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‘Don’t judge me or the other girls who work at Dolly’s Place too harshly, Edwina. Life isn’t always as clear cut as it might seem.’
‘You’re right. I, more than most, should know that. I can’t tell you how grateful I am to you for helping me. I owe you and Mrs Drinkwater a huge debt of gratitude,’ she murmured, smiling at Mrs Drinkwater as she went out. ‘I’m sorry, Harriet. I meant no offence.’
‘None taken, love. What I do helps pay the rent, and a girl needs all the help she can get. I’ve no romantic illusions about what I do—I’ve grown used to having insults thrown at me. Reality surrounds me every day, and I face it resolutely—shoulders squared.’ She shrugged and smiled prettily. ‘What other way is there? Now, eat your breakfast before it gets cold. I’ll go and see where that girl’s got to with your bath.’
The maid who carried the water and prepared Edwina’s bath could not suppress her curiosity at the young person with cropped hair. But nothing was said, and after laying out soap and towels she left the room. Alone at last, immediately Edwina was out of bed and lowering herself into the hot scented water, revelling in the sheer luxury. She scrubbed weeks-old grime from her skin and soaped the gnarled thatch of hair, careful when she washed over the cut on the side of her face, which was extremely tender.
When she was satisfied that she was clean, she relaxed and closed her eyes. Her body now smelled of roses, and not the hateful stench of poverty. Not knowing what would happen next, and that there was every possibility that she would be turned back out onto to street, she was determined to savour the moment to the full.
It was mid-morning when Adam arrived at Dolly’s Place. Striding with a natural exuberance into the spacious hall, with elegant, sumptuously carpeted and furnished gaming rooms leading off, he was met by Dolly herself. She ran her establishment and her girls with stern efficiency and the keen eye of an army commander, and no one seeing her now, bright and cheerful as ever, would suspect that she would not have sought her bed until the dawn light was peeping over the horizon.
With a smile curving her lips, she swept an eye of admiring approval over Adam’s well-groomed form. He was attired in buff-coloured breeches above trim brown knee boots, a cream silk waistcoat embroidered with silver fleurs-de-lis, and a superbly cut tan frock coat, the lace tumbling from his jabot and spilling over his wrists of the finest quality.
Darkly handsome and imbued with potent masculine allure, he exuded virility and a casual, lazy confidence. There was little wonder women were eager for his affections, falling over themselves in the rush to get close to him. Seeing him here at her humble establishment was like seeing a royal prince consorting with the commoners.
Mid-morning, and with most of the girls still sleeping off a busy night, the establishment was relatively quiet.
‘How’s Ed? How does he fare this morning, Dolly?’ Adam enquired briskly, removing his gloves and placing them with his tricorn on an occasional table at the bottom of the wide, white marble staircase.
‘She’s much better—and cleaner,’ Dolly replied, preceding him up the stairs. She paused and glanced back at him, her eyes sparkling. ‘I think you’ll be impressed.’
‘She?’ Adam asked, standing stock still and staring up at her blankly.
‘Yes, she,’ Dolly repeated, enjoying his confusion. ‘Ed—or perhaps I should say Edwina—my dear Adam, is no boy.’
‘He isn’t? Don’t be ridiculous, Dolly. Have you taken leave of your senses?’
‘No—’ Dolly chuckled richly ‘—but you must have if you, of all people, can’t tell the difference. You have been completely hoodwinked. Now stop gawping and come and see.’
She ushered Adam inside the room before making herself scarce. A young woman dressed in an extremely fetching buttercup-yellow dress stood by the window, her hands clasped at her trim waist. Small and as slender as a willow, she was watching him warily. Without taking his eyes off her, he moved towards her, staring in disbelief. Could this delectable, lovely young creature be the boy Ed? Reaching out, he cupped her chin in his hand, raising her face. He could only stare in wonder at the face that was unmistakably Ed’s.
‘Good Lord!’ The words were uttered on a breath. ‘I should have known.’ She had a femininity he could have put to his lips and drunk, and she was so close he could feel her breathing, feel the warmth of her, and smell her natural scent.
