As expected, I found myself regretting agreeing to attend the Cochran's ball within the hour. But I still went to my room and dressed the part, painstakingly straightening the cuffs of my sleeves, the fold in my lapel, as I brushed lint from the fashionable new suit I'd ordered once my father's fortune had become mine. I'd always expected to rejoin society at some point. I just hadn't intended to do it so soon. But I had already agreed and I was a man of my word. Or, rather, I was trying to become one.

"Boss?" a familiar voice asked and I turned to find Samuel hovering in my doorway, watching me get ready for the evening.

"Sam," I replied in friendly greeting, beckoning him into my room. He took a few steps inside and hesitated, eyes sweeping over my luxuriously decorated room.

"I've sold a hundred bolts."

I froze, fingers stilling in the action of fastening my cuff links, and whirled to face him.

"Already?" I asked in surprise.

He smiled sheepishly, fidgeting slightly and avoiding my gaze.

"Liza has quite a few contacts with other seamstresses in London dress shops and haberdasheries. They told their owners about our stock and many were interested," Samuel told me and I grinned broadly, something akin to pride in my expression. "I wanted to inquire with you how many bolts you wish for me to set aside for our own use before I sold the rest?"

"Twenty five bolts should suffice," I answered and then strode forward, clapping him heartily on the back. "Well done, Sam. Truly. I knew you wouldn't disappoint me but to have sold so much so quickly, I must admit I'm impressed."

The boy's cheeks tinged pink as he beamed with pride.

"Record the profits in the ledger," I ordered him, clapping him once more on the back before striding past him for the door, adjusting my cuff links as I went. I was already running late. "And don't forget to take your cut."

"My cut?"

"Twenty percent of the profits for my partner."

His eyes bulged at both the number of twenty percent and the use of the word partner. I grinned back at him so that he knew I meant it and watched as he returned to life, blinking and opening his mouth.

"Partner?" he squeaked.

"If you accept the role, of course," I answered with a shrug.

"Yes," he exclaimed immediately and then cleared his throat, reigning in his excitement. "I mean, of course. I would be honored. It's- I'm honored."

"It is I who has the honor, Sam. You're a fine businessman. I only had the eye to see it."

Then I squeezed his shoulder once more and strode from my room, donning my top coat as I went.

It would have been proper to arrive in a carriage like everyone else, to sit in the back of the transport and wait in line, emerging from the vehicle in the drive just in front of the doors with everyone else. But I was in no mood for a ride nor was I in the mood to adhere to social customs. What would it matter? They were all going to stare at me the moment I arrived anyway. I might as well give them reason.

So I walked from my home to the Cochran's. I strode up the street, weaving between the carriages, and took the steps two at a time until I was standing within the foyer, waiting in the long line of aristocracy paused to greet their hosts. The stares began that early. Those in line in front of me turned, saw me, and whispered to their partners. Those behind me gasped and muttered amongst themselves. I was a knot of tension by the time I reached the front of the line and had to face an equally shocked Lord and Lady Cochran. To their credit, they still welcomed me congenially enough, Lord Cochran making some remark about how the police had seen fit to exonerate me so they would too. I forced a smile and fought the urge to remind him that it was my father's criminal acts which intervened on his behalf four years ago when he made some bad investments and stood to lose his fortune. Granted, my father had drawn out that particular loan horribly but still, Lord Cochran's reputation, at least, had been saved. I could not say the same for my own.

I was already looking for the bar the moment I set foot in the actual ball itself. The Cochran's had a lovely ballroom complete with high ceilings and trailing staircases that led to an upper level where gentlemen could smoke and play cards when the demands of polite society grew too boring. Unwed women stuck firmly to those stairs, hoping to entice the gentlemen heading away from the party. I saw Felicity and Elizabeth at the base of them, fanning themselves and batting their eyelashes at any eligible bachelor who happened to walk by. I strode for the bar without looking in any other direction, ordering the strongest drink the man had before the barkeep could even make his request. I downed it in one gulp and stretched out my lips to accommodate the burn of it, sniffing as I set the glass down and asked for another.

"Intending to get sloshed at your first ball back?" a familiar voice asked and I didn't even turn around as I took another drink and cleared my throat.

"What business is it of yours, Jas?" I asked, my voice low, throaty, as I fought against the powerful liquor to find my voice.

"As it so happens, nearly everything you do is my business now that we're entangled again."

He leaned back against the bar, elbows propped up on either side as he kept his eyes on the dancefloor in front of us, surveying the party as the introductions unfolded.

"Is that what we are?" I asked, turning and leaning on the bar myself. "Entangled?"

"I did get you two hundred bolts of French silk, one hundred of which you've already managed to sell if my reports are accurate."

"You're spying on me?" I asked, frowning.

"I'm keeping an eye on my investments," he corrected, turning his lazy stare to me and raising a brow. "I risked very valuable contacts to get you that silk, Camden. I'm just ensuring you're holding up your end of the bargain."

"I thought we were friends."

