The Paid Companion | Herophine

Chapter Twenty

When I met you in the offices of Coodhew and Willis, she thought wistfully. She had been seeking a quiet post as a paid companion to someone like Mrs. Egan. Instead, she had encountered Hero, and now, no matter what transpired between them, she knew her life would never be quite the same again.

But she could not tell him that, so she merely smiled, hoping that she appeared mysterious.

When they reached the front steps of the Fambridge mansion, Hero called for his carriage. A few minutes later Josephine spotted it as it swung out of the long line of vehicles waiting in the street. When it arrived at the bottom of the steps, Hero handed her up into it.

He vaulted in lightly behind her, the black folds of the domino whipping out behind him like the dark wings of a bird of prey that hunted by night.

He closed the door and settled on the seat across from her. This was the first time she had ever been alone with him in the vehicle, she realized.

“Enough of this masquerade nonsense.” Hero untied his mask and tossed it aside. “I fail to see the attraction of concealing one’s identity unless one is intent on committing a crime.”

“I have no doubt but that several crimes were committed in the Fambridge ballroom this evening.”

“Ah, yes. Indeed.” He lounged into the corner of the seat, mouth twisted slightly in amusement. “Most of them involved illicit liaisons of one sort of another, I suspect.”

“Mmm.”

He contemplated her with his dangerous eyes. “I trust you were not subjected to any indignities? It was Anne’s job to ensure that you were kept safe from the wrong sort of attention, but it has become obvious that she is not concentrating on her role. If any man-made improper advances—”

“No, my lord,” she said hastily. “There was no trouble of that sort. But I did meet an old acquaintance of yours.”

“Who?”

“Sydney. Mrs. Burnley now.”

He grimaced. “She was present this evening?”

“Yes.”

“She sought you out?”

“Yes.”

He did not look pleased. “I trust the encounter was not unpleasant. She did not stage a scene, did she?”

“There was no scene, but the encounter, as you put it, was, shall we say, interesting.”

He drummed his fingers on the edge of the door. “Why do | have the impression that | am not going to like whatever it is that you are about to tell me?”

“It is really not so very dreadful,” she assured him. “Nevertheless, I suspect your initial reaction may be somewhat, ah, negative.”

“I suspect you are fucking right.” He smiled in feral anticipation. “But you are going to try to make me change my mind, are you not?”

“In my opinion, it would be in everyone’s best interests if you could manage to achieve a positive reaction.”

“Out with it,” he growled.

“I think it would be better if I explained the situation first.”

“Now I am absolutely certain that I will have a negative response.”

She pretended not to hear that. “Were you aware, sir, that both Sydney’s and Roland’s families have cut the couple’s purse strings?”

He raised his brows. “I have heard rumours to that effect, yes. I am certain that it is merely a temporary situation. Sooner or later old Burnley or Graham will come around.”