The fact that he hadn’t knocked didn’t pass unnoticed. “These are my private chambers. Please don’t barge in. I might have been dressing.”
His dark eyebrows shot up under his wild shock of hair. “Would it have mattered? Sorry, love, but there isn’t an inch of you that I haven’t already seen.”
Colleen shrugged into her cousin’s coat, making sure that her watch was secure in her waistcoat pocket. “No, I suppose not,” she muttered. She cleared her throat. “Do you have plans for the afternoon? I was hoping to ask some questions in my neighborhood about this blackmail ring.”
His muscles went rigid. “Were you now?” Pulling out a drawer in her bureau, Max removed a delicate pair of kid gloves and strode to her side. He tugged at the finger of one of her gloves, sliding it off her hand, before working on the other. He tossed them on her bed. “Anyone in particular you wanted to question, or merely an interrogation of the general populace?” Placing one of the new gloves between his teeth, he tried to work the other one onto her fingers.
She took the smooth leather from his fumbling hand and donned the glove herself. It was like she’d slipped inside a silken cloud. “I am nothing if not practical. I know that asking random people questions would lead to little result.” Taking the other glove from his hand, she smoothed it on. This one pair of gloves, butter-soft and as supple as a second skin, likely cost more than she had ever spent on every piece of clothing she’d worn in her entire life.
Nausea ate at her insides. She was an ordinary woman from Wapping. That’s where she was supposed to be, not playing dress-up with a nob.
And that’s where she was going to return. She’d devised the idea of her own investigation that morning as her breakfast of toast and eggs threatened to come back up her throat when she thought about her actions of the past night. It was a compromise to herself, of sorts. She didn’t know if she could give up Max’s touch, no matter how big a sin their affair, not while she lived under his roof. He was too tempting. But she could make her time in residence as short as possible. Keep her folly to a short duration.
She set her shoulders. “If I want my flower shop, I can’t wait around for you to find out who Zed is. I know some people, people who wouldn’t turn up their noses on a bit of knavery, not if it paid the right amount of coin. If this crime ring was as big as you say it was, the sailors and dockworkers in my neighborhood would have heard of it.”
He tugged the musty coat down her arms and tossed it by her waste bin. Opening the wardrobe, he eyed the contents, finally deciding on a hunter-green pelisse trimmed in velvet dyed a darker shade of green. “All right, if you know people to ask, we’ll go talk to them.”
Colleen blinked. She hadn’t thought he would follow her counsel, much less invite her to join him in the investigation. She was so shocked, she let him put her arms into the sleeves of the pelisse and pull it onto her shoulders. “You think it’s a good idea? That we’ll get answers?”
“I don’t know if we’ll learn anything, but it doesn’t hurt to try.” Gently pressing her down onto her dressing table chair, he knelt and untied her old boots. “Lord knows I ran into a dead end. Literally.”
She cupped his cheek. “That wasn’t your fault.” In the early morning, as they’d lain twisted in each other’s limbs, Max had told her of the suspect they’d cornered. Of the horror the man had committed.
He turned his face into her touch. “Fault, no. But I can’t understand how a man could do that. The look in his eyes was … mad. He wasn’t scared. He killed himself to protect someone he worshipped.”
“Zed must pay his men an awful lot.”
“That type of compulsion has little to do with money.” He held up her ratty boots and frowned. “I thought you’d disposed of these.”
Colleen pinned her arms against her stomach. “Those are the only pair of boots I own. I wouldn’t get rid of them.” Even though her feet had screamed in protest when she’d slid them inside that morning. It was amazing how quickly one became accustomed to borrowed comfort.
His eyes went hard. “All the footwear in this room is yours.”
“You paid for them. I was merely borrowing them.” Putting on her old boots had felt like a form of penance. A silly idea, perhaps, but her old boots also hadn’t made her blush like a maiden when she’d looked at them. The beautiful kid boots would forever remind her of everything she’d done in bed with Max.
Shaking his head, he worked the new boots on her feet. She ignored the heat in her cheeks. “It is most admirable that you want to earn everything for yourself,” he said. “But look on the clothes as part of your salary. I can’t have a manager walking about with sores on her feet.” He looked up at her and smiled. “It would decrease your efficiency.”
Colleen pointed her toes, examining the boots. Wearing them again should be all right. She’d already broken them in, after all. They couldn’t be returned. Spurning them because they reminded her of a wonderfully wicked night would be wasteful.
Standing, Max took her hands and pulled her to her feet. “Are you sure you wouldn’t prefer one of your new dresses?”
“My own clothes do me well enough.” She tugged at the hem of the pelisse. “I have no need for all that frippery.”
“Of course.” His lips twitched. “And you look enchanting in whatever you wear.” Stretching out an arm, he guided her to the door. As they crossed the threshold, he lowered his head and whispered, “But you look best of all when you wear nothing.”
The tips of her nipples tingled, but she pretended she hadn’t heard him. She didn’t know how to respond to such playful words, but they warmed her right through. But now wasn’t time for such foolery, not when there was business to be done. She marched down the stairs and opened the door to the main room of the club. A couple of her girls were lounging on settees, chatting before The Black Rose opened. Colleen headed for Lucy.
“I’m going out for a couple of hours.” Colleen ran a hand down her skirt. “Will you watch over things here?”
Lucy gave a pert salute. “Yes, ma’am. I’ll make sure to batten down the hatches and keep everything running shipshape.”
Colleen pressed her lips flat but couldn’t help but find the vivacious girl charming.
Molly sat next to her, fiddling with her necklace, the large green gem glittering. She eyed Colleen and Max, a malicious gleam in her eyes. “And where might the two of you be off to? A little afternoon delight?”
This one, however, was the opposite of charm. Unless it came to a paying customer. Then she’d charm the trousers right off of him. “Where we’re going is none of your concern. But if you have nothing to do but ask questions, I believe Mrs. Hudson could use some help cleaning the rooms down here.”
Molly snorted. “You don’t pay me nearly enough.”
