Chapter 7 #3
“What if you met Jo at the Siren’s Call? You already look as if you might be going there later,” Pandora added with a chuckle.
The Siren’s Call was a gentlemen’s gaming club owned by Jo’s mother, Jewel Harker, and where Jo had worked before she’d married Sheff. All the employees were women, which appealed to the almost exclusively male clientele. It was perfect—Ellis could arrive as a man, meet with Jo, and leave as a man.
“All right.” Ellis turned back to face Pandora. She was both excited to see Jo and worried she’d been selfish in avoiding them.
Pandora grinned. “Excellent. Do you mind if I tell Min this is happening? She just wants you to be happy, and if that means not seeing her for a while, she’ll accept that.”
That tore at Ellis’s heart. “I would rather wait. I want to see Min too, but perhaps after I meet my father.”
Pandora nodded.
“In the meantime, I expect you won’t reveal to anyone that I’m working for Keele. I need that to continue to be our secret.” She gave Pandora a wry look. “I don’t want anyone else sending me messages at his house.”
“Apologies,” Pandora said softly. “Come, I’ll walk you downstairs.”
“Thank you.” Ellis stood.
Pandora rose and linked arms with her as they walked to the door, then reluctantly let her go. “I’ll be much happier when you’re fully Ellis again.”
“I will too.” Except Ellis wasn’t sure who that was.
She thought about what Pandora had said, that Ellis’s current situation wasn’t permanent.
Ellis knew that, of course, but she hadn’t really thought too much about what she would do after she saved the money she needed to live independently somewhere in a sleepy village.
Perhaps she could be a librarian for a new Lacey and Company branch.
But that was in the distant future. For now, she would continue in her disguise and hope no one else discovered she was a woman.
And she would see Jo and meet her father.
The idea of having a living parent who might actually care for her was wonderful.
It was silly, but Ellis had just felt so alone after learning the truth about her parentage.
She’d felt as if she didn’t belong anywhere.
Strangely, she’d found a place in Keele’s household. She felt both useful and valued. And wanted, even if it was in a purely physical manner.
As Ellis said good night to Pandora and walked to Keele’s coach, she decided that being wanted in any fashion was intoxicating. She feared in that moment she would cling to that feeling with everything she had, regardless of the consequences.
“How was your visit?” Roman asked as Ellis situated herself on the seat opposite him in the coach.
“Why did you move to the rear-facing seat?” she asked.
Instead of answering her question, Roman shrugged. “I wanted to let you ride facing forward.”
“That’s kind of you,” she said, sounding wary. “But I don’t mind which way I face.”
He cocked his head. “Do you typically ride on this seat?” He moved his hand over the cushion and realized the action could be interpreted as an invitation. If she had taken it that way, he would not have minded.
“Occasionally.”
Did she realize he was able to glean bits of information about her from their conversations? He wasn’t doing it on purpose. It was just a natural result of the small things she revealed.
For instance, he knew she was quite comfortable riding in a coach, and now he knew she spent at least a fair amount of time on the rear-facing seat, which meant somebody else was on the forward-facing seat.
“How was your visit?” he repeated. “I hope it went well.”
“It was very nice, thank you. I appreciate your providing transportation.”
“I’m happy to and will do so whenever you require.”
Ellis straightened against the squab and clasped her hands in her lap. Her posture was very feminine.
“You’re sitting like a woman,” he said.
She swore under her breath again, and Roman had to stifle a smile.
“Do you do that often?” he asked. “Curse like that, I mean.”
She sent him a perturbed glance. “Not before I started working for you.”
Roman couldn’t contain his bark of laughter. “I will try to be less irritating.”
Ellis unclasped her hands and rested one on her thigh whilst she braced the other on the seat beside her.
Then she widened her legs to a more masculine pose that drew Roman’s attention to her shapely thighs as well as the distinct lack of a male organ behind her fall. He forced himself to look away.
She was copying his posture. As he thought back over her time with him, he wondered what else he’d done that she’d imitated. Perhaps kissing? She was arrestingly good at it, and he would wager she had experience. However, she may have just been quickly learning from him.
“I thought we could discuss Oliver Pritchard’s visit to town,” Ellis said.
