So, she had come prepared for a deception. Thalia admired her forward thinking.
“Is that so?” Her father laid the newspaper down with precision and turned his smile to Anna, who looked as though she were charmed rather than repulsed. “Then, my dear, you must do what you can to find my daughter a husband the way you did.”
Anna blinked, her expression frozen for a heartbeat. Thalia sent her a pleading glance, and after another second, she smiled. “Well, I can’t promise another gentleman like my husband, but I shall try my very best.”
Thalia joined her friend by her side and squeezed her arm the moment her father glanced away. Lord only knew how Anna had resisted throwing something at her father.
“May I go?” Thalia asked.
Her father waved a hand. “Go and find a gentleman prepared to marry you. My patience wears thin.”
His patience was not the only thing worn down. But Thalia managed to nod and hurry out of the house with Anna by her side.
As soon as they were in the fresh air, she heaved a sigh. “I thought he would never let me leave.”
“All you ever need to do is hint at finding a husband, and he will allow you to go anywhere,” Anna said, linking her arm through hers. “And he won’t ask too many questions. I get the impression he would allow for almost anything so long as you were married by the end of it.”
“How fortunate I am to have such a father,” she deadpanned, and Anna laughed.
“Fortunate that he doesn’t interfere with everything else you do.” She climbed into her carriage, and Thalia followed.
This was a very different carriage ride from the one she had taken with the Duke, though she did her best not to think too much about it.
They traveled to Elliot’s lodgings, a rather fine apartment in an almost-fashionable part of London. He had not reached the heart of Park Lane and Mayfair, but he was still, nevertheless a man of style.
Elliot met them at the door and bowed them through to his studio, where Thalia did most of her sculpting.
The light here was airy, helped by the large windows. Slabs of marble ringed the walls for future projects. Standing in the middle was her current work: a beautiful lady draped in gauzy cloth, posed with one arm outstretched as though reaching for a distant lover.
Or at least, that was what it would be. Thalia could see her vision for it in her mind’s eye, clear as day. Currently, it had merely begun to take the shape of a person, with a head, torso, and a jagged lump of an arm.
As she got to work, Elliot called for tea, which a maid brought through to a small table at one side of the room. Sometimes, when necessary, he offered comments and guidance, but it had been some time since Thalia had last needed instruction.
“The student has usurped the master,” he said fondly, watching her.
She wore an apron over her dress and would have to wash stone dust from herself before leaving later.
“Tell me what happened at the club,” Anna said, sipping at her tea.
Thalia’s hand slipped. She stared at the white stone absently as her mind once again provided her with an image of the Duke staring down at her with his cold, intense eyes.
“Well, I was able to pay off the remainder of my debts.” Elliot folded his legs as he watched Thalia. “But my companion left before I did.”
“More like I was escorted from the premises,” Thalia said.
Anna gasped. “By whom?”
“Who do you suppose? None other than His Grace, the Duke of Marrowhurst. Your husband’s dear friend. He implied that I would get in trouble if I stayed—which was only a direct consequence of his drawing attention to me—and insisted on taking me home. I had very little choice in the matter, believe me.”
“A brute,” Elliot said feelingly. “I knew it as soon as I saw the way he attacked those thugs the other night. No well-meaning gentleman knows how to fight in that way.”
Thalia tossed her head, though a handkerchief held her hair from her face. “I quite agree.”
Anna tilted her head. “It sounds as though he was watching out for you, Thal.”
“Only for his own gain, so he might feel good about himself. None of his antics have been for my sake, I assure you.”
“Mm.”
