Page 51
Beatrice took a tentative step. “What is it?”
He waved his hand. “Your list. Take it.”
She slowly reached out her hand and took the paper between her fingers. “You are returning my list because…”
“Oh, don’t worry. I am not going back on our deal.” Beatrice let out an audible sigh, her body relaxing. “I just thought you might want to have it back since I don’t need to pick and choose the items anymore. We are going to cross all of them off.”
“Oh.” Beatrice took the spectacles off and rubbed her eyes; she was getting tired from the emotional highs and lows she’d experienced in the span of a few minutes. Replacing the spectacles, she glanced at the clock. Fifteen past three. She looked at Adam’s expectant face. “I am very pleased, thank you.” She didn’t sound pleased even to her own ears, but she could not get her voice to cooperate.
“I was going to tell you last night after the theater, but… Things got in the way.”
Right. The kisses. Her heart bled a little at the memory.
“However, I promise you, we shall complete your list by the end of the fortnight.”
She rubbed her forehead, a headache coming on. “And by we, do you mean you and me? Or you and your siblings?”
He frowned. “Pardon me?”
“I just mean to ask if you shall delegate any other items on the list to your siblings, like you did with the ices.” Her tone was bitter again. She tried for a smile to soften the impact of her words.
He let out a strangled sound. “I hope you do not object to my sister—”
“No, no, no. I enjoy her company immensely! I love Millie. And I even got used to the frightening dog. However, I just thought that this wager was between us. I didn’t expect to be delegated. If the forfeit of the wager was finishing all items on the list, I thought you’d be there alongside me. And now as I say this, I realize it was never a part of our wager.” She frowned and pursed her lips.
He chucked her chin with his knuckles. “I shall accompany you from now on. I had to enlist the assistance of my sister today because I don’t think we should be seen together in the daytime—at all, really—but you understand my concern, yes? So, sometimes the help of my siblings is invaluable.”
Beatrice still felt skeptical. “And you shall help me accomplish all things on my list, including the auction?”
He nodded. “Including the auction. I already got information about the date and time from a friend. You will need a more… appropriate gown for that though.”
“Appropriate?”
Adam bit his lip. “I believe a friend of mine who helped me pinpoint the location of the auction said ‘revealing.’ Something that can turn the heads of the kings and queens of the underworld.”
Beatrice blinked, feeling deflated. “I do not own anything of that sort.”
Adam let out a chuckle. “Do not worry. I shall take care of everything. Now…” He nodded toward the torn piece of paper in her hands. “Go on. Don’t you want to cross off the items we’ve successfully completed?”
Beatrice nodded with a grateful smile. She needed something actionable, something she could do while she collected her scattered thoughts. “Thank you, I’ve been dying to do just that.” She crossed the room to her writing table, dipped her quill in the inkwell, and struck out a few items.
To have a drink in a pub.
To witness a brawl.
Visit Gunter’s and try several flavors of ices in one day.
Watch a theater performance from the comfort of the theater box.
She paused at the next item and swallowed hard.
Her quill hovered over the sentence, but she couldn’t seem to make herself cross it off. Adam silently walked behind her and looked over her shoulder.
“To experience a proper kiss for the first time,” he read out loud. “You can cross that off. I made sure of that, did I not?”
Beatrice let out a breath and smiled at him before finally striking that item off the list.
Somehow it was easier to do with him standing beside her, reassuring her that her first real kiss was a kiss filled with gentleness—with him. She dropped the quill and self-consciously tugged at her sleeves, though her bruises weren’t visible.
