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Gilroy ducked back inside, leaving Jessie and Andreas to stand in silence. Jessie turned his head away from him and focused on the doorway. Hopefully she would come soon, and dispel the dark cloud... Yes! Like sunshine, she appeared, and his heart immediately lifted. The worrying, racing thoughts in his head fell back to a low hum. He might be distracted and comforted enough that soon, they would disappear entirely.

He was smiling in greeting, quite forgetting what to say otherwise. She looked lovely. Somehow, she had even thought to wear his colours - oh but of course, he always wore those colours, didn't he? Gold and red and black. She knew him well enough for that, if nothing else! He felt suddenly a little shy, remembered the present in his hands, and held it out to her with a smile. "This is the book I promised you. ...I'm sorry it took so long. I made it for you specially."

He nodded shyly. "You don't have to open it now..."

Oh, Jessie didn't like them laughing at her one bit. Danger of someone getting punched in the face... rising...

"Is something the matter?" he said icily, glaring between the two servants - first at one, then the other. He reserved his frostiest look for Andreas.

He then turned his face away with a little flicker of dispassion, making it clear he was not interested in hearing their feeble response. "Open it later, Evie," he said firmly, to end the matter, "You will have more time to look over it then, anyway. Let's go."

He stood back and waited for her to store the book away in her room and ready herself to leave, not inviting any further conversation from the others.


(( Of course, Jessie has also laughed when Evelyn is being socially awkward, but THIS IS DIFFERENT ))

Jessie held out his arm for her to take. After they were down the hallway and out of sight round the corner, he let out a long sigh, as of pressure being released. His posture relaxed. Now that that was over with, he could enjoy his evening alone with Evelyn. Thank goodness her protectors had somehow consented not to come. He didn't believe for one moment that they trusted him alone with her after what happened on Saturday, and had been formulating cunning ploys to surreptitiously ditch one or more of them during the evening. "Oh my, no admission without tickets? If I had but known, I would have purchased more than two! Oh my, Evelyn, come along, we're going to miss the overture... you gentlemen will be fine waiting outside, won't you?"

He still didn't believe they trusted him. Perhaps Evelyn's will had just been too great for them this time. They were in her employ, after all. Anyway, it meant one more weight off his mind, not having to deal with them a moment longer.

They hadn't walked very far - just far enough to be safe - when he slowed them down to a gentle stop and turned to her. He smiled at her as she looked up at him, and bent to kiss her softly on the lips.

"I'm sorry," he breathed as he pulled away, "...I've been waiting days to kiss you again. That's all."

Finally, the evening had really begun. It was already clear that it was going to be dreamlike.

The car was already waiting for them when they reached the front doors. It had, in fact, been waiting some time, as Jessie had booked it early to prevent it from arriving late. The driver was going to be having a very boring evening; he was booked until past midnight (just in case) and spending most of that time just waiting around. Still - it made the job easy money.

It was not exactly a stretch limo they were riding in - he hadn't wanted to go over the top. But it was fancy, and long, and the seats behind the driver's compartment could've seated ten at least. Jessie greeted the driver, opened the door for Evelyn and then slid in beside her. Not too close. She was going to be spending many hours alone with him that night - more than ever. He didn't want her to feel like he was crowding her already. And he'd already decided not to kiss her again. He would let her kiss him first, if she wanted. She could draw closer, if she wanted. It was up to her.

Still, they were finally alone, in complete and utter privacy. It would be a shame to waste it. He smiled at her, and kept his body turned towards her, warm and open, inviting and receptive to conversation. But still, he would let her lead. Whatever she was comfortable with.

Well.

What she was comfortable with was still open to interpretation. But he did take that as an invitation to more than just conversation. He slid across the seats to her until their bodies were touching, wrapping his arms around her simultaneously, until she was enveloped in a hug. He kissed her again - not too deeply. Then again - more deeply. When they parted this time, his fingers stroked the side of her silky head. For a moment, he had a thrill of panic about messing up her hair and makeup this early in the evening, but Evelyn would use glamour, wouldn't she? Like Cressa had on his lips. No need to worry about that, then. Thank goodness for small miracles.

His lips twitched into a smile. "No, I didn't know that about bonobos and chimps. I could have guessed the third, though," he said, kissing her again. When he pulled away, he explained. "No one person's kiss is quite the same as the next's."

Evelyn's lips were delicate, soft and full, like petals. She looked like a doll - shy and unsure, and pristine from years of being kept in a glass case. But when he kissed her, there was the sensuous taste and feel of volupté resting just below the surface of that sweet flesh. When he pressed her, she unfailingly pressed back. She wanted something more than what she had, and, having felt that desire inside of her, he felt like he knew her a bit better than most other people, even as he knew so little about her at all.

What was it that she wanted...? He drew back a little bit, but took and held both of her hands. "Tell me about your family, Evie. What was your childhood like at home? I want to know what shaped you into the mesmerising person you are now."

Jessie smiled dazzlingly at her as she tried to turn the conversation back towards him, and replied, quick as a flash: "Ah, but I've had seventy years of my own history, and none of yours. That's a rather unbearably long time of not knowing anything about you, isn't it?"

He gave her hand a little squeeze of reassurance. "I wrote about my family in your book. Rather accidentally, at first. That might be a good place to look, if you aren't sick of me by the time the evening's over. I come from a large family, too - though not as large as yours, it sounds. I had the misfortune of being my mother's first son, and I know she hated me for it, hahaha. I wouldn't have traded for the world, though. I got to watch most of my little siblings grow up!"

"Your grandmother sounds like an incredible, invincible lady. And kind! I can't help but press you further on your childhood, though. I'm intrigued, if for no other reason than... that isn't the tone of voice anybody uses when they recall 'fun,'" he prompted her gently. He wasn't expecting any answer in particular, though the way he was steering the conversation it might have seemed he was digging for something. It just seemed to him that the problems Evie was having in her current life must have been echoed, rooted even, in her childhood. She had, as she said, had nineteen years of her own history. Nineteen years of life in a gilded cage, perhaps?

This was why he wanted to hear it from her point of view. He couldn't be sure himself.

“I did have lots of fun,” she said, somewhat defensive about her family. “I spent a lot of time doing a lot of different things. I was involved in practically every different sport, art, and everything else. Softball, volleyball, soccer, archery, skiing, horseback riding, swimming, gymnastics, ballet, tap, jazz, choir, painting, piano, theater, writing…oh, I know there’s more. I can’t remember. Nanny McCray would be appalled. I used to be able to recite my schedule from memory…”

Evelyn trailed off and strummed her fingers on her thigh. She didn’t want to bore him. She was boring him though. She had to have been. She just listed off more extracurricular activities than SHE cared to remember.