It was his turn to be taken aback, although he kept his expression carefully neutral. “What makes you think I appeared there?”
She hesitated. “Last winter, one of the maids in our employ fell in love with a scoundrel. When she became enceinte, my parents dismissed her from our household without a character reference. I gave Martha the funds to live at the Arundel Home until her baby was born. I was visiting her one day this past April when I saw you there, meeting with the board of administrators. Your presence was such a curious phenomenon, I made it my business
to ask about you. To my vast surprise, I learned you were a trustee and that you have contributed large sums for the home’s operation.”
“I think you must have been misinformed,” Jack replied, fighting the urge to shift uncomfortably in his seat.
She searched his face. “I don’t believe so. But I never did discover how you came to be involved. What kind of rake supports a home for unwed mothers? Unless …”
Suddenly breaking off, she colored in evident embarrassment.
“Unless what?” he prodded, not unhappy to see her rendered speechless.
“Unless you fathered a child on one of those poor women,” she finished candidly.
“I did not father any of their children, I assure you. I am very careful in that regard.”
His own mother had borne him out of wedlock, although she hailed from a much different class than the Arundel Home’s occupants. As a former bastard himself, Jack hadn’t wanted to sire any by-blows, so he took precautions in all his love affairs.
“Then why would you become a trustee?” Miss Fortin asked.
Because it was a personal mission for him, supporting unwed mothers. Perhaps irrationally, he had a deep-seated, quixotic need to aid women like his mother, who might find themselves alone and helpless.
Yet he had no desire to make his personal crusade common knowledge. He’d never told anyone about his commitment to the Arundel Home—not his relatives, not even Skye, whom he was closest to among his family members.
Still, he had to tell Sophie Fortin something to satisfy her curiosity. “Like you, I once knew someone who could have benefited from an institution like Arundel.”
She studied him for another long moment, then nodded as if coming to a conclusion about him. When she next spoke, her tone had softened. “I think your generosity is admirable.”
Jack shrugged. “It is nothing. I merely donate my race winnings to the Home.”
“Winnings that are undoubtedly significant, given your success at carriage racing. And I suspect the women you help there do not consider your contributions ‘nothing.’ ”
“Well, pray keep your observations to yourself. No one outside of Arundel knows of my involvement.”
Her quizzical look suggested she was trying to understand him. “You are definitely a puzzle, Lord Jack. Why don’t you want anyone to know about your altruism?”
Because he kept his personal feelings private, even from his family. He didn’t open up easily, especially not to sheltered young ladies who were practically strangers, as Miss Fortin was.
But he deflected her question with a sardonic grin and an exaggeration. “Growing up as the youngest male Wilde cousin, I had the devil of a time holding my own with my brother and my cousin Quinn. They would have roasted me alive for such softness.”
In their youth, his adopted brother Ash and his cousin Quinn would have ragged him mercilessly for any tender feelings toward the fair sex, although that was certainly not the case now.
“Philanthropy is not considered a manly pursuit,” Jack added jokingly with a silent apology to them both.
“I doubt anyone would ever think of you as a man-milliner, my lord. But your secret is safe with me.”
The glimmer of laughter was back in her eyes, and Jack found himself caught again by her spell as he studied his would-be Juliet.
She was a puzzle herself. At twenty years of age, Miss Fortin was supposed to be young, naive, innocent. Instead, she seemed astute, clever, and perceptive. She was definitely not spineless or docile as he’d anticipated. And her frankness made him like her even more.
Which only compounded his dilemma. He’d planned to get her alone, then satisfy himself that there was nothing to Kate’s mad theory and go on his way.
The trouble was, Sophie Fortin thoroughly and utterly intrigued him. Too damned much, devil take her.
As the silence between them drew out, she suddenly seemed to grow aware of how intently they were staring at each other.
Tearing her gaze from his, she bent and demurely donned her stocking, garter, and slipper, then returned her attention to him.