Eleanor was still not used to living in a house with a family of nine after it only being her papa, maman and her.  It was something to get used to with having kids crying in the middle of the night due to them having a nightmare or just because they couldn't sleep.

It took her almost two weeks to get used to Hyancinth or Gregory coming into her room or Hyancinth but once she got used to it, she had to admit she loved it.  They hated bothering their mother as they knew she didn't sleep well at night.  Not being able to sleep with her husband anymore, even though it had been years since his death, it was still hard on Violet.  

When they say as time goes on you learn to move on from your loved ones passing, but you don't really.  They always stay with you.  Whilst some may grieve more than others, you always have that person in you.  Whether it's a memory, an inside joke or they were a spouse, sibling, etc.  

"Can you believe that awful woman?" Daphne exclaimed as she let out a noise that more or less resembled a horse when they let out a low grunt.  

"Why d'you believe her anyway?" 

"What woman?" Eleanor asked, intrigued.

"Lady Whistledown of course," Benedict spoke up.

"Whose that?" 

"She writes these columns.  See," Eloise tells her cousin as she hands her some.

Anthony could really care less about the whole talk of the Ton of who Lady Whistledown was as he had more concerning matters.  But it irritated him to no end that whoever this Lady Whistledown person was seemed to print more and more about his family.  Especially as this was Daphne's first season.

Eleanor read the column rather fast as she had always been a fast reader before she handed them back to Eloise.

"She seems like quite a fascinating person," she finally commented as they were all waiting on her reply.

"She?" Benedict acted gobsmacked.

"Well, is there any other option?" Eleanor questioned her cousin.

"It could be a guy!"

"Do guys gossip?" Eleanor asked.

"Well, no.  Not really.  But some do!" He told her.

"It's definitely a woman," Eleanor said as she glanced at the print again.

"Yes!" Eloise cheered as she finally had someone on her side.  "I knew it.  But Benedict obviously didn't believe me and Anthony, well, he doesn't care.  Daphne cares to a certain extent but she doesn't want to know who it is..."

"D'you have your guesses on who it might be?" Eleanor asked as she leaned closer and ate a tasty treat that was left out for the kids to enjoy.

"I have some guesses with my best friend, Penelope Featherington.  You'll meet her tomorrow," Eloise tells her older cousin.  "D'you like it in France?" Eloise asks her.

"I do," Eleanor told her with a soft, fond smile of the place she called home.  "It's very beautiful.  Especially this time of year."

"I don't know why you would want to leave a place that beautiful to come here," Eloise scrunched up nose a little which made Eleanor laugh.

"I felt like I needed something different," she shrugs her shoulders and goes back to reading a current novel that talked about the characters adventures to a far away land.

Eloise wanted to ask her more questions but not after the fact that Anthony chastised her in front of everyone.  Like she was a little girl being punished.  She decided she would ask some other time when she was alone with Eleanor.  

Eleanor decided that night she would go to the gentlemen's club.  She wasn't sure what compelled her to find reasoning in going.  If anyone asked though her lame excuse would be that she was new to the Ton and wanted to look at everything.  

(It was believable enough.  She was obviously new to the Ton and wanted to get used to where everything was.)

*

"Can I get you anything, Miss?" The bartender asked her.

"I'll take whiskey, thanks," Eleanor told him.

"It'll be right out, ma'am," he tells her and begin to make her drink.

Simon raised a brow as he listened to her order to the bartender.  

"Interesting choice for a lady," Simon speaks up and turns to look at her.

Her blonde hair is down and curly.  He can tell she had a hint of blusher on her cheeks and she's wearing a pale blue dress.

"Who says I'm a lady?" She snarks back and he lets out a short laugh.

"Am I not a man?" He asks confused.

"No," she lets out a laugh realising how that sounded now.  "I meant I'm not proper like a lady is supposed to be."

"Interesting.  What is your name?"

The bartender comes over and hands her the drink she asked for and she thanks him.

"Eleanor," she tells him with a coy smile and turns to face him as she sits up a little straighter and pulls her shoulders back.  "And you are?"

He was intrigued by her.  Not just because she was new in town but because she seemed different than all the prissy women who were fawning over him.  Wanting to be his wife.  His duchess.

