“Come now, the weaker sex?”
He wouldn’t deny the attention he had received. It had been pleasant but…strangely unfulfilling.
A dark, slender eyebrow arched. “You will not have me believing you think any different than the majority of the male population.”
“That women are weaker? Physically perhaps, but I have long considered women much stronger of mind. And, besides, one look from a woman like yourself and you have us all on our knees, begging for your attention.”
“I cannot imagine anyone has ever brought you to your knees, Lord Harris.”
He laughed. “Would you like to try?”
Her lips parted, eyes widened.
“Have I shocked you?” he asked with a grin.
“You insist on forgetting how I earn my living, my lord. Nothing can shock me.”
“Well, I must try harder then.”
Someone pushed past him, catching his walking stick and forcing them closer to the edge of the building. The patio was slightly inset into the building so that they ended up tucked into a corner. Shadows played over Anna’s face but enough moonlight caressed her lips and lingered in her eyes for him to be almost entranced. Foolish thoughts, he knew, but Anna did have an astonishing ability to meddle with his mind.
He saw her throat work and had to prevent a smug smile. She would be feeling the same, he was convinced of it. Though the night air offered a pleasant breeze and there wasn’t really anything preventing her from moving around him, they were trapped together—held prisoner by desire. Now, if only he could get her to admit as much.
“What brings you to London, Anna? I thought you avoided it at all costs.”
He also couldn’t help but wonder how she got an invitation to this event. The sad reality of society was that a woman like Anna—a fallen woman—would always be snubbed. Even if she did not own an establishment such a Stourbridge, her fall from society was enough. To most of society, Anna was simply a fallen woman, heading up an establishment that sold sin. Few even knew she actually owned the place. Would they think better or worse of her, if they knew she did not work for some unknown, powerful man and that Stourbridge was entirely run by her hand, he wondered.
It had taken a great deal of effort not to press her and her staff for details during his stay there. Unfortunately for him, her servants and the working girls there were infinitely loyal to her and refused to say a word.
Anna’s smile tightened. He saw her defences rise—as if they could get any higher. Her shoulders were straight, her chin lifted. “Not all Stourbridge business can be conducted from Buckinghamshire, unfortunately. It does warrant the occasional visit to London.”
“And you decided to attend a few social events during your stay here?”
“And why not?”
“Why not indeed? But pray tell how did you get an invitation at the last minute? Lady Elridge is normally so...selective with her invitations.”
“What you mean to say, Harris, is why did she invite someone like me here, is it not?”
He could have bitten off his own tongue. Where his charm went around her, he didn’t know. For some damned reason all this woman’s secrets piqued his curiosity. He longed to know more of her and apparently that meant he wasn’t at all subtle with his questions.
“Please do not think it a complaint. I am infinitely happy to have seen you again. It at least gives me that chance to thank you again for your diligent care.”
Waving her fan in a dismissive movement, she snapped it closed. “I would have done the same for any other man injured on my land.”
“Even going so far as to attend to their bedside? That I cannot believe.”
“Well, of course, I have been friends with your brother for some years.” An eyebrow rose slightly. “I could hardly abandon his brother, now could I?”
A painful shaft of jealousy grated his insides for a brief moment. Then he recalled Ash and his pretty little wife and the interaction between Ash and Anna. He had wondered if there had been something between them, but she’d been as cool with him as she was with everyone else.
And when he moved a fraction closer, her eyes flared. However she felt toward Ash, there was no denying she was attracted to Harris.
Now, if only he could persuade her to stop fighting it. If she were to stay in London, perhaps he’d have the chance and with his leg on the mend, he was in a much better position to persuade her of the benefits of a dalliance.
He kept his gaze locked on hers as he leaned in a little. Her height meant he didn’t have to dip his head far to bring them close enough so that it wouldn’t take much for their lips to meet. He could hear her breaths quicken.
“You will always have my gratitude for your care, Anna. Should you ever need anything from me, do not hesitate to ask.” He curled a hand around her fan and took it from her to loop it carefully around her wrist, settling it until it was just so. He held onto her wrist longer than he needed to before raising his gaze to hers. “Anything at all.”
She blinked several times then cleared her throat. He waited for her answer. It would be something pithy or sharp or—
“Anna Dubois!”
He twisted to view the source of the declaration. A man of similar age to him staggered toward them, a glass of champagne cradled in one hand. The liquid sloshed over the side and from the weighted look of his eyelids, the more he lost from the glass the better.
Harris glanced at Anna and saw something he never expected from her. She shrank back.
Instinctively, Harris stepped in front of her as this—well, gentleman was putting it politely—veered toward them.
“Anna, it is you. Bloody hell, I haven’t seen you in years.” He paused in front of them both and finally seemed to spot Harris. “Cynfell, still hobbling around, eh?”
Harris narrowed his gaze at the slightly sweaty fellow and tried to lure up a name. Frank? Fred? It evaded him but the face was familiar now, if only because they occasionally attended the same events, but he was the son of some rich merchant and thus not titled so not as in demand as Harris was. From the look of him now, he would expect his inebriated state to have something to do with that too.
