Page 83 of Seducing the Knave

She needed to know.

And she was done with someone else setting limitations upon her.

Regardless of how Max might feel about her, the intimacy they’d shared had meant something to her, which meant she couldn’t justify sitting in ignorance about who he was and what he did. If he wouldn’t willingly open his life to her, she’d just have to sneak in. And if she discovered something that changed how she felt about him, well, it was better to learn it now than later...when her heart was truly involved.

Involved more, that is.

Leaving the bedroom, she stepped out onto the landing at the top of the stairs, where a quick glance down the opposite hallway revealed no one about. With a swift rush of apprehension and a bit of rebellious excitement, she started down the stairs. The next floor down contained two hallways extending from the landing in opposite directions with multiple closed doors lining the passages. She was about to head down one of the halls when she heard women’s voices, raised in laughter and comradery, flowing up from the ground floor below. Women?

And by the sound of it, quite a few.

Trepidation spiked along with her curiosity and an odd sort of heaviness settled in her chest as she continued to creep down the stairs. When she heard Langworth’s familiar heavy tread, she came to a quick halt, holding her breath as he passed through the entry hall just below her. Though the large man had been nothing but courteous, his loyalty to Max was undeniable and she couldn’t be sure he wouldn’t physically force her right back up to Max’s room. Luckily, the butler didn’t see her with his focus obviously directed toward whatever task had prompted him to disappear down a hallway tucked beneath the stairs.

When she could breathe again, the feminine voices drew her attention to a room near the front of the hall. The door was left open and sunlight spilled from the space.

Despite the heavy thread of uncertainty winding through her, Elle continued forward. She had no idea what she’d discover in that room, but the fact that Max was so determined to keep it from her suggested its importance.

She needed to know.

Forcing a confidence to her stride and a self-assurance to her posture, she approached the open door of what was obviously a large parlor. Though decorated with a similar sort of understated sophistication as the rest of the residence, this room was decidedly more feminine than what Elle had seen so far.

Nearly a dozen women were gathered within—lounging with casual comfort on the matching sofas, perching on chairs and ottomans, lingering near the sunny windows. In varying ages that ranged from a slim woman with silver threading her simple chignon to a girl who couldn’t have been much more than fifteen or so, they were all dressed in modest gowns not terribly unlike her own borrowed dress.

Her uncertainty bloomed into dread before she managed to tamp it down.

She would not make assumptions. There could be a dozen reasons for these women to be gathered here. In Max’s home.

She just couldn’t think of any at the moment that weren’t totally licentious and utterly unacceptable to her heart.

At that moment, the young woman standing at the window turned, revealing a cooing infant in her arms, and a strangled gasp slid from Elle’s tense lips.

The sound finally drew the attention of a few occupants in the room just when Elle wished she could melt away from the scene altogether.

The one holding the baby was the first to speak with a tentative smile. “Oh, hello...”

The woman with the slightly graying hair glanced up then and immediately rose to her feet. While Elle stood just beyond the parlor threshold, the older woman’s gaze slipped over her in a quick assessment. Whatever she saw in Elle’s appearance seemed to confirm something for her as she gave a short nod, then stepped forward. “Come on in, m’dear. I was wondering when you might make an appearance.”

Though the words themselves were more blunt than welcoming, there was a subtle warmth in the woman’s tone.

Reminding herself that she had no reason to be intimidated by this group, Elle straightened her shoulders and entered the room under the curious and watchful stares of everyone present.

“Good morning,” she said politely, forcing herself to meet their gazes with confidence and poise, hoping they’d believe even if she didn’t that she belonged there as much as they did. “I don’t mean to intrude or interrupt.”

“Not at all,” the older woman said with a quick, meaningful glance toward the others as she waved Elle to an open spot on one of the sofas. “You’re as welcome here as anyone.”

As she took the offered seat, it became quite clear by the openly curious yet not particularly surprised expressions on the ladies’ faces that her presence in the house wasn’t nearly as shocking to them as theirs was to her. Just as when she’d met Caillie, she found herself distinctly at a loss.

Ignoring the fierce little stab of discomfort that thought triggered, Elle returned their glances and stares with far more self-assurance than she was actually feeling.

“Gor! Yer a stunner, ain’t ye?” The exclamation came from the youngest of them. The girl was leaning forward on the edge of her seat, allowing Elle to see the jagged and angry-looking cut that ran from her temple down to the cherubic point of her chin, marring her otherwise smooth cheek. It looked like it was only just starting to heal.

“Lucy,” the young Black woman seated next to her admonished with a firm but not unkind look. “What’d we talk about?”

The girl rolled her eyes. “That I shouldn’t just blurt out whatever comes to me thoughts.”

The other woman nodded. But then the girl gave a dramatic shrug and gestured to Elle. “But look at ’er! It’s no wonder the Griffin decided to keep ’er.”

“Hush, girl,” the gray-haired woman chided before turning to Elle. “My apologies. Lucy only recently joined us and we’re still working on her manners. Speaking of...please allow me to introduce everyone. I’m Mrs. Flynn and this is...”

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