Page 19 of Eliza and the Duke
“Lord David? Of Strathmore? That Lord David?” He paced again to get out the nervous energy her very presence caused in him.
“Yes, but he won’t say anything. He’s doing his best to impress my sister and wouldn’t dare betray our trust in him.”
That did very little to reassure him. “What do you want?” He turned quickly and almost ran into her because she’d followed him.
“I told you already. I thought I was very clear.” When he merely stared at her, she said, “I want you to take me out for a night.”
Impossible.
“I thought I already told you no.”
She shook her head. “You said that you would think about it.”
He took in a breath for patience. “I cannot take you. It’s too dangerous, and don’t you threaten to tell everyone the secret you carry. If you were going to you would have already.”
“I can pay you.” Her eyes were resolute, and she brought her handbag up to rifle through it. His gaze flicked down and was caught by the swell of her bosom. He looked away because he enjoyed looking a little too much.
She pulled out some folded bills. “It’s yours if you’ll take me. One night. That’s all.”
He stared at the money, but of its own volition his gaze went back to the swell of her breasts. They weren’t too large, but not small, either. He reckoned they would be a nice handful with pink crests and…Aware of where his attention was focused, she took in a shuddering breath that broke the spell. His eyes met hers.
“Why is this night in Whitechapel so important to you?”
An internal battle played out over her face. She didn’t know how much to tell him, but he wouldn’t do this for anything less than the full, unvarnished truth.
“What do you remember about the night we first met?” she asked, her voice low, almost a whisper. It drew his gaze to her mouth and her soft pink lips.
He remembered that he’d called her Angel. “Tell me.”
She took in a long and wavering breath. “I’m engaged to be married to a man I barely know. My entire future will be an endless round of social occasions: balls and weddings and teas and political dinners. To top it off, I’m fairly certain I’ll have to give up my dream of going to a university. So few accept women, and I can’t believe that Mainwaring will countenance such things of his wife anyway. All of that might be bearableif I loved him. But he is even now cavorting across the Continent and having relations with prostitutes, and he’s so proud of that fact that he and his friends are keeping score on that blackboard.” She pointed in the direction of the very room of their first meeting.
As he recalled, there had been several check marks added since that night. There was a twinge in the vicinity of his heart. It wasn’t that he didn’t feel for her; it was that he found it difficult to empathize with her making a decision that she knew was bad for her. “Then why are you marrying him?”
“Because it would be stupid not to. My fa…mygodfather, Mr. Hathaway, is in charge of my inheritance and he will only dole it out upon my marriage to a man he finds suitable. He only finds aristocrats suitable.”
“What happens if you do not marry an aristocrat?”
“Then I receive no inheritance and I’ll have nothing. I have no father, Simon.” He wasn’t prepared for the fist-punch effect of the sound of his name on her voice. It stole his breath. “My mother and sisters and I sold everything we owned to come here for the sole purpose of finding husbands to secure our futures. There is nowhere to go back to. There is no future where I don’t inherit.”
He didn’t know Mainwaring well, but he knew men like him. The thought of her married to one of them was anathema to him. Men like that wouldn’t know how to deal with her. They’d crush her to control her. “There is. You simply choose not to want that future.”
“Would you choose that future?” she challenged him. “Would you walk away from two hundred thousand dollars with an annuity to a future of nothing but insecurity? I’m sure you’re aware that options are limited for women.”
Simon could hardly conceive of that sort of money. Heimagined his sister, Mary, her curls and laughter and all the small things about her that he didn’t think about unless he had to because it was too painful. If she’d had that choice, she might be alive now. She certainly wouldn’t have wasted away in that dirty little attic room in a brothel, her body ravaged by a fever that had set in and refused to leave. Her baby left to die on a diet of watery pap until he’d paid a bloody fortune for a wet nurse to care for her. How could he fault Eliza for choosing the way she had?
“I still don’t understand this scheme of yours. What if Mainwaring finds out about this night out in Whitechapel? He won’t marry you then, and you won’t inherit your fortune.”
“Don’t you understand? I need this. If I can have just one adventure where I don’t have to think about Mainwaring or a future with him, then maybe I can face that future. He has an entire summer to indulge in adventure. I simply want one night. I know it’s foolish to ask for more, but surely one night is possible. He won’t find out because we’ll go where no one knows me. I won’t even talk to anyone.”
He bit out a curse and she startled. “One night.” He held up a finger between them. “That’s all you get. One night and then I never want to see you skulking around here again.”
She was already nodding vigorously. “Yes, I understand. You’ll never have to see me again.”
“I don’t want to hear one word about the secret we share.” She nodded again. “If—” Her smile had widened to the point of near delirium. “No, listen to me.” He made his voice as low and serious as he could, but that didn’t dim her enthusiasm much. “If after that night anyone comes to me and even so much as mutters the wordDuke, I will find you and I will make you pay for your betrayal.”
She had the audacity to laugh, not at all put off by theseriousness of his manner or the threat he was attempting to convey, and then launched herself into his arms. He had to catch her or they would both go wobbling. “Thank you so very much, Simon. I promise I will never tell anyone who you are. Never.” She pulled back enough to look up at him, trust and gratitude shining out of her eyes. He was damned near bathed in its warmth. “Thank you.”
He swallowed thickly. The weight of her body felt so pleasant against him that he didn’t want to let her go. He could think of several ways that he wanted her to thank him. All of them sexual, none of them advisable.
