True to his word, Cade was not only ready to go shopping at one o’clock the next day, he was standing in the foyer dressed in buckskin breeches, a gray waistcoat and a green overcoat with a white shirt and cravat, and black top boots. The man not only looked perfect for shopping, but far too good overall. Mary stammered and blushed the entire time he escorted them to the carriage and handed each of them in as if they were fine ladies.
“It was kind of Lady Daphne to give us this time and allow us to use the coach,” Danielle murmured as she accepted Cade’s hand, stepped up into the coach, and sat on the velvety emerald seat next to Mary.
“Lady Daphne’s far too good to us,” Mary agreed.
“Nonsense.” Cade hoisted himself into the conveyance and took a seat across from them. “She agreed solely to get me out of the house.”
“Is that how you managed to convince her?” Danielle shook her head and smiled at his outrageousness.
“She’s warned me away from you,” Cade replied. “But I convinced her I am merely being chivalrous. Couldn’t I stand to be more chivalrous? Besides, I suspect she doesn’t think I could do anything too untoward with Miss Hartfield accompanying us.”
The coach took off at a brisk pace toward Bond Street, the three of them laughing inside. It soon became apparent that Mary would not be happy with only one perfumery. She wanted to visit every shop to ensure she sniffed all of her possible choices.
“I’ll just pop into this one by meself,” she said when they pulled to a stop in front of the fourth shop. “I can tell you’re vexed with me.”
“Not at all,” Danielle replied. “I want to ensure you find the perfect scent.”
“Be that as it may,” Cade interjected. “I’m certain Miss Hartfield can spare us for the span of one small outing.”
Danielle flared her eyes at him but said nothing. Truthfully, she was weary of smelling perfumes and her feet were aching. She wasn’t used to tripping around for so long in dainty slippers. Boots were much more comfortable. Even more enticing, however, was the thought of speaking to Cade alone.
The groom let down the steps and helped Mary alight. After ensuring that the groom would escort Mary into the shop, Cade promptly and unabashedly pulled the coach door shut.
“Miss Hartfield is no longer with us,” Danielle said. “Does that mean you’ll stop being chivalrous?”
“If you’re lucky,” Cade replied with a grin. “Do you think she’ll find the perfect scent in there?”
“Absolutely not.” Danielle fiddled with the strings to her reticule. Now that they were alone, she was far too aware of his soap-like scent and his proximity.
“Neither do I.”
“It was much easier for me. My grandmere chose my perfume for me when I was a girl.”
He lounged back in his seat. “What were you like as a girl?”
Now that was an unexpected question. She continued to trace the reticule strings with her fingers as she contemplated it. “I suppose I was inquisitive, impatient.”
“And?” he prompted.
“Always studying languages, devoted to my parents, desperate for a sibling. A little too apt to try something first before thinking about it.”
He laughed at that.
“What were you like … as a boy?” she asked tentatively, finding that she was truly interested in the answer and it had nothing to do with her mission.
He pressed his head against the back of the seat and rocked his shoulders. “Let’s see. Rowdy, angry, full of too much energy, always scrabbling with my twin.”
“And?”
“Hated my father and frustrated with my mother.”
The second half of that was entirely unexpected. “Hated your father?”
Cade’s jaw was tight. “Yes.”
She would leave that alone for the time being. Apparently, she’d been wrong. Not everyone loved their parents. “Why were you frustrated with your mother?”
Cade sighed and looked out the window as if conjuring memories of the past. “My mother was … weak. I used to beg her to leave my father. To stand up to him.”
“Stand up to him?” Danielle’s heart pounded.
“He drank excessively. He was violent when he was sober and even more violent when he was drunk.”
Danielle swallowed and shook her head. She’d been around violence. Living on ships she’d seen her share of men and boys fighting one another, but they’d been equally matched for the most part. She couldn’t imagine a grown man being violent with a small child or a woman. How terrified Cade and Rafe must have been. Small, vulnerable, and afraid. She thought about her own father. He’d been nothing but patient, loving, and kind. She couldn’t imagine a child being fearful of his own parents.
“What did Rafe do?”
“He tried to fight my father, defend our mother. She was a saint as far as Rafe was concerned. He stayed there far too long in order to protect her.”
“And you?”
A humorless grin spread across Cade’s face. “I left the moment I could. I’ve always left the heroics to my brother.”
The reticule was forgotten in her lap. “Where did you go? Who did you rely on?”
“I went everywhere. I relied on myself. And a few trusted friends.”
“Friends?” There was that word again.
“I suppose you could say I have a great many good friends.”
“How did you get so many friends?”
Cade tipped up the brim of his hat. “I doubt you’d believe me if I told you.”
“Tell me and I promise I’ll endeavor to believe you.”
He eyed her carefully. “I met my very best ones in gaol.”
“Gaol!” She sat up straight.
“Does that surprise you?” He crossed his arms over his chest.
