A Proper Scandal (Ravensdale Family Book 2) (21 page)

It was two in the afternoon when Alex called on Minnie. The footman insisted she wasn’t accepting calls, then promptly closed the door in his face. But that answer wasn’t satisfactory. Alex knew Minnie would be accepting calls from visitors today. He was going to see her if he had to scale the walls and slip into her bloody window.

He knocked again, and when the footman answered the door, Alex pushed by the timid man and smiled cunningly at the maid rushing up the stairs to alert her mistress.

Sure, it was untoward of Alex to call on a single lady in the afternoon. But the woman had her own house. This was the same woman who just two nights prior wore nothing but a silk sheet and kissed a woman on a Parisian stage. Propriety was lost on a wild woman like Minnie Ravensdale. It was more of a suggestion than ordinance. And he had lost his head that night as the club erupted into a riot. He’d said some nasty things.

He followed on the heels of the maid, who was determined to warn her mistress of his unannounced invasion.

“Mademoiselle,” she cried, as she swung the door open. “Mademoiselle!”

“Allow me,” Alex said, brushing past the shocked maid.

Minnie lay toppled over from her vanity chair, lost in a sea of pink tulle, wearing a crooked tiara of paste diamonds. “Ho! A-Alex,” she slurred with a merry smile on her face.

“Having some trouble with your chair?”

“Why, yes!” She moved her hand up to straighten her misplaced crown. It looked as if she had just been deposited home after an outlandish party.

The sad sight of her reminded him of the young girl longing to be a ballerina. With a self-possessed sigh, he took another step into the room. “Leave us,” he said, ignoring the maid’s protest.

“Go, go,” Minnie echoed, waving her hand as if she were shooing a stubborn pest.

The door clicked shut and he was left standing alone with Minnie.

“Hello!” she bellowed again.

“Yes, hello.” He straddled a chair opposite of her and sat. “So,” he began, dropping his chin to rest on the back of the chair.

She didn’t move.

Alex tapped his fingers on the mahogany. “The chair moved?”

A laugh bubbled from her throat, growing louder until she threw her head back and laughed some more. “If you would just—you’re very handsome!” she said, smiling up at him with the wide, blinking eyes of an owl.

Alex laughed.

“Yes, if you’ll just help me up,” she said, waving her arms, “I’ll right myself again. The damn chair needs to be fixed.”

“I’m sure it does,” he said. “Chairs are known to be the most dangerous piece of furniture. Human death traps, I believe they were first called.”

Minnie snorted a laugh as she reached again for her tiara, but it was lost in the wild snare of hair. “Then I’m lucky to ha-have,” she hiccupped, “to have survived the ordeal.” She yanked at the tiara, scrunching her nose as it refused to be freed from her tangled hair.

“Yes.”

Minnie waved her hand again, clutching at her sagging bodice. “If you would be s-so kind, good sir.”

Alex helped her to her feet. It took both of his hands to steady her as she swayed like a reed in a windstorm.

“Oh my,” she whispered, her eyes large and blinking. “It seems,” she started, “why are you here?” she asked, not finishing her first thought.

“I came to see you and to—”

“I remember now that I don’t like you much.” She wiggled in his hold, trying to free herself from his grip.

“I imagine that’s true. I came to issue an apology.”

“Did you?” she said, her eyes narrowing. Minnie paled, looking as if she would lose the contents of her stomach on his shoes. “You’re in my room.”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

Alex wondered the same himself.

“You can leave.” She pulled free, stumbling backward. “I have a bath to take and I do not want you here.” She continued to dip and weave, struggling to hold onto her sagging dress.

“Let me.” Alex rushed forward, grabbing her elbow and save her from falling flat on her face.

“I don’t need your h-help,” she slurred.

“Of course not.” Did she have to make everything difficult? “But stay still anyway before you fall.”

The protest was there on her face, before fear and confusion set in. “Why are you here?” she asked in a whisper.

He untangled the tiara from her hair and handed it to her, careful not to show any pity.

“You can be nice sometimes,” she admitted.

“And I can be the biggest cad sometimes too. I’m sorry for what I said, Minnie.” That still didn’t seem adequate, so he added, “For acting as I did.”

