The fact that he had hoped it might be Aurelia indicated he was far from putting her out of his mind. The eagerness that tripped through him at even the possibility of seeing her again was wrong on every level. Aurelia visiting his bachelor residence this hour of night? It would ruin her. Of course, he didn’t want that. He would be forced to marry her in that event.
He relaxed and fell back into the chair, eyeing the female before him as the door clicked shut behind Barton. He recognized her, but it took him a moment to place her. When he recalled that she was Aurelia’s maid, he immediately tensed.
“What are you doing here?” Even a servant had a reputation to protect, and he suspected this girl was more than a servant to Aurelia. He’d often spotted them with their heads bent close together, whispering like schoolgirls.
She squared her shoulders. “I’m not going anywhere until I’ve said what I’ve come here to say.”
He eyed the slim length of her. She was thin, but wiry. As though she had spent a good portion of her life hard at labor. “What’s your name?”
“Cecily Calloway,” she replied. “And I’m here at my own peril, to be certain. If Aurelia finds out I’ve come to see you, she’ll horsewhip me.” She inhaled a sharp breath, narrowing her brown gaze on him. “And if you’re half the man I suspect you are, she will find out.”
He arched an eyebrow, not certain whether to be complimented or not. “Indeed? And why is that?”
She nodded. “She’ll know . . . because you will be going after her.”
He sat up slowly. “Explain yourself. Why are you here?”
“She might be in trouble. It’s just a feeling I have. Call it intuition.”
With Aurelia, that was a very real possibility.
Cecily continued, “I told her not to go . . .”
Concern shot through him. Suddenly avoiding her over the last week seemed stupid. She was always one for rash words and behavior. Who knew what manner of trouble she had gotten herself into?
He stood, braced for what was to come, resolved to go after Aurelia no matter how risky it was to be around her. No matter that he only wanted to take her to his bed. Someone needed to protect her from herself.
“Where is she?”
“It’s been a long time,” Mrs. Bancroft said as she guided Aurelia down the corridor.
For the proprietress of an illicit underground club, Mrs. Bancroft was attired modestly in an understated gown of dark blue. It fit her snugly from throat to hem, but was still somehow provocative for the lack of flesh revealed. The most elaborate thing about her happened to be the black-feathered domino covering most of her face. Aurelia’s domino covered nearly as much but was not nearly as opulent.
“Yes, it has been,” Aurelia agreed rather lamely. She had not been this nervous the first time she visited Sodom.
That time you were not reeling in the aftermath of Max’s blistering kiss.
She shook her head. That should not matter. If anything, it should only motivate her to extend her education in all things of a wanton nature.
“Truthfully, I did not know if you would remember me, Mrs. Bancroft,” Aurelia said as they made their way up the stairs to the second level of Sodom.
“Of course I remember you. Aside from the fact that I make it my business to remember the names and faces of everyone to pass through the doors of Sodom, this establishment doesn’t see too many inexperienced doves.” Mrs. Bancroft assessed her slyly. “I take it you are a maid still? You’ve not married yet, I presume?”