Page 48 of Indecent
“You’ve been a popular topic of gossip,” she said sheepishly.
He laughed. “That was to be expected. I stayed in Hersham another couple of days because Logan managed to find me a coach I could afford. Then I went to Aberforth Place to lick my wounds.” He winked at her, then immediately sobered. “Not really. I needed to check on some things—and sell a painting to pay for the coach,” he confessed wryly, wondering why he felt so comfortable sharing the depths of his financial woes with her.
Because she cared. She listened to him, comforted him, and gave him hope—something he realized he’d been rather short on.
“I’m glad you have a coach, but sorry you had to sell a painting.” She looked at him with such sympathy. He would never understand how she’d been able to forgive him.
And he was grateful it wasn’t pity, for there was a difference. Lucien’s expression had been tinged with the latter. As had Wexford’s and Lady Wexford’s.
He leaned toward her and whispered, “It wasn’t an attractive piece.”
“Ah, well, that’s a relief.” She paused, seeming hesitant. “I suppose we should return to the assembly. I shouldn’t be gone too long. Kat is dancing, but the set is likely almost done.”
“Yes, of course.” He gestured for her to precede him from the bedchamber.
They left her friend’s room, and she closed the door firmly behind them.
“What friend of yours has an apartment at the Phoenix Club?” Bennet asked.
“She’s the bookkeeper.”
He didn’t ask more since she didn’t seem keen to offer it. After so many days together, he’d learned to read her quite well.
“I’ll let you go downstairs alone,” he said, stopping in the corridor.
She nodded. “Thank you. I’m so glad to see you well. You’ll recover from this.”
He only hoped it would happen in time to save his family from ruin. If he couldn’t pay for Aunt Agatha’s care at the hospital—
He refused to even think it.
“Good night, Ben.” She kissed his cheek, then disappeared through the door to the stairs.
Bennet leaned back against the wall, his shoulders drooping. He ought to feel wonderful after their tryst—and he did—but he also felt unsettled. And sad, because he knew he couldn’t see her again. Not like that.
Probably not at all.
As Prudence climbed the back stairs at the Phoenix Club the following morning, her mind filled with thoughts of Bennet, specifically with the memory of last night. She’d caught a few glimpses of him at the assembly afterward before leaving at midnight with Kat. He’d been dancing. And he was so elegant on his feet.
It was almost painful to watch him smile at his dance partners knowing he’d been kissing her—been inside her—just a short while before. But she had no time or space for jealousy. He wasn’t hers nor would he ever be.
Shaking him from her thoughts, she rapped on Ada’s door.
Ada responded with “Come in!”
Prudence stepped over the threshold. “Good morning.”
Ada sat near the window that overlooked Ryder Street below. She folded the newspaper she’d been reading and set it on the small table. “How did Kat enjoy the assembly? I saw that she danced with at least three gentlemen.”
Prudence perched on the other chair. “She didn’t complain overly much.”
“I imagine it will be sometime before she—and you—return for another one, however.”
“You are right about that, I think,” Prudence said. She realized she was a bit on edge. Because she expected Ada to ask about last night.
Ada didn’t disappoint her. “Why did you need my room? You were gone nearly an entire set.”
“Were you keeping track?” Prudence asked.
