“May I see them?” he asked with obvious interest.
Unity pulled the book from her bag and handed it to him with pride.
He flipped carefully through the pages.
“I think,” he said at last, “your assembly rooms will be an instant success. I also cannot help but notice that a significant number of these entries are dedicated not to your future endeavors, but to the betterment of a certain weekly masquerade already in existence?”
She yanked the book from his hands. “I’m helping him.”
“I’ve no doubt.”
“It’s business,” she added firmly.
He nodded. “So you said.”
“I’m not going to marry him,” she said defensively.
“Probably not,” Sampson agreed. “Though I suppose we do have Queen Charlotte, so there is some precedent.”
“Is there?” Unity shook her head. “Her African heritage is distant and minimal, whilst mine is present and obvious. Her mother was a princess. Mine descended from East Indies slaves. Her father was a duke. Mine was a preacher’s son. She was born into royalty. Have youseenmy rented rooms? Our paths and our stations could not be more different.”
“So youhavethought about this,” Sampson said. “Interesting.”
Unity clamped her teeth shut.
“If anyone can do the impossible, it’s you,” he told her. “If that’s the dream you’ve set your sights on, go after it.”
“I don’t think I’d want to be part of that world,” she said uncertainly. “They would call me an unworthy social climber and much, much worse. If I were an heiress or shared blood with royalty, the color of my skin would be less of a deterrent. There would be looks and whispers and doors that did not open, but plenty of doors would. My unforgivable crime is being common and poor.”
“I’ve never met anyone more uncommon,” Sampson replied. “If your duke doesn’t have cork for brains, he sees it, too.”
She shook her head. “Even if he were interested, he couldn’t choose me. Heisthe beau monde. Opening myself up for an inevitable rejection would be foolish.”
And painful. Just the thought of being so vulnerable had her adding more protective layers around her heart.
“All Lambley and I share is a temporary business arrangement.” And torrid, but equally temporary kisses. She would enjoy it while it lasted and then walk away with her head high. “I’ll fall in love with someone appropriate to my station once I’ve achieved my other aims and have time for softer emotions.”
“Mm-hm,” Sampson said. “Then I wish you luck. You’re going to need it.”
Chapter 14
On Saturday afternoon, Julian was not in his office managing his affairs or in the ballroom preparing for the upcoming masquerade.
He was seated at a long table in the front dining room whose tall, mullioned windows had the best vantage point of the front path.
Not that there was much to see at the moment. It had been alternately drizzly and foggy all morning, and a great cloud of white mist had settled over Grosvenor Square. The terraced homes of his neighbors were not visible in such conditions, but then again, Julian wasn’t stealing glances out of the front window in the hopes of glimpsing a neighbor.
He was thinking about Miss Thorne. He was always thinking about Miss Thorne. She wouldn’t arrive for hours. The mere fact that the sun had not yet set proved him ridiculously eager and early. Yet here he was, seated at an empty dinner table, pretending unsuccessfully to be concentrating on the correspondence before him.
Heath Grenville had sent another report.
Julian was dying to read it. The report was right there in his hands. Unopened. Waiting.
Because part of him regretted ever asking for it. He wanted to know everything there was to know about Miss Thorne, but not like this. It wasn’t even the reason he’d asked Grenville to investigate in the first place.
At the time, Julian had just wished to be certain that the beautiful, confounding stranger did not have questionable motives. If he’d learned anything so far, it was that the person with questionable motives was Julian himself.
He had employed her without any intention of putting her to work or taking her advice, and subsequently embarked on a campaign of passionate embraces that likewise were not destined to go anywhere at all.
