Part 11
It was rather dark and a little cold, as they walked the short journey from Rupert's back to her house in a comfortable silence. Eliza had linked her arm into William's and he'd pulled her in tightly to his side as they fell into an identical step.
He told her it was to keep her warm, but really it was because he quite enjoyed holding her close to him, and who knew when he would get another opportunity like this. It was a slow walk, mainly because despite the late hour, neither of them were in any particular rush to get back to Eliza's house. In spite their closeness, they kept their eyes fixed ahead of them, not even daring to steal a glance in each others direction.
"Some dinner party," William finally said, breaking their silence.
"The food was nice," Eliza replied honestly. She realised however, they had never actually made it to desert, which was a shame, because it was a delicious Chocolate Charlotte Russe cake. She'd seen it in the drawing room when she went to get the ladies, and if she was honest it had looked rather appealing.
"Yes it was," he agreed. "The company wasn't too bad either," William smiled.
"Something tells me though, we're probably not going to get invited back to too many dinner parties in the future," Eliza joked.
"I don't know. I think those gentlemen were quite surprised by the female detective," he teased. Eliza jabbed his side with her elbow playfully, and he laughed. He felt her try and pull her arm away from his but he held on to it tightly and he wouldn't let her go.
"I'm sure those men were just singing my praises," Eliza joked as she rolled her eyes. She couldn't imagine any of the men tonight thought that highly of her.
"Rupert speaks very highly of you, you know. He was very proud to tell them over brandies that you were on the case, and he was reassuring them that you'd find out what happened."
William had overheard Rupert talking to the men in the smoking room from outside before he started his interviews. He'd told them reassuringly that Eliza was an excellent detective and that they were not to worry, she would soon know what had happened. William had listened intently at the doorway while Rupert spoke so proudly and told them how clever she was, and how he'd even helped her on occasion. It was certainly a stab in his own heart hearing Rupert's affection for her in his words.
"Jealous they weren't talking about you solving the case," she goaded.
"Not at all." William wasn't lying, he honestly didn't care that they were talking about her instead of him.
Part of him wished it were him with Rupert's confidence, to share with everyone how proud he was of her too. To be able to stand in a room full of men and tell them how good she was at her job, and that rest assured she would figure out what had happened to the murdered man. To do that would take guts, or blind faith that he wouldn't himself be ridiculed for supporting a woman in that way.
"Rupert likes to have things to gloat about to people. I think he likes the unconventional idea that he invested in me," she said softly.
William was surprised that Eliza was clearly not taking Rupert's gesture to her heart, and instead brushing it off slightly. Whether she meant it, or was perhaps just letting him down gently, he wasn't certain. It wasn't like Eliza to sugar coat anything, even more so when it came to him.
He feigned a laughed, but he had to admit to himself, it was hard to know that Rupert Parker could offer her something that he couldn't, and not just with his money. He could give her what she seemed to really want. Independence.
"Why did he invest in your business?" William asked cautiously. He knew it could be considered inappropriate to ask, but it still seemed odd to him that Rupert would do so without any under lying reason, or anything in return from her.
"Should he not have?" She asked, wondering what William's line of enquiry was all about. She gave him a sideways glance out of the corner of the eye, but William kept looking towards the floor ahead of them.
"Of course, it's good for you that he did. I'm just curious,"
Eliza waited a moment, unsure whether to give William the true details of her arrangement with Rupert or not. Did he really need to know that Rupert had meant to propose to her, but couldn't bring himself to do it? Would that not open up a discussion about why? There was no way she would break Rupert's confidence and share with William the real reason that Rupert shared her lack of interest in getting married.
"Do you really want to know?" She asked with a smile, that was unnoticed by William.
"Yes," he said truthfully, not hesitating for a second, as he turned his head to look at her.
Eliza took a moment, to work out which details to share and which to omit. He didn't need the whole story.
"I did him a favour with his mother. Helped him dodged a metaphorical bullet so to speak. In return, he asked if I needed anything, and well, I gave him a business proposal."
She made it sound so simple, like there was nothing at all out of the ordinary in Rupert investing in her, and it was merely a thank you, and nothing more.
William smiled to himself, so their relationship really was platonic then. Mr Parker hadn't invested in her as a reason to win her favour as he thought he might have done. This was relieving news to him.
"Ah, so there was something in it for him then?" William joked, hiding his relief that there seemingly wasn't more to Mr Parkers intentions for Eliza.
