Page 99 of A Virgin for the Duke of Ash

He stared at his hands, worn from toiling and scrabbling to survive. He would make sure that these little ones would never have to experience the horrors he had to go through.

Suddenly, a ball rolled over and bumped into his shoe. Daniel looked up to find a group of children running over to him, their eyes bright, their cheeks rosy with health.

He picked up the ball and held it up for them. “Is this yours?” he asked them.

A little girl stepped forward and nodded. “We were playing with it. We’re sorry for disturbing you, Sir.”

He smiled a little. “You were not disturbing anything. Here.”

He held the ball out to her, and she jogged up to him. She took the ball from his hands and then peered curiously up at him.

There was something in her eyes—the brightness and curiosity, perhaps—that reminded him once more of Evie, and the sharp pain lanced through his chest once more.

“You look sad,” she murmured, her brown eyes softening.

How very perceptive of you.

“I… I lost someone I care for,” he admitted softly. “Deeply.”

“Oh.” Her eyes clouded over with sympathy. “I lost my mama when I was little, too.”

She reached out to pat his shoulder, and with a most solemn face, she murmured consolingly, “There, there… I am certain it will get better with time.”

No, it won’t.

“I am afraid that it will take a long, long time to get better.”

“Why?” she persisted. “Did they go to heaven already?”

“Good grief, no!” Daniel burst out.

If Evie died, was there even a point of living?

“Are they… sick?”

Daniel fought the urge to laugh.

Such morbid questions for such a small girl.

But then, how could he forget that these children were the ones who had been through the greatest misfortune? And yet, they still looked at the world with eyes filled with hope.

It was truly a wonder.

“She is not dead or dying,” he told her.

“Oh.”

He watched as relief flooded her little face before she burst into a wide smile, and he noted a missing front tooth.

Charming.

“Then, in that case, you can always get her back!” She beamed up at him.

“What do you mean?”

She leaned in closer to him and confided in a soft voice, “Sometimes, Johnny and I fight a lot, and it always feels like I’m losing my friend.” She hung her head down. “He can beveryannoying, you know.”

Daniel chuckled. “I suppose it does.”

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