It wouldn’t include Matthew, wouldn’t include a gentleman who could set her skin to tingling with a mere look, who could set her on fire with a touch. A man who occupied her thoughts nearly every minute of every hour. A man who had not turned away from her when he learned the truth of her parentage. A man who had sought to comfort and reassure her that he found no fault with her for matters over which she had no control.

Would Beresford be willing to take her to wife, to kiss her if he knew the truth regarding her father? He obviously had no issue with her illegitimacy, which was a point in his favor. Perhaps he would overlook that vile creature who had sired her. Or would she be better served to keep the truth from him? What sort of marriage would she have if it lacked complete honesty?

When the coach came to a stop, she was more than ready to escape the suffocating confines. Mick walked her to her door and placed a hand gently on her shoulder. “You should be there when I have words with Beresford. He’ll treat you with respect or he’ll deal with me.”

She knew exactly what those words would be: a demand for him to marry her. “I’ll do what must be done, Mick. I won’t bring the family shame.”

“I never thought you would, sweetheart.”

Rising up on her toes, she kissed his cheek. “Tomorrow.”

“Come to my office a few minutes early so we’re all settled before he arrives.”

With only a nod in response, she went inside, leaned against the door, and fought to absorb the quiet of the shop, but her mind was racing, and for the first time since she’d initially unlocked the door and stepped over the threshold into the empty building inside which she’d create a haven for booklovers, the place felt lonely. Matthew wasn’t here waiting for her. She knew it as surely as she knew that in spite of her world falling apart tonight, the sun would rise in the morning and people would go on about their lives as though hers had not taken a momentous turn.

Knowing no classes had been held tonight, that Mr. Tittlefitz wouldn’t have left him with the key and responsibility of locking up, she experienced a keen disappointment. After all that had transpired between them, considering how much he’d come to mean to her, she should have given him a key so he could come and go as he wanted, so he could make use of the reading parlor at his leisure, so he could wait for her whenever it was his desire to do so.