“I think I see him there with…” Arabella pursed her lips. “I’m not sure which earl that is, it’s hard to tell when they’re not facing me.”
“He must have gotten sidetracked,” Evelina said. “I’ll go fetch him, as we intended to go home early before we spotted you two dancing. It was a great pleasure to meet you at last, Mr. Windham.”
“Silas,” he said. “Mr. Windham is far too formal.”
“Silas,” she repeated. Then she leaned forward and kissed Arabella’s cheek. He thought he saw her whisper something, but couldn’t hear it. “Good night, dearest. We’ll work out when I can have the grand exhibit of his work.”
“Good night,” Arabella said, and together they watched her make her way toward Southwater. The duke glanced down at her when she reached him, put his arm around her as he continued to speak to his companion.
When Silas looked at her, Arabella was frowning slightly. He caught her hand and lifted it to his lips. “Another dance, my lady?”
She nodded. “I’d love to.”
They went back to the dancefloor and spun back out together. This dance was a little more lively than the waltz had been earlier, but it wasn’t a country group dance, at least, so he could keep her in his arms even as they hopped and skipped their way around the floor together.
“You worry about her,” he said.
“Evelina?” she asked.
He nodded. “Do you not approve of her duke?”
“She’s been with Harry for two years now. That’s a lifetime in the world of courtesans. She tells me she’s happy, she even seems happy most of the time. But I suppose old habits die hard and I always look to how I can protect her.”
Silas tilted his head to look at her a little more closely. There was more to it than that, but he doubted Arabella would say more. On some level, he understood it. If there was trouble between Evelina and Southwater, that was their business, not anyone else’s.
“Well, both your sisters are amazing women,” he said.
That slight change of subject caused Arabella’s face to light up. “Thank you, I agree. I do adore them both. We were close as girls and to still be so close now is a true pleasure.”
“I can picture you all easily as girls, giggling together and causing trouble. What about your mother since I know you weren’t close to your father based on our earlier conversation.”
The pleasure that had come over her face when she spoke of her sisters faded now. Replaced by pain and then by the mask she put up around subjects that had real impact on her. Her expression became calm and blank and her gaze darted to the side slightly.
“My mother was long dead,” she said.
Silas wrinkled his brow because she made no effort to tell that story, nor more of the one she’d already mentioned about her father. She was shutting the door on him. Shuffling him into the same category where she put her protectors. He had opened up to her, but she wouldn’t do the same with him.
And he understood it all. He knew exactly why she kept her emotions, her pains, separate from everyone around her. Yet he wished he could find a way over that wall she had erected around herself. Wished he could delve deeper and find the depths of her that hadn’t seen the light in years.
And that was most definitely unfair of him. For both their sakes.
He turned her on the dancefloor as the song faded and when she changed the subject, he didn’t pursue it. He let her be light and fun and nothing more. And even as he reveled in all that she was, he also felt bereft with the knowledge that he could only see a tiny fraction of her.
And that she’d likely never allow him more.
CHAPTER15
Simone Stanhope’s London townhouse had been the first place Arabella had felt safe when she left her family and began on her path to becoming a courtesan. Simone had allowed her a room and full use of her library of naughty books. Her education had been first theoretical thanks to the books and then practical as Simone took her out into the world and let her see and experience the expectations Arabella would encounter as a courtesan.
Memories of long talks and spied upon moments flooded her as her carriage entered Simone’s drive on an early afternoon two days after the Cyprian ball. As she exited the vehicle, servants rushed to help her and she smiled at them. They were the same people who had served Simone all those years ago.
Get good servants and keep them happy.She could practically hear that edict in Simone’s voice. It was one she followed religiously. She took care of those in her employ and she trusted them to take care of her…and her secrets.
“Miss Comerford,” Simone’s butler said as he stepped from the house to greet her. “We weren’t expecting you today.”
“Good afternoon, Buttons,” Arabella said with a warm smile for the man.
She had no idea if Buttons was his true last name or if he’d been a pirate at some point and that was his nickname. Honestly, she might believe the second. He had a scar on his cheek, after all, and a rather rakish air for a butler.