Never had he seen such shimmering perfection in his life before, as he did now, when he gazed at her vibrant copper-and-gold-coloured hair curling in soft, feathery wisps, framing a finely proportioned visage, flawless, except for the small cut and purple bruise on her temple. Her eyes were as he remembered, a sparkling shade of blue-green—jade, he now noted with an artist’s expert eye. She wore an expression that combined vitality and youthful curiosity, without appearing indelicate or wanton. She was quite enchanting.
Rather nervously Edwina withstood the intensity of his gaze, meeting those disturbing deep blue eyes of his levelled on her own. His dark brows lifted a fraction in bland enquiry.
‘Do you mind?’
Edwina continued to stare up at him, aware of two things—his darkly handsome face, and the richly textured deep voice. The combination sent a peculiar warmth up her spine.
‘Mind?’ she repeated stupidly.
‘If I look at you.’
‘No—oh, no.’
A chuckle started deep in his chest. ‘Well, Ed? What do you have to say for this deception?’ he asked, dropping his hand and taking a step back.
His eyes were dark, probing, quizzical. His smile was rakishly winsome, and must have fluttered many feminine hearts. ‘I say it was no deception. You seem surprised—about my being a girl, I mean.’
‘Frankly, my dear, I believe you to be full of surprises.’
‘Are you disappointed?’
‘A little. It means I can no longer employ you to look for Toby.’
‘I don’t see why that should make a difference. I can revert back to Ed any time I choose.’
Adam laughed lightly, not taking her reply seriously. Her voice was soft centred, lovely, creamy. The vivid colour of her dress brought a glow to her pale skin. Without realising it she was standing straight, her head high. There was the hint of the kind of sophistication that seemed natural to young ladies of breeding—straight shoulders, the confidence of a level gaze, smooth line of spine, with no slouch.
‘I must thank you for coming to my aid last night. I hope it didn’t spoil your evening at the theatre,’ Edwina remarked, wondering who the dark-haired woman was and how closely linked they were.
‘I was glad to be on hand to render assistance,’ he said rather formally. ‘I’m afraid the ruffian who attacked you got clean away. Now—explain to me what has prompted you to adopt such a mode of attire.’
‘I dressed as a boy for my own protection. As a girl in St Giles I would have been ready bait.’ She gazed steadily into his clear blue eyes. ‘You are a man, so you will know what I mean.’
‘Perfectly. However, you seemed well at home in your boy’s clothes—but I like these better,’ he murmured in such a way that it brought an embarrassed flush to Edwina’s cheeks.
Having played the lad so long, she found the conversion to feminine ways difficult. Besides, with the air positively crackling with Adam’s virile presence, for the first time in her life she had met a man who made her feel alert and alive, and curiously stimulated.
‘I don’t know your reasons for the masquerade,’ he went on, recalling their conversation in the alehouse when the boy Ed had told him he had secrets he wished to keep, ‘nor do I particularly want to know. Suffice it to say that is your business—not mine. What we must decide is what is to be done with you. Just how old are you?’
‘Eighteen.’
‘I thought you were much younger. And the man who attacked you? Who was he?’
‘That was Jack.’
‘Your fence—receiver?’
‘Yes.’
‘And is he aware of your sex?’
‘No. No one is. I told you, it was for my own protection that I dressed as a boy.’
‘Yes, I can understand that. Why did he attack you?’
‘Because I ran away.’
‘Are you afraid of him?’
‘I’m afraid he will put the law on me—that I will go to prison—and because I ran away from him nothing would please Jack more than to see me rotting in a filthy cell. If he were to discover I am a girl in boy’s clothing, it would simply amuse him, and he would use it against me.’
‘Then he would do well to remember that receiving is as much a capital felony as the stealing of the goods.’
‘He knows that, but he is shamelessly bold and hardened above cautionary fear, working in an organised and far-ranging manner. He controls shoplifters and housebreakers, but I never progressed further than picking pockets. He despises laws and will carry on with his wicked trade, making sure he never hands over stolen goods himself, but craftsmen he employs—paying them handsomely so that they will keep their mouths shut, making them unidentifiable first.
‘He always uses someone else to exchange the spoils for money at a time and place arranged by him.’ She looked up into Adam’s warm blue eyes. ‘I have no money, nothing of my own, and when Jack took me in I knew I was on the road to prison, or worse—to the noose at Tyburn.’
‘Why did you stay with him?’ Adam asked gently. ‘Why didn’t you run away sooner?’
