Love and Other Wicked Games (A Wicked Game Novel) (9 page)

“Why?” Ellie asked again.

“Because that’s what you’re supposed to do.”

“Says who?”

“I don’t know. The world.”

“Not my world,” Ellie laughed. “No one in my world ever told me I should or should not do anything. And I was certainly never told that I had to get married. I mean, that was half the reason my father gave up the title to begin with. I’d only just been born and my life was already being planned out for me. Without my say, or my consent. In his mind, that way of life was no better than the forced servitude he grew up with. And he didn’t want that for me. Neither did my mother. They wanted me to have a say in the way I lived.”

“And so you do.” Cal’s eyes drifted to a far off place that Ellie could not quite understand. “It is a rare and precious thing to have full control of your life. So very few people have that opportunity…”

“Are you alright?” Ellie asked though she was almost certain this was another one of those things he wouldn’t tell her.

His eyes snapped in her direction and he inhaled deeply. “Perfectly fine. I was just thinking.”

“About what?”

“Don’t you want to be married?” he asked.

Ellie could tell this was not what he had been thinking about, but before she could delve any further, Cal began to laugh.

“How did I end up on this side of the discussion? Never thought I’d see the day…”

“It is a bit of a twist on the conventional, isn’t it?” She smiled and shook her head, letting her other questions drift away for the time being. “And, yes, I do want to get married. Eventually. I’ve always just been too busy and had too many other important things in my life to give it much thought, but I suppose I want to do it one day. Yes.”

“That’s it, is it? You’ve just been too busy doing other things?” Cal seemed to find this rather amusing, but not in the sense that he found it wrong or bad. Instead, something about the sound of his voice told her he approved. It made her feel wonderful and warm.

And flustered.

“Mostly. But that’s not all.” She clasped her fingers together again tightly and took a deep breath. “You see, my Aunt Mary—the one I’m named after, which is why I go by Ellie so as not to confuse things—she always says—well, her husband told her and now she says it... anyway—that if you’re going to spend your life with someone it might as well be someone you like...” She frowned. “Well, she’s not really my aunt. She’s my mother’s first cousin which I suppose would make her my first cousin once removed... And I don’t even call her Aunt Mary. I call her Mary… but that’s not the point either, anyway...” Ellie rubbed her eyes, and shrugged. “I haven’t found anyone I like yet.”

“This whole wide world and you haven’t found anyone you like yet?” Cal’s eyes widened and he tilted his head to the side. “That sounds rather miserable.”

“Oh, it’s not like that. I mean I suppose that I’ve liked some people. Maybe even liked some people more than others but…”

“So, what was wrong with them? You didn’t like them enough?”

“Precisely. I mean there’s a difference.” Ellie gestured her left hand in front of her chest from left to right as she made her next two points. “There’s a difference between liking a person… and
liking
a person, you know?”

“Oh, I know that very well. But that’s not what I’m getting at. I’m having a rather hard time imagining that in your whole entire life you’ve never liked anyone that much.”

Cal turned and put his feet on the floor looking at her straight on for a moment before finally getting up off the bed and approaching her. He was within arm’s reach of her when he finally stopped. He was too close for Ellie’s comfort. Their kiss flashed through her mind and she knew her cheeks would be red in an instant.

He leaned towards her. “Never?”

Ellie shook her head silently and turned away.

She felt his breath brush across the back of her neck and tickle her ear. “Not even one person?”

“Not even one.” Ellie quickly pivoted back in his direction where she found that he’d leaned down and they were now nearly face to face. “Are you trying to make me say that I like you? You’re trying to make me say that I like you, aren’t you?”

“I would never do that.”

“No?”

“No.”

“And why is that?”

“It’s a waste of energy.”

“How so?”

“It’s pointless to force someone to do something they’re bound to do in their own time anyway.”

He smiled roguishly as if to imply he’d gotten in the last word. But Ellie didn’t even skip a beat.

“Well that’s a bit hypocritical.”

“What is?”

“Being so full of yourself.”

“What?”

“I mean for someone who says he doesn’t like to waste energy you seem to spend a lot of time blowing hot air.”

He whistled and ran both of his hands over his head from his forehead to the base of his neck.

