He didn’t put much stock in fanciful things like love at first sight but had to admit he was drawn to her, had been from the moment he’d spotted her entering his establishment, without even knowing precisely what she looked like or who she was. Reaching out, he stroked his finger along the length of her face before cupping her chin. He couldn’t deny something burned between them, but she had the right of it. They were far too different for anything to come of it, other than a jolly good time.

“The fog is thickening. We can’t have you getting damp, catching a chill.”

“No, of course not. Thank you for coming with me.”

“I’m available anytime you need me.” The words were out before he considered the implication of them. Yet, he also realized they held truth, for now anyway. Until they parted ways, for surely a parting would come. His businesses were not the sort in which a wife would take pride or children would boast. Why the bloody hell were thoughts of family rushing through his head? Two of his brothers might have chosen marriage, but it was not for him. Too confining in its demands that one act in a respectable manner.

Impatient with himself and the path his thoughts traveled, he pushed himself to his feet and then gently brought her up from her kneeling position. With the lantern in one hand, he placed the other on the small of her back and began guiding her out of a place that he’d at first found peaceful and now found unsettling. Death had a way of making a person think about life, about the manner in which one applied himself to the hours that he was granted breath. He was not now going to begin wishing a different road stretched out before him. As much as he hated to admit it, he was his father’s son, had always been so. At his core, his needs ruled.