“You cannot know that,” he replied, though he could almost hear Hawkney’s disapproval ringing in his ears. “Vinnie would. She’ll love you.”
Something that looked very like hope, like the longing for acceptance, flitted across her face, there and gone in an instant, but he’d seen it, and he held on. “Della too, once she gets over being heartbroken over Alfie,” he added with the lift of one eyebrow.
She folded her arms tighter, glowering down at her feet. “That wasn’t my fault.”
“I know. Alfie is very endearing. I am rather fond of him myself.”
He waited as she looked back up at him, that vulnerability she tried so hard to hide from him shining in her eyes.
“Do you mean that?” she asked, and he felt the weight of the question, knew his answer mattered, perhaps more than anything. “Because he’s not going away. I cannot live solely as Alice. I would go mad. For one thing you cannot know what it like to be so restricted, by your sex, by your clothing, by society. I need everything that Alfie gives me, not just the freedom to go where I please and say what I please, to be treated with respect, instead of like I haven’t brain enough in my head to understand the most basic concepts. I won’t do it, Aubrey. I am as much Alfieas Alice, and I completely understand if that’s too much to deal with.”
“I know,” he said, hearing the fervour behind the words and congratulating himself upon having figured that much out already. He spoke carefully, trying to be as honest as he could. “I can’t pretend I understand it all, not yet, but I mean it. It’s not too much. At least, I don’tthinkit is. I think we owe ourselves a chance to figure it out though, don’t we?”
Though what that actually meant was something they would definitely need to discuss, for he could not condone more burglary. But one thing at a time.
She let out a breath, her arms falling to her sides.
“All I’m asking for is a chance,” he pointed out.
“A chance to wreak havoc upon our lives, upon the lives of everyone who cares about us, upon our hearts,” she said, shaking her head at him as if he was insane.
“Yes,” he agreed, smiling. “All of that.”
She laughed, throwing up her hands. “Very well, Mr Aubrey Seymour. I will give you—us—a chance. Only one, mind,” she warned.
“Only one,” he agreed, moving until she stood directly in front of him.
He heard the way her breath hitched, though his own fared little better as she lifted her hand and placed it on his bare chest. Her fingers were cool, making gooseflesh prickle over him, making desire spring to life and his ill-mannered libido remember the proximity of the bed. Dammit, had he just said he would court her?
Idiot.
“You are very strong,” she observed, her hand sliding over the muscle. “Much stronger than me.”
“In some ways, perhaps. Not all.”
She glanced up, appreciation glowing in her eyes and relief flooded him at discovering he’d said the right thing for once. Her finger touched his nipple, circling the flat disc before giving the tip a little tweak, knowing exactly what she was doing to him.
Aubrey gasped, and she looked up at him, a triumphant upward kick to her mouth.
He laughed. “Devil!” Catching her hand before she could do it again, he brought it to his mouth, kissing her fingers. “I am sorely tempted to begin this courtship at the end and take you to bed now, but if you want me to continue being a gentleman, for a little while at least, you had better stop.”
She considered this. “Only for a little while.” She danced out of his embrace with a teasing smile, as the words sank beneath his skin, warming him and making his heart kick with anticipation.
Swallowing down a groan of frustration, he sighed. “I’d better see you out then.”
“No need.” Deftly, she swept up the clothes he’d taken off and threw them out of the open window. Before he knew what she intended, she had sat on the windowsill, swung her legs over, and disappeared.
“No!”Aubrey cried. He ran over, his heart thundering, and looked down, finding a pair of glinting eyes gazing up at him, her smug grin infuriating. She clung to the bricks with her strong fingers, her feet balanced on a climbing vine that scrambled up the side of the house. “Oh God. You terrify me,” he said, closinghis eyes and trying to convince his heart it did not need to escape his chest.
“Night, night, Aubrey,” she whispered, before jumping nimbly to the ground. She looked up, blew him a kiss, and disappeared silently into the darkness.
Aubrey sighed, wondering what on earth he’d done. He closed the window, smiling to himself, reassured that he did not regret it. Not yet, at least.
Chapter 10
Thief of Hearts.
Ocean View Villa, Little Valentine, early hours of the 19th ofJanuary 1816