“Oh, darn...” Ellie sighed heavily and twisted her hands together again as she bit her bottom lip. As satisfied as she was that she hadn’t given into her nerves, she also felt guilty. “Well, that was rather uncalled for. I don’t generally make it a habit of being so smart mouthed, not even to insufferable rogues like you—not that I generally spend much time conversing with insufferable rogues either—oh my… I should just stop talking and apologize—”

“Don’t you dare.”

“Don’t… apologize? Why not?”

“Fires don’t need help dying, they need help living. Never kill your own fire.”

They stared wordlessly. Ellie could hear the buzz of silence in her ears and the wild beating of her heart. It was pounding. Faster and faster. Cal reached out his hand towards her cheek. She tilted her head in his direction desperately wanting to feel his skin on hers. From the way he was looking at her, she could tell that he wanted this just as much. She gasped.

He pulled away and so did she.

“So you don’t mind it then?” Ellie cleared her throat. “That I’m… like this?”

“God, no.”

“You don’t find me tedious or tiresome? Most people do…”

“I find you endearing.
And real!
” He clenched his fists together and shook them. “Do you know how many people are just…
real?
”

“I couldn’t even begin to guess.”

“Well, I’ll tell… not bloody many!”

“I guess you’ve just never met anyone like me before, have you?” she said breathily.

He shook his head.

“Not even one person?”

“Not even one.” He chewed on his bottom lip and crossed his arms. “And not for lack of trying.”

“Well,” Ellie chuckled nervously and shrugged. “You’ve found one person now.”

“I have… have you?”

The blood rushed into Ellie’s head. Cal grinned and leaned against the wall with crossed arms.

Damn it. He’d gotten in the last word after all. Ellie wanted to frown, but she wanted him to see it even less. Instead she crossed her arms and leaned against the wall as well, glaring at him.

“So, what do you do then?” he asked.

“What do you mean?”

“You said you’re so busy that you don’t even have time to think about getting married, let alone actually do it. I was wondering what keeps you so busy.”

“Oh, that. Well, I have a job.”

“Where? What do you do?” Cal asked with a bit of apprehension.

“My parents own a dress shop. What’s it to you?”

“I was just curious.” His face relaxed a bit. “A dress shop. How did a former earl get into that business?”

“My mother. She worked in a dress shop in the village where I grew up. She worked there as long as I can remember. It was owned by this little old lady—Miss Martha. She was so old! She always had been. At least that’s what she told me.” Ellie laughed at the memory. “But she was so sweet and so wonderful. She was family to us and we were family to her.” Ellie sighed. “She passed when I was fifteen and since she had no other living family, she left everything to my mother and father.”

“But how did you end up in Manchester?”

“Well, Miss Martha was keeping a secret.”

“No! How scandalous. Not such a sweet old lady!” Cal laughed. “What was this secret?”

“Money. She was rolling in money. Quite literally too… It was stuffed in her mattress!”

“You think you know someone…” Cal shook his head. “I gather that helped you to get over your guilt about the title and such, if nothing else?”

“Well, it wasn’t an earl’s fortune, obviously. But it was enough for my parents to buy a larger shop and they heard that industry was flourishing in Manchester. So they sold the shop in the village, and bought one here on London Road.” Ellie twisted her mouth. “And industry
was
flourishing. No doubt about it. But I don’t think they ever would have bought a shop here or moved here if either of them had realized just how skewed this ‘flourishing’ was…”

“Did you say London Road?” Cal lifted both his eyebrows. “That’s a ways from where we first met. What were you doing so close to—”

“You ask quite a bit of questions for someone who doesn’t want to give any answers of his own.”

“Who said you had to answer all the questions?”

“Well I—” Ellie finally let her bottom lip push out into a pout. “There you go again. Why do you get to ask all the questions?”

“Just trying to pass the time.” Cal sighed heavily, tipped his head back against the wall and then looked back to her through slit eyes. “If you have another idea about how we could pass the time I’d be happy to hear it.”

Ellie could think of at least one thing. One wonderful, marvelous thing. But she didn’t dare suggest it… even though she wanted to. She cleared her throat and hugged herself tighter trying to force the memory of the kiss out of her mind. “How about I ask
you
a question?”

