Page 29 of Enticed By an Earl
Kitty leapt to her feet, uncertain whether she was afraid of Dev’s anger over her leaving the safety of the apartment or whether she was overjoyed to see her champion and to know what Dev thought of her new appearance.
Dev seemed to know her mind. He smiled and said, “Mrs. Torrance said you’d gone out. I reasoned that there were few places you could have gone and that you would come here, to your true friends, first among those places.”
“I went to Mr. Wilkes and Miss Jones first,” Kitty said, walking to stand in front of Dev. She almost reached for Dev’s hands but held back at the last minute. “Miss Jones is making an entirely new wardrobe for me.”
“I am glad,” Dev said, taking Kitty’s fluttering hands and holding them. He smiled at Kitty for another few seconds, drinking in the sight of her, before straightening and addressing the others as well. “I am glad that you have made Miss Dryden’s acquaintance and have accepted her into your circle, for it seems that word is now all over London. Lord Castleton has been declared officially missing.”
Ten
Watching Kit transform into Kitty was one of the most fascinating things Dev had ever observed. He’d been a bit hesitant when Kit first confessed his leanings to him, wondering whether Kit viewed his alternative persona as playacting or a bit of fun. He’d always enjoyed the company of both men and women, so the clothing Kit wore did not matter a whit to him since he was equally pleased with whatever lay underneath it. The question had remained with him as to how committed Kit was to being who he wanted to be.
He'd enjoyed those first few days of getting to know Kit, or rather, Kitty, better and had been pleased to see that they were very much of the same mind on a great deal of topics and in many ways. As much as his desire to entertain Kit in a horizontal position grew during those days, he did not want to spoil the intellectual and emotional closeness growing between the two of them by reducing it to the merely physical.
But seeing Kit fully engaged as Kitty when he’d gone searching for him at Lady Everly’s house changed a greatmany things within Dev, and as such, he had changed his approach to his growing friendship with his remarkable new friend.
“Did you enjoy your time at Lady Everly’s this afternoon?” he asked a week after that first outing, when he’d gone to Lady Everly’s on a whim in search of Kit and had informed them all that the Duke of Bedminster had gone to Scotland Yard to report his heir missing.
Kit had just returned to his rooms, where Dev had arrived earlier to wait for him. He gave a start at the sight of Dev lounging on the sofa, a cup of tea in one hand and a particularly lurid novel in the other.
As soon as he saw that it was only Dev, Kit relaxed and let out an airy laugh as he removed his bonnet. “Is it not your mistresses who should be lying on the couch sipping tea and reading novels?”
Dev laughed and set both his teacup and book down. He rose from the couch with a spring in his step and went to help Kit with his bonnet. It was large and cumbersome, though fashionable. It also involved a particularly large bow that was intended to both hide Kit’s Adam’s apple and shield his face lest anyone attempt to observe him too closely.
“So you are admitting to being my mistress now?” he asked cheekily, taking the bonnet with one hand and capturing one of Kit’s hands with his other. He raised Kit’s gloved hand to his lips and kissed it while gazing wickedly into his eyes.
Kit blushed beautifully and lowered his eyes bashfully. The man had no idea how desirable he was. “I am not the one reading or drinking tea,” he said, pulling his hand away from Dev’s lips and turning so that he could remove the light wrap he wore.
“I suppose that makes me your mistress, then,” Dev saidwith good humor, walking over to place the bonnet on a side table.
Kit’s answering laugh was loud and joyful, something Dev wished to hear more of. “You are hardly the mistress type,” he said.
He went to hang his coat, and when he returned to the table where Dev stood, he glanced into the large mirror that hung beside it and reached up to begin pulling pins from the wig he wore.
Dev watched, mesmerized. He had been deeply impressed by the convincing wig that Lady Everly had given to Kit. It was more brown than blond, but in a very short span of time, Lady Everly’s trusted maid had taught Kit how to don and style it so that it looked as much like Kit’s real hair as if each strand grew out of his head. As far as Dev was concerned, the darker color would aid in keeping Kit’s true identity a secret when he ventured out in public.
With that thought, Dev shook himself out of his observations in time to stop Kit from removing more than a few pins.
“Do not take it off yet,” he said, lifting a hand to still Kit’s.
Kit sent him a wary, sideways look. “You know that it is terribly itchy,” he said. “But if you wish for me to wear it while we…visit with each other, then I shall keep it on.”
A powerful rush of desire pulsed through Dev as he imagined spreading a naked Kit out over his bed, complete with long, luxurious hair. Kit had already stated outright that he wished to grow his own hair long enough so that wigs and hair pieces would not be necessary, and Dev could not wait for those days. He could not wait until the proper time came to get Kit into bed, and he was not too proud to say so.
Again, Dev had to shake himself out of his wayward thoughts to concentrate on the moment.
“It is not that,” he said, turning to lean his backsideagainst the edge of the table as Kit stuck the pins he’d removed back into his wig. “I merely thought we might go out tonight.”
Kit’s hands froze atop his head. He slowly turned from watching his reflection to looking straight at Dev as he lowered his arms. “Out?” he asked, his voice as light and timid as any woman’s. “Tonight?”
Dev shrugged. “You have been away from your father for nearly a fortnight and it has been over a week since you assumed Miss Kitty Dryden entirely,” he said. “The initial fervor of Castleton’s disappearance has died down a bit, particularly since all anyone can talk about this week is the splendors of the coronation. Now that that is over, half of thetonhas already decamped to their country estates. If you ask me, this is the perfect time for Miss Dryden to make her public debut on my arm.”
If anything, Kit blanched even more. “You wish me to accompany you in public so that you might introduce me to people?”
Dev had not thought of it quite like that, but now that Kit had spoken the words, he did not see why not. “Yes,” he answered, smiling.
“Are you mad?” Kit asked, snatching up his bonnet and stepping away from Dev to take it back to the bedchamber and dressing room. “I cannot be seen so notably in public. You cannot introduce me to anyone. They will know.”
Dev followed Kit into the bedchamber and over to the part of the dressing room where the half-dozen bonnets Miss Jones had acquired for him were kept. “My dear, you have no idea how convincing you are right now,” he said, hardly noticing how easy it was to address Kit as if he were a she. “I do not know what sort of witchcraft you employ to look so convincingly charming, but I can assure you that you do not look at all like Lord Castleton.”
