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“That makes sense. They are likely looking for a couple traveling together and not a whole group.”
Arabella rubbed her chin. “Does that mean you should stay in the carriage where you can’t be seen?”
Lily grimaced. It likely did.
But she’d liked being pressed next to Ash. She felt safe in his arms, against his body. Still, Arabella had a point. She could add intelligence to her sister’s list of qualities.
Ash had said she was safe with Arabella too. She trusted him, which meant she trusted her sister as well. “Is it true you own a dress shop?”
Arabella nodded. “I do.”
“Bash sent me there for an interview, though he didn’t tell me it was yours.”
“Are you a seamstress?”
“Proficient enough.” It wasn’t her true passion, but it had sustained her, and she felt a great deal of pride in that. Though what her true passion was, she couldn’t say. One had to first be stable and provided for to dream.
Arabella cocked her head. “How odd. I’m a seamstress too. I’d only call myself proficient as well. It wasn’t nearly as much fun or as rewarding as running a gaming hell.”
Lily shook her head. A gaming hell. “I can’t believe Bash and Baster actually sold you a club like that.”
Arabella shrugged. “I like dominating the male world. And besides, I had powerful allies to help me.”
Lily licked her lips. Her mother had had powerful friends too. Of course, they always required something in return. “Ash, he’s your friend?”
“Ash?” Arabella asked.
“Sorry. East.”
“Did he tell you to call him Ash?”
She nodded.
Arabella leaned forward. “Interesting. Ash is my childhood friend. My mother managed to get a position in a duke’s home and so I was raised with his heir, Chance, and few of Chance’s friends. To be honest, Ash and Chance are more like my brothers. They’ve been caring for me since childhood and I for them.”
Lily sat back. What must it be like to have people like that?
For the first time, she truly wondered what it would feel like to let people in. People she knew had her best interests at heart. But that wasn’t what she most wished to discuss right now. “And Bash and Baxter—do they feel like brothers to you?”
Arabella hesitated. “Not really.”
Lily nodded absently as she stared at her hands folded in her lap. “Me either.”
“How long were you with them?”
“A month. Baxter found me in the dress shop. He convinced me to travel to Dover to meet Bash.” That’s where she’d met Ash for the first time as well. And she’d heard about the gaming hell. Ash had come to tell them about the thieves and ask for advice, of which they’d received little.
But they’d also decided to travel to London shortly after, taking Lily with them.
Had that been for her and Arabella’s protection? Or their undoing? “You don’t think they’re behind all of this, do you?”
Arabella frowned, looking up at the carriage ceiling. “I do see your point, but truthfully, no. It’s been my experience that women are elaborate in their schemes and often underhanded, while men are straightforward. As a duke and an earl, they would face very few repercussions if they wanted us gone. They need not create an elaborate scheme with thieves and property.”
Lily gasped, the truth in those words so real, she could almost touch it. Arabella was right and smart as a whip.
Men in power didn’t need a complicated plot to rid themselves of troublesome common women. Hadn’t her own father proven that? He’d dismissed them without a backward glance, and they’d had no recourse at all.
She felt slightly better to think that Bash and Baxter hadn’t intentionally brought trouble to her. What was more, she wondered what else she’d gotten wrong in her mistrust, and her stomach twisted into knots. But the idea of opening herself up emotionally made her heart race in her chest. There was no easy choice.
“Still. When we see our brothers again, they shall get my unfiltered thoughts on their club and their careless treatment that allowed you to be taken.” Arabella sat up straight, her features tight in hard, perfect lines.
Her assertion made Lily smile. She could see why so many men respected her sister. “Do you think, if we make it back to London, I might have that interview at your shop?”
Arabella smiled and winked. “Absolutely. In fact, it might solve a troublesome problem I currently have. I was going to sell the shop to the current manager and when I didn’t, she became rather miffed. She’s threatened to quit. If she does, we might be able to help one another. I could use someone to run the shop and you need a job.”
Lily stared at Arabella in surprise. The offer was generous, but her shock ran even deeper—because instead of shying away from such a relationship, she found she’d very much like to spend more time with her sister.
How many more of the walls around her heart might crumble before this trip had ended?
