“Should you be?”
He looked over the rim of his glass as he took a sip of his whiskey. “Not at the moment, no.”
“Sometimes it seems like you’re silently laughing at me. Why am I so amusing?”
He grinned as he crossed one leg over the other. “You amuse me for several reasons.”
“And what are those?” I asked, grinning back at him despite my best efforts to remain aloof.
“You’ve got spunk. And you know how to laugh at yourself, which I think is a wonderful quality. Watching you struggle to be proper makes me laugh, because inside that perfect little shell of yours is the heart of a rebel. And by shell, I mean your outer beauty, which in my opinion is unparalleled.”
“Lord Barnes, you are full of nonsense.” My heart raced at such a speed I was afraid it might explode from the exertion.
He pressed his hand to his chest. “I speak the truth.”
I smoothed my skirt and drank from my cup. The warmth of Lizzie’s expertly brewed tea traveled down my throat and into my stomach.
“You won’t fall in love with one of those handsome chaps, will you? If you fall in love with one of them and not me, you’ll break my heart.”
My hand trembled as I set the cup back in its saucer. “Lord Barnes, be serious.”
“I’m quite serious.” His eyes no longer sparkled with amusement. In fact, they glittered with a raw intensity that made my stomach bubble like champagne in a crystal flute. “Your presence here has brightened our lives. My life.”
I must change the subject, I thought. Get us back to the task at hand. “Rachel Cole came to see me tonight. She’s changed her mind about school.”
He rose from his chair and crossed over to the liquor cabinet. “She came to see me the other day and said as much. I wasn’t sure she wouldn’t change her mind.” He returned with a glass of whiskey and sank heavily into the chair. I’d reminded him of his burden and loss by mentioning her. For a moment, I wished I’d kept it to myself for a few more minutes and enjoyed basking in his smile.
“She said she wanted to look me in the eye and decide for herself what kind of person I was.”
“That sounds like her.” He smiled as he drank from his glass. I watched, temporarily distracted by the way his lips puckered when he swallowed. “She must have liked what she saw in those eyes of yours.”
I chuckled. “She said I was either naïve or brave.”
He rose from the chair and ambled to the fire, then poked the logs with the iron rod. The flames rose high, warming the half of my body that faced the fireplace. He placed his forehead against the mantel. “God, I hope this is the right thing to do. I promised Samuel I’d keep them all safe.” He turned away from the fire to face me. “Not to mention your safety and that of the other children. How far will these men go?”
“We can’t back away from what’s right, even if we’re frightened.”
“I don’t want you to be scared,” he said softly. “In fact, I deplore it.”
“A man’s dead because someone didn’t want the Cole children in school. I’m frightened, yes. But the test of courage is to do that which we know is right even if there are consequences.” I looked at my hands, knowing I needed to broach the subject of the Wu family. If he knew about them and had made a conscious choice to exclude them from the community, I would be crushed. Women and children should not live in shacks without food or warmth. Not in the society Lord Barnes said he believed in and was actively building. Not in any community. I didn’t care about the color of their skin or whether their ancestors were buried in these parts or in another land across the sea. Would he agree with me? Was it only because of his alliance with Cole that he’d been willing to include children of a different color?
I elongated my neck, hoping to portray confidence. The palms of my hands were damp with perspiration, and the pulse at my neck quickened. “Did you know there’s a Chinese family living in the old mining camp?”
“What did you say?” His voice sounded dry and strange.
“Mrs. Cole said there’s a Chinese family living down by the old mining site—a woman with children. School-aged children. Samuel took them fresh meat on a regular basis. They’re afraid to come to town. Did you know about them?”
He rocked back on his heels, silent. The click of the second hand on the grandfather clock marked time as I waited for his answer. “I’d heard rumors. Samuel never said anything to me. I’m not sure why that would be.” He said the last part under his breath.
“Maybe he thought you wouldn’t share his sympathies.”
A muscle above his right eye twitched. “Did he think so little of me? Do you?”
“Shouldn’t a rumor of this kind be investigated?” A swift anger rushed through me. “I’d have thought your ideals would have encouraged you to look in the shadows.”
His face reddened. “Isn’t that a little quick to judgment? You’ve no idea what I’ve done or not done for the poor in this community.”
“What have you done?”