Chapter Twenty-One
Tha?s was used to being leered at so lewdly it felt like being pawed. She didn’t mind it. It was her livelihood to make men horny, and horny men were not apt to be polite about their lust, especially to harlots.
But Eden’s gaze on her—while lusty to be sure—was different from those leers. He looked at her like her body was a miracle he couldn’t quite believe.
It was not her bent to get excited over the men she swived for money. It was better not to, as the job was to notice how to please them, and a muddled mind made a girl unsafe. Even when she liked her patrons, the lust she showed for them was to whet their appetites. Sex was a performance, and her body was her stage.
So it was odd how hot she felt when she watched Eden. Maybe it was because he was so earnest about sex. Maybe because he was so kind a person. She liked plenty of the men she fucked, but Eden was her friend. She wanted to do right by him.
And that caused a part of her she usually kept cold to thaw.
Which was not good.
She was here to service him. Getting slick between the legs would only frustrate her when it was time to send him off to his bride.
Eden dressed and went downstairs to greet Hattie while Tha?s readied herself for the day. Getting up so early was beginning to feel less numbing. In fact, it might be good for her complexion, as she had a rosy glow.
She went downstairs and munched on toast while Hattie tidied, chatting with her about the weather, then took her brochures outside and sat on the terrace circling things she wished to buy.
Time moved slowly as she waited for the telltale clop of horses on the gravel drive.
She had missed Elinor horribly these past few months. It seemed that all her friends were busy in their own lives. Seraphina was writing a new book and had a baby and two stepchildren to raise. Cornelia was spending half her time in the country with her husband, helping reform the estate he’d inherited to benefit the whole community. Elinor was plagued by the loss of her children and had been on the road for months trying to find them. And when she was in London, she spent most her time with Jack, her lover and the leader of the Equalist Society.
Her dearest friends had all found love—except Tha?s. It was less than two years ago that the four of them had spent all their time together, more like a family than friends. And she still loved her girls like sisters, and Elinor like a mother. But deep down, beneath the busy pace of her life in London, she was lonely. And being in the country only made it worse.
Another vehicle approached. Tha?s prayed it would turn right.
When it did, she hooted and ran inside the house.
“Eden,” she called. “She’s here!”
She raced out the front door and hopped from foot to foot as she waited for Elinor to get out of the cart that Eden had hired to meet her at the coaching inn in town. As soon as Elinor’s feet were on the ground, Tha?s went flying toward her, arms open, beaming.
“El! Come here, you quacker.”
“Quacker?” Elinor said. “That’s a new endearment. Or, at least, I assume it’s an endearment?”
Tha?s kissed her cheek. “You know that you’re my dear. My dearest.”
Elinor wrapped her arms around Tha?s and squeezed. “And you’re mine.”
They turned toward the house. Eden was standing awkwardly beside the door, redder than the roosters that she so longed to kill.
He bowed to Elinor. “Lady Bell.”
Elinor paused for a moment to take him in. Tha?s had warned her that she was here with a mutual acquaintance but had not revealed his name in her letter.
“Lord Eden,” Elinor said smoothly. “What a pleasure.”
“Indeed,” he said with visible effort not to grimace. “Welcome.”
“No need to Lord and Lady each other,” Tha?s said. “Around here he’s plain old Mr. Smith, and God help you if you curtsy to him. He’d just as soon you kick him in the shins.”
“I would prefer a curtsy to being assaulted, actually.”
“Just a turn of phrase.”
“How vivid,” he said.
“You know me!”
“I’m certainly beginning to.”
“I promise not to curtsy,” Elinor said. “And I’ll do anything you ask to maintain your privacy. I’m so very grateful you have opened your home to me... Mr. Smith.”
“I’m pleased to help, and so glad you may soon be reunited with your daughter.”
“Thank you,” Elinor said. “It’s such a fortuitous coincidence.”
“Although—” Eden bit his lip “—I hope you won’t think ill of me for the circumstances under which we’re here.”
Elinor shook her head. “I would never think ill of anyone for enjoying the company of my dear Tha?s.”
