Secret Lessons With The Rake. Julia Justiss
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that the two of you worked in concert to clear Ben’s name,’ Christopher said.
A knock at the door, followed by the entry of the butler with the tea tray, brought a momentary halt to the conversation. Once they were settled with cups in hand, Ellie yielding to his mother’s request that she pour for them, Christopher turned back to her.
Curious about her unusual endeavour, Christopher asked, ‘How do you find the girls for your school?’
‘Are you sure you want to know more? I can become quite enthused when talking about my project,’ she cautioned.
‘Yes, I truly want to know,’ he assured her.
‘Very well. Working girls, or those with a friend or relative who has a daughter who aspires to a different life, send them to me. Or sometimes I find them at the posting inns, where I try to intercept country girls who’ve come to town looking for work, before the bawds can spirit them away.’
Lady Vraux frowned. ‘Isn’t that dangerous? I imagine the bawds don’t like being robbed of their pigeons!’
‘I’m sure they don’t,’ Ellie agreed. ‘When he learned what I intended, Lord Witlow insisted I have a burly man to accompany me. As it turns out, he engaged the bully boy at the house from which they obtained the girl meant to entrap Mr Tawny. It seems the man was sweet on her, and after Witlow helped her escape, was ready to trade his current employment for some honest work where he might be able to continue the acquaintance.’
‘Well, it’s commendable of you, my dear, setting up the school, but nobility does become rather dull. Surely you leave yourself some time for amusements—concerts, the theatre?’
Ellie smiled faintly, shaking her head. ‘I don’t go out much any more.’
‘To avoid being pestered by gentlemen hoping to persuade you to let them take Summerville’s place?’ his mother guessed. ‘Lovely as you are, I’m certain you’ve had offers! If you don’t intend to open an establishment that will earn you a reliable income, you must find some other way to secure your future. Are you planning to take another protector?’
‘No,’ Ellie said flatly, the bleakness that swiftly crossed her face before she masked it suddenly recalling one of Christopher’s earliest memories of her.
It must have been only a few weeks after they’d first met. Answering a summons by his mama to escort her home from a definitely disrespectable masquerade ball after her nominal escort had fallen into a drunken stupor, he’d encountered Ellie alone in one of the anterooms, weeping. Seeing him, she’d hastily wiped away the tears, insisted there was nothing wrong, and led him to his mother. Not knowing how to get her to confide in him, he’d let it go. But the devastation he’d read on her face then had struck him deeply—as did the glimpse of it he’d just seen.
No more certain now how to ask her about it, before he could speak, his mother continued, ‘But how are you to live, if you do not allow another gentleman to provide for you? You have the house, and Summerville was certainly generous with gifts, but even if you sell some jewels, it won’t cover your expenses for ever. Not with servants to pay, and candles, coal and all manner of victuals to be bought, to say nothing of clothing. To wrap your loveliness in outdated gowns would be a travesty!’
Ellie laughed. ‘I think I can tolerate the indignity of wearing last year’s fashions. Summerville was generous with his gifts, and thanks to your advice, I obtained that annuity and some other assets that will allow me to remain independent. I can maintain myself for a good long while before I have to worry about where my next meal is coming from.’
‘Is it the notoriety of living outside wedlock that holds you back?’ his mother persisted. ‘I can’t believe a lady as young and beautiful as you prefers to exist without...masculine attention.’
Again, Christopher caught a glimpse of distress before Ellie could submerge it. ‘I’ve quite had my fill of “masculine attention” these last few years. Nor does the idea of additional notoriety bother me. I’m not naive enough to think I can erase the past; even were I to live the rest of my life as chastely as a nun, I will always be known as a kept woman.’
‘We are all kept women, my dear,’ his mother replied, a look of bitterness passing over her face. ‘Some of us are trapped by wedding lines. You, at least, still have the power to choose your path. Don’t discount that freedom.’ Then, her face clearing, she said, ‘But enough of this sober talk. Let me tell you something that is certain to amuse you. Christopher just announced he has taken it into his head to marry! Is that not the most ridiculous notion you’ve ever heard?’
‘I’m so glad my intention to reform myself into a respectable gentleman inspires you to hilarity,’ Christopher said wryly, as his mother went off into another peal of laughter.
‘Come, you must dissuade him of the nonsensical idea, Ellie! You’ve encountered him in enough disreputable places and scandalous company to recognise he’s not sober husband material. Christopher, remaining devoted to a single woman?’ She shook her head. ‘He ought to spare some earnest, virtuous virgin a lifetime of sorrow and abandon the notion forthwith.’
Although she didn’t succumb to mirth like his mother, Ellie’s lovely eyes were definitely dancing when she glanced at him. ‘I must allow, Christopher, up to now, you’ve shown a preference for ladies more renowned for a...particular kind of skill than for their virtue, and an ever-changing parade of them at that.’
‘Indeed!’ his mother agreed. ‘Remember that soprano from the Theatre Royal—was it a vase she threw at you, Christopher? You’ve still got the scar on your chin! And the time you stole Harrington’s doxy out from under his nose, and he threatened to call you out! And then there was—’
‘Please, must you list all my indiscretions?’ Christopher protested, half-amused, half-embarrassed. ‘I agree, I’ve not exactly been a...model of punctilious deportment, but a man can change. Can’t he, Ellie?’
Instead of the witty riposte he expected, she stared at him—those magnificent violet eyes making his breath hitch, as they always did on the rare occasions when she gave him her full attention. ‘I don’t know, Christopher. I expect a man can reform, if he wants to badly enough.’ A faint smile touched her lips. ‘Unlike a female, even a truly notorious man can choose to turn respectable.’
Is that what caused the lingering sadness he saw in her eyes? Christopher wondered. She’d always seemed, and he’s always treated her, as a lady, despite her position as Summerville’s mistress. Had she once been respectable, and been robbed of that reputation by some cruel circumstance? He really must press his mother for more details about her background.
‘You’re young enough, you’ve plenty of time to change your mind,’ his mother told her. ‘When you meet a gentleman too charming to resist—or when you’ve run out of the ready.’
Setting down her teacup, Ellie made a face at her. ‘I hope to avoid both outcomes. But now, I should be getting on. I must check on the school, then discharge some errands before Lady Lydlington meets me there tomorrow.’
‘Giles’s wife Maggie has taken an interest in your work?’ Christopher asked, surprised.
‘Yes. Though I’ve been giving Lord Witlow the credit, I’m fairly certain it was his daughter Maggie who encouraged Witlow to provide protection for Mr Tawny’s accuser, for me on my forays into the posting inns, and prompted him to sponsor the school. I doubt a man of Lord Witlow’s position would have had any notion there might be a need for such things.’
Ellie shook her head, smiling. ‘The first time Lady Lyndlington visited the school, I told her I couldn’t believe her father would permit her to associate with me—or that her husband would, now that’s she’s in a delicate condition. She laughed, saying that since she’d married a radical, her papa already knew she wouldn’t let a little thing like Society’s disapproval stop her from helping a good cause. She found it fulfilling, she said, to assist to a better life girls who’d been born without the advantages she possesses.