‘I couldn’t. I was afraid—and no one runs away from Jack,’ she said quietly. Those few words held a world of meaning that Adam fully understood. ‘Jack humbled me, confused me and seriously diminished my own sense of worth, and I could not seem to be able to clamber out of the dark hole into which I had fallen. Besides, it was inconceivable for me to return to my former life. I had nowhere to run to. I couldn’t see the point in exchanging one hell for another.’ She shrugged. ‘What’s the difference? When I did finally pluck up the courage and left Jack, hoping to find your Toby and receive payment, I staunchly decided to take charge of my own life and to choose its direction. I made up my mind to live decently, to find work of some kind to support myself.’
‘Dolly may be able to help you there,’ Adam suggested casually.
Offended by what she thought he was implying, Edwina drew herself up proudly and raised her chin to a lofty angle. ‘I may not be honest, sir, but I would never stoop so low as to become a whore.’
Observing that her eyes were dark with anger, Adam suppressed a smile and directed a stern countenance at her. ‘I was not suggesting that you should. That was certainly not what I meant.’
‘Besides, I’m unattractive and skinny, with none of the curves required to be one of Dolly’s girls, and not much hair to speak of, either,’ she said, running her fingers through the short, wispy tresses.
Perching his tall frame on the edge of a dresser and folding his arms across his chest, Adam arched his eyebrows, squinting at her with his head cocked to one side as he made a study of her. The purity of her face was quite striking. With her large eyes and unbelievably long dark eyelashes resting against her smooth, high cheeks, she looked innocent and incredibly lovely. She glowed with that strange fragile beauty of a young woman newly awakened to her sex, a nymph, clothed in bright yellow finery. Not for the first time, he wished he could immortalise her on canvas, but could he—or any artist—do justice to her flawless beauty? He smiled inwardly at the poetic bent of his thoughts and the challenge she presented.
‘Allow me to disagree. You are a remarkably beautiful young woman. You have the kind of unusual looks that put you in a class by yourself. The colour of your hair is divine—such radiance. You have a good neck and an excellent bone structure, and your features, particularly your eyes, are perfect.’
Edwina’s lips twitched slightly as she tried to suppress a smile. ‘In the past I’ve often been called sweet and sometimes pretty, but no one has ever complimented me—in such a matter-of-fact way—about my bone structure or my long neck. I don’t quite know whether to feel flattered or offended.’
‘I meant it as a compliment. I speak as I find. What happened to the five guineas I gave you?’
‘I had to give them to Jack.’
‘Had to? I gave the money to you, not Jack,’ he admonished sharply, coming to his feet.
‘I know better than to cheat him.’ Edwina was downcast. ‘I’m sorry.’
‘Don’t be. Having witnessed his brutality at first hand, perhaps it was as well. Did you manage to make enquiries about Toby?’
‘Yes. As you know, cripples are a common sight, and no one I asked remembered seeing a boy who answered to that name. One woman vaguely recalled seeing a man and woman with a boy, a crippled boy, about a week ago, but they left St Giles and took to the road.’
Interest flickered in Adam’s eyes. ‘Anything else?’
‘Yes. They had a bear with them.’
Adam lowered his eyelids and reflected for a moment. ‘A man and woman, you say?’
She nodded. ‘Do you think the boy might be Toby?’
‘It’s possible,’ he replied absently as he began to pace restlessly about the room, frowning thoughtfully.
‘Who is this boy? What does he mean to you?’
‘He is my cousin’s child—the son of a young woman who died a while back. Even though I have never laid eyes on Toby, he means a great deal to me.’
‘Do you fear for his safety?’
‘Naturally, but I don’t think he’ll come to harm while he can earn money at freak shows.’ His frown deepened. ‘A crippled boy and a bear,’ he murmured, tossing the image around in his head. ‘A useful combination. Unless they have transport of some kind I don’t believe they will leave London. I can only surmise the man and woman are to display them to the curious at fairs and markets, and if so I’ll find them.’
Edwina’s eyes lit with interest. ‘Are you going to look for them? If so, will you take me with you?’ she asked enthusiastically. ‘Two pairs of eyes will be better than one.’
Her words caught all Adam’s attention. He ceased pacing and looked at her with narrowed eyes. What she was asking was out of the question. But what was he going to do with her? As a lad he’d have no qualms about taking her along—but this young woman was a different matter entirely.