Ah, she was a gracious one, that Elinor.
“That’s right,” Tha?s said. “Methinks I’m quite a fine companion.”
“Of course,” Eden said. “I just meant... well, Elinor, I’m not here for lascivious purposes. Or, that is I suppose I am, but not—erm, excuse me.” He coughed. Tha?s tried not to laugh.
“What the poor dear means is I’m here to help him study up husbanding a woman. If you know what I mean.”
“I see,” Elinor said with a smile.
“Yes. That is, I asked Tha?s to help me prepare to marry soon. And I’d hate for whoever I wed to think of me in a poor light, so if you would not mind keeping our arrangement a secret, I’d be most grateful.”
“Eden,” Elinor said, “you have my word. And I think that’s one of the most romantic things I’ve ever heard.”
Tha?s hadn’t thought of it that way. It had seemed practical to her. Even a bit fussy. But Elinor was right. Behind Eden’s wish to be perfect was a desire to bring someone joy and contentment in her life.
Any man who valued such a thing would be a wonderful husband.
“Me too,” Tha?s said. “You’re a good type, Mr. Smith.”
Eden looked at her oddly. “I am?”
“Well, don’t go about thumping your chest about it, but aye, you’ll do.”
“Thank you,” he said, flushing. “Elinor, I’ll take your bag up to your room.”
“Fancy a rest after your journey?” Tha?s asked her.
“Actually, I’d love to stretch my legs after that long carriage ride. Might we take a stroll?”
These aristos and their damned strolls.
“Fine,” she said, trying not to groan. “But we can’t fall in any mud. This is my last clean dress.”
“I wasn’t planning on it, dear.”
“Sneaks up on you here, plans or no plans. You should have seen me yesterday. Filthy from head to toe. And not—”
“In the good way?” Elinor finished drily.
“Don’t steal my jokes.”
“Why don’t you have clean clothes?” Elinor asked. “Did you not pack your usual fifteen trunks?”
“Five trunks, thank you. But I thought I would be dressing for the boudoir, not the barnyard. Eden won’t let me wear my lovely whorish finery. He’s afraid someone will discover who we really are and his reputation will be ruined.”
“The two of you aren’t getting along?”
“We get along splendid,” Tha?s said, realizing it was true. “But Mr. Perfect only deigns to entertain me when he’s not doing his never-ending work, and there’s nothing to do out here but fall in mud and get pecked by geese.”
“Well, it’s only for a few more weeks. Then you’ll be back in our pristine London, with no mud in sight.”
“You think you’re funny, don’t you, milady?”
“You bring it out in me, my dear. You’re a delight to tease. One gets an immediate reaction.”
“Have you heard from the girls?” Tha?s asked. They didn’t write her unless they had to, knowing her hatred of letters.
“Sera wrote me last week,” Elinor said. “She and Cornelia have been consumed with preparing the Institute to open. I feel guilty that I’m not able to be of more help.”
“Those two can manage anything. Me, on the other hand? Barely done a lick of work. At the rate I’m going, there won’t be any beds or chairs.”
“What’s stopping you?”
“I’ve picked out what I want to buy, but I need to send in the orders. It takes me ages.”
“Shall I help you, when we return?”
Blessed relief, the idea of that.
“Please. Otherwise Eden will be looking over my shoulder every minute, pestering me to let him write them for me.”
Elinor looked surprised. “He helps you with your correspondence?”
“Loves to. It’s embarrassing. Makes me look like a numbskull.”
“Tha?s, no one who spends a quarter hour with you would think you’re anything but brilliant. I’m sure Eden recognizes your intelligence.”
She hoped so. For some reason, she cared very much about him thinking she was smart.
After a stop at the Fellowes’ barn to cuddle the kittens, they returned to the cottage to spend the afternoon munching biscuits and working on Tha?s’s letters. With Elinor at the quill, it went quickly and pleasantly.
But as the stack of work waiting to be done shrank, she felt a slight pang of disappointment. For the more that Elinor helped her, the less there would be for Eden to do.
And maybe she liked him helping her after all.