."

Back on Gibsonia Street, Maisie and Sue were quickly settled in the spare bedroom, which had been cleaned first. The infant was suckling happily when Carissa returned to find Lord Hartleigh anxiously awaiting her report.

"Is it working? Sue is going to be all right?"

"Yes, and Maisie will be also, I think. I must warn you that I have given my pledge that she will be unharmed in this household."

He was outraged. “You felt you had to give your word that I would not rape that poor girl? What kind of monster do you think me, that I might even be tempted? I am not Cosgrove, madam, that you have to warn me to be on my best behavior around innocent children."

"Maisie is no longer innocent, thanks to Cosgrove."

"She is still innocent. He is the cad. The girl is now in my employ, which means she is under my protection, not to be trifled with by anyone."

"Well, I am sure I am happy to hear all that, my lord, but what I pledged to Maisie was that she didn't have to worry about the dog. Gladiator has to go."

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