‘No.’
Watching his finely moulded lips form his answer, Edwina was surprised and mortified by his refusal, and also a little angry, but she was even more surprised by the unmistakable regret she’d heard in his voice. ‘But why not?’ she argued.
‘For a start, fairs are known to attract violence and vice. Some are also well known centres for the distribution of stolen goods, places where criminals congregate—although I’m sure you will know all about that,’ he remarked with meaningful sarcasm. ‘Not only do you run the risk of meeting Jack, but you also risk being robbed or crushed to death—as small as you are.’
‘Do you mean to frighten me with a description of what it is like to come into contact with thieves and cutthroats, when I have lived among them for six months of my life?’
‘Aye, as an insignificant lad. If you were to appear among them now, looking as you do, you wouldn’t last five minutes. You are not an easy woman to ignore.’
Edwina was indignant. Her head lifted and her chin squared up to him, the action saying quite clearly that she was contemptuous of being told what to do by anyone. ‘I don’t need to be protected,’ she said boldly. Her anger made her eyes gleam like green stones, and her mouth hardened to unsmiling resentment.
‘And I don’t expect to have my decision questioned,’ Adam rapped out. Despite his anger he admired her courage. She did not cower, but flashed her sparkling eyes in a defiant challenge to his authority.
Edwina clenched her teeth and held back her retort. Adam’s stern, stiff-backed hauteur irritated her. All trace of softness had vanished from his face. His dark brows were drawn together, and his blue eyes were cold. The words were an order, one he expected her to obey.
‘The majority of the men swilling ale will be drunk out of their minds, and there is always the possibility of you bumping into Jack. The man is dangerous. It’s advisable not to put yourself in his path.’
Edwina met his dark scowl with a heated glower, her fingers drumming upon her slim hips. Her expression dared him to attempt control of her. ‘Thank you for your concern, but I don’t remember giving you the right to tell me what I can and cannot do. Who do you think you are, anyway?’
‘Your saviour, it would seem,’ Adam replied drily. ‘Listen to what I’m saying, will you, and take heed? I’m more advanced in years than you, so I know what I’m talking about. It’s a man’s world out there, Ed.’
‘You’re right, but that does not mean that I have to submit to their will. My own strength was my only weapon when I defied Jack Pierce and ran away, and that will is still as strong as it ever was.’
‘Nevertheless, the places I intend searching are no place for a respectable young woman.’
‘I am not a respectable young woman,’ she argued heatedly, firmly, ‘who needs cosseting—to be treated like some fragile sugar confection. I can handle myself.’
‘As you did last night? If you could handle yourself you wouldn’t be here now,’ he pointed out. ‘I will not take you with me and that is my final word on the subject.’
These words were delivered in a cold, lethal voice, and Edwina grew pale beneath her own anger. ‘If I have a mind I shall return to the streets, and there’s not a thing you can do about it.’ She was adamant and not to be put off by his anger. He was standing not three feet away from her, looming over her, his blue eyes gleaming with deadly purpose, and the uncompromising lines at the sides of his mouth had not been there before. She could see that same cold rage as when she’d stolen his watch, and also a cynicism and ruthless set of his jaw—things she’d obviously been too blinded by her predicament to see before. ‘You can’t stop me. I’ll disguise myself as a boy again,’ Edwina persisted.
‘And then Jack would be sure to recognise you—and if he’s as angry as you say he is, he’ll be looking for you. No, Ed. You must abandon your disguise for good.’
‘I will do as I please,’ she persisted crossly.
‘I’m sure you will, you stubborn, wilful little fool,’ Adam retorted, combing his fingers through his hair in exasperation. ‘I have been in your company twice and each time you’ve been in some scrape or other. Little did I realise when I rescued you from that animal’s clutches that I was committing myself to certain disaster.’
‘My, a proper knight in shining armour, aren’t you, Adam? I didn’t ask you to interfere,’ Edwina snapped.
‘Why, you—damn you for an ingrate.’ He stood in front of her, looking down at her upturned face. It had whitened with her anger, revealing the pale freckles across her nose. The sunlight lancing through the window brightened her hair to a living flame, making an aureole of light around her small, proud head. He looked at her thoughtfully, touched by her vulnerability. He felt himself dwelling with a good deal of pleasure on what it would be like to get to know her better. But as he looked at her, a kind of rage welled up in him against Jack Pierce, and also against the person or persons who had abandoned her to a life of crime, alone on the streets, through no fault of her own.
