“Did you not grow up there?” Summer asked, surprised.
“No, I…my mother died when I was young, my brother when I was a little older. I was raised by my father but the Hales…took me in as their own and raised me. I may not be theirs by blood, but as I said before, they keep on trying. It was by my refusal only that I kept the surname of my father, rather than take on theirs,” he admitted and slowed Buttons down as they approached the gates. “Let me do the talking, okay?”
“Yes, my lord,” she said automatically. She mused over what he had said — an orphan, utterly alone in the world, taken in by the Prince who lived here. Surely he would understand their plight. But what of the lands his father had held? It seemed that Sir Isaac refused all of the benefits of his knighthood, which seemed utterly foreign to her.