Page 58 of An Affair with a Notorious Heiress
She hadn’t been aware of that aspect to the club. It was no doubt necessary in order to maintain the place. There would be costs after all. She didn’t want to consider how much of her dowry might have gone to Downie’s membership.
“Do you not consider these ladies amoral?” she asked.
“I assume women have urges the same as men.”
She wondered what he’d think to know that before meeting him, she’d had very few. Now the ones she did have were distracting and unsettling. She was grateful for the mundane conversation. It kept her from reaching for him. “Why do you suppose it is that men are not flung aside when they engage in sordid behavior and yet ladies are? No one cares which men are standing around at the Nightingale, whether they be bachelors or husbands. Yet women must seek to hide their identity, must strive not to be caught.”
“Because women are so much better than us.”
“We’re not so different.”
“I beg to differ. We’ll compare our differences before we’re done and be glad of them.”
His grin flashed in the darkness. She almost laughed. Almost. Yes, their differences were one of the reasons she was here. Loneliness was a poor excuse when the truth revealed she was rather anxious to explore every facet of him that wasn’t the same as hers.
He’d had the right of it. She had chosen the Nightingale because she’d hoped to leave there with more than his cooperation regarding Gina. She was rather glad they hadn’t consummated their arrangement the night before, that she could pretend his taking her to his bed in his bedchamber signaled he wanted something special with her.
Silence eased around them, creating an intimacy within the darkened interior. Her nerves were beginning to stretch thin with the waiting for their arrival, for the moment when she would find herself in his arms, his mouth on hers. While she wasn’t virginal, she wasn’t certain her experience would be a match for his. She did hope he’d turn out to be kind if she mucked things up.
“I’d have thought your residence was closer,” she finally admitted.
“We’re not going to my residence.”
That pronouncement surprised her. “Where are we going?”
“Someplace I think you might enjoy.”
Would she not enjoy being in his residence, in his bed? “Is it a secretive place?”
Another place of vice, of sin. Perhaps even of depravity.
“The place itself isn’t secretive but it does hold one of my secrets.”
Dear God, she didn’t know why the words sounded ominous, as though she might be on the verge of learning something about him she’d rather not know. “Perhaps you should tell me about it.”
“Better to see it, I think.”
“Will it change my opinion regarding you?”
“Difficult to say. Depends what your opinion is.”
“I don’t like secrets.” Downie had been full of them, and each one had sliced into her heart, her self-esteem, her confidence.
“I’ll wager an additional night with you—one not due me for escorting Gina somewhere—that you’ll like this one.”
“And if I don’t?”
“Then you shall have a night owed to me where you will not have to come to me.”
She wished he’d asked for another sort of payment. She didn’t much like how easily he wagered nights she feared might become special to her. Obviously they meant little to him, like the coins he so easily wagered at the Twin Dragons. Still she refused to show any vulnerability, had learned it was always preferable not to let the hurt surface. “I accept the terms.”
“Splendid.”
The carriage was traveling along at a fast clip. Daring to lift aside the edge of a curtain, she peered out. Buildings, but not residences, whipped by. She wasn’t familiar with this portion of London. Nothing appeared recognizable. “How much longer before we arrive at our destination?”
“Half an hour perhaps.”
Time enough for a kiss or two. She released the curtain. It fluttered back into place. “I’m not quite certain what to make of this... adventure. I’m beginning to wonder if you’ve lost interest in me, now that you know you can have me.”
