“Fuzzy little balls?” There was a look in that dark gaze, something very near laughter. I realized then how that sounded.
“I see yer point,” he replied.
He burst out laughing then and I thought he mighthave a fit and fall in the middle of it, as I had heard him say on more than one occasion.
He grabbed me and kissed me.
It was not the sort of kiss that usually led to other things, but the sort that barely contained his laughter. I say not usually… “I…” I whispered, his mouth gently brushing mine. I did very much want more.
“Aye?”
He waited and I saw something in that dark gaze, that question that needed to be answered. I hesitated. I was not in the habit of sharing my thoughts about such things—intimate things.
“It’s late,” he finally said, stepping away. “I’ll have the Mudger signal for a cab, and then see ye home.”
Late. It most certainly was, in more than one way. I silently cursed myself as he stepped out of the office.
What was wrong with me? Why couldn’t I simply accept his proposal? But I knew…
When he returned, I had put on my long coat against the rain and cold of the evening. He seized his coat and then escorted me down the stairs.
“The driver was just heading back to the barn,” Mr. Cavendish informed us with a long look at me. “He agreed for one more fare, especially practically across the whole of London.”
“Let’s be off then,” Brodie told him and assisted me into the coach. When he went to give the driver the location of the townhouse, I decided that I really should go to my aunt’s residence.
“Sussex Square it is,” the driver nodded as Brodie settled himself on the seat across in the coach.
“I suppose I should see how everyone is surviving the arrangement,” I commented, pushing back my anger at myself.
Brodie was aware of Lily’s arrival and now the slight change of plans for her to reside with my aunt, at least temporarily.
When we had first spoken of bringing her to London he had been most supportive.
“Not every day a young one gets the opportunity to escape the poverty and danger on the streets. As yer ward she will have a chance at life.”
As he knew only too well, it was an opportunity that could make an enormous difference in one’s life. For certain it was going to be a new adventure for both Lily and myself.
The light from a nearby street lamp fell across the floor of the coach, and the man sitting across from me. His expression, usually something I was quite familiar with, was unreadable. Then a bemused smile.
“I would place a bet that her ladyship has the matter well in hand.”
* * *
Well in hand— words to remember the next morning as I rose from the bed in what had once been my sister’s rooms to the sound of chaos in the hallway beyond. Sounds that included laughter, a string of very colorful curses, and other sounds I hadn’t heard in a very long time.
I quickly donned my skirt and shirtwaist— the only clothes I had at present, having slept in my underthings when I returned the night before. Then I opened the door of the outer sitting room that still contained some of my sister’s early artistic efforts.
It was as far as I got as I stared at the sight in the hallway.
There was more laughter, another round of curses, then one in particular as thesight before me, realized she was not alone.
“Oh, bloody hell!” Lily exclaimed. “I didna know ye was here, miss!”
Indeed.
I had two choices— the first one was to return to the bedroom and attempt to convince myself that it was all a bad dream given the absurd time of the morning with first light just appearing around the edge of the windows.
Or two— face the situation. The situation being, Lily in chain mail armor, dragging an enormous sword behind her.
