“I know.In a second I will let you out.Before you do, in case I misjudged and you feel uncomfortable or do not want to stay, we shall leave immediately.”
“You’re making it so much worse.”
“All right, all right.”He lets go and then pushes my hand out of the way gently to open the door for me.He gets out first and then turns to help me out.
I don’t know what I was expecting when I stepped out of the carriage, but it wasn’t where we are.Maybe I expected a wild circus, or a…a…I genuinely didn’t even know what to think with all Leo’s cryptic hints.Sex dungeon, maybe?
But we’re back in the Pall Mall area, on a quiet street, with quiet, beautiful Georgian architecture looking back at me, white townhouses connected in a seemingly endless row of carved facades.This isnotwhat I expected.
“Are we going to a ball?”We’ve had a lot of those in our short acquaintance.More than I ever thought I would go to.
“Would I have spent all day teasing this specific plan just to take you to another society event?”
“Maybe?”I hope not, though.I don’t want to waste time with Leo being nervous and on guard with society vipers.
“Your low opinion of me notwithstanding, I did not do that.”
I take his arm before he extends it, hoping to get past my lack of faith in his planning skills.He has given me the perfect day so far, and even if this ends up as an aristocratic musicale where the poor debutante has no skill despite having Victoria’s favorite musician Felix Mendelssohn himself teach her, I will listen to the unfortunate screeches with a smile.Or a grimace, that I hope passes as a smile.
“I’m sure I’m going to have a good time.”But the tone is less sure, because where am I?
“Hmm,” Leo mumbles, but refrains from defending himself.Which either means he acknowledges that this is going to be a letdown, or it’s so amazing he’s not worried about my doubt.
Either way, I’m about to find out.Leo leads me up to the anonymous building, opening the door with no fanfare.
The smile freezes on my face as I walk in.
CHAPTER31
I’m in a hedonistic fever dream.I almost walk out the door again to confirm I entered into a staid Georgian townhouse.Who knew this would be a portal to debauchery?
The air is smokey, which isn’t great for my respiration, but I’m distracted by the loud mass of bodies crammed into the space.Mostly men, and some women, crowd the entryway laughing, yelling and stumbling over each other, like I walked in to an elegant, costumed frat party.People are about as drunk as a frat party-goer.And I think I see a couple making out.
After all the balls I’ve been to and the propriety shoved down my throat, I might be a bit scandalized.Or at least a little surprised.
“Where are we?”
“A private gaming hell,” Leo whispers in my ear.He’s joined the spirit of getting closer to members of the opposite sex than is usually allowed, and his breath tickles the hair by my ear.
He nudges me along, probably to stop me from looking like the tourist I am.We move into the next room, this one set up with tables.More people jostle and joke around them, playing cards and hazard.There’s more room to breathe here, but it’s still crowded.
“This is not the most captivating part,” Leo yells in my ear.He’s loud but I can still barely hear him over the roars of excitement and disappointment filling the room.
“It’s pretty good.”More proof that everything edgy we think we invented has already been done.
Leo smiles and keeps tugging me along.He takes me up the stairs, the din of noise lessening as we get farther up.“This may not be the most elite gaming hell I could have taken you to, mostly because women are not allowed in those.”
I give him a dirty look and he throws his hands up.I roll my eyes.“I’m not mad at you.I’m mad at the entire situation.”
Leo nods.“But this one in particular does let women in.It is also run by a barely respectable widow, and caters to a wider swath of society.It is the most interesting gaming establishment I could have taken you to.”
“A barely respectable widow?”The best kind, I think everyone will agree.
“And we are going to speak to her right now.”
I gasp, getting my mini-notebook and pen out of my purse.“I’m ready.”
Leo knocks at the closed door at the end of the hall and opens it after an “Enter” comes through.
