Indulgence 2: One Glimpse Read Online Free PDF Page B

day.”
    “Bah!” Michael waved his hand in mock disgust. This was an old back and forth for them. “You really are smitten, aren’t you? Damn it all, but a man like you keeping to one woman? Not natural, I tell you. Anyway, if you do decide on the mill, let me know before luncheon the day of.”
    John was tempted to correct his friend and remind him that he still had his occasional encounters with whores and various loose women. It rankled John that he went through so much trouble and expense to set up those occasions, and make certain people noticed them, if they were just going to be ignored. Maybe he would stop bothering.
    “I will,” John assured him.
    “So I take it your plans for the night have you south of Mayfair,” Michael said, referring to the area in which John kept a house for Lily.
    “Yes, they do.” John grinned. “I am on my way there as we speak.”
    Michael rolled his eyes with amusement, which was precisely the reaction John hoped for. He had to be ever vigilant, after all, had to always make certain that those around him saw what he wanted them to see.
    John was not lying when he said he was on his way to see Lily, and after letting Michael off near White’s with another suggestive grin, he ordered his coachman to head south. He knew Lily would be at home, as she rarely went out except to visit her dressmaker or the lending library. Unlike other mistresses in London, Lily did not cut a dash among the demireps. She did not flit around Hyde Park in bright dresses, nor drive her own curricle and laugh when proper ladies refused to look at her. She would have been mortified by such behavior
    Poor creature.
    His coach deposited him before a modest, yet respectable-looking white townhouse with black, wrought-iron fencing, and brass fixtures on the door. He knocked once and was admitted by the housekeeper, a portly woman in her fifties who cast a suspicious eye on anything male, except John.
    “Your Lordship.” The old woman beamed. “Miss Lily be expectin’ you, ‘acourse. Just in the parlor, she is.”
    “Thank you, ma’am,” he said almost with deference. He enjoyed the way it made the old girl’s cheeks flush with pleasure. “Is Sophie with her?”
    “Yes, m’lord. I can call ’er nurse to come fetch ’er, if ye like.”
    “No need. I’ve come to see them both.” He handed over his hat and cane and opened the door to the parlor himself. Despite his many offers for more servants, Lily continued to insist they were unneeded. A part of him was glad for her refusal. The fewer people admitted to their closed association, the better.
    As soon as he shut the door behind him, a little porcelain doll with blonde curls and blue eyes came bouncing toward him.
    “Papa! You came to visit me,” she gushed as she wrapped her little four-year-old arms around his leg.
    John laughed and picked her up like a bag of feathers. She was wearing the new blue taffeta dress he had ordered for her but a few days ago, and he was pleased to see it.
    “Now, don’t topple the poor man over, Sophie,” came a soft alto voice. “He came to see you, not to be squashed.”
    Sophie giggled. “Papa is too big to be squashed, Mama. Why, it would take a…a element. Like we saw at the zoo.”
    “Oh, you mean an elephant? Like this?” He put his hand under his nose and moved it up and down like an elephant’s trunk.
    “Yes!” Sophie cried. “Just like that. I liked seeing the elephant, but I think he looked sad.”
    John placed her back on her feet and held her little hand as they moved to the sofa. Lily occupied the chair opposite, a heap of embroidery folded in her lap. The image struck him as it always did. She looked so proper, so matronly, so perfectly respectable. She deserved more than this.
    “Hello, my dear,” he said, genuinely pleased to see her. “Did you visit the flower market this morning?”
    Having little else to do, Lily sometimes conducted errands that most ladies delegated to their