Page 51 of Loving a Noble Gentleman
“I have my friends; I have my own life, and I shall be just fine.”
Edmund nodded and agreed. He did not yet have a plan in mind and was not surehowto make this happen, but at least he had considered the complications when it came to this plan. To rescue Charlotte, he would have to take herveryfar away from that horrible husband of hers. He did not know much about Lord Jones; this was not someone that he had worked with during his career, but he now did not like him one bit. He found him cowardly and disgusting. The sort of man who put his hands on a woman – a pregnant woman at that – was a pig. He did not deserve his wife or his child.
This needed to happen.
“Thank you, Mother. You have been very kind.” Edmund stood up and took a step back. “Now I need to go to my office to make some plans. I do not know what I am going to do yet, but somehow I am going to save the Roberts girls. Mr Walter Thompson made a mess of their lives, but I am going to fix it somehow.”
“You are a good man, Edmund.” Iris smiled at him proudly. “And I know that somehow you will do this.”
***
Daisy felt strange in her new job; she did not quite know where to position herself most of the time. It was not her mistress – Iris was a wonderful woman who did everything that she could to make her feel comfortable, but it was still hard for Daisy to feel settled. Everything was different; she did not yet understand the routines of the house fully, and she also missed her previous employer.
Mostly, she felt like she was betraying Lady Mary Roberts by working for the man who had let her down in so many ways. She struggled with the fact that he had upset her, and now she had to work for him, but the pay was too good to give up. She could not live without a roof over her head, and this was the best place for her to survive. She hoped that Mary would understand that, but she was not convinced that she would.
“Are you alright, Miss Daisy?” the Duke called out to her. “You seem a little lost. Do not be afraid to ask for help if you need to.”
Do not like him,she warned herself.You cannot like him just because he is nice to you and it would make your job easier. He has hurt Lady Roberts feelings by ruining the reputation of another Lady.
“I ... I am,” she stammered. “I guess I am just missing Lady Roberts.”
Uh oh. She had not meant to say that aloud at all. Just thinking about Mary had made her say her name. She could feel her cheeks flame as she stared towards the ground, hoping desperately that she was not about to get into any trouble.
“You know you may write to her if you please,” Edmund commented. “I know where she is staying. I have been to visit her; I do not mind sending some communication for you.”
“You ... have been to see her?” Daisy was stunned; she had not expected that at all. As far as she was aware, Mary did not ever want to see him again ... but she quickly recognised how inappropriate her comment was. She was not with Mary now, and she was not working with her friend. She could not speak out of turn here. “I ... I am sorry; please forgive me.”
“Not at all.” Edmund smiled. “It is because of her that you have a job here. She told me how worried she is about you having no place of employment, so I helped. I am also hunting around to see if any other houses need extra hands to pass on the names of the other staff members that lost their jobs when the Roberts house was unexpectedly sold.”
“We did not know about it,” Daisy insisted quickly. “I would have found a way to warn Mary if I suspected that Mr Thompson was about to dupe her. None of us knew a thing until we had lost our jobs.”
“I know that, and Mary does too. There is nothing for you to worry about, Miss Daisy.”
Daisy’s chest warmed when she thought about Mary going out of her way to help her like that. She truly was the best Lady she had ever worked for. She missed her, but she also hoped that she found a way to get herself some happiness soon enough. If anyone deserved it, it was her.
“Lady Roberts is a wonderful person,” she whispered, almost to herself. “Truly the best.”
“I would just like to point out that the things I am being accused of when it comes to another Lady are not the truth.” Edmund had given up defending himself, but for some reason when it came to Daisy, it was important. He did not want someone working for him to think that he was a horrible person, especially not someone who was friends with Mary. “I do not like to speak ill of other people, but Lady Hartmon wanted to hurt me because I did not want her for myself.”
“Oh.” Daisy was shell-shocked; she could scarcely believe it. At first, her mouth hung open with shock, but in the following moment, an ice-cold guilt washed over her. She had encouraged Mary not to continue with her marriage to the Duke because she thought he was a terrible man. Now she was learning that she was not correct. It was obvious from the genuine look in the Duke’s eyes that he was telling the truth. “I see. I did not ...”
“It is alright,” Edmund replied warmly. “Now, would you like to write this letter or not?”
“I ...” Daisy felt embarrassed as she had to admit this, even if it was not her fault. “I do not know how.”
Edmund felt very silly as he realised that of course, this was the case. Daisy was not fortunate enough to be offered an education; there was no way she would know how to form letters in a recognisable way. She would also not be able to read a reply either ... but he could help with both of those things. Anything to make Daisy happier. He was also excited for Mary to learn that he had employed Daisy too; he just knew how happy she would be. He had not done it for that reason, but he could not help hoping that it would make her like him more.
“I shall write it for you,” he told Daisy happily. “I can do it now if you like?”
“Oh, my goodness, that would be lovely; thank you very much.”
Daisy nodded happily as she spoke. She felt utterly grateful for Duke Smith and his kindness. Her only regret was that she could not express her newfound like for Edmund to Lady Roberts. Not without it going through him which would have been very humiliating. She would just have to hope that she would get a chance to speak to Mary face to face. Then she could tell her what she had wished she had said all along ... that marrying Duke Smith was the right thing to do. She allowed herself to be swayed by something that she was only told which was wrong. She would never make that mistake again.