“Go right ahead.”

Ellie tapped her forefinger against her temple in an exaggerated motion. “
Oh, I know:
what are we doing here?”

Cal shrugged. “Standing.”

“No, that’s not what—” Ellie exhaled loudly. “I mean,
why
are we here? What’s the reason?”

“Oh. Well then. That’s a different question entirely.” He pointed his thumb in the direction of the door. “Don’t you remember? The first room up here was occupied. They threw something at me, a boot I think. Not a very friendly bunch. We couldn’t very well stay in that room. So we came in here.”

Ellie shook her head rapidly. “No. That’s not what I meant either…”

“Oh.” Cal feigned confusion. “You meant more broadly? I’ve never been much of a religious man so I’m not very likely to have a satisfactory answer for that one either.”

Ellie clenched her jaw.

“Oh. That’s not it either?”

“No,” she said firmly. “That is not what I meant.”

“Maybe it’s not what you meant, but it
is
what you asked. Didn’t anyone ever teach you the importance of the proper usage of words?”

“Of course they did,” Ellie scoffed. He was doing it again. He was teasing her and getting her all riled up on purpose. She knew she shouldn’t let him get to her, but once her blood began to boil and she became flustered it wasn’t so easy to stop. “You’re just—you’re twisting it all around and taking it too literally. You know what I mean. You’re just choosing not to answer properly!”

“Just because you don’t like the answers does not mean I’m answering improperly.”

“Fine. What’s your name?”

“Cal.”

“Your
full
name.”

“Nope.” Cal shook his head.

“How do you get ‘Cal’ from that?”

“What?”

Ellie pointed at him felling incredibly satisfied. “How does it feel?”

“Like you still don’t know my name. Or why we’re here.”

“Ugh!” Ellie stomped her foot.

“Did you just stomp your foot? You really just stomped your foot, didn’t you…”

“And what of it?”

“Nothing. I’ve just never seen anyone become so angry that they actually stomped their foot.” He grinned. “That was quite fun!”

Ellie felt her mouth twitch. He was enjoying this too much, and she was beginning to enjoy it too. Again. “Am I going to get any straight answers out of you for any question I ask?”

“Perhaps. But not for these ones.” Cal paused and tilted his head. “But I did answer the question you just asked. I said ‘perhaps’. See? I’m not always difficult.”

“If you say so. You said I could ask you questions.”

“Yes. I did.”

Ellie glared at him. “Well?”

“Well, I never said I would answer them.”

“Maybe I won’t answer anymore of you questions either then. And we can stand here—and—and just—I don’t know!” She threw her hands in the air. “We can just stare at each other. How would you like that? Sounds like a lot of fun doesn’t it? A fantastic way to pass the time.”

With purposeful intent, Cal turned his head to look at her straight on.

Oh, darn.
Ellie immediately knew this was a mistake. His eyes were, after all, powerful enough to make a proper young woman throw off a life of propriety and steal a piece of fruit, run through the city streets with a handsome stranger, and then spend the morning hidden away with said stranger in a dilapidated inn. She felt her blood burn hotter, but this time she wasn’t sure who she was angrier with, herself or him. Or if she was even angry at all…

Cal rolled his mouth around and then relaxed his gaze. “How about I just ask you another question.”

Ellie nodded. Curtly.

“You said your parents’ dress shop is on London Road.”

“It is. But that’s not a question.”

Cal ignored her jest. “That’s the merchants’ area of the city. And that’s not very near where we first met… which was most definitely not the merchants area.”

“Still not a question but yes. What are you getting at?”

“I can’t seem to figure out what a woman who works in such a well-to-do area would be doing so dangerously close to the city slums.”

“That’s not a question either—”

But she cut herself off, completely losing the desire to make the jab at him. Memories of yesterday morning flooded her mind and her own feelings didn’t seem so important anymore. It didn’t matter much that he was teasing her or that he adored her heated reactions or that she found it infuriating and exhilarating all at once. She felt the irritated fire in her veins temper and die out, only to be replaced with another sort of fire. A passion. An awareness of others.