Page 27 of Miss Ellis Unleashed

She told him nine, two hours later than they’d usually dined together. Because at nine, many residents of the square would either be long gone off to their entertainments or just settling into their beds for the night. He might not be identified as coming or going from her home too easily.

“Nine it is. Until tonight, Miss Ellis,” he murmured, returning his hat to his head and strolling off.

She watched him go for several long minutes and then rushed herself indoors. Once there, she leaned against the door and tried to catch her breath. She had invited a man to dine privately with her. How scandalous of her! How brazen. She’d never done it before with anyone, and certainly not with a gentleman who’d never wanted her to be scandalous in the first place.

Daisy jumped as a knock rattled the door behind her back, and she wrenched it open expecting to see Throsby only to discover her maid grinning at her.

“Oh, I am so sorry,” she exclaimed in horror, stepping aside.

“Quite all right, Miss Ellis,” the maid promised with a wide smile, walking in and shutting the door behind her. “A long stroll with a handsome viscount would overset any woman’s good sense.”

Daisy blushed. “Lord Throsby is coming to dinner tonight. Please inform Cook of that.”

The maid giggled, and Daisy shooed her away.

Once alone, though, Daisy cursed her tongue. What a fool she was to invite Throsby to dinner. He was sure to have many other more important places to be now. And it wasn’t as if he’d intended to see her again after their walk today. She’d surprised him, but he had accepted her invitation graciously, despite the impropriety of dining alone together.

She closed her eyes, reliving all the little touches they’d exchanged in so short a time today. Almost more than in the whole of their acquaintance, and not one had felt wrong.

And she foolishly hoped for more of that. Of a night spent blushing and anticipating how the evening would end between them. Her blush burned her cheeks. She would not mind if it was in kisses and soft sighs…and the hands of a handsome man touching her body.

The fact that she now thought of Throsby in those terms caused her to sit down on the stairs as her knees went weak with the shock.

Throsby, a man who had spent the whole of their acquaintance worried about propriety, had agreed to come and dine alone with an unmarried woman.

She started to laugh weakly and put her head in her hands.

Perhaps they had both gone mad.

Chapter Eight

“I’m not interested,” Max warned, taking the tiniest sip of his tankard just to be sociable. He was determined to keep a clear head tonight rather than risk making a fool of himself again in front of Miss Ellis.

They were in their favorite tavern. Well, Max’s former favorite. The loud, rustic establishment had lost its appeal some time ago.

“You need a woman in your life,” Abelton assured him as he tossed back the contents of his tankard before he demanded another from the passing barkeep. “So do I.”

Max hid a sigh at the repeated sentiment and the reason behind Abelton’s insistence. Abelton’s affair with his late cousin’s mistress was over—ended almost before it had truly begun. Max’s friend was melancholy about that today. He was staring into his cup and had sighed heavily all afternoon.

Max wasn’t surprised and was glad it was over, too. Poor Abelton could never have afforded that particular woman for long. Giselle would have made him miserable in the end. What Abelton needed was a good woman in his life. Someone kind and thoughtful, not prone to theatrics to get her way. So far Abelton had been unlucky in love.

So had Max, but things were looking up for him now.

He’d refrained from confiding in Abelton about his dinner plans for the night, determined to keep his unexpected invitation from Daisy a secret from his friend until he was more certain of what it signified. He did not want to assume anything with her. Besides, Abelton would only crow with laughter and claim Max had felt something for her all along, should he learn.

But Max surely hadn’t until the kiss.

Everything had changed for him after that night.

He imagined he and Daisy were becoming friends of a sort, though. At least, that is what he hoped he’d accomplished by their morning walk together and confessions. He would like to return to society amusements, to the balls and the luncheons that had once so bored him, and not have to worry about his presence upsetting Daisy.

Max surveyed the taproom once more and found nothing and no one of interest to him here. He should have gone home hours ago, but Abelton’s melancholy required company. But the longer he stayed, the more anxious he’d become about the dinner ahead.

Would they argue or end the night in another stolen kiss?

He hoped for the latter, but only after they’d had a chance to talk more beforehand. This morning’s conversation had only whetted his appetite for more time with Daisy. With the guardianship out of the way, he’d enjoyed the stroll with her.

In fact, confiding in her had been a relief. Daisy understood his situation, even if she had been clearly amused by his becoming a guardian again. She had offered helpful advice on how to deal with his new responsibilities. Max had never expected his cousin to name him as guardian to his daughters, but it would be just like him to dump his responsibilities on someone he despised. He’d always been a selfish, uncaring prig. A bully. He’d stolen Max’s father’s ring—and anything else he could lay his hands on that Max valued—during the short time they had infested his London town house.