Free As an Earl Desires by Lorraine Heath Page A

was thinking,” she
continued. “We could use part of the money to hire ladies to
make these clothes rather than the seamstress I’m presently
using. I thought it would serve two purposes. Provide employment
for those who don’thave it, and provide
clothing for those who don’t have the means to purchase
them.”
    â€œWhere would you have them work? In the
basement?”
    â€œNo, no. I don’t want them to feel as
though I’m ashamed of them. Still I can’t have them
traipsing up to the front door either, can I? But I thought they
could use the servants’ entrance, then come to the parlor.
Light is good in here.” She remembered the many nights as a
child when she’d stood shivering beneath the streetlights her
mother had used to cast light on the sacks she was sewing so she
wouldn’t have to use costly candles in their home. Slop work
it was called.
    It was there the men would sometimes approach her.
“Would you be interested in sowing a few wild oats rather
than a bit of cloth?” they’d ask, then cackle like
idiots at what they perceived to be a witty proposal.
    â€œLady Sachse?”
    She snapped out of her horrid reverie to find
Lillian’s eyes wide-open. “Are you all right, my lady?
You’re pinching my arm.”
    Immediately, she released her hold on her
secretary. “I’m sorry. I was thinking of the
possibilities. We’ll discuss them all later. For now, have
the servants put these items in a carriage and deliver them to the
Salvation Army.” Camilla supported Catherine and William
Booth’s recent efforts toprovide shelter
and aid to London’s poor and socially outcast.
    â€œWill you at least let us tell them who the
items are from this time?”
    She shook her head. “No. No one need
know.”
    She turned to leave and released a tiny shriek at
the sight of the unexpected man standing in the doorway.
“Lord Sachse!”
    â€œCountess.”
    â€œHow long have you been standing
there?”
    A devastatingly handsome smile slowly spread across
his face. “Long enough.”
    Â 
    She was livid. Arch was entranced. He’d known
she was harboring secrets, but why was she fearful of her
generosity being discovered? Because others might see her as
tenderhearted and take advantage of her goodness? Was it as
she’d said during their walk from the art museum—that a
generous woman would be unable to survive?
    She held her tongue until Lillian left to retrieve
the required servants, but the whole while he could see Camilla
seething, see the tiny tremors going through her.
    â€œHow dare you!” she spit, once they
were alone. “How dare you spy upon me!”
    â€œI did not mean to spy.”
    â€œDid you not? Then why did you not announce
your arrival?”
    â€œI’d planned to. I told your butler
that I would see to it, but then I decided that I shouldn’t
interrupt.” He hadn’t wanted to interrupt.
    â€œYou had no right.”
    â€œNo right? No right to learn that my
suspicions were founded? You lied to me about the
purchases—without shame or remorse.”
    â€œOh, there was remorse.”
    He was glad to hear it, but not to see her suddenly
appearing downtrodden and defeated. She’d not taken pleasure
in lying to him. He took a measure of satisfaction from that, but
still it bothered him that she had yet to trust him completely.
He’d done nothing to earn her distrust except be related to
the man she’d married. He supposed she was of the opinion
that the apple didn’t fall far from the tree, but his branch
of the tree was quite a distance from the one her husband had
fallen from.
    â€œWhat did you think I would do? Force you to
return the items if I discovered they weren’t for
you?”
    â€œThe old Sachse would have. He was a good
deal like that character in the story you read to me a couple of
weeks ago. Scrooge.