The driver jerked awake, and blinking fast, sat up and fixed his hat. “Y-yes, Sir. I am. What do you need?”
“I need you to take a friend of mine home.”
“And where is that, good Sir?”
“Grosvenor Square,” Alice replied.
The driver tipped his cap. “Get on in.”
Before he pressed a coin into the driver’s hand, he turned to her. “…If you must know, when I said I wanted to kiss you, I wouldn’t have pounced. I was about to ask for permission.”
She sucked in a sharp breath. “I will not allow my first kiss to be with a man like you.”
“A man like me?”
“Men like you who take what you want and move on,” she stated bluntly. “Rakes and seducers of innocents, who take what they want without any thoughts or consequences for the ladies they leave behind. I came here to bring a rake to task, not to fall into the bed of one. Your request would have been denied.”
“Such a pity.” He let his hand fall to the small of her back. “It would have been delightful.”
“Perhaps for yourself.”
“Before you leave, may I ask you one final question, Miss Alice?”
Her brows rose at his sudden sincerity. “I… I do owe you very much, I suppose, so, yes, you may ask me whatever you would like. I am at your disposal more than I ought to be.”
“Is your day tomorrow one where you wrap some schoolgirls’ knuckles with a ruler or is it that you lounge away the day, eating bon-bons and sipping mint juleps?”
She lifted her head, puzzled. “Neither. Tomorrow, I will return to my normal life of solitude and seclusion.”
“I… see,” he stepped back and almost merged with the darkness. “Have a safe journey home then. And who knows, we might see each other again.”
Her lips ticked down, wordlessly saying,I highly doubt it.
“Good night, Your Grace,” she smiled thinly.
The carriage rode off and soon vanished into the night but Edward knew her face would never fade from his mind.
While heading back to his carriage instead of returning to the den, he gripped the passenger door a touch more firmly than he ought, then looked over his shoulder. “Don’t fret, little mouse. We shall see each other again, very soon.”
CHAPTER 2
Arriving home, Alice slipped inside the dark, silent foyer of the townhouse, relieved that she was back safe, but aggrieved that she had lost her one chance to find Rutledge.
Pulling her cloak from her shoulders, she draped it over her arm and looked at the grandfather clock in the foyer; it read two in the morning. There was little chance her sister Penelope would be awake.
Maybe he is right. Maybe my plan was doomed from the start.
Disillusioned, she ascended the steps to her rooms, plucked the mask from her flushed face, and tucked both it and the cloak deep into a trunk, knowing her aunt would be far from pleased should she discover them.
Slipping into a nightgown, she unlatched the window, inviting the cool night air to drift in before sinking between the chilledsheets. Dropping her head on the pillow, her thoughts tangled with the weight of how she was going to tell her sister she had failed her in the morning.
She shifted onto her side. Then the other. Eyes falling shut, her fingertips brushed her lips as a whisper of doubt stirred within her.Should I have let him kiss me?
The answer came in the next breath.No, she should not have. As tempting as the idea was, she did not desire to have her name or reputation attached to a rakehell.
I cannot lie, he does interest me. Hypothetically.
Sighing, she closed her eyes again and let the tension of the night fade away, and eventually, slipped into a deep slumber, her dreams haunted by mystic gray eyes.
