“If I cannot stop you, perhaps I will follow you.”
“To drag me back? It sounds romantic, but I do not think I would like it.”
“Not to drag you back. To join you.”
Her head turned. “Why would you do that? Your life is here.”
Tell her. She has a right to know. “So I can have my fill of you.”Coward.
She nestled down. “I would be happy if you visited me for a while.”
He pressed a kiss to her crown. “It might be a long while, Padua. A few months at least.”
She nodded subtly, then yawned.
He held her until she fell asleep.A few months. Perhaps a few years. Maybe forever.
CHAPTER21
Two mornings later, Ives let himself out the door and began to descend the fire stairs of the house. A movement caught his eye and he halted in his tracks. Down below a woman strolled in the garden. He watched her a good while. Then, when she aimed toward the back portal, he retraced his steps to Padua’s chamber.
She looked up from where she prepared to wash.
“There is someone in the garden. A woman.”
“They often take the air after they rise. She will not be there long.”
“I find it hard to believe this woman is one of Mrs. Lavender’s young ladies. She is too old, for one thing.”
“That must be Emily. I am told she is older, and works here on an itinerant basis. She lives elsewhere. Mrs.Lavender had complained of feeling poorly yesterday, so Emily took her place in the office. She does that too.”
Ives went back to the door. He did not step outside again, but he watched Emily as best he could through its opening. When she turned toward the house again, the suspicion that had been nudging him was confirmed. He recognized her.
“Has she met you? Does she know you are here?” he asked Padua, upon returning to her chamber again. He sat on a chair to watch her finish her ablutions. It charmed him, this simple, common task. She appeared domestic and fresh in the dawn’s light, with her nightdress down around her waist and her lithe back flexing softy while she washed her breasts and arms.
“We have not met. I heard two of the servants complaining about her last night, however.”
“I recognize her.”
Padua looked over her shoulder. She grinned. “Is your past haunting you?”
“Not the way you mean. If you saw her, you might recognize her too. She has rooms right below your father’s on Wigmore Street.”
“She is that blond woman who likes to sit at the window?”
He nodded. “Her name is Emily Trenholm. I prosecuted her husband.”
“I expect she does not like you much.”
“I thought her living below your father an odd coincidence. That she also has a connection here is one too many.”
Padua slipped her arms back into her undressing gown. “Do you think Mrs. Lavender is involved after all? I hope not. I rather like her.”
“We will not know until all is revealed. However, assume she is for now. Do not let her know we are suspicious.”
“I have been waiting, expecting some kind of overture from her or someone else, and nothing has happened.”
Ives went over, kissed her. “It is time to fix that.”
