Page 47 of A Contracted Spouse for the Prizefighter

“Oh yes, of course!” Theo felt unaccountably embarrassed how she kept forgetting that aspect of his life. “You must tell me more about it some time.”

He made a non-committal noise in his throat and ushered her toward his office. “My things are in there.” Sure, enough there were some bags and cases packed and piled up behind the door. Theo regarded them with interest as Clem added the leather bag to the pile.

“You must have told your employees you were moving?” she commented as Clem shrugged off his coat and tore the cravat from his throat before unbuttoning his collar.

Clem frowned. “I may have mentioned it to Jim,” he answered with a shrug. “It’s not really anyone else’s business.”

He flung open another case and picked out a different jacket. Theo leaned a hip against his desk and looked around the office curiously. That must be the sofa he had slept on the night before their wedding. It was a very bare office. A small fireplace, a big desk, some scuffed floorboards. She had seen it before of course, but that time she had been overset with nerves. In truth, her memory of that occasion was patchy. She had a suspicion her self-respect depended on her forgetting the whole disastrous episode.

Vague memories floated to the surface of just how humiliated she had felt when she had stumbled down that same staircase, her eyes blinded with furious tears and Clem’s laughter ringing in her ears. How funny that she climbed them now as his bride! Surreptitiously, she snuck another look at him now as he flung his neckcloth and dress coat into one of his cases and snapped it shut.

“Is Jim the heavy-set fellow with sideburns who shows your visitors into your office?” she asked suddenly.

Clem looked up sharply at that, but when he spoke his voice was mild. “Remember him, do you?” She nodded. “What else do you remember?”

“Barking my shins on your coal scuttle,” she admitted with a wince. “I was a bundle of nerves that day.” She hoped devoutly that Jim had not noticed she was crying when he had let her out into the street that day. She remembered he had reached out a hand to steady her arm before she tripped over the doorstep. “He was kind,” she said suddenly. “I liked him.”

“Kind?”

Theo turned her head at Clem’s interrogative tone, but for some reason instead of explaining her words, she lifted her chin. “Yes, kind,” she said staunchly, for she remembered with sudden vividness that Clem had not been.

The air turned tense between them as their gazes clashed. What was happening? Theo wondered. Was it the memory of last time making her antagonistic? Realizing she needed to let it go, she gave herself a little shake and dropped her eyes.

Clem gave a snort. “Jim’s a broken-down fighter,” he said, sounding irritated. “I gave him a job here for old times’ sake. He’s not known for being particularly kind, Dora. You can rid yourself of that impression.”

He might as well have called her naïve, Theo thought, coloring slightly. Instead of responding, she moved away from Clem’s desk to gaze out at the street below. Behind her, she could hear Clem moving about his office, opening a drawer before shutting it again. A rap on the door made her jump and turning around she saw the sideburns she had recalled.

“Didn’t know you had company,” Jim said, starting to withdraw.

“Jim! Come in a minute,” Clem called after him.

Jim stepped inside with marked reluctance. At Theo, he threw only the most cursory of glances. “Somethin’ you want doin’ boss?” he asked gruffly.

“Just an introduction,” Clem replied, then gestured to Theo to join him over by the mantel. She crossed the room to stand beside him. “Jim, this is my wife of”—he glanced at the clock—“precisely twenty-four hours, Mrs. Theodora Dabney.”

A look of pure astonishment passed over Jim’s features, but it was gone in an instant and his face returned to a slab-like impassivity that Theo felt sure must be his habitual expression. “You’ve met before briefly,” Clem added. “In fact, you seem to have made quite a favorable impression.” This last was added dryly and drew a look of faint alarm from Jim.

The older man coughed. “Congratulations,” he said finally, his eyes trained on neither of them but directed instead at the far wall.

“Thank you, Jim,” Theo said cheerfully and extended her hand. Jim stared at it an instant as though unsure what it was. Then he took her hand carefully in his much bigger paw. This wouldn’t do, Theo thought, unused to being treated like fine china. She seized his in a firm grip and pumped it up and down enthusiastically. “It’s lovely to see you again.”

Jim slow blinked and then glanced at Clem again as though unsure of his cue.

“Perhaps you could spread the word, Jim,” Clem suggested. Jim gazed blankly back at him a moment, said “Ah,” and backed out of the room.

“I think you picked your emissary poorly,” Theo commented as the door closed behind him.

“What?”

“Jim’s clearly not a gossip.”

Clem shrugged. “It’s of no matter, I’ll show you round and give whatever introductions are necessary.” Theo nodded and he moved toward the door, holding it open for her.

“Now?” She could not conceal her pleasure at this, and he gave her a mirthless smile.

“Why postpone the inevitable?”

She made no comment on his choice of words though he seemed oddly reluctant to show her his empire in her opinion. They passed out of his office and into the narrow corridor again. Striding past the other rooms on the first floor, he said dismissively, “These are all just storerooms,” and led her to the staircase at the end.