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“I don’t meet beauty expectations. I don’t have…” She looked down at the bust of her bodice, filled with air. “Well, what I mean is…” She grasped her hips then looked up at Ollie, who studied her, his brows pulled tight together. “And my hair!” She patted at the mess atop her head.

“Honestly, you’ve lost me. Come here.” He beckoned her to follow him to a standing mirror and turned, expectant.

Evelyn scoffed but complied, knowing there would be no way of getting out of this. She went over to him, making sure the irritation was clear in her frown.

Ollie moved to stand behind her and she glared at him in the reflection. “This is what I see, Evelyn,” he said. “No, don’t look at me—look at you.”

Determined to prove she was right, she complied without arguing. Ollie took a step closer to her. He was so near now that she could feel the heat radiating off of his body. He leaned down slightly so his face was beside hers.

“I see a woman with an ill-fitting dress and a mess of red hair, which is not fake. This is my real hair color, thank you very much, and it is not a gaudy color. I do know that’s why they said that, and they wouldn’t be the first to erroneously believe it.” Evelyn turned to look at him directly.

“You’re right. It’s quite a nice color, in my opinion,” Ollie replied with a glint of humor in his eye.

“Please don’t patronize me.” She glared at him again before turning back to the mirror.

Ollie chuckled. “Look, forget all of that. I’m going to tell you something I normally would keep to myself.”

Evelyn eyed his reflection cautiously. “All right.”

“Ignoring the trouble from earlier, when you walked into the dining room tonight, I was hypnotized.”

Evelyn waited, hoping he would explain further. But sometimes Ollie was not very good at explaining things, so she would have to dig out his meaning. “What does that mean, you were hypnotized?”

“I, um…” He spoke in a low, deep voice that tickled her ear and caused her heart to race.

“You walked into the room and slid across the floor, your back as straight as a rod, chin lifted ever so slightly, and you twinkled from head to toe. I couldn’t help but watch.

You thought Hambone should have been named Princess, but I think that would fit you better. ”

Evelyn raised an eyebrow. “I don’t resemble any of Queen Victoria’s daughters.”

“I don’t mean literally, Evelyn. Just that your presence was commanding. Like I said, I was hypnotized watching you look like this”—he indicated her current appearance—“while crossing the room toward us. Toward me.”

Evelyn’s gaze met Ollie’s in the mirror as he let out a low, breathy laugh that swept over her neck. Her heart raced in response. If she leaned back, she would be against him. Maybe he would even wrap his arms around her waist. Would she like that, or would it make her want to run?

Get your mind out the clouds , Evelyn scolded herself. That’s not happening.

“So, you thought I looked nice tonight?” She still wasn’t following.

“No.” Ollie was playing with her hair, and she was surprised to find she didn’t mind. In fact, dare she admit she might even like it? “I thought—think—you look absolutely beautiful.”

Evelyn’s eyebrows lifted high.

“And…” Ollie still held her gaze as he looped a strand back around her ear. “My grandparents knew the effect you had on me. And they were threatened by it.”

Her voice lowered. “Because you’re supposed to marry someone else?”

That seemed to break the spell cast between them. Ollie took a few steps back and shoved his hands into his trouser pockets. His face took on that disarming ease yet again. “Someone else? Why, were you interested?”

“Be serious, Ollie.”

“I know, I know. The mere mention of marriage sends you over the edge.” Ollie grinned again. Lord, give her patience.

“Why didn’t you tell me about that? I thought we were, you know. Friends?”

“There’s nothing to tell you. It’s not going to happen.”

“Because you don’t want to get married, either?”

“No, I do.”

Evelyn blinked. “Really?”

“I love the idea of it. Together, for the rest of our lives? Facing all of life’s ups and downs with that one special person? Yes, I want that. Just not yet.”

Evelyn wanted to ask more questions. Like, did he think his grandparents were going to drop it that easily? They’d seemed pretty serious about it. But it wasn’t any of her business, either.

“Can I ask you something?” Ollie said. And when Evelyn nodded, he continued. “Why did you hold my hand at dinner?”

Evelyn felt flushed and looked away. “I didn’t realize I had.”

Ollie laughed. “Come now, Evelyn. You and I both know that isn’t true.”

“Well, I didn’t realize it at first. I’m not sure why I did it. I was so taken aback by His and Her Grace, and I guess I did it to keep you grounded. In a way.” And maybe, for herself, too.

Ollie rubbed a palm over his jaw. “That’s what I figured happened. I didn’t think you would ever be that intimate with me.”

“Heavens, no!” Evelyn immediately regretted how effusively she’d said that because there was a brief flash in Ollie’s eyes.

She hurried over to the dress she had laid out earlier.

This whole conversation was strange and far too personal and edging on something that shouldn’t be edged.

“Ollie, tonight I would like to try to find our missing painting.”

Ollie shoulders dropped at the change of subject. “Excellent. What are you thinking we should do?”

“I want to focus on the Bethnal Green heist. That one was a major change for him, where he went from jewelry to artwork. I want to figure out why he made that change. Perhaps it will help us locate the missing painting.”

“Do you have any ideas on that? Why he made the change, I mean.”

Evelyn shook her head before returning to the mirror and began letting out her hair to fix.

“It’s impossible to say right now. Maybe he was bored with jewelry.

Maybe he was feeling more confident. Who knows?

” As locks of red hair tumbled from the crown of braids she’d unraveled, Evelyn realized Ollie was watching her complete her task with very focused interest.

Something inside of her leapt. Her nerves, perhaps. Feeling rather strange at being the focus of his attention, she released the last braid. “Ollie, are you paying attention?”

