Page 23 of The Good Girl's Guide to Rakes
“This is definitely disreputable.” He pinched the bridge of his nose, and exhaled. “God help me. I don’t suppose it’s worth trying again to convince you to drop this outrageous scheme?”
“It isn’t,” she answered as firmly as she could.
He exhaled. “Get in the cab.”
“We’re dropping Dolly at a Mayfair home on Chesterfield Hill along the way,” she announced. “Her sister works there, and Dolly will spend the hours we’re out with her.”
“After that, onto Jenkins’s,” he declared. “If that particular gaming hell meets with your approval.”
“I expect you know these things better than I,” she said.
“If you’ve other ideas, I’ll happily yield to them.” He smirked. “This is your mayhem, sweetheart. You’re the one in charge.”
Two things struck her: she didn’t enjoy how much she liked him calling hersweetheart. The other thing was how much it pleased her to have command of her life ceded toherinstead of someone else.
Wheredidshe want to go? Her head spun with the possibility. She had the whole of London after midnight at her disposal, and yet what that actually meant, she’d no idea. It was one thing to imagine all the secret, depraved places that existed under cover of darkness, but when it came down to it, she couldn’t think of a single one.
“Jenkins’s sounds perfect,” she said at last.
“Fine. Let’s go.”
“Could you sound a bit less like an adolescent being dragged along to visit an elderly relative?” she asked irritably.
“There’s nothingadolescentabout me, love.” His gaze shifted, growing hotter as he glanced down at her revealing gown.
Her limbs went suddenly languid but she wouldn’t let his instinctive flirtation distract her from her purpose—finally experiencing London’s scandalous side for herself.
After she gave the driver the address on Chesterfield Hill, Kieran helped her into the cab. Astonishingly, he provided the same service to Dolly, though she was a servant. He climbed in the vehicle, shut the door, and knocked on the roof. The cab shuddered as it lurchedinto motion, and the rest of the ride to Mayfair was similarly jouncing.
She refused to complain about the hired vehicle’s poor springs, though judging by the wary look Kieran kept throwing her across the cramped interior, that was precisely what he believed she would do. At last, they reached the home where Dolly’s sister worked, and Dolly climbed down from the cab.
“Last chance,” Kieran said to Celeste. “Before your maid leaves, I can take you both home now and no one will be the wiser.”
“Gaming hell, or I don’t gain you entrance to a single afternoon tea. And don’t try to dissuade me again.”
He sighed. “Obstinance runs in the Kilburn family, clearly.”
“How late can I return for you?” Celeste asked Dolly.
“Haven’t seen Lily in an age, miss,” her maid answered through the window. “I expect we’ll be up half the night talking. Come back for me whenever you please, but we both need to be home before five in the morning. That’s when the kitchen staff stirs.”
“I’ll do my best,” Celeste said, hardly able to fathom what it must be like to come home as the sun had begun to rise, still wearing last night’s finery.
Dom and the Ransome brothers did it all the time, and if she could, she’d have the same experience.
Once Dolly was making her way down the mews, the cabman called to Kieran, “Where to, gov?”
“Corner of Shepherd and Hertford Streets,” Kieran answered.
The driver clicked his tongue, urging his horse into motion. Soon, she and Kieran were on their way. He sat opposite her, but the interior of the cab was quite cramped, and their knees kept bumping. She shifted, trying to avoid the small collisions, but whenever she moved, she seemed to encounter more of him.
“What are you playing at?” he demanded.
“It’s not my fault you have such long legs,” she fired back.
“Next time,” he drawled, “I’ll remove them and set them beside the driver.”
A taut silence fell. She’d half hoped that their first carriage ride alone together would be full of charged awareness, building on the sensual promise that he’d shown when he had first beheld her in her disguise, but instead, they seemed to wear on each other’s nerves. A disheartening beginning to her night’s adventure.
