“How are you feeling?” He walked over to her and took her hand in his. “Did you get enough rest?”
“Yes. I d-did. I was just having s-some tea because I f-f-feel muddleheaded with the med-icine I’ve been t-t-taking.”
“I believe you should try to do without it and see how you do.” He cupped her chin and moved her head back and forth. His lips tightened which told her she must have looked a mess.
“Mr. Smith dinner will be ready in about fifteen minutes. Are we waiting for the young ladies?” Mrs. Davis looked over at him from the stove where she stirred a large pot.
“No. I think not. They are scared and confused. Just have trays sent up to them. Will you also have someone ask Mrs. Fletcher to prepare a room for them to stay? I don’t know for how long, but I think keeping the girls together is best.”
“Of course.” Mrs. Davis returned to the stove and Nick took Pamela’s hand. “Let’s retire to the drawing room while we wait for dinner. I could use a brandy right about now.”
Pamela felt the jolt of awareness from her hand to his. She looked sideways at him. He looked very tired and drawn. She was anxious to hear the story of the two girls he’d brought with him. Also, if he learned anything that would help Lizbeth.
She took a seat at the settee while he poured a brandy. “Sherry?”
Pamela shook her head. “I th-think the m-m-medicine is making m-me bef
uddled enough without adding sh-sherry.”
He grinned and joined her on the settee. He took a sip of his brandy, placed the glass on the table in front of him and cupped her cheeks. “I’ve waited to do this all day.”
He bent his head and she closed her eyes. Once his lips touched hers, the fire started low in her belly.
What madness was this?
11
Nick pulled Pamela closer to his body, enjoying her warmth and the delicate flowery scent coming from her. How he wished this situation over she he could work on convincing her to marry him.
That was where he knew he was headed. He wanted her in a way he’d never wanted a woman before. And not just for carnal purposes. Pamela was someone he envisioned spending the rest of his life with.
Almost from the time he laid eyes on her as she clung to Westbrooke’s arm at the Assembly, he knew she was someone special. Despite his thwarted attempts to court her, he never gave up and was extremely happy that she turned to him when she needed someone to help her.
He liked everything about Pamela, including her stutter. Not that he didn’t hope that one day, when she felt secure and loved, it would leave her. But even if it never did, it would not trouble him. Plain and simple, he loved her.
He drew back and wrapped his hand around her neck and ran his thumb over her soft cheek. “We have to be careful because one never knows when Mrs. Fletcher will come barreling into the room and drag me off by my ear.”
She laughed, the soft tinkle of the sound causing his body to react. How he loved seeing her laugh since he’d always viewed her as sad and withdrawn. She spoke very little when in company, and it broke his heart to think she’d been made to feel inferior because of her speech.
He dropped his hand lest Mrs. Fletcher did come into the room. He sat back and leaned his foot on his bent knee. “I’ve been reading about Mr. Alexander Bell and his son, also Mr. Alexander Bell. They are Scottish but moved to Canada years ago.
“It seems the father designed something called Visible Speech that involved a code of some sort for the positions of the throat, lips and tongue in speech. It has helped some people who stutter.”
“R-really? I had always b-b-been told I couldn’t d-do anything about this.” She looked both hopeful and cautious.
He couldn’t help himself and reached out to tuck a loose curl behind her ear. “Once we get this danger that you are in taken care of there are several things we need to discuss. I promise that will be one of them.”
“Wh-what other th-things?”
Before he could answer, which was a good thing since he didn’t want to frighten her with his determination to make her his, Mrs. Fletcher entered the room. “The young ladies are all settled in for the night. I put them together in the same room and Mrs. Davis just sent up a tray.”
Nick nodded and waved to the chair across from where he and Pamela sat. “Have a seat, Mrs. Fletcher. I want to explain to both of you what happened today.”
Both women sat at attention. Nick stood and leaned his arm on the mantlepiece. “The girls I brought home with me were working in a pub as prostitutes.”
Both Mrs. Fletcher and Pamela sucked in breaths. “Surely y—you are m-mistaken.” Pamela was pale as new milk, all the blood having left her lovely face. “Th-they are v-very young girls.”
Nick nodded. “I know. The woman who owns the pub offered them to me. I agreed, thinking I could get information from the girls. However, I was quite taken aback when I saw their ages. Not that I was unaware of girls that young being sold by family members into prostitution or taken off the streets and no one caring enough to search for them.” He ran his fingers through his hair. “It was a common practice in London when I was growing up there on the streets. I guess it had been so long since I saw a girl that young that I’d forgotten how awful that practice was.”