“He knows I’m a woman seeking to…avoid notice.”
“He’s keeping your secret and providing you with employment?” Pandora asked in surprise. She sent an approving look toward the marquess. “Thank you.”
“I respect Ellis’s wishes.”
Pandora’s brows shot up. “You call her by her first name?”
Ellis tried not to grimace, especially since Keele was now surveying her. “Ellis is your Christian name?” he asked.
She nodded and then sent a pleading glance toward Pandora, hoping she would realize she shouldn’t say anything more. Pandora answered with the barest apologetic nod.
“I shan’t pry,” Keele said. “For the moment.” He looked at Pandora with sympathy. “I understand why you would prefer to remain anonymous. You’ve written a novel that has the potential to be rather controversial.”
Pandora smiled in that self-effacing way she’d developed over the past two years. “It’s more than that. If people knew the true identity of the author of A Season in Shadow, they would never buy or borrow it, no matter how badly they might want to read it.”
Ellis nearly laughed, but from cynicism not humor. “I don’t know if that’s true. I think people might be more interested if they knew who wrote it.”
“You are likely right,” Pandora said with a light snort.
The sound reminded Ellis of Pandora’s older sister, Persephone, as well as of Min. They were close friends and had a shared habit of unladylike snorting.
“You’ve utterly lost me,” Keele said in bewilderment.
“I was involved in a ruinous scandal a couple of years ago,” Pandora said. “Ellis can tell you more about it since I’m sure we’re about to be interrupted.”
“How are the two of you friends, exactly?”
Ellis and Pandora exchanged a long look. Pandora pressed her lips together, clearly indicating she would let Ellis respond since she was the one hiding in a men’s costume. “We’ve known each other several years,” Ellis replied. “As it happens, we met in a seaside resort.”
Keele laughed, surprising Ellis. “Then it’s no wonder the protagonist of your novel hails from one,” he said to Pandora.
“Does she?” Ellis asked. “I need to read this book.”
“You really should.” Pandora’s lips stretched in a vaguely apologetic smile as she fixed her gaze on Keele. “Would you mind excusing us before we are set upon by the others?” Without waiting for his reply, she gently clasped Ellis’s arm and steered to the corner, turning her back on Keele. “What are you doing?”
“Working as secretary to the Marquess of Keele.”
Pandora let out an exasperated breath. “I can see that. But why?”
“Don’t you know what happened? I thought perhaps you might have attended Min’s wedding since you’re in town.”
“I did, in fact. I was shocked to learn you weren’t there—and Min told me why. To the best of her ability. She doesn’t really understand why you aren’t responding to her letters.” Deep creases pleated Pandora’s brow. “She’s very upset, Ellis. Particularly because you didn’t attend the wedding.”
Ellis hated missing Min’s wedding, but she couldn’t risk the duchess being present. “I’m upset too. Please don’t tell them you’ve seen me or what I’m doing. I just can’t face any of them. Not yet.” She was still waiting for her emotions to shift—if they even would.
“Well, that is unfortunate because I was hoping to convince you to visit me at Wellesbourne House whilst I’m in town. Persey and Acton have gone to the country, so it’s just me and Aunt Lucinda. We could invite Iona since she’s in town—and perhaps Min and Jo?”
“Ahem.” Keele had moved toward them, but Ellis hadn’t noticed because her back was also partially turned to the door and she’d been too engrossed in her conversation with Pandora. “They are coming.”
Pandora quickly embraced Ellis. “Please come to visit.”
Ellis was shaken. She’d successfully insulated herself from the pain of discovering the truth about her blood parents, specifically her mother. Which also meant she’d pushed away the people who meant the most to her—Min and Sheff, and her friends. What of her father, Rowland Harker, who didn’t even know she existed? Unless Min, or Sheff, or his wife, Jo, had told him. It would make sense for Jo to do so since Harker was also her father. Ellis, who had thought she had no family, had suddenly gained several half-siblings as well as two parents, one of whom she despised and the other she’d briefly and barely recalled.
The idea of a family, siblings and perhaps a father, dangled before her like a tempting sweet. Still, the pain of that family having been denied her for so long cut through her extinguishing the longing she felt for familial connection. In the end, she had to rely on herself, especially if her illegitimacy ever became publicly known.
Stepping back, Ellis went to stand behind her chair. She kept her head down in case Pandora’s aunt recognized her, though she doubted that would happen. Aunt Lucinda did not know Ellis as well as Pandora did, and Ellis was confident in her disguise, at least in this element. She wouldn’t mistakenly do something that might be viewed as feminine, which had led to Keele’s finding her out. Although the retainers at his house hadn’t done that, nor had the Laceys—so far. It occurred to her, however, that perhaps none of them paid as close attention to her as Keele did.
That realization sent a tiny, not-unpleasant shiver up her spine.