“Can I help you?” Harris asked pointedly, keeping Anna firmly tucked behind him.
The chap peered around him at Anna. “Just saying hello to an old friend.”
“I don’t recall ever being your friend, Francis.” Anna said with bitterness to her tone.
“Well, that’s not very nice.” Francis gave Cynfell a grin as if they were somehow in collusion with each other. “She’s a frosty thing is she not, Cynfell? Let me save you some time and effort and introduce you to a nice, welcoming young lady. There’s a few pretty, eager little things around.”
A fist curled at his side, Harris moved forward. “If I see you anywhere near any pretty, eager things, I’ll make damn sure you’re never invited to one of these events again. And you will never speak like that about Miss Dubois again, do you understand?” He stared down his nose at the man and saw his Adam’s apple bob.
Francis lifted his palms. “Anna knows I don’t mean it, don’t you, Anna?”
“I certainly do not!” she declared from behind him. “You need to go home, you’re beyond inebriated.”
Francis jerked up his chin and stepped back from Harris. “Don’t blame me when you get nowhere, Cynfell. She’s a frigid bitch.”
Harris lunged for him, but Anna snatched his arm before he could swing his fist at him.
“He’s not worth it,” she told him, pulling him to her side. “He’s not worth it.”
Hot rage rolled through his veins, heaving like waves in a storm. He forced himself to take several deep breaths but to no avail. Harris didn’t consider himself to have a temper, but he knew if he hit that man, he’d have knocked him out with ease and likely ended up in a whole world of trouble.
He waited until Francis had staggered around the corner. When he got the chance, he’d be having a word with Lady Elridge
and ensuring he was never allowed to another event again.
“Bloody bastard,” he muttered under his breath.
“That he is.” She rubbed a soothing hand up and down his arm. “Let it go, Harris. He’ll likely pass out somewhere and wake up feeling like death.”
Turning his attention to her, he gave her a weak smile. “He’d have felt a lot worse if you’d let me take care of him.”
“Lord Harris acting the gentleman, who’d have thought?”
“I’ll have you know I’m always a gentleman.” He tried to look affronted but failed.
She chuckled. “Well, if you are, that’s the first I’ve seen of it.” She motioned down to the garden. “Shall we walk? I think you could do with some air.”
He strongly suspected it was less to do with his temper and more to do with her desire to escape, but he conceded, offering her his arm.
“Very gentlemanly,” she murmured. He couldn’t help laugh.
“How do you know that—” he longed to call him something a gentleman would never say “—fellow, anyway?”
“I’d hardly say I know him, but he was acquaintances with someone I knew. It meant we spent a little time together.”
They took the steps down toward the long line of trees and followed the gravel path around them. A few lanterns lit the way as the path cut horizontally all the way down the centre of the garden.
Arm in arm they strolled down the path. Benches were placed intermittently along the row but most were occupied by couples who were likely sneaking away from their escorts.
“You see now why I do not come to London much.”
Harris shook his head. “That happens a lot?”
“Not really, but I am hardly the sort of woman most people want to associate with. I would warn you against gossip from spending time with me, but I know you’re hardly one to shy away from a little scandal.”
Harris stilled and tugged her close. “Scandal? You must be thinking of my other brother.”
Anna laughed. “Not at all. We both know Ash is the well-behaved twin.”
“You claim to know much about me, Anna, and yet I feel like I know so little about you.” He twisted her so she faced him completely. “Does anyone really know you?”
She shook her head in bemusement. “Why would anyone want to? I own a den of sin if you recall.”
“I find myself quite interested, actually. Particularly when you like to use that as a defence when really that just makes you all the more interesting.”
“And scandalous.”
“I think you try very hard to stay away from scandal, in spite of what you say, Anna.”
“And now you are claiming to know me very well.”
“Not yet.” He leaned in close, held her gaze. Breaths whispered between them and he dragged the moment out. “Not yet,” he repeated and watched her lashes flutter a little and lips part. Then he lifted his head. “But I will.”
Chapter Two
Anna tugged off her gloves with a sigh and placed them on the dressing table. The scent of chimney smoke clung to her skin and her eyes felt gritty. Dirt and smog seemed to cling to her.
She peered out of the window of her hotel room at the passing carriages. Passing, perhaps, was incorrect, as most were at a standstill, the drivers angrily waving their fists at one another. Even through the thick glass of the hotel room window, she could hear their bellows.
How she hated London.
Strolling into the bathroom, she took a moment to wash her face and hands before drying them on a towel. She paused to eye her reflection in the mirror. Dark eyes, dark hair. Dark lifestyle according to most of society. Her skin still held the bloom of youth she thought, and her hair was glossy. There was much that could be admired about her, she supposed. Yet any man of good breeding would not, and those who did would be the sort of men she had no wish to associate with.
But she didn’t want to associate with any man, she reminded herself. Not even Harris Cynfell.
