A Counterfeit Courtesan

by Jess Michaels

  He reached out and his fingertips crested over her cheek, tracing the line there, catching the tear that had fallen and wiping it away with his thumb. She leaned into his rough hand and prayed he could feel all the things she couldn’t say.

  “I’m not the one to find you, angel,” he said, his voice rough. Then he backed away a long step. “I’ve always been lost.”

  She pursed her lips at how he retreated. Then she let out a long sigh. “You’re only lost if you don’t want to be found,” she said. Then she turned away and paced across the room to the sideboard where she began to absently tidy up the flipped glasses and spilled whisky from their earlier encounter.

  He chuckled, and she glanced at him over her shoulder. He still looked tense, but the smile was real. “You just can’t help yourself, can you?” he asked with a shake of his head.

  She shrugged. “I don’t want to help myself,” she corrected. “There’s nothing wrong with trying to fix what is broken in the world. If no one bothers, everything stays the same.”

  His smile fell. She could see all the arguments he might make to keep the distance between them. But she didn’t want to hear them. Not now.

  “I should go back,” she said. “I’m likely already in trouble if my sisters returned from their party. But I must ask you if you intend to break away from me.”

  He frowned. “Do you want me to?”

  “No, but I’m not a fool. You got information about the duke today that you needed me to easily obtain. Perhaps that’s all I have to contribute.”

  He moved closer. “You and I made a bargain, angel.” He reached out and took her hand. His thumb smoothed over the skin between her thumb and forefinger, and she shivered at the intimacy of that touch. “And I still…need you. Need your help.”

  He added the correction swiftly and released her when he said it. But even as he walked away, she smiled. He needed her, and she refused to believe that was only something that came with this investigation they were performing together.

  And if he needed her, then perhaps that meant he could care for her. That made the future a little less cloudy than it had been when she started her day.

  Chapter 20

  Ellis sat at a table in the Donville Masquerade, nursing a drink as he watched the cacophony of pleasure drift by him. It had been a few days since he last returned Juliana to the safety of Harcourt’s home. Since then she had written to him, lovely letters with little snippets of information she had spied off her hosts. And also glimpses into her day. Into her life.

  They ought not have meant so much to him. And yet they did.

  He frowned and took a sip of ale. He’d come here to remind himself who and what he was at his core. A man who belonged in a place like this when she did not. But coming here only served to remind him of the time they’d spent in this den of sin.

  He moved to get up and go talk to Marcus in the hopes he could clear his head when a lady sat down at the table across from him. Her mask was elaborate, brocaded and feathered and bejeweled. It instantly identified her as a woman of the ton, come here to fuck her boredom away, no doubt.

  “I beg your pardon, my lady, but I fear I am not available for entertainment,” he drawled.

  She tilted her head. “I realize that. I believe you are taken by a friend of mine. Should I say her name out loud to prove it?”

  Ellis froze. He knew that voice. From the park with Juliana a few days before. “Lady—”

  She shook her head. “No, no, sir.”

  “Lady L?” he pressed.

  Lady Lydia smiled in acknowledgement. “Indeed. You have determined my identity. That is correct.”

  He arched a brow. “What is a duke’s unmarried daughter doing in a place such a this?”

  She shrugged, a delicate lift of slim shoulders as her gaze darted away. “The same thing anyone does at the Donville Masquerade. I come here to be myself, my true self. Sometimes we must hide those true selves in public. As I think you are, Mr. Maitland.”

  He straightened in his chair and felt the blood draining from his cheeks. She knew his name. His real name, not the false one he’d given in the park a few days earlier.

  “You needn’t worry,” she said with another dismissive shrug. “I have no intention of unmasking you here or out in the world. I just wanted you to know I was on to your game.”

  Ellis folded his arms and leaned back in his chair to examine her. Her body language was meant to be casual, but he saw the tension in her shoulders, around her mouth. There was more to this approach than a mere polite acknowledgement. Or a threat.

  “And just what do you think my game is?” he asked.

  Her smile thinned. “I think you are known as a lover in many circles.”

  He tilted his head. Her tone held a modicum of disgust. “So you think I am using Juliana Shelley, your friend? And you don’t have anything to say about that?”

  “Juliana Shelley is an acquaintance,” Lady Lydia corrected, with a snippiness to her tone that made Ellis a bit more protective than perhaps he should have been. “And if I thought your goal involved stealing something from her, using her as you have used others in the past, I suppose I might consider letting her know she was a fool. But despite your reputation, that isn’t why you’ve tangled yourself in her life.”

  “Do tell, I’d love to hear your theory,” he said, keeping his tone carefully neutral.

  “You are after my brother, Lord Winston. Winston Leonard, I suppose he is known as when he is slumming amongst people like you.”

  Ellis’s eyes went wide. He’d seen her reactions in the park, but he’d been more focused on her father. But it was evident Leonard’s behavior and reputation were as known to her as they were to anyone else. She hadn’t been protected from them. Or perhaps she had just been investigative herself.

  “And what if I am after him?” Ellis asked carefully.

  She leaned forward. “I think it is a good idea. It’s time someone eliminated him.”

