Read Barbara Metzger for Free Online Page B

punch, too.” Lord Hartleigh was grinning now, and she couldn't tell if he was teasing or not.
    "But did you have to bring him home?” she asked.
    He was still smiling. “At the time I was residing at Hammond House, and I couldn't think of anything that would annoy my stepmother more. Of course, I grew more creative, but when I took up residence here, I couldn't leave the poor fellow to her tender mercies. He'd have had better odds with the bear."
    Carissa had to laugh at the picture in her mind. Besides, something about the viscount's smile brightened even this gloomy room. That devilish dimple he flashed must have broken many a heart. Which reminded her: “Cook will be disappointed that the gossip columns are so far off the mark. Lord Heartless indeed! Why, you are as tenderhearted as a fairy godmother. Rescuing worthless mongrels, talking sweet nonsense to an infant, keeping that unlikely, inept manservant. And I saw you trying to win a smile from Pippa by wriggling your eyebrows, my lord. You are nothing but a sham."
    He winked at her. “Don't tell anyone, I pray you. My reputation is the only thing that protects me from every matchmaker in town. At least it was the only thing, before Sue."
    "But don't you need to marry, to ensure the succession? I thought all noblemen were constrained to pass on their blue blood."
    "In my own good time, Mrs. Kane, and when I find the right woman. I have cousins enough meanwhile."
    "But you seem to like children."
    "I do, don't I?” He was as surprised as she. “Perhaps it is time to start looking after all. After Sue is settled, of course."
    * * * *
    Byrd returned with a cleaning crew and supplies, as per Carissa's instructions. Permanent staff would be sent round on the morrow for interviews and such, but there was nary a wet nurse to be found. The biddy at the agency had none on her lists, Byrd reported, and no one at the pubs knew of any mum willing to take on another ladybird's hatchling, either. He'd checked a lot of pubs, Byrd had, trying not to disappoint Mrs. Kane.
    The babe seemed none the worse for a second helping of warm milk, but if Mrs. Kane thought Sue would do better on breast milk, breast milk she would have, by George. Lord Hartleigh tossed his caped greatcoat over his shoulders, then paused. A cow he could have found easily, but this?
    In the end he decided to try some other agencies, and Carissa decided to go along with him. There was no place to set the baby, with all the workers and their buckets and mops, and no place for Pippa to play. Besides, Carissa wanted to make sure his lordship hired a capable, kind woman, not just one with large bosoms. They needed to purchase some infant gowns and soft fabric for nappies, too. Byrd drove the carriage.
    The viscount went into the first employment office alone. He came out alone, glowering. “The blast"—a glance toward Pippa—"blessed busybody in charge there practically accused me of immoral and unnatural conduct! She didn't believe I had a child in my keeping!"
    Carissa hid a smile. “You do have a reputation, my lord."
    She went into the next agency, with the baby. And came out with angry spots of color on her cheeks. Recognizing the crest on the carriage outside, the proprietor of this establishment had accused Mrs. Kane of being Lord Heartless's latest harlot, too sunk in depravity to nurse her own infant. “Why, I never!” she exclaimed, handing the infant to the viscount so she could fan her heated skin.
    "What, never?” he asked, grinning at her discomfiture.
    "That anyone could take me for a ... a..."
    "Remember the children,” he teased, horrified himself that some fool thought he'd make this hitherto colorless, shapeless, moralizing female his mistress. Dash it, he had a reputation to uphold.
    Byrd suggested the foundling home. Perhaps they had a surfeit of milch maids. Or perhaps his lordship would reconsider and leave the little blighter there and end all this rumgumption. In response to that bit