“Lady Vegas and Lady Dorrington have not yet risen, miss,” the butler, Flynn, told Ellen when she reached the house.
“That’s fine. I’m here to see Joseph anyhow,” she said, walking deeper into the house without waiting to see if Flynn would allow it. “Is he awake?”
“He is,” Flynn said hesitantly. “He is currently in the brothers’ parlor. But he is not—”
“That’s alright, Flynn,” Ellen said over her shoulder as she marched down the hall. She hadn’t been to the private parlor that Joseph and his brothers had claimed as their own, but from conversations she and Joseph had had about Rathborne House, she had a fair idea where it was. “No need to introduce me. I’ll find Joseph on my own.”
“I’m not certain—” Flynn started, then gave up with a sigh as a bell was heard somewhere upstairs.
Ellen forgot the butler in an instant as she strode down the hall, still lifted high by her joy at being invited to the ball.
That joy burst into laughter moments later, as she rounded the corner into a decidedly masculine parlor. The room was full of bookshelves and contained a desk on one side, a fireplace on the other, and two long, leather sofas facing each other in the middle. It also contained Joseph, spread across one of those sofas, dressed in nothing but pajamas and a dressing gown. He was reading what appeared to be a letter written on several sheets of loose paper, and he wore a smile as bright as her own as he perused its contents.
When he heard her laughter, he jolted, dropping one of the pages of the letter, and scrambled to sit up straight.
“I suppose this was what Flynn was trying to tell me,” Ellen said, walking all the way into the room.
“Ellen! What are you doing here?” Joseph asked, sliding around the sofa in a slightly clumsy effort to stand.
His robe was only tied loosely, and as he stood, he pulled the top of his pajamas askew just enough for Ellen to get a peek at the firm lines of his stomach and side. She drew in a quick breath at the teasing sight, heating all over.
“It’s early,” Joseph said, setting his letter aside and fumbling to tie his robe tighter. “Is something wrong? Has something happened?”
That question brought back the joy Ellen had felt earlier, layering it over the stir of emotions that the sight of him in pajamas had raised up in her.
“Nothing is wrong,” she said, taking a step toward him and starting on the buttons of her coat. “And yes, something has happened. Something wonderful and glorious.”
He looked to be on tenterhooks as he waited for her to tell him. She peeled out of her coat and unpinned her hat, tossing both of them onto a nearby chair, then spread her arms wide.
“I received an invitation to the Duchess of Westminster’s ball this morning,” she announced, unable to keep the joy out of her voice.
Joseph’s eyes went wide with surprise and delight. “Oh, Ellen, that’s wonderful,” he said.
He then did the most glorious thing in the world. He closed the space between them, then swept her into his arms, hugged her, then twirled her around in a circle. It felt so perfect that Ellen squealed, whether it was something a dignified English rose would do or not.
She hoped very much that he would kiss her, but was disappointed when he put her down and held her at arm’s length. But not as disappointed as she could have been.
“I have good news as well,” he said, his face shining with victory, and for more than just an invitation to a ball.
“What is it?” Ellen settled in his arms, resting her hands against his chest and feeling his pounding heart beneath the thin layers of fabric separating them.
“Did I mention that Mr. Long had offered to help investigate Montrose for me?” he began.
Ellen blinked up at him, filling with more excitement. “No. You mentioned you’d met him, but not that he was connected to Montrose.”
“Well, he isn’t. Not precisely,” Joseph said. “But he wants to help me for various reasons. And I’ve just received a letter from him this morning, detailing every single one of the men Montrose owes money to.”
Ellen gasped, her eyes going wide. “Mr. Long was able to discover all that?”
“Yes!” Joseph shouted in triumph. “And as it turns out, he owes rather large sums to only a few people. Any one of them could call in their debts to him at a moment’s notice, and it would ruin Montrose.”
It was more than Ellen imagined Joseph and his brothers could have hoped for. “Then you must contact these men at once and have them do just that, call in Montrose’s debts. We could all be rid of him by the end of the week.”
Joseph’s expression sobered a little. “It isn’t as simple as all that. These men are not part of the usual channels. They are a bit rough and tumble. They have no motivation to ruin Montrose as long as Montrose continues to make payments on these debts. But it does mean that if the land deal Montrose is pursuing with the building project Westminster is involved in fails somehow, he will most certainly be ruined.”
“So all that needs to happen now is to thwart Montrose’s plans against Westminster, and the villain is defeated,” Ellen said, overjoyed for Joseph and his entire family.
“It appears that way,” Joseph said. “At long last, we have Montrose over a barrel. He cannot recover from this defeat. We are so close to winning.”