Athena wheeled closer to him and touched his sleeve. “What is it, Niall? Is something troubling you?”
He set the second drink down untouched and looked directly at her. “One of those ‘fallen women’ you attempted to reform was caught trying to steal the wallet of a very influential financier from Chicago.”
“One of my girls? How do you know?”
“When she was caught, she blurted out your name. She seemed to think that you would intercede for her.” He swept up the glass and downed the contents quickly. “It was not a pleasant circumstance to hear my sister’s name on the lips of a whore.”
Athena stared at her interlaced fingers. “You witnessed this yourself?”
Niall paced to her desk and shuffled the stack of papers and bills. “I was consulting with the gentleman regarding a business venture of some importance when she accosted him on the street. It is fortunate that he caught her. She is now in jail where she belongs.”
Niall had always been the hardheaded, ambitious one in the family, Athena the heart and conscience. He was more annoyed with his sister than with the poor young woman who had been driven to such an act.
Annoyed because Athena’s work had inadvertently disrupted his business. Because she had failed.
“It is entirely my fault,” she said meekly. “I will pay the girl’s fine, and—”
“I forbid it. Some people can’t be helped, Athena. They only become more entrenched in their laziness and dependence.”
She looked up to meet Niall’s gaze. The flinty gray of his eyes had softened, and she saw the pity and guilt in his face. Not for those he spoke of, but for her.
“Have you ever tried to help,” she asked, “simply for the sake of it? With no hope of profit or gain?”
“Have you?” His mouth was a rigid line, almost cruel. “Hasn’t your work paid dividends in the admiration and respect of your ladies? Hasn’t it won you a place for yourself where no one can feel sorry for you?”
Athena clutched the iron-rimmed wheels of her chair and jerked it backward as if he had struck at her. “I am sorry that I have disappointed you.”
He shook his head and made a slashing gesture with the side of his hand. “No. No. But it is completely unnecessary to exhaust yourself by becoming indispensable to every philanthropic cause in Denver. The Munroes already have the city’s—the nation’s—respect and admiration. We never had to fight for it. No one stands above us in influence or capital. As long as you are my sister, your position is assured.”
Even though I cannot dance, or make a grand tour of Europe, or even enjoy a social luncheon at the Windsor. “Of course you are right, Niall,” she said, regaining her composure. “I appreciate all you have done for me.”
“Athena…” He grimaced. “I’m poor company tonight. Perhaps you should dine alone.”
“No, please. I understand the pressures you face. Let us speak no more of this. M. Savard has prepared your favorite meal, and you would not wish to disappoint him.”
He sighed. “Very well.” It was impossible for her to take his arm, so he positioned himself behind her chair and pushed her to the dining room. He placed her at one end of the table and assumed his seat at the opposite end. Each setting was elegantly arranged, with a cloisonne vase of fresh flowers at the center of the vast oak table, low enough so as not to obstruct the view down its impressive length.
Brinkley appeared to direct the parlormaid and footman in serving the first course. For a time they ate in silence while Athena searched for some innocuous subject to draw Niall close again.
“I saw Miss Hockensmith today,” she began. “She is quite taken with you, I believe. She will be expecting your attentions at the Winter Ball.”
“Will she?” He never lifted his eyes from his plate.
How little he truly knew of women, for all his vast experience of the world. How lonely he must be with only those dry businessmen as companions, and how oblivious to his own loneliness. His sister was simply not enough.