As the servant dashed off, Aiden Trewlove said, “You can pick them up in the foyer on your way out.”

She’d left her cloak there on the way in, at a counter in front of a room teeming with wraps. The girl guarding things hadn’t asked for her name but had merely given her a number. She wondered if they had a special place where they kept ladies’ things that came to them in his name, wondered what items ladies might leave with him.

Suddenly she wasn’t wondering anything at all as he stroked the side of his thumb along one instep before encasing her foot in both his hands, squeezing and kneading. So much better than clover against her soles. She rather wished she wasn’t wearing stockings. Then immediately felt guilty for enjoying his ministrations so much.

“Where were you educated?” she asked, seeking to distract herself from the wicked way his fingers moved over her.

“The streets.”

She shook her head. “You’ve had some schooling. I hear it in your speech.”

“That’s Gillie’s doing. She’s of the belief that speaking properly is the first step to moving up in the world. When we were younger, she worked for a woman who taught her how to rid herself of the Cockney. Gillie shared what she learned with all of us.”

“If not for your reputation, one wouldn’t know you came from the streets.” She’d sought to compliment him, but he merely shrugged as though it was of no consequence to him what people thought. She wished she could say the same of herself. But her position in Society required that she care and never cause any embarrassment to her family.

“How is it that you chose to own a gambling hell?” She was truly curious about this man, who worked to make her feet feel lovely while never seeking to take his heavy-lidded gaze from her face.

“This evening is about you, darling, not me.”

Those words melted her nearly as much as the press of his thumbs along the center of her sole. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d been anyone’s main focus, that her wants, needs, pleasure had taken precedence over another’s. “If that is truly the case, it would please me to know your tale so surely you should share it.”

He grinned such a masculine, sensual grin that she feared she’d find herself swimming in unchartered waters with this man. “That reasoning is a bit convoluted.” With another shrug, he dipped his head to the side, held her gaze. “Ever played the shell game?”

“I don’t believe so.”