  His lips parted at the harshness of her tone. “You would wish me to exterminate your own flesh and blood?”

  She shook her head slowly and let out a long sigh. “Although I am ten years younger than my wayward brother, I have always been aware of his sadistic cruelty. I watched him wield it over my brothers, over my father and my mother. He tormented servants, he destroyed lives. And no one has ever checked him, no matter what damage he did. His power and his influence and his ability to get what he wanted at any cost grew over the years. No one in our family has been left untouched by it.”

  “I am sorry,” Ellis said, and meant it.

  She met his gaze evenly. “You needn’t patronize me. His bad behavior outside the walls of our family homes was just as bad, if not worse. Because of his lack of decorum, he has destroyed the reputation of my elder brothers and harmed my own. My father is utterly weak, too weak to protect anyone, even himself. And Winston is an animal. I hate to say it, but putting him down is the only way this will stop.” She shifted. “Are you the man to do it?”

  Ellis steepled his fingers on the table. This could be a trap. This woman could be as cold as her brother, working in league with him. But there was something in the spark in her stare that made him wonder if he could risk it.

  “My intention is to be that man,” he admitted.

  Her breath hitched. “Even though you know there will be consequences? He is the son of a duke, no matter how far he has fallen.”

  “The consequences to allowing him to continue down this path of destruction are far worse,” he said.

  She considered that a moment. “I can lure him to you. But he wants that gem. It is all he rants about. He is incensed that it was taken and is willing to do anything to get it back.”

  “I know. Where is he staying? I could take care of the problem quietly.”

  She shook her head. “He’s on the move, property to property here in London. His paranoia is at a peak. And so is the danger. Get the gem, Mr. Maitland, and I can get him.�
�

  Ellis took a long breath. For weeks he had been strategizing and planning and trying to get to the man this woman had offered to him on a platter. Now he was being offered the end game. He just had to get one thing. Of course Juliana was the key to it.

  “I’ll get it,” he said softly.

  She seemed to sag with relief. “Good. Send word to me at my father’s house when it’s done. I’ll take care of the rest and make the arrangements.”

  “Good.” Ellis got up. “I can imagine turning on your family isn’t easy. Thank you for your assistance.”

  “He isn’t my family,” she said as she pushed to her feet and headed into the crowd without a goodbye. He watched her walk over to the closest handsome gentleman, wrap herself around him and lift up for a kiss. It was clear how she intended to soothe her fears.

  His mind shifted to Juliana. If this was the end, if he could truly get to Leonard and end the danger to those he loved…that meant it was the end for them, as well. He would be lost after he murdered his enemy. Hanged, transported or shot in the attempt to kill Leonard, the result was the same.

  Even though he had been prepared for that, had always known it, he regretted it. Regretted the fact that he would never see or touch Juliana again. Hear her voice. Feel her skin against his. He ignored what that desire meant.

  This was the only path now. And he had to stay on it so that everyone would be safe, including the woman who had turned his dark and dangerous world on its head.

  Juliana walked down the hall with Anne, the two of them laughing at a joke Rook had told in the parlor after supper that night.

  “You two are so well-matched,” Juliana said as they reached her door. “It’s lovely to see.”

  “Thank you.” Anne leaned in to kiss her cheek. “I hate that Father is insisting you return home to him tomorrow. Despite all the danger still out there.”

  “We both know he doesn’t acknowledge danger to anyone but himself,” Juliana said with a long sigh. “He is entirely selfish. But I doubt I am in danger. After all, I am not related in any way to anyone Winston Leonard wants to destroy. I worry more about you. About Thomasina.”

  Anne worried her lip. “And what about Ellis?”

  Juliana froze, hand on her door, as she stared at her sister. “What about him?”

  “I think you two must have gotten close, given that you…you chose to spend time with him at the Donville Masquerade. I cannot ignore the fact that even though you hide it, you might be communicating with him still. Sometimes you get a faraway look in your eyes. It’s the same one I see on Thomasina’s face and feel on my own.”

  Juliana sighed. “You needn’t worry yourself, love. I’m being smart and careful.”

  “I know you are.” Anne shifted. “But I also know that Ellis can pretend to be whatever a lady desires, whatever she needs in that moment. That is how he got so far with so many and never got caught at what he’s done.”

  “Including you?” Juliana asked softly.

  Anne frowned. “He sensed I didn’t want the life I was being forced into. He offered a different one. Full of adventure and fun. He wasn’t wrong. That is exactly the life I’ve found with Rook. I don’t hate him for what he did anymore…but I can’t trust him.”

  Juliana nodded slowly. “I-I understand that.”

  Anne squeezed her hand. “I just hope you aren’t being used and convincing yourself it’s something more if you are still connected to him.”

  Juliana frowned. She was in love with Ellis, she knew that as strongly as she had a few days ago when the realization had first hit. But she wasn’t a fool. Their bargain was, in a great many ways, still skewed in his favor. He got what he wanted from her when it came to assistance. And he certainly wasn’t sad about the physical pleasures they shared.

  That he might be using her, playing her, even if she did sometimes catch a glimpse of the real man he was had occurred to her.

