Page 6 of Winning the Wallflower's Heart
“You’ve too kind a heart, is what you have, Linny. And you well know it. Profit or not, you can’t swoop around London saving everyone.”
He drew back, scoffing at the woman almost ten years his senior.
She tilted her head.
“I won my bid, and I have a lot to handle tonight. Step aside. I’m talking?—”
She giggled. “You? Never thought you’d want a good tupping, too busy nursing your broken heart.”
“Don’t.” He held his hand up in warning.
Madame Marie nodded, then drew back the curtain. “I’ll call her out. Who was it now?”
“Lady Georgiana Harland.”
Her eyebrows raised.
He strode across the hall, opening a door to a small room, and walked inside. He braced his arms against the wall, not moving even when he heard someone softly shuffle in behind him.
“You want to tell me why you’re here?” he asked, his voice low.
“No.”
He closed his eyes, blowing out a soft exhale.
“You shouldn’t have been on that stage.”
“Pardon, do we know one another?”
He spun around then, standing akimbo. “You know damn well who I am, Georgiana. Why are you here?”
She wouldn’t look at him, wouldn’t entertain…
“There’s no bed,” she said softly.
“What?”
“In here. There’s no bed.” Her hands shook as she gripped the hem of her chemise and peeled it upward, revealing her shins, then her knobby knees. Small, frail. “I only ask it be quick, and you pay me promptly.”
Ellis’s heart was no stranger to breaking. For years now, he had walked through the world believing full well he had buried it with his fiancée ten years prior, lost all too young to consumption.
“Stop,” he said, his voice a low growl.
Georgiana flinched, releasing the fabric. Tears sprang to her eyes. “If you don’t… if I am not what you wish, I ask you to release me to another bidder.”
When he didn’t answer, she continued, “Please, sir. I need?—”
Ellis reached for her, his fingers brushing against her wrist as he tried to draw her closer. She recoiled instead.
“I didn’t mean to frighten you,” he said. “Georgie, come closer.”
She shook her head, refusing to move, and his stomach sank. “You paid for me. I am here at your disposal.”
He hung his head low, not wishing to scare her any further. Ellis crept forward, careful to keep his bootfalls soft. Still, she inhaled sharply.
“Those marks, there…” He reached out, his fingers hovering inches above her bruised skin. He noticed, then, the light missing from those startling brown eyes, the hollowness to her face, the way her collarbone pressed against her skin.
“Please.” Her whisper was pained. “Do what you must.” She reached for the sleeve of her chemise and pulled it down, revealing the harsh curve of her shoulder.
