He’d hoped she would find the accusation laughable, but he understood her tartness. For her years of loyalty to him, for the work she’d done to help other women, Clementine deserved better than slander.
He crossed back to capture her hands. “I can’t help that I love her. If I could stop myself, I would, but I can’t. Since the moment I set eyes on her, I knew I had to win her heart.”
Clementine let out a sigh. “But she refused you.” Her lids half closed. “She said no,” her voice dropped to a familiar purr. She pulled her hands free to glide them up his arms. Long fingers slid under his waistcoat to splay across his chest, her hands warm through his shirt. “Perhaps I can find a way to put her from your mind.”
He studied her full lips. Expert lips. Her skin, which he knew to be silken. Faint lines etched her brow but did nothing to detract from her lusciousness. It would be easy to slip back into the life he’d lived before Lady Krestlin’s ball. Before he beheld Madelina. Easy to walk the Aspen in the evenings, making small talk. Attend events, begging funds from his old companions. Join Clementine in her bed whenever they felt like enjoying each other’s company.
An aloof, guarded pair of gray eyes filled his vision. A perfect, bow shaped mouth. That beautiful contralto speaking frankly, seemingly incapable of lying.
Somehow, Madelina must truly believe Clementine to be Madam Dequenne. Madelina was not conniving. Not subtle. Showed little skill in the art of idle chatter or prevarication.
And she hadn’t actually said no. Not to him. She’d objected to Clementine. Not once had she intimated that she wouldn’t care to wed him.
He realized Clementine’s hands stroked his chest. He caught them again, his smile fond. “I appreciate the sentiment, but surely I’m overreacting. You were correct when you said I haven’t wooed her enough.”
Clementine blinked up at him. “You’re going back to her?”
“I must. Like a moth to a flame, as it were.”
“But she obviously despises me.”
“We can change that.” He squeezed her hands. “Perhaps if you met her? She would see you for who you truly are.” He nodded, pleased with the idea. Once Madelina came to know Clementine, she would see why the idea of Clementine being Madam Dequenne was ridiculous. “Then, too, you’d be better able to advise me on how to court her. Obviously, I’m doing a terrible job.”
Clementine yanked her hands free. “Under what unholy circumstance would Lady Madelina Greydrake socialize with me, Jasper?”
He frowned, but his expression quickly lightened once more. “At my mother’s. She could invite you both for tea.”
“Your mother despises me.”
His happiness skipped a beat, disrupted by surprise. “Why would you think that?”
Pity returned to her expression. “Oh Jasper. For all you’ve suffered since your father’s death, you still live in a coddled, fanciful world. Why wouldn’t your mother hate me? She knows that, before I met you, I was a whore. How could a woman like your mother ever see me as anything else?”
Jasper shook his head. “No, that’s not true. My mother understands. If anyone could, she does. Madam Dequenne took her.”
“Yes, but your mother escaped. Your father was her first client, and he took her away from there. Gave her a beautiful life.” Clementine’s eyes shimmered. “No one came to save me. I worked at that life for years before you found me. No one has ever cared for me but you.”
“The girls care for you. My mother most certainly does not hate you.” He’d no idea Clementine felt so alone. “The women we save, they must adore you.”
Clementine dabbed her eyes. She shook her head, went back around her desk, and took her seat. “You live in a wonderful world, Jasper Mclintock, despite your father’s choices, despite the faithlessness of you peers.”
“You’re being dramatic,” he said. Clementine had that tendency when she didn’t get what she wished for. He was uncertain, though, what she wished for now and wasn’t receiving.
“You are being naive.” She began ordering her desktop. “I have work to do, and soon I’ll be needed on the floor. We can talk more about your undying love later.”
“I’ve upset you.” He knew that much, even if he didn’t know how.
She glanced up again, then went back to her papers. “The world upsets me, Jasper. Run along now.”
Chatter filtered through the door as some of the girls walked past, undoubtedly to take their preferred places in the club. He scooped up his coat, gloves, and hat. Often, it proved best to allow Clementine time to get over her moods.
“I’ll be in my office should you need me,” he said.
Clementine nodded, not looking up.
Jasper offered a bow, regardless, and quit the room. He nodded to the girls walking past, most smiling cheerfully, then crossed to his office. Kitty came down the hall, alone, face angled at the floor.
“Kitty, a word?” he said, the sight of her recalling another of Madelina’s accusations.
