Chapter 6
Ellis reread the note she’d just received from Pandora, delivered by one of Wellesbourne House’s footmen. She hoped the delivery to the Marquess of Keele’s secretary from such a prominent household hadn’t drawn Keele’s butler’s attention. But how could it not? She would have to mention the delivery to Keele so he could extinguish any curiosity. Particularly since it was the second time in the past week that such a note had arrived.
Exhaling, she set the parchment to the side of her desk. Ellis didn’t blame Pandora for trying to persuade her to visit. This note and the prior one asked her to come to Wellesbourne House. The first note had again mentioned including their friends who were in town—Iona, Jo, and Min. Ellis had responded to decline.
Today’s note invited Ellis to dine with Pandora this evening to celebrate Bonfire Night. Pandora specifically stated it would be just the two of them. Aunt Lucinda planned to dine elsewhere with friends.
The invitation was tempting. How lovely it would be to wear a gown and be herself again. Ellis missed being a woman. That realization had surfaced the night before last when Keele had walked into the bathing chamber as she’d stepped from the bath.
His reaction to seeing her was forever imprinted on her mind—and her body. She still tingled when she thought of his thorough and passionate regard, not to mention his frank invitation to take their mutual attraction to the next step.
Ellis had no doubt their desire was mutual. It felt so wonderful to be not just a woman, but a woman who was wanted. After learning that her mother hadn’t ever wanted her and never would, Ellis had wondered if she would ever feel as though she had value—at least to another person—again.
Even so, in her head, she knew that was silly. She knew Min and Jo and her other friends valued her. Pandora was demonstrating that presently.
Perhaps Keele’s interest in her was so appealing because he was new to her life. He didn’t know her, wasn’t aware of her situation, and he didn’t feel sorry for her. To think she could be intimate with someone, even just physically, was incredibly appealing. Just as she was mulling Pandora’s invitation to dinner, she couldn’t help pondering Keele’s offer of seduction.
Which was terrible since she was his employee. He’d been right when he’d said it was inappropriate, and it was good that he’d left because Ellis had been quite vulnerable. She had almost asked him to stay.
It was torture knowing he was just on the other side of the door in his bedchamber. She’d hurried to dry herself and leave the bathing chamber as soon as possible.
In her haste, she’d left her hairbrush behind and had to go back to fetch it. It was then that she’d heard something moving against the door to Keele’s chamber. She’d crept towards it, listening intently.
She’d frozen as an unmistakable groan carried from the other side of the door. Ellis had pressed her ear to the wood and could hear Keele panting. Images of what he’d almost certainly been doing had filled her mind, and she’d fled the bathing chamber to do precisely what he’d done in the privacy of her own bed.
“Afternoon.” Keele’s voice jolted Ellis from her reverie. She didn’t turn her head, for she knew her cheeks were flaming. And she was slightly breathless from thinking of him pleasuring himself.
“Afternoon,” she murmured.
Keele went to stand behind his desk and gestured toward Pandora’s note. “Is that for me?”
Ellis plucked it up and folded the parchment in half. “No, it’s a note from Pandora Barclay inviting me to dinner this evening.” Satisfied that her face was no longer scarlet, she pivoted toward him. “A footman from Wellesbourne House delivered it. Unfortunately, he did not stay to receive a reply as he did the first time.”
“This is not her first message to you?”
“Yes. I take it Graham didn’t mention anything to you about the first note. That gives me some comfort, as I hoped his curiosity wasn’t piqued that your secretary is receiving correspondence from Wellesbourne House. But now it’s happened again…” She frowned.
“Graham is incredibly discreet. That said, it’s possible he will mention it to me since it happened a second time.” Keele waved his hand. “Do not concern yourself. I will manage the situation.”
“I will concern myself as the matter concerns me,” Ellis said. “But I do thank you for helping to maintain my privacy.”
“That is part of our agreement, and I will not renege, even if I disagree with your reasoning.” He arched a brow at her, and her breath caught at how devilishly handsome he was. “Which I don’t because I have no idea what it is.”
Ellis heard the question in his voice but didn’t address it. She wasn’t going to explain who she was or why she was hiding.
“Are you going to dine with her?” he asked.
“I’d planned to bathe.” That was the truth, but she hadn’t meant to say that out loud. Not after what happened. Surely that simple word—bathe—aroused the same thoughts and sensations in him as it did in her. Ellis avoided the temptation to look at him, but it took supreme effort.
“During dinner?” His voice carried a hitch. He coughed.
She kept her gaze on the desk in front of her. “I thought that would be the best time, so as not to have another misunderstanding as we did the other night.”
“I can’t ask Alvin to ready a bath during dinner,” Keele said. “He is otherwise engaged.”
“I can heat and carry my own water—even to fill an entire tub,” Ellis said. “I’m perfectly capable.” She’d been doing that at the boarding house where she’d been living, and it wasn’t too difficult. Granted, she hadn’t been carrying it upstairs, but she was strong.
She was answered with a lengthening silence. Curious about his reaction, she turned her head and saw him moving around his desk. He came to stand behind her chair, and she pivoted to look up at him.
