Upset, Ellie stood and brushed the leaves from her backside, but before she headed to the break in the trees, she turned to the young boy. “Do you… would you meet me here tomorrow at the same time? Please? I want to thank you for saving me today.”
Again, he didn’t speak but nodded.
“Thank you,” Ellie said, daring to touch his arm. “I will see you—”
“Evelina!” Her aunt’s scolding voice had her looking to break the bush.
She grasped her skirts and took off to the break, only pausing to look over her shoulder once before darting away again.
“Why in God's name are you awake at nearly midnight?” Dorian’s tone, as brusque as it was, did not irritate her. She’d begun to learn that he was not one to dawdle around corners.
She stuck a finger between the pages. “I could not sleep, so I decided to distract myself. How was London? Did you get the bedlam you wanted?”
He peeled his jacket away and undid his cravat. “No, because I did not go where I would have gained that reaction.” He leaned on the curb of the table and gripped the edge. “What about you? Did you heed my warning to stay put?”
“And I followed the rest of the schedule too,” she nodded, while setting the book to the side and refreshing her cup. “Is that to be a normality for me?”
“Was your day productive?”
“Yes.”
“Then, yes, it will be,” Dorian replied. Flipping the spare cup on the tea tray, he made his drink and leaned back on the table. “You were lost in thought when I came in. What was so absorbing?”
Plucking a tart, she nibbled on a corner. “I was thinking about Ash.”
“Ah,” he mumbled over the cup. “Your misbegotten love.”
Her eyes narrowed. “There was nothingmisbegottenabout it.”
“He had not said a word to you during yourscintillatingromance,” Dorian drawled. “Tell me, what sort of romance is that?”
She scowled. “For one, he was temperate, kind, and certainly did not judge me as you are doing.”
“And I suppose the many novels you read have fermented the notion that you two were in love,” he teased. “Maybe he spoke his emotion with his eyes, hmm?”
“Why are you being such a grouse?” she asked.
He set the cup to the side. “Forgive me for being a cynic, but my past has not afforded me the soft sentiment that is love. Or any tender emotion for that matter. On the street, you quickly gain the awareness that emotion is a distraction you cannot afford. It has to be quick and accurate logic.”
Dropping another square of sugar into her tea, Ellie sighed. “That sounds tiring… and sad.”
“Sad or not, it is the way of the street,” he shrugged a shoulder, then peered into his cup. “Is this Hyson or Black?”
“Hyson,” she replied. “Black is much more bitter.”
He rolled his neck. “I suppose my taste is not as refined as it should be.”
“Which is why I deduced it was not you who is so enthralled by this,” she lifted the book. “Not to mention you refute the fact that love exists or that romance is a real thing.”
“Romance dies,” he uttered. “Lust is forever. And that book was owned by my dear mother. I’d catch her reading it every time she had a moment to herself.”
“I see,” she set the book to the side. “But onto lighter matters. After I sent out our cards—thank you, by the way, for getting my newly minted married name onto a hundred premium paper—”
He lifted his cup with a satirical lip twitch.
“—and soon enough, we received a deluge of replies,” she continued. “Most of them were invitations to balls, and a few of them, I’d imagine, are in line with your premeditated plans of those we are to attend.”
Dorian shook his head. “I think you have mistaken me. We are not going to attend these balls to enjoy ourselves. We are going to make acquaintances and connections.”
