“Thank you.” Sensa winked. “You’re an angel, Angel.”
Camille shooed her away and left for Victoria’s wing.
Upon entering the Nest’s viewing room, Camille had the unfortunate opportunity to not only hear Mr. Richmund’s inclinations towards Victoria’s ‘nurturing bosom of innocence,’ but also the misfortune to see the man on his knees in nothing but his underclothes and top hat.
She tapped the glass three times in quick succession, Madam’s normal call to reinforce house rules. Camille didn’t miss Victoria’s sigh of relief.
“Mr. Richmund, my mistress is calling me,” Victoria said. “I do so hate to part ways, but I am needed.”
Victoria’s acting ability was astounding.
In her full bird garb, Victoria assisted the man with his shirt, coat, and standard blindfold and walked him from the room with a quick ‘Thank you’ mouthed in Camille’s direction.
Camille sighed. “Men.”
“I see what you mean about poetry.”
She whirled to find Renard in the open doorway, his eyes on her.
It was another, less composed, woman whose unladylike squeal sounded. The same woman who bounded across the narrow room and flung her arms around his neck. And the same still, when she pressed a kiss to his lips with a smile wide enough to show all her teeth.
“You’re here!”
His dazed expression cleared to one of amusement. “If I’d have known I’d be received so well, I’d have come sooner.”
She glanced behind him at Victoria’s smiling face as she passed with her blindfolded man.
Camille’s eyes widened looking back at Renard’s non-blindfolded face. “How did you get back here without an escort?”
Renard shrugged. “Madam has taken a liking to me, it seems.”
“It would take a bag of gold and an invitation to St. James to ease her rein on the rules.”
He smiled. “Did I mention I’m filthy rich and am in good standing with Her Majesty?”
She returned his smile. Maybe ‘charming’ wasn’t so bad after all.
“You are pleased I’m here, then?” he asked.
Camille laughed. “Did my embarrassing loss of composure not give you a great enough clue as to my pleasure?”
“A man should not assume.”
“Youarelearning.” Her heart was flying. Ten days apart had torn her hopes and certainty to shreds. But a moment together and those doubts had vanished... for her. Joy dimming, Camille at last reined in her emotions and asked seriously, “Did you discover anything while in the country, Your Grace?”
“I never left London.”
Camille’s gaze locked on his contrite expression.
“I had every intention of going,” he said. “But what you said, about thinking over our future, I couldn’tstopthinking it over. I was so distraught that next morning I mounted my horse backwards.”
He flushed at his confession. “Not wishing to risk running into a lake by mistake when I couldn’t focus on the road, I stayed. I’ve contemplated every possible reason we can’t be together. Status, family, fortune, disagreements over Shakespeare.” He gazed down at her as if his epiphany had manifested between them. “All my doubts and concerns concluded in one simple answer.”
Camille couldn’t breathe. “Yes?”
His passionate expression slipped into that grin she loved so dearly. He offered her a brown parcel bag. “Here.”
Startled, she took the bag without question, a familiar smell from her childhood bringing to mind a sunny day and a walk in the city. “A present?”
