She clenched her fists once, twice. Then let out a long breath.
“The only two who know are Mr. Calloway and Anna,” Thalia said, finally yielding her secret—and finding it came as a relief. “And they have been sworn to the strictest confidence. Even Simon doesn’t know.”
“I suspected as much,” he said. “Andthisis why you are attending so many places of dubious respectability.”
“Bold of you to consider Sir Thomas and his gathering of even dubious respectability.”
He gave a tiny chuckle. “You are right, of course. He has no claim on respectability.”
“And neither do I,” Thalia said, looking straight ahead.
“That is, I presume, why you have never married?”
“As a wife, I would have duties.”
“And you would rather…” He gestured ahead of them as though he could summonPassioneback before them. “I see.”
“My father has expectations for me, but he also has many distractions and doesn’t notice when I slip out at night. I have no faith a husband would be so oblivious.”
“You would have to tell him, of course.”
Thalia almost scoffed. He said the words so easily, but everyone knew that he would not contemplate a wife who behaved in such a way. Women were not allowed room at the table of great arts, and certainly not well-bred, highly ranked women.
There were some, some few, ladies who made a name for themselves within the arts, but they never married well. Many never married at all. That was the burden of greatness when one was born female.
She didn’t bother explaining this to the Duke. There was little point in illustrating how it felt to be denied to a man who had been denied very little throughout his privileged life.
Even his brother’s tragic death and his unexpected thrust into dukedom had only added to his influence. When he wished to, he could go to a club and fight as a means of clearing his head and finding himself.
One could argue she had the same freedom, though not for bare-knuckle boxing. But she had to scrape for every scrap of independence; he had it granted.
As they strolled, her street came into view, and Thalia slowed a little. Much as she didn’t think the Duke would quite understand her situation, she didn’t want this walk with him to end.
He glanced from her to the shadowy street ahead, the lights largely extinguished from the large townhouses. “Is this where you live?”
“Can you believe it only took a handful of minutes to walk back?” She laughed a little, trying to find her way past this sudden awareness and embarrassment. “Enough time for you to know my secret, I suppose.”
He turned to face her, serious suddenly. “Do you think I will betray you?”
“I don’t know you well enough to say.”
“Then let me be plain now. I have no intention of telling anyone of your secrets; they are yours to reveal or not as the time comes. I must confess it’s a relief to know why you are so close to Calloway.” He sighed in what appeared to be abject relief, and she wondered what about her friendship with Elliot had bothered him so much. Anyone with eyes in their head could see that he had no interest inher. Or, indeed, any woman. “You have nothing to fear, Lady Thalia.”
“You know my greatest secret,” she said saucily, extending a hand. “You may as well call me Thalia now. And might I address you as Maxwell?”
A faint smile touched his lips. “Is that what constitutes intimacy in your eyes? The sharing of mutually destructive secrets?”
“Do I have a secret that might destroy you, Your Grace?”
“Maxwell.”
“Maxwell,” she repeated, wondering why his name felt so well on her tongue, and what she was supposed to do about a duke staring down at her in the darkness as though she was his next meal.
Excitement squirmed in her stomach; if they were somewhere else, she might have leaned in and encouraged him to take what he so clearly desired. Their kiss replayed in her mind, and she lingered on every detail the way she had not allowed herself to since the moment it happened.
Good God, she wanted him to kiss her.
Perhaps they ought to have taken a carriage after all. At least there, they would have had privacy.
