Harlequin Historical December 2018: Box Set 1 of 2 by Christine Merrill

Author:Christine Merrill
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2018-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SEVEN

‘It turns out that Heather Aitken’s move to the metropolis was not an unqualified success. As a consequence, Mar—my assistant struggled to track her down,’ Kirstin informed Cameron the next day. ‘Though she did indeed find employment as a chambermaid in a reputable household, she was dismissed for what the employment agency describes as “overfamiliarity with the eldest son of the house”.’

‘I suspect it will have been the other way around,’ Cameron said dryly. ‘Regardless, it will have cost her not only her livelihood, but her good character. A fatal blow to her employment chances.’

Kirstin eyed him with surprise. ‘What do you know of such things?’

‘I do have house and staff of my own.’

‘Is it a very large house, then?’

‘It’s not a cottage.’ Cameron shrugged. ‘I don’t know what you consider large. It’s a manor, I suppose you’d call it, with a home farm, gardens—a lot more gardens and land than I’ve been able to do much with so far. Set in the outskirts of Glasgow, to the east.’

‘I can’t imagine you as lord of the manor.’

‘I don’t spend much time there, in all honesty. The farm and gardens provide employment for graduates of Garrioch House and other similar establishments. The options for foundlings are limited unless they have a particular facility, like I did for numbers, which is why they sent me to learn accounts.’

‘A skill which has stood you in very good stead, I presume?’

‘Very, though I hated sitting in an office totting up numbers in a ledger.’

‘Did you run off to sea, then, and become a cabin boy?’

‘I used to help the purser, and things just developed from there.’

‘To the extent that you now have your own fleet? Tell me, do you take on orphans to crew your ships as well as to farm your land?’

‘Aye, but don’t go thinking I’m some sort of noble philanthropist. I give them a fair chance. It’s up to them what they make of it.’

‘A philosophy I can certainly empathise with.’

‘Aye.’ Cameron was frowning. ‘Talking of wasted opportunities, where has this Heather Aitken ended up?’

‘Deep in debt to an infamous moneylender.’

He cursed softly under his breath. ‘Stupid wee lassie. She should have stayed in Edinburgh. God knows what will become of her.’

‘I think we both know what’s most likely,’ Kirstin said brusquely. She could never be hardened to such cases but she had become reconciled, a long time ago, to the fact that she could only help a select few of them. ‘She is living in St Giles, one of the most notorious rookeries in London. I think we will arouse less hostility there if we enter in the garb of the Rev and Mrs Collins. I’m afraid that you will have to put up with smelling of wet dog for a few hours.’

‘Goliath,’ Cameron said, with the ghost of a smile. ‘It’s a small sacrifice if it leads us closer to Philippa. Am I to assume that you know your way around this place?’

‘I’ve been there before, quite recently, actually.

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