Chapter 10
Ten
W atching Kit transform into Kitty was one of the most fascinating things Dev had ever observed.
He’d been a bit hesitant when Kit first confessed his leanings to him, wondering whether Kit viewed his alternative persona as playacting or a bit of fun.
He’d always enjoyed the company of both men and women, so the clothing Kit wore did not matter a whit to him since he was equally pleased with whatever lay underneath it.
The question had remained with him as to how committed Kit was to being who he wanted to be.
He'd enjoyed those first few days of getting to know Kit, or rather, Kitty, better and had been pleased to see that they were very much of the same mind on a great deal of topics and in many ways.
As much as his desire to entertain Kit in a horizontal position grew during those days, he did not want to spoil the intellectual and emotional closeness growing between the two of them by reducing it to the merely physical.
But seeing Kit fully engaged as Kitty when he’d gone searching for him at Lady Everly’s house changed a great many things within Dev, and as such, he had changed his approach to his growing friendship with his remarkable new friend.
“Did you enjoy your time at Lady Everly’s this afternoon?” he asked a week after that first outing, when he’d gone to Lady Everly’s on a whim in search of Kit and had informed them all that the Duke of Bedminster had gone to Scotland Yard to report his heir missing.
Kit had just returned to his rooms, where Dev had arrived earlier to wait for him. He gave a start at the sight of Dev lounging on the sofa, a cup of tea in one hand and a particularly lurid novel in the other.
As soon as he saw that it was only Dev, Kit relaxed and let out an airy laugh as he removed his bonnet. “Is it not your mistresses who should be lying on the couch sipping tea and reading novels?”
Dev laughed and set both his teacup and book down.
He rose from the couch with a spring in his step and went to help Kit with his bonnet.
It was large and cumbersome, though fashionable.
It also involved a particularly large bow that was intended to both hide Kit’s Adam’s apple and shield his face lest anyone attempt to observe him too closely.
“So you are admitting to being my mistress now?” he asked cheekily, taking the bonnet with one hand and capturing one of Kit’s hands with his other. He raised Kit’s gloved hand to his lips and kissed it while gazing wickedly into his eyes.
Kit blushed beautifully and lowered his eyes bashfully. The man had no idea how desirable he was. “I am not the one reading or drinking tea,” he said, pulling his hand away from Dev’s lips and turning so that he could remove the light wrap he wore.
“I suppose that makes me your mistress, then,” Dev said with good humor, walking over to place the bonnet on a side table.
Kit’s answering laugh was loud and joyful, something Dev wished to hear more of. “You are hardly the mistress type,” he said.
He went to hang his coat, and when he returned to the table where Dev stood, he glanced into the large mirror that hung beside it and reached up to begin pulling pins from the wig he wore.
Dev watched, mesmerized. He had been deeply impressed by the convincing wig that Lady Everly had given to Kit.
It was more brown than blond, but in a very short span of time, Lady Everly’s trusted maid had taught Kit how to don and style it so that it looked as much like Kit’s real hair as if each strand grew out of his head.
As far as Dev was concerned, the darker color would aid in keeping Kit’s true identity a secret when he ventured out in public.
With that thought, Dev shook himself out of his observations in time to stop Kit from removing more than a few pins.
“Do not take it off yet,” he said, lifting a hand to still Kit’s.
Kit sent him a wary, sideways look. “You know that it is terribly itchy,” he said. “But if you wish for me to wear it while we…visit with each other, then I shall keep it on.”
A powerful rush of desire pulsed through Dev as he imagined spreading a naked Kit out over his bed, complete with long, luxurious hair.
Kit had already stated outright that he wished to grow his own hair long enough so that wigs and hair pieces would not be necessary, and Dev could not wait for those days.
He could not wait until the proper time came to get Kit into bed, and he was not too proud to say so.
Again, Dev had to shake himself out of his wayward thoughts to concentrate on the moment.
“It is not that,” he said, turning to lean his backside against the edge of the table as Kit stuck the pins he’d removed back into his wig. “I merely thought we might go out tonight.”
Kit’s hands froze atop his head. He slowly turned from watching his reflection to looking straight at Dev as he lowered his arms. “Out?” he asked, his voice as light and timid as any woman’s. “Tonight?”
