Page 40 of Falling Into Bed with a Duke
“I don’t—”
He pressed his finger to her lips. “Don’t answer now. Sleep on it. Then tomorrow night, at the witching hour, with either your presence or your absence I’ll have your answer.”
The remainder of tonight to think on it, to dream of it. “Well, then, we shall see.”
“So we shall. I’ll have my driver return you to your residence.”
He knew she wasn’t being taken to her residence, but she couldn’t let on that she was cross with him because it was Minerva he’d claimed to see at the Dragons that night, not Lady V. Dear God, but keeping the two of them separate was going to prove challenging. But after tonight, she thought it might well be worth it.
ASHE stood in the street and watched as his carriage carted her away to the Twin Dragons. He considered grabbing a hansom and arriving there shortly after her. She once again wore green. He would find the gown and the woman inside it. If she were Miss Minerva Dodger, he’d have his answer. If she weren’t, he’d know who she was. In either case, he could prolong their time together. She intrigued him. He wanted her to return here, for them to finish what they had begun.
Would she hate him for uncovering the truth of her? That was a possibility. And so he remained where he was.
Chapter 10
LATE the following morning, Ashe was sitting at his breakfast table reading theTimeswhen Edward wandered in looking like death warmed over in spite of the fact that he was properly dressed. His eyes were sunken, his pallor a bit gray.
“I need some black coffee,” he muttered as he dropped into a chair.
A footman neared with a silver pot in hand and filled the cup at Edward’s place.
“Bring me some toast,” Edward ordered before looking at Ashe. “That’s about all I can handle this morning.”
“Too much drinking last night?” Ashe asked.
Edward brought the cup to his mouth, inhaled the dark aroma, sipped. “Among other things. So who was the white swan?”
Ashe came alert. “Pardon?”
“I arrived at the Nightingale just as you were fairly dragging a lady up the stairs. White silk, white mask. You seemed quite possessive of her. Or were you merely obsessed?”
Damnation. In his haste to be with her, he’d nearly forgotten that other men would be watching, other men might want a chance at her. They wouldn’t force her, but they might attempt to entice her. “Believe it or not, I don’t know who she is.” He suspected, but he couldn’t say with complete certainty. And in either case, she wanted no one to know, and he was going to honor that request.
“That’s not like you. You can usually charm the mask right off them.”
When they were younger, they had often boasted of their conquests, but Ashe had no need of doing that now. He had his own secrets when it came to the Nightingale. “The lady isn’t the first unwilling to share her identity.”
“It’s rather unsporting of them, though, when they take that stand. I like to know whose wife I’m bedding.”
“As you are well aware, and we’ve previously discussed, not all the women there are wives.”
Edward perked up, his interest obvious. “Is your swan not?”
“I wouldn’t know.”
“Widow or spinster?”
“Again, I wouldn’t know.”
“Wild beneath the covers, or does she just lie there?”
Wild. Unfettered. He’d ached to be inside her when she became lost in the throes of rapture, imagined her muscles undulating around him, sucking him dry. “None of your concern.”
“Aren’t you protective? Seems odd to care if you don’t know who she is.”
“Women go there expecting the gents to hold their tongues. I merely adhere to the unwritten rule.”
“Is she adventuresome?”