“F-forgiven.” She shoved her hand awkwardly at his for a handshake. But instead of shaking his hand, she rested into the crook of his shoulder. Her body shuddered against his, her tears soaking through his suit.

“Are you alright?” he asked stupidly.

“Yes.” She sniffed against his shoulder. “Of course.”

“Of course,” he repeated, blowing out a steadying breath. He settled his arms around her, holding her dress up in the process.

Minnie sucked in a few breaths, trying to speak, until finally she hiccupped. “I’m so foolish.”

She quieted once he started stroking circles over her back. What else could he say? She
was
foolish. One thing he had always known was that she was someone who acted first and faced consequences later. He cupped her face, drawing up her eyes to meet his. “You’re beautiful, Minnie.”

“I am?” Her eyes still brimming with tears.

Good God, the woman could be daft. He dropped a kiss onto her forehead. “Yes, but I have a confession.”

“Tell me your secrets, Alex.”

She unsettled him so easily. He ignored her, saying instead, “I’m glad I know
you
, Minnie. The rest of Paris can keep their beloved Evangeline Dupree.”

“Can I keep you?” She smiled before her cheeks grew red. “I think I’ve had too much to drink,” she murmured, her eyebrows furrowing in confusion.

“I should be leaving.” He forced himself to shelve the idea that she cared for him. As if he knew what to do with such an emotion. “Would you like me to fetch your maid?”

“Stay a while longer.” Minnie stepped out of his arms, forgetting to hold up her dress as she did so. “If you could help me out of my dress, I’ll let you go.”

He averted his gaze, his fingers clenching and unclenching into a fist. “Your maid should help you.”

“Are you blushing?”

“Your maid—”

“—have you grown shy on me? Last I remember, you had your hand down my dress, Alex.”

His hand still burned at the very memory. She was making it difficult to forget.

Her smile grew mischievous. “Fine.” She tried to undo the dress herself, but she nearly toppled until his hands came to her rescue.

“You’re still stubborn as ever.” His fingers made quick work of the long row of tiny buttons at the back of her dress. It slipped down her body, pooling around her feet.

“And take the bloody corset off.”

He did as she wished and unlaced the corset. “Sit,” he ordered, fearing she would knock herself senseless if she attempted to pull off the stockings herself.

She spun around and sat as instructed with a dreamy smile on her face, watching him sink to his knees. “You’re red,” Minnie observed as his hand reached from under her chemise to the top of her stocking.

His fingers brushed the soft skin of her thigh and his heart began to race. Alex wouldn’t be like every other low vermin preying on Minnie. “I suppose you’re smiling because you’ve finally succeeded in sending me to my knees.”

“You’re very handsome now.” Her finger ran down the length of his nose.

“Flatterer,” he teased, his hand resting on her thigh.

Her hand cradled his cheek. “Yes.”

Without thinking, Alex pressed his lips against her bare knee. His fingers curled over her soft flesh, grounding him in the moment.

“Sweet Alex.” She tousled his combed hair, determined to turn him out of sorts. There wasn’t a thing weak about her. She could falter and pause, but there was always a firm power just beneath the surface. She could cry, then conquer the world in the slip of a few minutes.

He removed the stocking in haste, and stood. “I’ll bring your maid now. Rest, and I’ll call again soon.”

“No need.” She lifted the chemise up and over her body. Her hips, her lovely, lovely hips, swayed from side to side as she sauntered across the room, collapsing into bed. Minnie rolled over, burrowing under the covers.

“Minnie?” The mattress bowed as he crawled next to her.

“Please don’t go,” she whispered, curling up into herself.

He pulled the blankets down below her chin, her body shivering again. He sighed as he said, “You know I cannot stay.”

“Just a while longer. The servants,” she stifled a yawn, “they won’t say anything.”

“I want to believe that, but I can’t.” He ran his finger down her nose before sweeping over the apple of her cheek to brush away the tears. “You’re a terrible liar.”

Minnie pulled herself out of the blanket cocoon to rest her head against his chest. “Please…just…Alex,” she yawned. Minnie closed her eyes and fell asleep as Alex slowed his breathing, listening to the rhythmic beat of his heart, trusting that with Minnie in his life once more, things would become a little more bearable again.

