"They aren't taken seriously, though. I remember one of the maids in our house having a baby – it was a terrible scandal, but Mama wouldn't allow her to be thrown out onto the streets – and a midwife coming to help with the birth. The baby was coming out backwards, you see. She told us what to do, and the woman lived. One of our neighbors had the same problem giving birth to her own child, and her husband hired an expensive London doctor. Nobody liked him – they said he was pompous and treated the poor woman like a fool. She died, and so did the baby. I often wondered if that midwife had attended, if things would have been different."
Paisley bit her lip after this outburst, glancing uncertainly up at Dominic. She hadn't meant to mention the maid. Had henoticed? He didn'tseemto be shocked and didn't ask any follow-up questions about what sort of people Paisley's family had been to employ servants.
"Emma is a trustworthy healer, and a fine woman," he said eventually. "She's the finest clan lady in these parts. Me own maither was very taken with her and has her heart set on me marryin' a healer meself."
Paisley blinked, not quite sure what to do with the image of a hectoring mother at Dominic's shoulder.
"You aren't married, then?"
"Ye seem surprised," he counted. "Areyemarried?"
"Would I be here alone if I were?"
He shrugged. "I daenae ken. Ye seem to be guarding yer past pretty well. Daenae worry, I willnae pry. Nae unless it's something I ought to know."
Well, how should she take that? What was something heshouldknow?
Like learning that his newest hireling is an English Lady, with a vast family fortune behind her and a Duke and Duchess as parents, perhaps?Paisley thought, her stomach clenching. She put the thought aside. That wasn't who she was now. Not anymore. Lady Paisley Burton was gone.
"Ye never said where ye lived," Dominic said, cutting into her thoughts.
"I'm staying at the Crown."
He nodded, and they walked on in silence.
After about ten minutes of walking, they emerged from the forest, and the blocky shape of the Crown inn loomed up before them. Paisley saw her own window, a large, round thing set just under the eaves. She could see the flickering light of a candle up there, so obviously Ava was already home. Paisley had so much to tell her.
"Well, I shall leave ye here," Dominic said, following her gaze and eyeing the lit window. "I'm sure ye can make it safely from here."
"Yes, thank you," Paisley said, her treacherous cheeks turning red. "I appreciate you walking me home."
He nodded and turned to leave. He made as if to go back the way he had come, the dark, shifting shadows of the trees poised to swallow him up. The man seemed very small, all of a sudden.
"Where do you stay, then?" Paisley asked impulsively, something clenching in her chest.
Dominic paused, looking back at her. In this light, his gray eyes seemed coal-black, and his face looked pale and ethereal.
He grinned, his teeth glinting white and vulpine in the moonlight.
"Well, that's none of yer concern, is it, Paisley? Get toTheSinnerfor noon tomorrow. We've got a lot of cleaning to do."
And then he was gone, as if he'd never been there at all. Paisley stood where she was for a few moments, blinking, before she summoned up the energy to go inside.
8
Dominic walked fast, head down, legs pumping furiously, lost in his own thoughts and his own desire to get to wherever he was going.
In this case, he was heading home.
Home,he thought wryly.It wasn't always home. Oncehomewas home. The Keep. Not anymore.
A light spatter of rain was falling, an occasional cold droplet splashing rudely down the back of his collar, chilling his skin. He'd been in such a rush to leave that he hadn't bothering bringing along a jacket or coat, or even his hat.
He was that keen to walk Paisley home, apparently.
Even the thought of her sent a twinge through Dominic's chest, curling in his gut. He recognized the sharp stab of desire, ofcourse, and fought to push it down. Men who let their lust lead them always came to grief or were simply too stupid to tolerate.
Take Thomas, for example.