Dev shrugged. “You have been away from your father for nearly a fortnight and it has been over a week since you assumed Miss Kitty Dryden entirely,” he said.
“The initial fervor of Castleton’s disappearance has died down a bit, particularly since all anyone can talk about this week is the splendors of the coronation.
Now that that is over, half of the ton has already decamped to their country estates.
If you ask me, this is the perfect time for Miss Dryden to make her public debut on my arm. ”
If anything, Kit blanched even more. “You wish me to accompany you in public so that you might introduce me to people?”
Dev had not thought of it quite like that, but now that Kit had spoken the words, he did not see why not. “Yes,” he answered, smiling.
“Are you mad?” Kit asked, snatching up his bonnet and stepping away from Dev to take it back to the bedchamber and dressing room. “I cannot be seen so notably in public. You cannot introduce me to anyone. They will know.”
Dev followed Kit into the bedchamber and over to the part of the dressing room where the half-dozen bonnets Miss Jones had acquired for him were kept.
“My dear, you have no idea how convincing you are right now,” he said, hardly noticing how easy it was to address Kit as if he were a she.
“I do not know what sort of witchcraft you employ to look so convincingly charming, but I can assure you that you do not look at all like Lord Castleton. ”
“To you, perhaps,” Kit argued breathlessly. He put the bonnet away then turned to face Dev, arms crossed in front of him. “You see me as you wish to see me.”
“I do,” Dev said, raising a hand and stroking the side of Kit’s smooth face.
Kit sucked in a breath and shivered, dropping his arms. He truly had no idea how beautiful he was.
Yes, there were ways to tell he was a man.
His Adam’s apple, for example. It was not as prominent as some men’s, but it was there.
Aside from that, however, he already had the cherubic face and soft, full lips of a woman.
His shoulders were not particularly broad and his shape was so lithe that his clothing was able to compensate for the curves he did not have.
Though if Dev was seeing things correctly, someone had sewn padding into whatever corset Kit wore to give the illusion of a small bust.
“You do not see me as I am,” Kit said quietly, glancing down, though he pressed his cheek into Dev’s palm as he did.
“Oh, no, my sweet Kitty,” Dev said, lowering his voice to a purr and moving in closer. He even put a hand on Kit’s waist to pull their lower halves together. “I see you just as you are.”
Kit glanced up at him with hopeful eyes…that were full of desire. Dev thought perhaps he should forgo the plans he’d had in mind to sweep his way under Kit’s skirts in search of the prize they were both hungry for.
“I am afraid,” Kit admitted, his lower lip wobbling.
“I would be surprised if you were not,” Dev said with a bit more seriousness, brushing his thumb over Kit’s mouth.
“What you are doing is brave, and it is also a great risk. But as more time passes, I see with greater clarity that this is who you are. You are my Kitty, and the world should know you as such.”
Kit let out a sigh of longing and leaned into Dev. “But if I am discovered, I will be humiliated. No, I will be killed. ”
“Who would discover you?” Dev asked. “Who would dare?”
“Anyone. Everyone,” Kit answered. “I might feel as though I am Kitty in every part of me that matters, but there are some parts that cannot be hidden.”
Dev was reasonably certain that Kit meant his Adam’s apple, but he chose to interpret the comment in a different way entirely.
“I can assure you,” he said, leaning closer and sweeping a hand across the front of Kit’s skirt, “I appreciate and adore those parts of you as much as the rest of you.”
Kit gasped. Dev did not think it was his imagination that felt something stir underneath the layers of skirts. Kit pulled away from him, though, keeping his face hidden for a moment.
“I am not ready,” he whispered. He swallowed, then stood straighter and looked at Dev. “I mean, I am not ready to risk being discovered by the people who wish to do me harm,” he said. The bright red of his cheeks made Dev question whether he was, indeed, ready for the other thing.
“This is what I have in mind,” he said, leaning back against one of the wardrobes in the dressing room and crossing his arms. “A night at the theater. The Royal Theater is playing Kenilworth just now.”
“ Kenilworth ?” Kit asked hesitantly.
“Yes, and because it is not Shakespeare or anything else of great note, I would imagine the theater would be less crowded. The darkened theater would be less crowded,” Dev said.
Kit held still for a moment as understanding of the circumstances of the night made more sense to him. “I would be less likely to be noticed in a dark theater,” he said.