Anna pushed away from the sink. Damn the man. He’d been intending to kiss her last night. She was no fool. His interest in her had nothing to do with their brief time together at Stourbridge. They hadn’t managed to create some sort of friendship—not that she wanted to. There had really been no need for anything more than a few passing comments, yet he had lingered then jumped to her defence.
All in the name of desire.
She had seen it flaring in his eyes. And unfortunately felt it burning a little through her chest. However, desire caused many problems. Her current life had been the product of desire. Not her own desire to be sure, but another’s.
So she had little intention of allowing Cynfell any closer than he’d been. By any luck, she’d finish her business in London soon enough and be gone back to the country where she was queen of her own destiny.
At Stourbrige, she held many a life in her palm. Men gambled and had sex and enjoyed the pleasures her den could offer, all the while giving her their secrets and their wealth. Few realised quite how much power they gave her until it came time to repay the debts.
She allowed herself a little smirk. The only reason she’d been invited to the ball last night had been because of Lord Elridge’s history at Stourbridge. Anna wasn’t averse to reminding him that she’d hosted him many times at her home.
Not that she ever enjoyed balls. No matter how much power one had over the underbelly of society, one could not control how the rest behaved toward her.
Anna sank onto the bed and plucked off her hat before taking the time to pull out each pin. She allowed herself a lengthier sigh this time as the tight coils unwound and fell about her shoulders, relieving a little of the ache in her scalp.
Francis had been a prime example of that. She held back a shudder. She’d known him when everything had happened. He’d been friends with the man who had changed the course of her life forever.
A knock at the door jolted her from a haze of memories that she desperately tried to bury away. She smiled at the welcome distraction before calling, “Enter.”
Tilly, a young girl from Stourbridge, who usually played lady’s maid to her during the few times she travelled, entered.
“Do you want me to help you get ready for dinner?” the girl asked.
Her accent still held a strong hint of country girl and she often rolled her words together so quickly that even Anna struggled to understand her. But she was sweet and efficient and as much as Anna tried not to, she couldn’t help but adore her.
“Yes, in just a moment.” Anna rubbed her hands over her scalp. “Being in London gives me a headache.”
Tilly bustled past her to start readying her evening gown. Anna fisted the metal clips into her hand and watched the girl move with quiet efficiency.
“I love London. So exciting. Though I nearly got run down by a cabriolet. How he was going so fast on these roads, I don’t know!”
“Did you get to see your brother?”
“Yes, miss.” Tilly beamed at her, her cheeks rosy with excitement. Somehow, the pale, red-head’s enthusiasm made Anna feel old and weary.
That bloom of youth she’d taken so much pride in faded fast around the girl. Tilly was one of those women who could go through anything in life and still come out believing the world was wonderful. Anna couldn’t help envy it. Unfortunately, she had seen how cruel the world could be whereas she’d rescued Tilly before anything truly terrifying could happen to her.
“He’s found work down at the docks. Says he hopes he’ll be able to go on one of the ships soon. Then he’ll be able to save for a house and we can all live together again.”
“That would be wonderful but do be careful. Don’t rely on your brother’s fortunes.”
“I know, miss.” Tilly gave her a look that reminded Anna she’d heard this lecture many a time.
The fact that women were still so dependent on men frustrated Anna to no end. She had been incredibly lucky that she’d inherited when her family had all but disowned her. Without it
, she would have been on the streets too, selling her body to whoever would buy it, risking disease, death, and jail on a daily basis.
Tilly had been working in an inn for a mere number of days before Anna had come across her and offered her a place at Stourbridge. Things were not perfect, to her mind. If the world were different, women would never have to sell themselves. But at least there, they were safe and healthy, and the girls earned well.
“Well, I only say these things—”
“Because you care.”
“I was not going to say that.”
Tilly offered a soft smile while she drew out stockings, a corset, and chemise and laid them on the bed. “But you do. We all know it. Do not try to deny it, miss.”
Anna pinched the bridge of her nose. When was it she had become so soft? Everyone had been surprised by her care of Harris after the gunshot wound. But what was she to do? Ignore him and have him die on her land? Let the twin brother of a good man die?
Ash Cynfell had been one of the few to befriend her when she’d made her debut and while she’d harboured a very faint infatuation in those early days, she’d quickly discovered he was far too brooding for her tastes. However, she valued friendship far more than some sweet, fluttery feelings.
Anna grimaced to herself. Sweet, fluttery feelings got a woman in a whole world of trouble. And if she was wise, she’d turn her thoughts away from someone who created flutters in her stomach and back to where they belonged—the reason she was in this blasted city.
“Let’s do this, shall we?” She stood and let Tilly help her take off her day dress and redress.
Anna twisted this way and that while the girl cinched her into her corset. She pressed her palms down the fabric and traced the boning beneath. Her stomach was flat, with no sign of what her body had once done. She didn’t even have any marks on her skin to remind her.
An ache gathered in her throat. She’d heard women bemoaning the red lines that pregnancy had bestowed upon them yet she could not help but envy them. Why had her body decided to forget it had ever carried a child? Her heart longed for such marks, for some sign that she had brought a life into the world.
The Cynfell Brothers Page 54
