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And then the door opened.
“George?” Billie’s face peered out. She was still in her day clothes but her hair was down, draped over her shoulder in a long, thick braid. “I thought I heard someone,” she explained.
He managed a close-lipped smile as he bowed. “As you see.”
“I was having supper,” she said, motioning back into the room. “Your mother was tired.” She gave a sheepish smile. “I was tired. I’m not very good at shopping. I had no idea it would involve quite so much standing still.”
“Standing still is always more tiring than walking.”
“Yes!” she said, quite animatedly. “I’ve always said that.”
George started to speak, but then a memory sparked through his mind. It was when he’d been carrying her, after that debacle with the cat on the roof. He’d been trying to describe that odd feeling of when one’s leg goes weak and bends for no reason.
Billie had understood perfectly.
The irony was that his leg hadn’t gone weak. He’d been making it up to cover for something. He didn’t even remember what.
But he remembered the moment. He remembered that she’d understood.
Mostly he’d remembered how she’d looked at him, with a little smile that said that she was happy to be understood.
He looked up. She was watching him with an expression of faint expectation. It was his turn to speak, he remembered. And since he couldn’t very well say what he was thinking, he went for the obvious.
“You’re still dressed,” he said.
She glanced down briefly at her frock. It was the one she’d been wearing when he kissed her. Flowers. It suited her. She should always be in flowers.
“I thought I might go back down after I finish eating,” she said. “Perhaps find something to read in the library.”
He nodded.
“My mother always says that once you’re in your dressing gown, you’re in your room for the night.”
He smiled. “Does she?”
“She says a great many things, actually. I’m sure I’ve forgotten whatever it is that I didn’t ignore.”
George stood like a statue, knowing he should bid her goodnight, but somehow unable to form the words. The moment was too intimate, too perfectly candlelit and lovely.
“Have you eaten?” she asked.
“Yes. Well, no.” He thought of the kippers. “Not exactly.”
Her brows rose. “That sounds intriguing.”
“Hardly. I’m having a tray sent to my room, actually. I’ve always hated dining alone downstairs.”
“I’m the same,” she agreed. She stood for a moment, then said. “It’s ham pie. Very good.”
“Excellent.” He cleared his throat. “Well, I… ought to go. Good night, Billie.”
He turned. He didn’t want to turn.
“George, wait!”
He hated that he was holding his breath.
“George, this is madness.”
He turned back. She was still standing in the entrance to her room, one hand resting lightly on the edge of the door. Her face was so expressive. Had it always been so?
Yes, he thought. She’d never been one to hide her feelings beneath a mask of indifference. It was one of the things he’d found so annoying about her when they were growing up. She simply refused to be ignored.
But that was then. And this was…
Something else entirely.
“Madness?” he echoed. He wasn’t sure what she meant. He didn’t want to make assumptions.
Her lips trembled into a tentative smile. “Surely we can be friends.”
Friends?
“I mean, I know…”
“That I kissed you?” he supplied.
She gasped, then practically hissed, “I wasn’t going to say it quite so bluntly. For heaven’s sake, George, your mother is still awake.” And while she was frantically peering down the hall, George threw over a lifetime of gentlemanly behavior and stepped into her bedroom.
“George!”
“Apparently one can whisper and scream at the same time,” he mused.
“You can’t be in here,” she said.
He grinned as she closed the door. “I didn’t think you wished to conduct this sort of conversation in the hall.”
The look she gave him was sarcasm in its purest form. “I believe there are two drawing rooms and a library downstairs.”
“And look what happened last time we were in a drawing room together.”
Her face flushed instantly. But Billie was a trouper, and after a moment of what appeared to be gnashing her teeth and telling herself to calm down, she asked, “Have you learned anything of Edward?”
Like that, his jaunty mood deflated. “Nothing of substance.”
“But something?” she asked hopefully.
He didn’t want to talk about Edward. For so many reasons. But Billie deserved a reply, so he said, “Just the suppositions of a retired general.”
“I’m sorry. That must be terribly frustrating. I wish there was something I could do to help.” She leaned on the edge of her bed and looked over at him with an earnest frown. “It’s so hard to do nothing. I hate it.”
He closed his eyes. Breathed out through his nose. Once again, they were in perfect agreement.
“Sometimes I think I should have been born a boy.”
“No.” His response was immediate and emphatic.
She let out a little laugh. “That’s very kind of you. I suppose you have to say that after, well, you know…”