No doubt she was surprised that he’d ferreted out her secret. All this time, she’d been chiding him for his presumed debauchery while she’d been hiding her own. What a hypocrite! He hated hypocrites. And true to form for hypocrites, she went on the offensive at once. “You think . . . You have the audacity to suggest that I bore an illegitimate child!” “Do you deny it?” “Of course I deny it! It’s not true!” Her certainty and the outrage in her voice gave him pause. But what other response could he expect of a respectable English lady? She certainly wasn’t going to admit it flat out. That was why the Foundling Hospital in London was so well-funded—gently bred women who found themselves in the family way were happy to support the institution that secretly took their by-blows. She marched up to him, eyes flashing fire. “And how did you hear of Lieutenant Ruston, anyway?”