Ollie seemed to snap back to reality and blinked several times before remembering what they were talking about. “Right. What do you plan to do, break into the museum?”

“No. I don’t think that will be necessary. Remember, the theft was discovered by the museum director the following morning. I would like to talk to him and find out if there were any clues left behind the public doesn’t know about, or if there is anything else he can tell us that may be helpful.”

“But you said you don’t know anyone who works there.”

Evelyn bent at the waist to flip her hair over, where she combed and fluffed it with her fingers.

“Correct. But if you recall, Mr. Burlington does. The director’s name is Mr. Albert Martin.

I don’t know him, but I do know of him.” She flipped back up and found Ollie staring at her again with a drunk-like expression.

“Are you ill?” Evelyn asked with a frown.

Ollie blinked several times again but seemed at a loss for words.

Evelyn placed a hand on her hip. “I need to change, Ollie, and then we can leave.”

Ollie swept his gaze over her in a way that didn’t feel wholly innocent. She opened her mouth to ask him what he thought he was doing when he interrupted.

“Wait, I almost forgot.” He hurried out of the room.

He was acting so odd. Between his admission of being hypnotized by her—which surely he’d only said to help her mood—but also the way he kept staring at her!

There had to be a reasonable explanation.

But then, she recalled his grandmother had said Ollie had had many women from the pub.

Evelyn was no fool. She knew that type. Ollie would be attracted to any halfway decent woman who responded positively to his attention.

Maybe there’d been times where Ollie had said or done something that had made it seem he was attracted to her.

But it was purely lust, and nothing more.

She had seen the earl lust after her enough times to recognize it.

Ollie returned grinning widely and carrying a round hatbox. “For tonight,” he said, holding the box out to her.

Evelyn took the hatbox from him and lifted the lid with anticipation.

The hat was wrapped in tissue paper. She set the box down on the foot of the bed and peeled apart the paper, revealing the hat. It was gray felt with a blue bow; pink, silk flowers; and gray feathers.

It was stunning.

Ollie had gone far and above what she’d expected.

She would have thought he would get something from a department store, where hundreds of the same exact hat were sold to make it more affordable for the masses.

It would have been a lot easier and cheaper for him to do that.

And even though they had agreed she would pay him back once she was able to, deep down, she suspected he had only said that to placate her.

He would never accept a shilling from her.

Once again, he had charmed her by doing something that made her feel special. But she knew that wasn’t the case.

Ollie moved to her side. “You hate it.”

Still, it was a kindness that reached her heart, despite her logical mind. Emotion began to bubble up inside her, and all Evelyn could do was shake her head hard.

Ollie swore. “I’m sorry, Evelyn. I didn’t know what I was doing. I’m not really one to keep up with women’s fashion. I liked the brim and thought the colors would look nice with your hair, completely forgetting the whole point of it was to cover up your hair.”

Evelyn’s lip started to quiver, and she let out an unexpected sob before her hand flew to her mouth to cover it up.

“Look, I’ll take it back tomorrow.”

“No.” It was all she could manage to get out.

“No?”

Tears pooled in her eyes, and it made her mad.

Why was she getting emotional over a hat?

She was so happy right now, though. She thought back to all the times he’d sat with her in the museum, listening to her prattle on for hours about art history.

Anyone else stopped listening after five minutes.

And he hadn’t given a second thought, despite the risk, to giving her a place to stay while she sorted out the disaster she’d made of her life.

He was always kind to her. And to think his family treated him like the heel of a shoe!

The emotion broke through the dam and Evelyn became overwhelmed by a very confusing feeling that made her heart shine and her stomach flip. A magnet seemed to be pulling her toward Ollie.

Before she realized what she was doing, Evelyn turned to face him, and the last thing she saw was his eyes widen before she leaned in.

And kissed him.

It wasn’t a heated kiss. Her mouth stayed closed, and so did his. But his lips were as soft as she had always imagined.

The kiss lingered.

He didn’t pull away.

Instead, he placed a large, warm hand on her lower back as the other slid into her hair to cup the back of her head.

He moved with familiarity, as if they kissed all the time.

As if the way he held her was the first step of more to come.

Realizing this could become more knocked her back into reality.

She pulled her face away just a millimeter and for a moment, their rapid breaths mingled, his green eyes as bright as emeralds, as if he couldn’t believe what had just happened.

Kiss him again , a little voice in her head said.

Instead, Evelyn took several steps back to get out of his reach.

Ollie took a sharp inhale through his nose, and he lifted his palms in a defensive motion, as if she were about to come for his life. “Evelyn, I didn’t mean to do that.”

She shook her head. “Ollie, I kissed you !”

His brow furrowed, as if this were impossible news. “Are you sure?”

“Yes!”

“But I held you. I’m so sorry. I wasn’t thinking and that caught me by surprise.” Ollie began to pace as if he were filled with shame, which was not comforting at all. He stopped and rubbed his hands over his face. “You’re completely sure you kissed me? Not the other way around?”

As she was just as confused as he was, she didn’t have a retort.

“Evelyn kissed me.” Ollie pinched his chin, deep in thought. “Interesting,” he added on.

Evelyn huffed. “It won’t happen again. I was just emotional! I think.” All right, so she didn’t really have an explanation of why that had happened. It had seemed to happen on its own, as if Ollie’s handsomeness had pulled her to him. She could still feel that magnetic pull, in fact.

“You were emotional because of a hat?”

Evelyn wasn’t going to respond to that. It would sound absolutely absurd. “I love the hat, Ollie. Thank you.”

“I can get you another one tomorrow, if that wins me one more kiss.”

She narrowed her eyes at him. He laughed.