  She released Anne’s hand with a smile she hoped appeased her wary sister. “I’ll consider it. Good night.”

  “Good night,” Anne returned, but she still sounded concerned. She worried her lip as she turned and left Juliana at her door.

  The door she opened with a sigh and stepped into her chamber. She moved to close it and gasped. Ellis was standing behind it, leaning against the wall, a finger pressed to his lips to shush her so she wouldn’t cry out in surprise.

  She couldn’t help her smile, despite the conversation with her sister in the hallway, and shut her door quietly before she stepped into him, lips lifted for a kiss.

  He didn’t deny her. His arms folded around her, hands splaying across her back possessively as he devoured her lips. She groaned at the sensation of his fingers against the silk of her gown, rubbing the soft fabric along her skin as he deepened the kiss even more.

  She was lost to him. Lost forever. She never wanted to be found. She broke the kiss to look up at him and drink in the sight of him in the firelight.

  He was so exquisitely beautiful, it was almost difficult to retain focus. His hair was slightly mussed and fell around his forehead in disorganized waves. His blue eyes were dark now, dilated with desire for her that still felt so strange to see and understand. He was not wearing a jacket, nor a cravat, and the top button of his shirt was undone, revealing a little chest hair that she wanted to glide her fingers through.

  “Good evening,” he drawled with a smile that popped the dimple in his cheek and made him even more irresistible.

  “What are you doing here?” she whispered as she lifted her hands to his shirt and slid the second button free.

  He chuckled. “The exact same thing you seem to be doing,” he said. “I came here to just…” He leaned in and nuzzled his nose along the curve of her neck. “…breathe you in.”

  She shivered as his lips traced her throat and dizzied her mind. “I missed you,” she admitted, even though that was a dangerous thing to do. “Three days is a very long time to only satisfy myself with smuggled letters.”

  He drew back and gazed down at her, the tension in his stare sudden and dark. “You ought not put so much stake in me, angel,” he said softly, and lifted his hands to cover hers and keep her from unfastening the third button of his shirt.

  “You keep trying to warn me off,” she said, leaning in to kiss his knuckles instead of unbuttoning him. “But you must know by now that I am entirely stubborn and accustomed to getting my way. I will have it, you know.”

  He chuckled, but the sound was strained. “You are that. I wouldn’t have you any other way.”

  She stepped away and smiled. “You may be the only one to feel that way, I fear. My sisters are becoming concerned about me.”

  He shifted slightly. “Yes. I, er, heard some of your conversation with Anne in the hallway.”

  Heat flooded her cheeks. “I see. Well, then you know what I’m dealing with.”

  “She’s worried about you,” he said gently. “And she should be. We already know I’m no good bargain. I’m a thief in the night and I’ve taken so much I never should have touched.”

  “I offered what you took,” she reminded him as she reached for him. She folded her fingers through his and they both stared at their clasped hands. “Enthusiastically. More than once. I can do it again if you’d like to revisit whether or not you have stolen something from me.”

  He squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head. “You were sent here to test me. It is the only explanation. An angel from heaven sent to tempt the devil. And I think I’m failing.”

  “Only if you judge the test by hell’s standards,” she whispered, and wished she could make him see himself through her eyes.

  His smile grew sad and he lifted her hand to kiss the top. Then he let her go and paced away. “I heard something else in your conversation with your sister. Is your father insisting you return to his home?”

  “Yes,” she admitted on a groan. “I’ve been here too long according to him. He wants his secretary back, as he is planning
some little gathering with his cronies. Trying to repair the social damage done by my sisters’ marriages, no doubt.”

  Ellis ran a hand through his hair, mussing it further, making it look like he’d just rolled out of bed. Her bed. That sent a shockwave of desire through her that had her clenching her legs together.

  “I don’t like it, Juliana,” he said, his sharp tone pulling her away from pleasurable thoughts. “He knows the risk, doesn’t he? He’s aware of what Winston Leonard is and what he could do?”

  Juliana sighed. “He was at Harcourt from the beginning. He was part of Anne’s disappearance, he heard the stories of Harcourt’s brother and he knows I was taken and injured by Leonard. But despite all those things he…he doesn’t care.”

  His jaw tightened. “How could he not?”

  “Oh, Ellis,” she said with a sad smile. “You know how.”

  He frowned, and she could tell he was thinking of his own past, far more fraught than hers, far more dangerous, but when it came to abandonment? When it came to a lack of parental love or protection?

  Well, that was another thing they shared.

  “He’s a bastard,” Ellis growled, pacing away from her to the window where he stared out into the inky night.

  “Yes. He is that. But I’m accustomed to him. I can accept what my future is when it comes to him. And I know my sisters and their husbands will take pity on me and draw me out as often as possible once all…all this is resolved.”

  He pivoted back. “Yes. I suppose the best thing we can do is resolve this. It’s the best way to protect you from Leonard…and from…from everything.” He straightened his shoulders. “Back in Harcourt, my cousin discovered a code that likely leads to the gem Leonard wants so much.”

  “In the statue, yes,” Juliana said with a shiver as she thought of that day in Harcourt’s study when she and Anne had found the shards of the statue and the note from Rook…the day she was taken.