Maggie stopped cold in the doorway. She could not turn to the streets, of course, but she did wonder if it would really be so terrible to be Reeve McKenna’s mistress. Sure, one day he might tire of her and cast her aside, but in the meantime she would have food to eat and clothes to wear, not to mention long nights of ecstasy almost too keen to be borne….

“Do you like the room?” inquired a low voice, directly behind her.

Maggie whirled to find herself standing within inches of Mr. Kirk. He smelled of bay rum and good whiskey, and his green eyes were not threatening or angry, but full of laughter.

“It does seem—well—a little fancy—” Maggie managed to say.

Duncan laughed softly and his hands rested on Maggie’s upper arms for a moment before falling away as he remembered his manners. “You’re worried about what I might expect in return—is that it? I should have guessed that Rosalind would fill your head with all kinds of silly ideas about my predatory nature.”

Maggie swallowed and took a step in retreat, thus putting herself inside the too-luxurious room. “She did say that you have designs on all women,” she confessed, her eyes wide.

Duncan laughed again, this time throwing his head back, and his eyes shone as they assessed Maggie’s flushed face and poised-to-flee stance. “She exaggerates.”

Maggie didn’t know what to say to that, so she took another step backward and just watched Mr. Kirk’s face. She saw the amusement drain away, leaving sadness in its wake.

“I loved my wife very much, Miss Chamberlin,” he said quietly, and then, with that statement hanging in the air behind him, he turned and left Maggie’s room.

Chapter 12

FIRST THING THE NEXT MORNING, MAGGIE SUMMONED Jeremy and Tad to the schoolroom on the third floor and began their lessons. She was not surprised to find that both boys were very bright, though Tad, the older of the two, was less than enthusiastic about staying in and doing sums when there was a whole world outside just waiting to be explored.

When Maggie had gauged the mathematical abilities of both boys, she ferreted out a few materials from a cupboard at one end of the long room and set them to drawing maps of Australia.

“Papa has houses here, here, and here,” Jeremy said, stabbing at widely separated places on the map with the point of his pencil.

“And here,” Tad added, making an unwanted mark on Jeremy’s map and getting a glowering look for his trouble. “Mum liked this one best. She said Queensland was like paradise.”

Maggie was very curious about the late Mrs. Kirk, but of course she didn’t want to pry, so she simply said, “I imagine your mother was very beautiful.”

Both boys nodded solemnly.