“Well... he’s a good man, I think. And he’s an earl. Even now he’s considering offering some sort of financial solution, because most things have a financial solution when you’re an earl.” Both Delilah and Angelique knew this from personal experience.
“Ihave a suggestion if he doesn’t come up with it on his own,” Angelique said.
“I suspect it’s the same as mine.”
“We’ll nudge him in that direction if he doesn’t come up with that solution on his own. But we need to stand here another minute or so in apparent fevered discussion. What shall we talk about?”
“How to persuade Mr. Cassidy to build the rod for hanging the curtain? Pay for pensions?Andfootmen?”
“That will do quite well,” Angelique said.
They returned to the reception room a few minutes later. The earl searched their faces in vain for anything revelatory of his fate.
“I believe we’ve reached a decision, Lord Vaughn,” Angelique said very, very gently. Her tone implied regretful resolve.
He took a breath. “Before you speak... I’ve been having a little think while you were discussing matters. What if, by way of restitution... I agreed to buy a fine new curtain for your stage? And perhaps I can persuade a friend or two—I have in mind the Earl and Countess of Landover—to visit your new ballroom with an eye toward perhaps attending a soiree there?”
Delilah and Angelique exchanged a look.
This was exactly what they’d been about to suggest.
Delilah spoke for the two of them. “How very kind and intuitive of you, Lord Vaughn, to notice how much our new ballroom means to us, and to recognize how an elegant curtain will elevate it to something truly splendid. It’s a gesture that speaks to our hearts. We’ll accept your offer... as long as you promise not to cause Helga any anxiety by attempting to lure her away again.”
“I swear upon the honor of my family that I willonly humblyappreciateyour staff, and not attempt to abscond with them.”
They smiled at him.
There was a little pause.
“We’ll need the curtain straight away, of course,” Angelique added gently.
“Of course,” the earl replied with a little smile.
Chapter Ten
Peace was restored, after a fashion. Relief made the sitting room somewhat celebratory after a brilliant dinner of lamb in mint, artichoke soup, cheese and salad, peas and onions in butter sauce, and blancmange—all of which taxed the boarding house budget a little but which served the dual purposes of rubbing in the earl’s transgression ever so slightly and making nearly everyone exquisitely happy and full.
Except Lillias.
Hugh had observed this from the moment he’d returned from Dover. Everyone else in her family ate with great enthusiasm. She ate begrudgingly, as though it was a duty. Just enough to ensure survival. It puzzled him. She struck him as someone disinclined to reject a sensual pleasure if one was available, and if ever a sensual pleasure existed, it was Helga’s cooking.
Tonight she wore blue silk and sported a matching pair of pale blue shadows beneath her eyes.
She’d likely been awake all night.
This was both irritating and satisfying.
Because he had indeed thought about her all damned night. It had been disorienting, as though he’d done the night backwards: a dreamfirst—because that’s how those minutes on the roof seemed to him—then sleep. Before he slept he was surprised to find himself gripping the counterpane on either side of him, as though he was lifting her down from the ladder again.
All of his senses had echoed with an outraged disbelief that he’d actually released her instead of sliding his hands up her night rail.
He’d spent a few minutes torturing himself into a full body sweat by imagining what would have happened next if he’d done just that. But that rooftop encounter left him echoing with a peculiar resonant ache he didn’t know how to name. He only knew it had something to do with how it felt to watch her look out across the dark, gritty London view and the vast sky with hungry joy, as if she wanted to swallow it whole.
He supposed he was glad he’d been there to witness it.
And to see her safely down.
And surely there was relief in knowing that he’d as much as told her there would be no seduction. The fact that he could get those words out through the clamoring lust reassured him that he was the one in control after all, regardless of how she played havoc with his senses.