Reese glanced at Lulu. “You too?”
“Aye, miss. All the staff are. Mister Jem is waiting to escort you to dinner.”
“Does he know some of our friends have arrived?” Reese had a lot of questions for him and wondered at his take on the whole magic story.
“His man should have informed him.” The maid’s expression turned sly. “If I may make so bold as to say, he is a fine-looking gentleman.”
“Yes, he is.” Reese wondered at the mixed messages she was getting from these fae women. The magicknewthere might be a match for her with someone from this time, that she mustn’t fight against it. Yet here was Lulu making a not-so-subtle hint that Jem was eligible.
“Miss, will you be wanting higher necks on all your gowns?”
“Yes,” Reese said firmly. “I don’t need to draw attention to that part of my body.” It had irritated her when she had first started getting her curves that the guys who had just been friends before suddenly couldn’t keep their eyes off her chest. She’d smacked a few of them.
“I do thank you for speaking up for me with Davies.” Lulu curtsied and opened the door.
Reese took a deep breath and followed her from the room. Down the hallway, at the top of the stairs where the two wings met, Jem stood. He glanced their way, and his expression turned appreciative, the corner of his mouth quirking up.
She felt a mixture of emotions, relief at seeing him again, but also pleasure at his approval. It troubled her that he had the power to do that.Still. This whole situation was going to make her crazy, forcing her to rely on him like never before, all the while trying to keep from falling for him again. She would not make the mistake her mother had and get involved with an actor who would just ditch her when she bored him.
Reese and Jem used to be good friends. Surely, they could be friends again.Onlyfriends.
“I thought the gown you wore to the Regency ball was pretty amazing,” he said as she approached, “but this one looks like it was made for you.”
“It must be the magic,” she said, pretending his compliment meant nothing to her. “That’s what brought us here, isn’t it?”
“Jem! Reese!” Kaitlyn’s voice cried from behind them, and they spun around.
Reese blinked her eyes at the sight of her friend, who lifted her skirt and ran toward them. Kaitlyn threw her arms around them both.
“I’m so glad to see you,” she said. “Have you seen Cora?”
“Not yet,” Jem said. “Where’s Cyrus?”
“He’s coming, but he’s not very happy.” She clapped her hands. “Isn’t this amazing? We’re really in the past. I’m so excited.”
“Miss,” Lulu said from behind them, “you need to make haste or you will be late for the dinner.”
“I’ll wait for Cyrus,” Kaitlyn said. “You two go ahead. My maid said our seating assignments aren’t together anyway.”
“We need to talk,” Jem said.
“Don’t worry; we will. From what Nellie said, we’ll be here for a while. We’ll have lots of time to talk this whole thing to death.” She grinned and looked about to squee with happiness.
Jem gave his sister a quick peck on the cheek before offering his arm to Reese. She took it and lifted her skirts to navigate the stairs.
“I never thought I’d be so glad to see her,” he said.
“Same here. Now if we just knew Cora is safe.”
Jem patted Reese’s hand on the crook of his arm and didn’t remove it. She might have a chance to ignore how nice it felt if his touch didn’t compete with that second shot of tonic for the amount of electricity it sent along her nerves.
“Did they give you some of that tea?” she asked.
“That stuff was scary good. Do you think Nellie would let us have the recipe to take back home?” He winked at her. “We’d make a fortune.”
“Lulu said Nellie never shares her potions,” Reese said. “Besides, I wonder what price a faerie would ask. I don’t think it’d be money.”
“You have a point.” Jem’s expression turned contemplative, but then he grinned. “I guess we should find out what that price is before asking Nellie for the recipe.”