‘I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to sound so brutal. But can’t you see that I am concerned about your present distress and offer my assistance only with the kindest intent?’ he said on a softer note.
The faintest of smiles curved his lips, so slight it was scarcely discernible. Edwina felt a poignant emotion welling up inside her, a tenderness she never believed she could feel for any human being. Immediately the fight went out of her. She moved closer to him.
‘If I offended you, then I beg your pardon. I’ve been on my own and had to look out for myself for too long. It’s such a long time since anyone showed any concern about me, about what I do, that it takes some getting used to. I’m sorry I made you angry. Please don’t be. I’d rather we were friends than enemies.’ She offered him her hand as was proper.
The gesture made Adam smile suddenly, a slow, startlingly lazy smile as he took her hand in his firm grasp. His gaze scanned her face, and when he raised her hand to his lips the pressure of his mouth lingered longer than was customary.
‘Friends we are, Ed, or may I call you Edwina?’
‘As you please.’
‘Then Edwina it is. So, now that is established, what am I supposed to do with you? You’ve made it plain that you will feel uncomfortable living here. And you can forget any notion you have of donning your boy’s clothes and taking to the streets. You’ve done with that.’
‘Then what am I to do? I must earn some money. How else am I to live?’
Adam’s eyes narrowed, studying her with unnerving intensity for a moment as he considered her situation carefully. Ever since their first meeting the lad ‘Ed’ had haunted him. And now he’d been transformed into female form, he couldn’t let this young woman with the most remarkable face he’d ever seen simply walk out of his life.
Aware that his fascination was rapidly winning out over his common sense, he said to his own utter astonishment, ‘You could come and live with me for the time being.’ She looked so surprised and so hesitant for a moment that he wished he had not made the extraordinary, impulsive suggestion, but when he saw a little smile tug at the corners of her lips, he knew she was not as shocked as he at first thought.
‘Live with you?’ she murmured, seeing his blue eyes darken to indigo. ‘Do—do you want me to work for you?’
‘In a manner of speaking.’
‘I—I’m not very good at woman’s work. I—I can’t cook.’
‘I don’t need a cook,’ he said, mentally shaking his head at the naïvety of her. ‘That position is already taken—and I have servants enough to administer to my personal needs.’
‘Then what would you require of me?’
‘Oh—this and that.’ His smile was lazy and infuriatingly secretive.
Misinterpreting his meaning, Edwina flushed scarlet. ‘Kindly explain what you mean by “this and that”?’ she asked tentatively in an attempt to clarify matters. ‘Do you mean to establish me as your paramour? If so, I must tell you that I will be no man’s property. I intend standing on my own feet.’
Adam’s eyes took on a humorous glint. He placed a finger over her lips. ‘Heaven forbid I would dare suggest anything so bold. You would never be my property, Edwina. What I will ask of you will take very little effort on your part, I can promise you that,’ he said softly, ‘but I think you will enjoy the work. I’ll pay you generously, if that’s what’s worrying you, but I must warn you that I’m a hard taskmaster. Shortly, I have to go away for a while. Since I shall be absent for quite some time you are welcome to make use of my house. Now, I have to go. I have pressing matters to attend to.’
He took her hand, and when he would have raised it once more to his lips she pulled it away and stepped back with an arch smile.
‘You take a liberty. Do you make a habit of kissing the hands of all your employees?’
‘It’s not usual.’
‘Then as my employer you’ll not kiss mine.’ Edwina raised a brow and regarded him with the same amusement he had earlier directed at her.
Adam was clearly at pains to control his laughter as he playfully chucked her under the chin. ‘Cheeky as ever! You are a most uncommon, intractable wench, Edwina.’
‘I merely protect my honour,’ she countered. ‘But isn’t what you are proposing to do rather shocking and likely to be frowned upon by polite society?’
‘Being an unconventional man, I care nothing for polite society.’
She cocked her head to one side, giving him an enquiring look. ‘Forgive me, but I can’t help noticing that you’re on familiar terms with Mrs Drinkwater. Do you often visit her establishment?’