ForHisSakeBlankEditionHTML by Erika Masten Read Free Book Online Page A

traditionally Brazilian
amount of sugar—lots—into both my coffee and his. “I grew up church mouse poor,
Miss Bloom. Had a milk run before school and a job in a restaurant kitchen afterward, and still had time to court Adrian’s grandmother,
I might mention. My money came from mens clothing. We
have a string of shops, my partner and I. He’s the tailor, the man with the
creative eye, and I have always handled the business side.”
    “That explains the
taste for fine clothing,” I remarked with a flirtatious wink I’d picked up in
conversation with Edward himself. If he was any indication, the Knights were
nothing like the Alexanders , and that wasn’t hurting
my feelings any.
    The patriarch
straightened his shirt and lifted his chin, subtly beaming. “It’s a burden,
miss,” he quipped, then frowned. “And the way my daughter, Isabel, met that
Alexander man. She was running the floor of our most popular London shop. We
had a reputation by then, and we had enough money that some of the old blood
started showing an interest in her. I never liked him myself—Alistair
Alexander. But he was so much more sophisticated than she was used to, and
older and widowed. And, Lord, how she went on about those eyes.”
    I tried not to roll my
own eyes, seeing myself in that comment. “I sympathize.”
    “Has his father’s eyes,
does he?” Edward asked, peering at me, probably beginning to figure out from my
sheepish expression that I was more than just a part of Adrian’s legal team.
“It’s been decades since I saw him last. It’s… Well, it’s a shame I don’t remember.”
    “Why has it been so
long?”
    “Once Isabel was gone,
Alexander seemed to want people to forget he’d married what was essentially a
shop girl, even with the prestige of the business name and no small amount of
money coming in, I tell you. He started canceling visits we had planning with
Adrian. Then one day, no warning, his solicitor and that oldest lad of his show
up and tell us Adrian is not coming to stay with us anymore. There were some
legal threats tossed back and fore, of course, but we couldn’t seem to find
anyone to hire that Alexander money could buy out from under us. And about then
my wife—she’d taken Isabel’s death quite badly—she had a minor stroke, and we…
We decided not to put her or Adrian through the fighting anymore. I have three other
children and four grandchildren and even great-grandchildren now. The family…we had all just hoped that Adrian would
come find us when he was old enough. But now you say they told him we didn’t
want him.” Edward shook his head in disgust, pursing his pale lips and
fidgeting with the handle of his cane in agitation.
    “That’s what Adrian
told me,” I confirmed and turned slightly away to dab what threatened to be a
tear from the corner of one eye. “I can’t express to you how different his
youth would have been if he’d known you’d all been waiting for him. He couldn’t
get away from his father’s family fast enough, but then he spent so much time
alone… When you all wanted him home with you.”
    Edward leaned forward
to offer me a handkerchief and peer into my eyes. “What kind of a man is
Adrian, Miss Bloom?” Unlike Adam Alexander, Edward Knight said my name like it
meant something.
    “Most of the charges
are false, if that’s what you’re asking.”
    “Most?”
    I fought back a smile
and failed. “He’s stubborn, Mr. Knight, and impatient to a fault. He rushes
into things, and it gets him into trouble.” Which also
described a certain three-month agreement that had changed my life. For
the better in the end, I wanted to believe, but I did feel my shoulders sag as
I huddled over my coffee cup.
    “So he’s…?” Edward
searched for words.
    “Not the standard
Alexander.”
    He chuckled. “Thank you
for not making me say it.”
    “I will see what I can
do to set up a meeting between you and Adrian.”
    Patting my hand, he
said, “It would mean