Page 56 of Plucked By the Orc

“Back to Lambeth?” Lottie let out a hearty laugh. “Iris Gabbert, I can’t even imagine such a thing now. I can’t imagine you settlin’ down in our room again after what this green bloke did for you. I think he might just be a good man.”

“He might be a good man,” Iris said, trying not to think of the intensity in Duncan’s eyes when he was above her, claiming her, drawing pleasure she’d never known possible from her body. “But that doesn’t mean we are fated to be together like some fairy story.”

“So you respect him, then?”

“I respect him,” Iris said. “Most of the time. But that can’t make up for all the differences between us.”

“‘Cause this bloke is an orc?”

“Because he’s a gentleman.”

“And you are on the way to being a lady now,” Lot insisted. “What’s the problem, then?”

“I’m a lady on the outside, maybe,” Iris told her. “I’m still the same person inside. So it don’t matter.”

Doesn’t matter, Miss Gabbert.

Iris closed her eyes. His dulcet voice sounded in her head. She hadn’t even taken her leave of Duncan Higgins’s townhouse yet, and already she missed him.

“I think this Orcan gent got under your skin, he did.”

Lottie had always seen right through her. “I love him, Lot,” she whispered. “But what does it matter? It’s not sensible.”

“What d’ya mean it’s not sensible? Does your big green lover man feel the same?”

“He might think he does. But I don’t believe he loves me for who I am. Only for who he made me. This lady.” She swept her hand over her frock. “But not who I really am.”

“I can’t picture you ‘iding who you are for long, Iris Gabbert. Got too strong a will for any of that. This bloke might ‘ave changed you on the outside, but not deep inside. I’d bet my last penny on it.”

Despite everything, Iris smiled at that. She may have lost her parents, one to sickness and the other to drink, and she’d always wished she had siblings. But Lottie made her feel less alone in the world. Nearly as much as Duncan Higgins did.

“I’m sure of little anymore,” Iris told her. “Other than wanting to keep a shop for ourselves.”

“Don’t hold back ‘appiness on my account,” Lottie told her. “I manage well enough. If you decide to marry Duncan ‘iggins—”

“Who said anything about marriage?” Iris said, with a flippant tilt of her chin that was but a performance. Though she had been concerned about Lottie’s attire, she was the one now shivering in the cold despite the warm inner layer of the velvet pelisse.

“You must have thought about it. Seeing as how things are all lovely and toasty in his bed.”

“That they are. But a girl can’t live on pleasure alone.”

“She can bloody well try!”

Iris slapped Lottie’s arm playfully. “You know what I mean. The only person I can depend on is myself. You know that aswell as I do. Duncan Higgins has done a fine job of remaking my accent and manners. Between my manners and your connections, we can manage our own shop now, Lot.”

Gently, Lottie steered Iris’s shoulders so that they were facing one another. She lowered her head while maintaining eye contact. Which was Lottie’s way of indicating she was about to say something important.

“You aren’t responsible for me, Iris,” Lot told her. “I promise. I’ll be fine. I always am.”

“Regardless of what happens with Duncan,” Iris said. “I want to fulfill our wish. We were to have our shop. Stop getting harassed on the streets by the so-called fine gents. Make respectable lives for ourselves.”

“Maybe you ‘elp me find a position in a shop. Teach me how to speak a little prettier. And then I’ll be all right, I will. You, Iris Gabbert, are responsible only to yourself. Do what makes you ‘appy.”

Iris gave her friend one last hug before rising from the bench.

“I appreciate it, Lot,” she said. “But I don’t see Duncan Higgins saying anything that will convince me to stay. He sees me as an experiment, he does. And the experiment’s nearly over. It’s time I think about my next moves.”

“I think you are the most dazzling woman I’ve ever laid eyes on, and that is the truth of it. I simply had to see you again.”

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