“O
h, she’s a terrible drunk.” Minnie sipped her wine. “She carries on, kicking her way through the club, stealing drinks. The men adore her.” She smiled over her glass at Alex.

“Not with you there.”

“Are you flirting with me, Alex?”

He laughed, kicking his feet up onto a velvet ottoman, his white shirt still unbuttoned. He looked deliciously undone, all tussled and rosy-cheeked from an afternoon nap. She caught his stare, peered down at the floor, her hand fussing over the long tassel of her dressing gown.

“Have something to eat, Min.”

The feast she ordered still sat on the table covered by elaborate silver domes. When she had asked her lady’s maid to fetch dinner for two, the woman raised an eyebrow. It gave Minnie momentary pause. It was wrong to host a dinner for a friend in her private compartments while living under another man’s roof.

He traced his fingers over the rim of his glass in lazy circles. Her knees buckled at the thought of his hand doing the same to her body. She swayed toward him. “She hates me,” Minnie continued, turning to the fire. She peered into the mirror and saw that he was still staring at her. He caught her gaze and she smiled back, her throat tightening.

“Darling?”

Minnie closed her eyes. She wished he would stop calling her that ridiculous pet name. It did unnatural things to her mind, tricking her to soften toward him.

“But she’s older. I suppose all she has left is to kick up her skirts for any man willing to pay for her drink. It’s sad, really…” Minnie’s voice trailed off when she caught his heated gaze through the mirror again. It felt as if he stood right behind her, drawing his index finger lazily over the curve of her shoulder, slowly winding her up. The magic of it was that he still sat in the chair, some twenty feet across the room.

Her bedroom was much larger than the small attic they shared at Mrs. Bowen’s, but in that instant, it didn’t feel larger. It seemed as if the walls were closing in around her as she broke their staring contest.

“Show me how she dances. I missed her performance the other night.”

She knew what he was playing at, but she would gladly give in if it meant he kept smiling at her like he was. That smile. It was pure magic.

Minnie switched on the phonograph by her vanity. She had insisted Monsieur Peprin buy one for her so she could dance in her room. She never thought she would dance again for Alex.

“You know,” she started, “I don’t think I’ll dance for you again. You laughed at me last time.”

“I was an idiot,” he said, trying to pull on a straight face at his denial.

“Yes, you were. You thought Anne Gibbons was a horrible dancer.”

“Never happened.”

She nodded knowingly, padding over to the table dressed with a fancy dinner. Her fingertips stretched over the tablecloth in a slow drumming beat.

Alex pulled on the tassel of her dressing gown. With another hard tug, he could open it and change everything between them once more. All afternoon, they had been dancing upon the edge of more. That promise of something else, something larger; something Minnie wanted badly because it was forbidden. They were barefoot in her bedroom, the phonograph dictating a steady drum of beats in the charged air, and he looked at her as if he had always been her lover. They weren’t young and innocent anymore, and that changed everything between them. Minnie licked her lips, unsure of how to give voice to the new emotions spiraling out of control within.

He reached out and toppled her, pulling her into his lap as if she were parading as his paramour back in London again. This time, his body didn’t flinch away as it once had. Her bare legs slipped out from beneath her robe, hanging over the side of the chair. He reached over her to the table and plucked a strawberry free from the tower of fruit, and took a bite.

“I have to leave.” A drip of juice clung to his lips as she waited, eager to lick it away but frightened to scare him off. He lifted the strawberry to his lips again, but her hands stilled his, and greedily pulled it to her mouth. She took a bite and reveled in its lush sweetness. She nipped again as he tried to pull it away from her lips.

“You should stay a while longer,” she said, reaching for his wine. Alex raised a questioning brow at her request. “I like,” she started, taking a long sip, “having you here.”

“I came to give you an apology and pay a respectable social call. So far, I’ve undressed you, slept with you…”

They had not slept together in that way, but at his mention of their newfound intimacy, her body warmed.

He cleared his throat. “And now you’re in my lap with your lovely legs bare for all to see.” His fingers skimmed over her calf, a quick burning touch. “I apparently excel at apologies but am terrible at being respectable.”

“I won’t tell if you don’t.”