"Simon," he smiles back.  "Tell me, Miss Eleanor.  D'you have a surname?"

"Of course.  Doesn't everyone?"

He laughed at her banter of an answer.

"What I mean is... what is it?"

"Well, that's the thing.  I can't tell you because I don't know you.  Weren't you told at a young age never to tell your last name to strangers?" She questioned as she raised a brow.

And then he did the most unusual thing.  One that would never expect Simon Basset to do.  He laughed.  So much so that his shoulders shook.  Eleanor had a pleased look on her face as she listened to him laugh.  Somehow seemed lighter than when she met him.  Like a heavy weight was lifted from his shoulders.  

"So tell me Eleanor," as he purposefully left out calling her a lady and she smiled at that as she took a sip of whiskey.  "What are you doing here?  Shouldn't you be doing whatever girls do at night?  What do they say?  Plaiting your hair and telling secrets..."

"Now I know you've been told the wrong things about how women should be instead of how they are," she tsk'd.  "I'm here because I want to be here."

"Ah, so a rule breaker?"

"Precisely," she nodded her head, taking another sip of whiskey.  "What are you doing here?" She questioned and he laughed as his question was used against him.

"Hiding from reality," he told her with annoyance.

"Seems to be a theme going round here," she commented and he furrowed his eyebrows but didn't question further.

She was rather mysterious and he supposed that's what he liked about her.

When she was done with her glass of whiskey, she tipped the bartender and was about to get up when Simon put his hand on hers which startled her.

"Stay.  Please?"

"It's almost ten o'clock at night," Eleanor pointed out to him and he knew it wasn't safe for young women to be out on their own late at night.

"I'll take you home myself," he told her rather enjoying her company.

She didn't know why but she felt like she could trust him.  So, she was willing.

"Okay, Simon.  So tell me.  Are you from here?"

"No, but I just moved back," he told her coyly.  "We have to make a deal though if I do take you home."

"What's the deal?" She asks intrigued.

"No personal questions.  Just a fun one night stand," he tells her.

"Promise," she tells him as she puts her hand forward for him to shake and he took her hand in his.

"Promise," he tells her and shakes her hand as she feels butterflies in her stomach.

He cupped her face as they both looked into each other's eyes.  Dark brown meeting light brown that almost had specks of gold and green in them.  Her breath hitched as he leaned in closer towards her and his lips soon met hers.

They were moving in synch almost as if they had known each other for years and were missing each other.  Like no time was lost.  Eleanor was a little nervous as she hadn't kissed a guy in years.  But it was almost as if his experience that he had helped her to be less nervous.  Her stomach exploded with butterflies.

"Come on," Simon breathed out and she followed him out as he took her hand.

"Whose carriage is this?" She questioned with a giggle as he turned around and grinned at her mischievously.  "What if someone spots us?"

"I thought we said no questions?" He teased.

"Right, sorry," she smiled and let him lead her in.

He wasn't about to tell her it was his carriage.  He didn't want her to be scared off too soon.  Opening the intricate detailed carriage door, he held it open and let her go in first as he soon followed her.

His large hands gently danced along her skin as he couldn't help but touch her.  Her legs opened up and he allowed himself in-between them as he leaned in and kissed everywhere - her lips, cheeks, jawline, neck, in-between her breasts.

There was lots of foreplay and if Eleanor were being honest this was the most carefree she had felt in years.  

She let out a shriek as she almost fell on the small space in-between the floor that the carriage provided them and he held a finger up to his lips as he giggled also.

"Shhh, we have to be quiet," he told her.

"I can be quiet.  The question is - can you?"

His eyebrows furrowed until she did the unexpected.  She unbuckled his pants and tried to pull down just enough so she could get to her destination as his dick was sprung free.  She pumped it a few times before taking it in her mouth and giving him pleasure as his head tipped back.  

--

I am so sorry its taken me so long to update this book!  Yes, I know Simon and Eleanor had sex incredibly early but this is all planned out.  It's a little shorter of a chapter but enough to help get me motivated to write again!

I won't be writing full on sex scenes in this book but it will be a little more than what I'm used to in my writing.  If it seems awkward please ignore the awkwardness.

What do you think of Eleanor and Simon so far?

Eleanor and Eloise?

I did warn you that you might not like Daphne in this story...