Free A Dream of Desire by Nina Rowan Page B

lend his own support to the cause.
    Yes, it should all have gone exactly as Talia planned. She just hadn’t counted on James Forester coming back. Much less realizing that he could actually help her, if she still trusted him enough to keep her secret.
    She tightened her hand on Alice’s arm. She couldn’t ask James for help, but she could appeal to the director of the Ragged School Union. “Let me talk to Sir Henry and Mr. Fletcher tomorrow. They’ll have an idea of what to do.”
    Alice swiped at her eyes. “You’ve already done too much, my lady, but I didn’t know where else to go. If Peter gets into trouble again, he’ll be lost forever.”
    “No, he won’t. And I wouldn’t have offered to help you if I hadn’t wanted to.” Talia pushed open the front door before Alice could protest. “Come and have a cup of tea.”
    “No.” Alice’s eyes skirted past Talia to the marble-floored foyer with its curved staircase and huge, gilt-framed mirror. “I’d best get back. My father will be home soon.”
    “Very well.” Deflecting a pang of regret, Talia released Alice’s arm and stepped into the foyer. “I’ll call upon you at ten tomorrow morning, and then I’ll go to the union offices to speak with Sir Henry. We’ll find him, Alice.”
    Talia couldn’t bring herself to add, “I promise.”
      
    William Lawford watched Alice Colston from a distance. Beautiful, she was. Delicate like a bird, but without the artificial trappings of society. So different from the women of the ton with their silk and ribbons. Alice wore plain cotton dresses, and the one time he’d been close enough to see her hands—when she had signed the ledger the first time she came to see her brother at Newhall—William had noticed her roughened skin and short-clipped fingernails.
    But, God, she was lovely, with her pale gold hair and Madonna-like features. Blue eyes fringed with long, dark lashes. A rosebud mouth that he couldn’t stop staring at as she’d stood in the front office at Newhall and told him she was Peter’s sister.
    Not once since that day several months ago had William been able to stop thinking of her. He’d almost petitioned for the boy’s release himself just so that he could see Alice again when she came to fetch her brother. Instead he’d waited the interminable weeks until the day of Peter’s release…only to have his enjoyment over seeing Alice again blackened by the presence of that interfering Lady Talia Hall and her accomplice Fletcher.
    Under the guise of giving her a report about Peter’s condition, William had visited Alice twice at her family’s Bell Lane house. Her wretched father had been there both times, making it impossible for William to speak with Alice alone, but at least he’d been able to gaze at her and hear the sound of her voice.
    Now that Peter had been freed, William had to find another excuse to be in her company.
    When Alice turned the corner of King’s Street, William followed. His heart beat faster as he closed the distance between them.
    “Good afternoon, Miss Colston.”
    She startled, her head turning. “Oh, Mr. Lawford. What are you doing here?”
    “I’d thought to pay a visit on Lady Talia Hall when I saw you leaving.” He kept his tone politely inquisitive. “You had the same idea.”
    “Yes. Lady Talia has been very kind to my family, especially after Peter’s arrest.”
    “How did she come to know Peter?”
    “He helped her in some way, she once said.” Alice reached up to tighten her collar around her neck. “Though she’s been more of a help to us.”
    “And how is Peter faring after his release?” William asked.
    “He’s begun putting back the weight he’d lost, which is good, but he’s still…upset.”
    William clenched his jaw. Peter had been a problem since the moment he was brought to Newhall. Sullen and defiant in a way William hadn’t encountered before. He knew Peter was afraid of him—several floggings and confinement had ensured