“No. I … It’s just that…”
“You want to ask what I did to land myself in gaol. Go ahead.” He nodded toward her.
“What did you do?” she asked tentatively. No wonder Grimaldi wanted her to keep an eye on him.
“I stole. Some bread. Because I was starving. I stole some for myself and another starving boy. I don’t regret a moment of it. I only regret being caught.”
“They put you in gaol for that?”
“I’m lucky my hand wasn’t cut off.”
“How long were you in gaol?”
“Two years.”
“Two years? That seems like quite a sentence for merely stealing bread.”
“The sentence was ten years. I escaped in two.”
“Escaped!” The word came out much more emphatically than she’d meant it to. She covered her mouth with her gloved hand and then slowly lowered it. “Escaped?” she whispered.
“That’s right.”
“What did you do after that?”
His roguish grin was back. “I learned to acquire things with much more stealth.”
He wasn’t joking, she could tell. The man was entirely serious. It wasn’t that she was scandalized by his behavior. She herself had come close to being put in gaol a time or two. She was simply shocked that he was so casually telling her about it. Here in his brother’s fine carriage, in the middle of Bond Street. As if he weren’t in the least concerned. He’d meant it when he said he didn’t care what anyone thought of him.
“How did you escape?”
“That is a long story, but suffice it to say I did it with the help of my friends.” He took a deep breath. Silence rested between them, giving her time to absorb everything. After several moments ticked by, he finally asked, “What about you? Do you have many friends?”
A fortnight ago, Danielle would have answered no to this question, but today she had a different answer. A newly discovered, if bittersweet one. “Mary is my friend.”
“But you’ve only just met her.”
“That doesn’t matter, does it?” Now that he was asking her about herself, she went back to fiddling with the reticule strings. But she wasn’t about to allow him to hide from additional questions. If he was in a talking mood, she should take full advantage. But it made her feel guilty. He’d opened up to her last night. He was opening up to her more today. Betraying his confidence to Grimaldi felt … wrong. “Does Rafe know you were in gaol?”
Cade rubbed a palm across his chin. “Come to think of it, I don’t know.”
“How could that be?”
“Rafe and I have never been close.”
“You mentioned that before. Why not?”
“We’re complete opposites. We have nothing in common. Other than our age, our parents, and our devastatingly good looks.”
She couldn’t help her crack of laughter. “Is he modest then?”
“Of course.”
“How else are you different?”
“Rafe always wanted to please everyone, follow all the rules, be a bloody hero.”
“And you?”
“Never met a rule I didn’t break and I’m the furthest thing from a hero you’ll ever meet.”
“Are you a villain then?” she ventured.
His eyes narrowed as he contemplated that question. “I wouldn’t say that precisely, but I’d warn you to stay away from me.”
“That dangerous?” Her words were flirtatious, but a chill went up her spine. He was serious.
“And more so.”
“What about wanting to please people?” she ventured.
“Entirely depends upon the person and what it takes to please them.”
She met his gaze. There was no stopping now. “Me?”
“Oh, sweetheart, you don’t know how much I could please you.” He pulled her hand into his lap, slowly unbuttoned her glove and removed it, and even more slowly, pulled her hand up to his mouth and brushed his lips against her knuckles.
Another shudder raced down her spine, for an entirely different reason. Pleasure? In bed? With a man? Somehow she couldn’t imagine it. “That doesn’t seem possible.” She didn’t realize she’d said the words aloud until Cade put a hand over his heart.
“You wound me.”
“It’s just that … I doubt it’s possible to have a pleasant experience in bed with a man.”
His grin turned wolfish. “Care to go home with me right now so I can prove you wrong?”
A flicker of something indecent unfurled in her lower abdomen. “You shouldn’t say such things,” she warned him with a half-smile, excitement coursing through her veins.
“Didn’t you hear it when I said I never met a rule I didn’t break?”
She ignored him while she pulled on her glove again.
“What about you, mademoiselle? How do you feel about rules?”
She pressed her lips together. “I’ve broken my fair share of them, too.”
His eyebrows jumped. “Have you?”
“Surprised? I’ve never been one to pass up a dare.”
He stroked his chin. “Is that so?”
“Yes, but even for someone like you, you don’t think seducing your brother’s maid is too … too bad of you?”
He shrugged. “Only if it’s working.”
“And if it is?”
“Then it’s entirely worth it.”
“What would Lord Cavendish do to you if he found you with me?”
Cade sighed. “Attempt to thrash me.”
“That doesn’t give you pause?”
Another roguish grin. “As you can see, it wouldn’t be the first swing someone’s taken at me recently.” He pressed two fingertips to his bruised eye and winced.
Danielle winced, too. “Yes. How did the poultice work for it?”
“It’s healing, but I daresay it would feel even better if you would … kiss it.”
“Kiss it?”
“Have I shocked you?”
“No.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
“Then I dare you.”