Page 77 of A Cinderella to Redeem the Earl
He bowed and left.
She rang the bell and asked the butler to notify Susan she was ready to leave, then finished her second cup of tea.
It didn’t help with the empty feeling inside her heart.
She forced herself to get up and get on with her day.
Susan was waiting in the hall, dressed in a cloak and hat, and she helped Pamela into her dark blue spencer.
Albert, who in London served as the butler, opened the door. ‘I don’t believe it will rain, Madam,’ he said, ‘but I think Susan ought to carry an umbrella just in case.’ He handed one over.
‘I don’t believe that will be necessary and besides we are going shopping. There will be a great many parcels to carry, I have no doubt. Susan won’t be able manage an umbrella also. Besides, you are unfailingly correct about the weather, Albert, so I do not think we need worry.’
Albert bowed. ‘As you wish, Madam.’
Outside, Susan huffed out a breath. ‘Thank you. I half expected him to insist we bring John along when you said I couldn’t carry the umbrella.’
John was Susan’s bane, because he wanted Susan to walk out with him and Susan had developed other ambitions.
Damian drove his phaeton around from the mews and drew up at the front door.
By the time the groom had gone to his horse’s head and Damian had jumped down, Pamela was already on her way down the steps.
He really liked that about her. She never shilly-shallied and was always ready on time, if not a little before.
This afternoon she looked stunning. The new redingote she had spoken of at breakfast was made of dark burgundy wool with black velvet at the collar and cuffs. She carried a black fur muff on one arm and her hat, a small affair with peacock feathers, was set at a jaunty angle. The lip rouge and blush on her cheeks were so subtly applied one could not be sure it was there at all. The light net suspended from its brim to cover her eyes made her look mysterious.
Not to mention that the coat hugged her figure in all the right places. Places he knew all too well. Desire struck him the way it did every time he looked at her and especially when she gave him back glance for heated glance as she did now.
He fought to control the urge to take her indoors and say to perdition with driving in the park.
But driving in the park was all part of his plan. To be seen by thehaute monde.
It was beyond a doubt that any man would be proud to be seen with her, although on occasion he found himself missing her more natural self, the chestnut-haired, fresh-faced young woman he had walked with in the countryside.
But that young woman wouldn’t fit with their roles of young sophisticates out on the town.
He handed her up into the carriage.
‘Congratulations on your choice of costume, my dear,’ he said as they started off for Hyde Park.
‘Thank you. It was very costly, but Madam Celeste gave me a discount, because I promised to let everyone know where I purchase my gowns.’
‘Do not bother your head about the cost.’
‘Why should I not? I think you forget that the cost eats into my profit as well as yours. I prefer to consider it as an investment and I need to get the best value for my money.’
Such an independent woman. She deserved... He forced himself not to think about what she deserved. That had already been decided. ‘I beg your pardon. You are right, of course. And what do you plan to do with your ill-gotten gains.’
‘Ill gotten? I thought you said—’
He put up a hand. ‘I speak figuratively. In jest. I mean, what will you do with your share of our profits when we part company? Invest it?’
He shouldn’t be asking, shouldn’t care, since he was the one forcing them apart, but he couldn’t help caring.
He was going to miss her when they parted. Badly. Far more than he ever would have expected. Somehow he had allowed her to get under his skin, to steal a part of him he hadn’t known existed. His heart. Too often he found himself wondering what she would think about a particular matter he was dealing with. Or how she would react to something someone said. It gave him an odd pain in his chest to think of leaving her behind.
It should not matter one whit.
