“It sounds as though you’re being given no choice but to join him.”
“Yes.” He sighed. “If he says he won’t leave, he won’t. He’s singular that way. And now I must call my valet and get ready like some dandy fop and take my medicine.”
She tilted her head. “I can’t help with the second, but I’d be happy to help you ready yourself so you could forgo the valet.”
He arched a brow. “You?”
She arched hers right back at him. “If you don’t think that a courtesan knows how to put a gentleman back together, you haven’t been with the right lovers.”
Put a gentleman back together. He knew she meant that as a throwaway sentence, something playful and teasing in the midst of this upset. But it hit him harder than that. A woman like this…no, not like this.Thiswoman. She could put him back together. What a concept.
“Silas?” she said, concern coming over her face.
He shook off the wild thought and motioned to the dressing room door. “If you want to dress me up like some doll and make me acceptable to my brother, I won’t stop you. Though I admit, I think I’ll be distracted by you being naked while you do it.
She laughed and grabbed for her clothing that was still scattered around the floor. “I’ll dress while I look at your wardrobe and find your armor for the encounter. I won’t be but a moment.”
She slipped off then and he sank down on the settee with a sigh. He hadn’t meant for things to become complicated when he came back to London, when he started this affair with Arabella. But both of those things were becoming quickly and increasingly just that.
And he had no idea what that would mean in the end.
* * *
Silas Windham really did cut a fine figure when he was dressed and groomed. His broad shoulders filled out his finely made jacket perfectly, the greens in his waistcoat brought out the beauty of his eyes and when he was freshly shaven and hair in place, she couldn’t help but shiver.
He looked like a gentleman, as refined as any duke Arabella had ever taken to her bed. He could have fit into their world, she could see. Only people like that never let someone like him, no matter if his father had brought him into his home. Silas’s bastard blood, his courtesan mother…that would never allow him to be anything but an outsider. Just like her. It made her wonder why the last marquess had done such a thing. It was not a kindness.
She squeezed his hand. “You are ready, Mr. Windham. And you look very handsome, indeed, so that ought to frustrate that brother of yours all the more.”
“What fun,” he said, but the tone was flatter than the teasing words implied. He shook his head as he looked at himself in the mirror. “If you ever retire from the game, you should take on the role of a valet. In half an hour you shaved, dressed and fixed me up.”
“Yes, but one minute more and you’ll be late to meet with him. So you ought to go.”
He hesitated a moment and then turned on his heel to face her. “Come with me.”
She stepped back. “You wish me to come downstairs and join your meeting with your brother? He knows who I am, you know. He’s seen me at Cyprian balls and at the Donville Masquerade and even at the opera.”
Silas’s expression twisted. “You two have never…”
“Oh, God no!” she said with a shudder. “I draw a hard line at going between siblings.”
“But you didn’t know you’d have me and he has power.”
She shifted slightly. “Well, I never wanted to close the door on you just in case you reappeared in London. Nowwhydo you want me to join you?”
He shrugged, like it was meaningless. “It would tweak him, wouldn’t it?”
She forced her expression not to change. She’d been used as a weapon before. Sometimes that was the entirety of her role. Step out with one person, hurt someone else. But the fact that Silas wanted to use her that way…well, she wasn’t especially fond of it. But perhaps that was good. It helped remind her that even if he behaved otherwise sometimes, she was still just a whore to him. Just as she was to his brother. She couldn’t forget that was a line between them.
“If that’s what you want, I’ll go.” She briefly touched the hair she had fixed. She knew it was fine. She had trained herself to become quickly presentable under any circumstances. Part of her own armor.
Silas brightened up and held out an arm. “Good. Thank you.”
She took it and they stepped through the antechamber and out into the hallway together. He didn’t release her until they’d gone downstairs and stood outside the parlor. He was almost vibrating with anticipation, shifting his weight a little back and forth.
She squeezed his arm briefly and he looked down at her. For a breath’s time, their eyes locked and then he nodded, released her and opened the door.
* * *
