Danny looked embarrassed. “Them shoes were too tight—my feet are bigger than Phil’s, and after wearing them for near on a week, I was well rid of them.”

“And the breeches?”

Shame filled Danny’s eyes. He looked down and mumbled something inaudible. Phillip leaned forward and whispered in Hart’s ear, “The bad men didn’t always let him relieve himself in time. The breeches were soiled, so we threw them away. Danny stole back some of his old clothes.”

Hart hoped he’d been able to keep his thoughts from his face. The swine, to shame a boy so, through sheer laziness. And then he had to steal back his own clothes.

“Well, all I can say is that you boys have behaved admirably—with courage, intelligence and good sense,” Hart told them. “I’m very proud of you both.”

The boys swelled visibly. “I was wondering . . .” Phillip began. “Danny doesn’t really want to go back—”

“To that horrid man?” George interrupted, “I should think not! He will live with us, of course.”

The duke, Phillip and Danny all stared at her.

“With us?” Hart queried gently.

“Naturally.” Avoiding his eyes, she forged on. “We’re not going to leave Phillip by himself in the country again, even though Mrs. Harris has been wonderful, and certainly Danny cannot go back to live with that vile creature who calls himself a stepfather. No, you boys will live with the duke and me. And Finn.”

“Here?” Phillip asked carefully.

“No, I cannot believe it would be pleasant to remain in the place where you were almost kidnapped, and I don’t imagine Danny will want to live close to his stepfather.”

“No fear,” Danny said. Phillip’s eyes were wide.

“So that’s settled. You’re both coming to live with us at . . .” She finally met his eyes. “At the duke’s place?”

“Yes, at my place,” Hart said. The dazzling smile she gave him left him breathless.

*   *   *

They reported the kidnapping to the local authorities, and Hart wrote off to engage a runner from Bow Street to track down Jephcott and his accomplices.

“His references were genuine,” he told George, “but clearly the man was fed up with tutoring small boys and wanted to set himself up for a comfortable retirement.”

That night in bed, after making love, George asked Hart if he minded her declaration that the boys would go with them. It had been a spur-of-the moment decision, and she didn’t regret it for a second, but she was aware that she’d given him no choice.

“No, of course not,” he assured her. “I wouldn’t have expected anything else of you. The boys will be much better off living with you.”

With you, she noted. Not with us.

It was a sobering reminder.