"We are friends. But this is business. I know you're more than capable but you have a penchant for self-destruction and I don't intend to remain in the blast radius if everything goes to shit."

He gave a pointed glance at the glass in my hands and I muttered a curse before slamming it onto the counter.

"A luxury brand, Cam," Jasper reminded me. "Means rich clients. You're here with them. Take advantage."

With that, he left me standing alone by the bar, striding forward to join a group of men firmly mired in conversation nearby. I heard the East Asian trade mentioned and turned away, scanning the room to see who I might speak with while I was here. Jasper was right. If I didn't want to be here for social reasons, I might as well use it for business concerns. I could find clients here, I could tell them of my plans to reinvigorate Keene's Clothiers as a luxury brand for their class only. I could speak to them of the completely unique designs of pieces guaranteed to be the only in the world. I could make promises, offer them discounts on their first visit, give out my cards. I could turn this night into something profitable.

But then I saw her.

She was standing on the other side of the bar, speaking to the barkeep with a smile on her beautiful lips. I told myself not to approach her. I commanded myself to ignore her. But my feet had a mind of their own and I was moving in her direction before I could force myself to stop.

She sensed my presence the moment I arrived, standing only a foot behind her. Her back tensed as she loosed a breath, blowing a tendril of those dark, ringlet curls out of her face.

"What are you doing here?" she asked without facing me, her tone hushed as if she didn't wish to be overheard speaking to me. Something about that made me furious but I kept my temper in check as I answered.

"This is an event of society," I informed her, my tone clipped but low to match hers. "I am still a part of society. Am I not?"

She turned then, swiveling so that her whole body faced mine. I fought to keep my eyes on her face and not the exquisite peace dress clinging to her petite frame, hanging so low that the barest hint of her cleavage poked out from the top. I struggled to rein in my pulse as her eyes swept over me, appraising.

"I meant why are you here, standing next to me?"

"Why?" I drawled, lowering my voice to that dangerous, gravelly tone. "Are you afraid you'll be seeing quite a bit of me?"

Her eyes glanced right and I turned to find Alexander Langley watching us from the very end of the bar, his jaw tight, his frown deep, his eyes blazing.

"No," she answered me but I saw her shift uncomfortably under the weight of my gaze.

"Do you truly fear me so much?" I asked, hurt more by the thought of it than I cared to admit. Still, I lowered my voice even more as I stepped closer and leaned in so that my lips hovered just over the shell of her ear. "Or do you just fear what you might feel for me if you ever gave yourself the opportunity to find out?"

She snapped her gaze to mine and I stopped breathing. She was close now. So very close. I could smell her perfume, sweet citrus and something herbaceous.

"I do not fear you at all, Camden Keene," she told me evenly and then took a purposeful step away from me. She reached for the glass of water on the counter, the one she must have been ordering when I approached her, and held it up to me. "I can smell what's on your breath. You need this more than me."

I blinked, staring at the offered glass of water. Was she telling me to sober up?

"Good evening," someone spoke and I looked up to find Langley at her side now, forcing a smile for propriety's sake even as he put his arm around her and held her protectively at his side. "Camden Keene, right? I don't believe we've been formally introduced."

"I don't believe we have," I replied, every word a growl, but he acted as though he hadn't noticed, as though we were simply two men of society meeting for the first time, engaging in polite, friendly conversation.

"Alexander Langley," he said with a smile, even having the audacity to extend his hand.

"Camden Keene. But you already know that."

"Ah yes, the man who tried to steal her away from me."

It was a joke to him. A minor taunt to alleviate the tension between us. So she clearly hadn't told him the extent of things between us, how close we had become, the future I was planning with her, how hard I had fallen. Either he didn't know or he was far crueler than his golden boy exterior indicated.

Either way, I couldn't help myself.

"And you're the man who abandoned her to a pack of wolves in favor of a vacation to America."

It was a satisfying thing to wipe that smile right off his handsome face. The truth of Alexander Langley's feelings about me laid beneath it and they shone through in its absence. His jaw clenched in fury, his gaze narrowed to a glare. I glared right back, holding my ground. If it were going to come to blows between us right here amongst all of polite society, then perhaps I could at least deal an infinitesimal blow to the man's reputation that couldn't possibly compare to what he had done to mine.

"That's enough, men," someone else said and I recognized the voice though I didn't remove my glare from Langley's as Nathaniel Harrison approached. "Charlotte, why don't you take Alex to cool off?"

Charlotte nodded, casting one last glance at me over her shoulder before tucking her arm into his and guiding him away from me. My jaw ticked as Nathaniel gripped my arm and pulled me back toward my side of the bar where my drink lay abandoned.

"I'm being civil, for Liza's sake," Nathaniel growled in my ear as he dragged me. "But don't you dare speak to him that way again."

He pushed me onto a stool at the other end of the bar none too gently and then strode away toward a blonde woman standing on the side of the room close by. She had Langley's golden hair and bright blue eyes but fury was not what shone in them as she gazed upon me. No, it was something far more painful in those depths. I would recognize the look of disappointment anywhere.