"It was a good business investment, and it happens to keep a roof over my head, thank you very much!" William laughed, but he was rather pleased that their relationship did appear to be rather more business related then perhaps his mind allowed him to think it to be. It did bring him to the thought that it was very possible that she needed money more then he realised.
Certainly he knew that Henry had never been any good with money, and even worse towards the end of his life. William wished more then anything that he had long ago stepped in to help Henry, but as Henry himself would have told him, you can't change the past, only the future.
William knew for certain that Eliza would never openly ask for his help with money. She was far to proud for that, and she knew he probably didn't have the money to give her. Not for the first time did part of him cursed his dear friend for not being more careful with money, and not leaving Eliza with something to help her. For not being more aware of himself, and making sure that Eliza was taken care of in the event of his death.
Slowly they had made their way to Eliza's house and she let go of William's arm to walk up her front steps. He was a step behind her as she pulled her key from her coat pocket and unlocked the door. It was quite late, so Eliza wasn't sure if William was intending to stay when he followed her inside, instead of leaving her at the doorstep as she thought he might.
William closed the door behind them as Eliza walked to the coat stand. He watched as she unbuttoned her burgundy coat, slipped it off her shoulders and slid it down her arms before hanging it up on the coat stand. He felt his breathing catch as he watched this normally innocent task.
He couldn't help but think how pretty she looked, how pretty she had always looked, but nonetheless he knew he could never actually tell her that. He knew she'd probably never let him hear the end of it if he told her what he really thought. So instead he stuck to a well-tried subject.
"You know I think tonight makes a record," he told her.
"What does?" Eliza asked, as she turned to look at him a little confused.
"I think this is the longest time we've spent together without an argument," William said, with a smile as he noticed Eliza also seemed amused by the idea.
If nothing else the evening had proved one thing, that they could actually spend time together and not bicker, or argue, or say something that offended the other person.
"Don't worry, I'm sure we'll be back to our regularly scheduled arguing tomorrow," she teased with a smile, and in an instant he knew he shouldn't have mentioned it at all.
Eliza laughed, and eyed him suspiciously before she asked her next question, wondering if she should asked him or let him off the hook, just for tonight of course. Eventually, curiosity won out as it so often did with her, so she asked it.
"You know, you're the only gentleman not to make a comment on how I look in my dress tonight."
She was giving him a small smile, for once daring a response from him. William chuckled quietly, and gave her a subtle pleasing look.
Perhaps if their friendship were not so precarious, this might have been a perfect opportunity to take a step closer, tell her honestly that she looked beautiful, that she always looked beautiful to him. That as lovely as that dress might look on her, he was sure it would look better on the floor.
Maybe, if he thought she wouldn't slap him, he might have even attempted to give her a kiss. After all, she hadn't exactly reject his hand holding earlier, in fact she seemed to willingly play along. Yet, he knew Eliza, and if he was being honest, in all the time they had spent together recently, she'd never before given him any indication that a kiss from him would be any more welcome now, then it was all those years ago.
He eyed her cautiously, before taking a step closer to her. He kept a good gap between them, as he shuffled his feet, put his hand out and gently pick her hand up from her side. He felt her jump slightly, as he kept his eyes on hers and she cautiously watched what he was doing.
As if in slow motion, he lifted her hand up and gave the back of her hand a soft gentle kiss, momentarily holding it firmly against his lips, before he placed it back down again at her side.
"You don't want my opinion on your dress," he told her in a low growled voice, with his Scottish accent all the more pronounced.
His thumb rubbed her hand slowly, he had a twinkle in his eyes and a smile that perhaps gave away more of his opinion then the words she'd asked for.
In the silence of her hallway, she held his eyes along with a charmed smile. Some might say she was willing him to take a step closer, as she didn't blink, but her eyes searched his instead.
"Good night Eliza," he told her quietly, as he finally released her hand against her side and took a step backwards. He never took his eyes off her as he gave her a gentle nod, before he moved to leave her hallway.
"Good night William." The words didn't come out as firmly as she thought they should have done. Instead they sounded far more timid and unsure.
She smiled as she watched him turn around and open her door to leave. He seemed to have a curious smile on his face, as if somehow he'd won some sort of war she wasn't aware she was supposed to be fighting.
When he closed the door behind him, she leaned back against the wall and closed her eyes, slowly letting out the breath she didn't know she'd been holding.
To be continued...
A/N: And take a breath... Phew how's that for a walk home... once again, thank you to everyone who reads this, and for all you lovely and kind reviews.