Page 10 of A Wicked Business

“Call me Doris, everyone does,” the tall lady sitting beside Belinda said, in between bites of a large, iced bun.

Lady Belinda cast the woman an amused, if slightly reproachful gaze before explaining. “My maid, Miss Doris Bodrott.”

He inclined his head, rather surprised by the woman who made her mistress look dainty in comparison. A fancy French dresser and a snooty maid would have been what he’d imagined for Lady Belinda, if he had troubled himself to consider the question.

“A pleasure, Miss Bodrott,” he said politely, glad at least that Lady Belinda had some protection when coming to such a neighbourhood. Miss Bodrott looked like she had a strong right arm and would not be afraid to employ it. He wondered how on earth she had gained the position and how the earl had been made to accept to it.

Doris made a sound that might have been her agreement that it was a pleasure to meet him too, but her mouth was full of bun, so it was difficult to be certain. He suppressed a smile and sat down at the table.

“Well, ladies, my lawyer will be here in half an hour to write up the details, but I thought it prudent to be certain you were all in agreement before he arrived.”

“We are,” Lady Belinda said with a nod. “You will buy the shop for me, by creating a business of some kind, I suppose, so it is not obviously mine?” she said, putting it as a question as she frowned at him.

“We will disguise your ownership,” Felix agreed. “I shall leave that to Mr Sampson to arrange, but it shall be done.”

Belinda nodded. “Then it is very simple. Sarah here will be my manageress and live here rent free and collect a wage each month—I need guidance about that, for she tells me I am being foolish with my money, and I say she is penny pinching at entirely the wrong moment when her livelihood is at stake,” she remarked with a touch of impatience.

Sarah folded her arms, glowering. “I ain’t no charity case. I can pay rent, and you just give me a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work and that’s good enough for me.”

Belinda shrugged and gave Felix a you see what I’m dealing with expression he found entirely too charming. Forcing his gaze away from her, he looked down at the notes he’d been taking instead as he listened to her continue.

“Then each year we will look at the accounts and I shall give Sarah the opportunity to buy back a percentage of her business while using any profits I have made to upkeep and grow our enterprise as I see fit. After five years, assuming the place is profitable, this agreement may be renegotiated.”

“Well, it seems as if we have the outlines of a contract,” Felix said, relieved that they appeared to have reached an accord and admitting to himself he might be guilty of having underestimated them.

“We do,” Sarah said, setting a cup of tea and an iced bun in front of him. “But if it’s all the same to you I’d like you all gone before twelve thirty, for my brother is coming and if he sees you all here, he’ll want to know why. I don’t want him knowing about any of you, for he’ll try to tap me for a loan, thinking I’ve got friends in high places,” she said in disgust.

“He’s got a bleedin’ nerve, spending all his days drinking and whoring and pissing all your hard work up the wall,” Doris said in disgust.

Sarah shrugged but did not disagree, but Felix stared at Lady Belinda, never having heard a lady’s maid speak so frankly, with such dreadful language, and in the hearing of her mistress. But Lady Belinda seemed neither shocked nor surprised and her lips quirked at Felix’s obvious surprise.

“Doris is a woman of strong opinions, Mr Knight,” she said sweetly, before taking off her gloves and picking up her own sticky bun, which had so far been left untouched.

She took a large bite. The sight of Lady Belinda doing something so terribly unladylike, and so strangely enticing, seemed to melt his brain and he could do nothing but stare. She chewed with relish, her tongue darting out to lick off traces of icing from her lips, and Felix was suddenly aware of every inch of his skin, of the feel of his collar being at once too tight, of a familiar sensation he was well acquainted with and really did not need surging though his veins. Though it pained him to do so, he dragged his gaze away from Lady Belinda and found he was being closely scrutinised by Doris. She had a cat that got the cream smile he found exceedingly unnerving.

Much to his relief, Mr Sampson arrived in good time and was as efficient as Felix had come to expect, taking down the notes of what they wanted, and advising where was required. He assured all concerned that everything would be done within the next two days. Once they had bade Mr Sampson goodbye and thanked Miss Ludlow for her hospitality, Felix escorted Lady Belinda outside.

“Where is your carriage?” he asked in concern, praying she hadn’t been so foolish as to travel in a hackney with only her maid, though the woman looked strong and capable enough to take on most assailants he had to admit.

“Just around the corner, I believe,” she said, gesturing down the street.

“May I escort you?” he asked, offering his arm.

She smiled at him. “You may, for it will give me the chance to thank you, Mr Knight. I never expected everything to go so very smoothly. You have exceeded my expectations.”

“I am happy to have been of assistance to you,” Felix replied, too aware of the sway of her hips as she walked, the soft rustle of her skirts as they brushed his legs. He glanced at her as she spoke, noting the perfection of her skin. The urgent desire to take off his gloves and touch a finger to her cheek, to discover if it truly was as silken as it looked, caught him off guard, the strength of his need to do so unnerving. He looked away and tried to consider her objectively, to figure out what so enticed him. For he had been around beautiful women before, his mistress at this moment was stunning, but her nearness did not make him feel so… so agitated, so strangely certain that this woman was important for reasons he did not wish to investigate. He liked his world just as it was. His bachelor life suited him, giving him the freedom to work all hours if he chose and party hard when the work was done. Why on earth would he wish to give up such fun? Her laughter at his words caught his attention again.

It was a delightful sound that made him glance down at her, finding to his amusement that she had a dimple in her left cheek he had not noticed before. There was no twin in the right cheek which he found ridiculously charming.

“No, you’re not happy,” she said in reply to his words, her blue eyes dancing. “Not in the least. You’re only relieved it’s over so you can be rid of me.”

Felix smiled despite himself, for it was true enough. He wanted to get as far from her as he could, even though he knew the desire to see her again would plague him. She was too dangerous to be in company with, for he felt sure he would do something he ought not. “I should never be so ungentlemanly,” he replied gravely.

“You may be too much the gentleman to say it out loud, but you’re thinking it all the same,” she countered, holding out her hand to him as they arrived at her carriage.

She held his gaze, and he felt the oddest desire to keep hold of her hand, to not let her return to her life or him to his. The moment stretched on, the desire to ask to see her again burning inside him. He dropped her hand before he could do or say anything idiotic.

“Mr Knight. I am in your debt. Thank you for everything. If ever I may be of assistance to you, I beg you will tell me so.”