Page 47

She nodded, thankful that her friend didn’t demand an explanation while they were out there in the street. It was after closing for most of the shops on Victoria Street, and while a customer’s carriage might’ve been expected in front of her shop during working hours, it would be sure to raise eyebrows at this time of day. Her mother would’ve told her she was being ungrateful for looking askance at a man’s generosity—and maybe she was—but this sort of public display felt more like an attempt to brand her than anything else.

As the carriage rumbled through the tiny, winding streets of the Old Town to the wide, open boulevards of the New Town, where wealth and privilege were the norm, Lavinia found her nerves beginning to take over. Andrew was right. She was taking a considerable risk in accepting Wark’s invitation to dinner, but she’d made her decision. There was no turning back now. Besides, hadn’t Andrew himself begrudgingly told her that he thought she could do this?

Heat pricked the back of her neck at the thought of him. She wasn’t ashamed of what had happened between them, but neither could she control the urge for more. To feel his touch again had been intoxicating, and when he’d left that night she’d found herself wanting. A low, dull ache had accompanied her for the next few days, peaking at night when she was alone. It had been so long since any man had lavished attention on her, but the pressure of his fingers against her was proving to be inadequate. She wanted to feel her body clench with the shock of him first sliding into her and the stretch of every thrust after. She squirmed in her seat thinking of what he could do with his mouth, his tongue. She longed to lose herself again, to be free even for a moment from the account books and orders, rent payments, and invoices.

Andrew could make her forget, but would he want to?

In the moment, he’d been entirely focused on her, as though her pleasure were to be his greatest achievement. But as soon as he pulled away, she could feel him start to recede into himself. He’d thrown up obstacle after obstacle, making objections where there should be none. He’d given her so many excuses to pull away. To say she hadn’t really desired him.

She’d refused. She was a grown woman, widowed once, and she wasn’t going to pretend that her body hadn’t reacted the way it had. Whether what they’d done had been ill-advised was another question entirely.

The carriage shuddered to a stop, and Lavinia parted the leather curtains to peer up at Wark’s home. She’d been there so many times before, but it looked different at night. Candles blazed in every window—a shocking expense that must have been for the benefit of those attending the dinner party—and the whole house glowed with a soft yellow light. It looked deceptively inviting—romantic, even—but she had to remember that beyond the black front door lay a group of people looking to harm. It was her job to do everything she could to stop them.

Lavinia accepted a particularly tall footman’s help down the short steps of the carriage. At the door, Mr. Donaldson, the Warks’ butler, bowed to her and intoned a respectful “Good evening, Mrs. Parkem.” If the man thought anything of greeting his mistress’s dressmaker as a guest, he gave nothing away.

There was a moment of slight embarrassment when a footman, rather than a maid, took her things with fumbling hands and nearly dropped her coat. She could’ve sworn she heard Mr. Donaldson hiss softly through his teeth, but when she glanced at him he was all decorum.

“You are expected in the drawing room. If you’ll follow me,” said the butler.

But before they could turn, Wark marched into the entryway. “I’ll take things from here, Donaldson.”

Wark held out his hands to Lavinia, and as she took them, she was infinitely glad that convention dictated she wear gloves. The last thing she wanted was to touch this man’s clammy skin again, but she buried those thoughts under the force of her brightest smile.

“You found the carriage, I see,” said Wark.

“It was an unexpected treat,” she forced herself to lie.

He threaded her hand through his arm and patted it. “If I had my way, you’d never walk anywhere again.”

Tempted though she was to roll her eyes, she managed to make a sound that probably passed for delight. Either way, Wark seemed pleased.

“Come,” he said, steering her into the drawing room. “I want you to meet my guests.”

Andrew needn’t have been worried that one of her clients might be in attendance that evening. True to Wark’s word, other than his mother, the entire room was filled with gentlemen—five, to be exact. They all turned when Lavinia entered, and she had to fight not to squirm under their scrutiny.

“You know Mr. Douglas,” said Wark with the briefest of nods to his mother’s admirer.

“Mrs. Parkem, you are as radiant as a summer’s day,” said Douglas, clasping her hand and dropping a kiss on it.

Lavinia couldn’t miss the flash of annoyance in Mrs. Wark’s eyes, but after administering to her, the man dutifully went back to the older woman’s side.

“Mrs. Parkem, may I have the pleasure of introducing Mr. Arthur Rothesman, Mr. Callum McDonough, Mr. Dylan Parris, and Mr. Alan Harrison,” Wark said, steering her away from his mother with a touch on the small of her back.

She dipped into a deep curtsy, which had the added benefit of knocking Wark’s hand away. “Gentlemen, it’s a pleasure.”

Mr. Harrison stepped forward to bend a bow over Lavinia’s hand. “It was a pleasant surprise when Wark told us we were to be joined by a lady other than his distinguished mother tonight, but we weren’t expecting anyone as lovely as you.”

Our of the corner of her eye, she saw Mrs. Wark’s mouth tighten at this little speech.

“I hope I’m not interrupting any important business,” she said, looking from man to man. All but Parris smiled back at her.

“Not at all, Mrs. Parkem,” said McDonough, his accent thick with an Inverness burr.

“Mr. Wark said you were all business associates?” she asked.

“And now the beneficiaries of Wark’s good nature,” said Rothesman, with a slight smile.

“I’m sorry, I don’t follow,” she said with a shake of her head.