That was not only a good idea; it would keep him from trying to flirt with her.
That afternoon, they’d dispatched a letter inviting him to arrive on Thursday. “I thought we would have dinner here on Thursday evening,” he suggested. “That allows Pritchard and Margot to meet for the ‘first’ time.”
Ellis inclined her head, and Roman continued. “On Friday, we can visit the library on New Bond Street and introduce Pritchard to Inman as well as discuss the timing of the transition.”
“That means we must speak with Mr. Inman as soon as possible,” Ellis said.
“We should do that tomorrow,” Roman replied. “We will present the idea of the reading room in his name.”
“We?” Ellis asked, her eyebrows raised. “You want me to accompany you?”
“Of course. You’re the one who came up with the brilliant ideas on how to keep him involved. I thought you’d want to take part in telling him. I would very much like you to be there.”
Ellis’s features softened, and her lips curved into a slight smile. “Thank you for your confidence in me, truly, but this will be a difficult conversation. Would it be best if you spoke with him alone?”
“I want you to come with me,” he said. “I insist.”
He wondered if that was because he felt she was vital to the conversation, or whether he wanted to make sure Inman knew she was to credit for the reading room in his name. In truth, it was probably mostly because he enjoyed spending time with her, but he wasn’t going to say that.
Ellis glanced out the window. “We’re nearly home.”
As she pulled her facial hair from her pocket and tried to stick it to her face, Roman was struck by her use of the word home to describe her lodgings at his house. He found it surprisingly pleasing.
She blew out a frustrated breath, pulling him from his increasingly Ellis-obsessed thoughts. “Damn, I can’t get this to stick without more adhesive, and I’m running low on it.”
“Where do you get adhesive?” Roman asked. “I can have some delivered tomorrow.”
Her expression turned dubious. “I don’t think it’s wise to have this sort of thing delivered to your house. It may raise questions.”
Roman scoffed. “I highly doubt anyone would notice. Graham or Alvin will receive the delivery, and they won’t ask about it.”
“They won’t ask you about it. But it will surely pique their curiosity, and they may discuss it downstairs.”
“I suppose.” Roman found her knowledge of servants’ gossip noteworthy.
“Don’t worry about it.” Ellis gave up on trying to press the hair to her face and exhaled with resignation. “I’ll purchase some as soon as I can.”
“What shall we do about dinner?” Roman asked. “I’m assuming you didn’t eat, since you planned not to, and you weren’t inside long enough to have done.”
“I don’t want to dine together if that’s what you’re suggesting.” She tucked her facial hair back into her breeches pocket. “I can’t get my beard back on, so I’ll have to go straight to my room. And we can’t take dinner in there alone together.”
They could, but he understood why they shouldn’t. “Just keep your head down when we go inside, and I’ll provide cover as you race for the stairs. I’ll have dinner sent up to your room.”
She met his gaze. “You are very kind. I appreciate the effort you take to guard my secret.”
“I don’t want to lose you as my secretary.” He relied on her. He enjoyed her. He couldn’t stop thinking about her. “It’s quite selfish of me.”
The air between them crackled with energy. Stark lust flashed through Roman, and he had a powerful urge to leap across the coach and kiss her. Then he envisioned a great many sordid things involving the removal of her clothing. His cock hardened.
The coach came to a stop in front of the house, and Roman took a deep breath to calm his racing pulse. “It’s good we arrived, or I think we’d be in trouble,” he whispered.
Ellis’s attention flicked to his erection. “I agree.”
“You must precede me from the coach,” he said. “I need a moment.”
She nodded. “Understood.”
The coachman opened the door, and Ellis cast him a darkly brazen stare. Then, as she descended, she flipped the tail of her coat in such a way that he had a clear and thoroughly arousing view of her backside in the too-tight breeches.
Roman groaned softly. “Minx.”
He sat in the coach for a long moment before departing. She was already inside, and he realized he’d failed to provide her cover while she dashed upstairs, but that was her fault. She’d taunted him, and she bloody well knew it.
Roman needed to have dinner, but first he would have hers sent up. Then he needed to frig himself.
They were playing a dangerous game, and Roman didn’t want to stop.