Page 42 of How To Woo A Wallflower

‘For someone who feels another’s pain quite as intensely as your big, kind heart does, Hattie, this was always going to rip you to shreds.’

‘I never wanted to have to think about it ever again. Never wanted to remember it all with such clarity or watch another living soul suffer the same, let alone a child.’

Jasper kissed her head again. ‘Then you probably should have thought about that before you decided to volunteer at the Ragamuffin Infirmary, or at least done so at a distance by knitting socks rather than getting personally involved.’ He smiled as he stroked her hair. ‘But you are not made that way.’

‘I know... I hate knitting.’ She laughed without humour. ‘I suppose I have rather brought this on myself. Poor Jim is the one who has suffered the worst today, and yet here I am, feeling sorry for myself. Wallowing in my own pit of self-pity when this isn’t about me.’

‘A wise friend once told me that sometimes we all need to surrender to the self-indulgent futility and give it an airing because if we don’t it festers.’

The half-hearted chuckle was real this time rather than pained. ‘I see you are going to be irritating by quoting me back at myself again, Jasper Beaufort.’

‘Everyone needs a shoulder to cry on sometimes, Hattie Fitzroy, even someone as brave and indomitable as you. And for the record, I am honoured that you chose mine.’ She twisted slightly to smile up at him and he, because he couldn’t help himself, kissed her.

‘We are each other’s knights in shining armour, you and I, and when I promised to rescue you from all the horrors of the Season, I never stipulated it had to happen in a ballroom. My shoulders are yours to cry upon whenever they are needed, whether that be in public or in private, and my services as your knight run the gamut from sitting next to you on the wallflowers’ chairs to mopping up your tears. Whatever it is that you need, if it is in my power to do it, your wish is always my command.’

Because he wanted to kiss her again, he tucked an untidy coil of her hair behind her ear. ‘You look tired.’ An understatement. ‘I will lay money that you did not sleep a wink last night.’

She shrugged but didn’t deny it. ‘I had a lot on my mind.’

‘As the worst is over and your patient is sleeping, why don’t you grab the chance for a quick nap?’

She instantly bristled, sitting bolt upright on his lap. ‘I am not going home!’

‘I do not recall suggesting that you should?’ It did not take a genius to work out that the only way he would currently get her back to Mayfair was bound, gagged, kicking and screaming, and knowing the tenacious Hattie as well as he did, he did not fancy his chances even then. ‘Sleep here.’ He patted the sofa. ‘Just for an hour to get some colour back into your ghostly complexion.’

She stubbornly discounted that suggestion straight away. ‘There is too much going on in my mind, I am too distracted by my past and Jim’s future that I know I wouldn’t sleep a wink even if I tried.’

‘Then why don’t I try to distract you from all your futile, racing thoughts in some other way. I could read to you. There’s a copy of The Times on my desk. I always find their column on stocks and shares more soporific than counting sheep. Or better still, I could grab one of my ledgers and recite all the columns of figures in all their monotonous glory. Or I could have a hot bath drawn for you. Nothing eases tension like a nice bath. Or I could—’

She placed a finger on his lips and seemed to stare into his soul. ‘Or you could just carry on holding me and tell me that everything is going to be all right.’

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