Chapter Eleven
Royal bent his head to whisper a word to Peggy, and Blayne Darling, all the way at the head of the long, crowded table, paused in his story-telling and smiled down at him.
It was a small thing, a thing of a moment, and a sweet smile, too.
But Royal was silenced as effectively as if he’d been publicly censored.
So he had been. It had been done charmingly, but it had been done.
And it told Gray more about his host than any of his wonderful stories ever could.
Kyle hid his own slight smile in a swallow of wine, but then Kyle was of the theater and had met the like of Blayne Darling before.
Hannah showed no expression at all; if Gray had not been sitting next to her, he’d never have known how hard her fingers clenched her napkin.
But so they had all through the meal, and she’d eaten little enough of it.
Course after course had been brought out to them: game and vegetable soups preceded the service of assorted shellfish and patés, which gave way to sorbet and salad, before a round of fish, variety meat, and game croquettes, cutlets and patties arrived to prepare the palate for the main courses.
The newest hotel in the West wanted to show its visitors that it knew excess as well as the East did.
By the time the turkey was brought out, there’d be no one with any place to put it, Gray thought—except for Hannah.
Because she’d only moved her food around her plate as she’d watched her father with all her heart in her great dark eyes—so like to his, and yet so different: hers showed hurt, and his, only pain.
And that, only when his stories called for it.
Blayne Darling insisted on playing host tonight.
Gray and Royal had planned on taking Hannah and Peggy to Thanksgiving dinner, Kyle had arranged for a dinner with his troupe, but Blayne Darling said that he wanted his daughter and her friends to be his guests.
Since Kyle appreciated having someone else pick up the bill as much as he did dining with the famous, and as Hannah was the famous man’s daughter, now they all sat at a long table that was the envy of all the other guests in the hotel dining room.
And Gray heartily wished for it to be over almost as much as Hannah did.
They weren’t the only ones. Because, Gray noted, if dinner weren’t over soon, Blayne Darling might find that he could pause until Saturday and smile until his lips froze, and Royal and Peggy wouldn’t notice.
Despite their host’s charming show of annoyance, they were slowly becoming oblivious to everything but each other.
But then, they’d reason; Royal had told Gray that tonight was to be the night.
“The troupe’s going home after this engagement.
I mean to see she ain’t going with them,” Royal had sworn as he’d dressed tonight.
He’d stayed in a steaming bathtub until Gray rousted him out, declaring he’d taken off his top layer of skin and couldn’t afford to lose more.
Then, under Gray’s bemused eyes. Royal had put on a new shirt, new pants, and new boots.
At the last, he’d anointed himself with cologne that kept his head turning as they left the room, because—as he’d finally sheepishly admitted—he couldn’t get over the feeling that he’d some French woman following him, close.
He’d put a sizable ring in his pocket, and all his hopes in his heart.
If the girl refused him, Gray decided now, remembering Royal’s nervousness as well as the man himself, he’d personally have her kidnapped or committed.
But from the way she was gazing at Royal, he’d doubted he’d have to bother.
Hannah had eyes for no one but her father, and that.
Gray found, was more than lowering or annoying to him, it was hurtful.
Because it seemed he couldn’t help but feel her pain.
Blayne Darling had embraced his daughter warmly, exclaimed over her beauty, introduced her around to all his many influential friends, and made much of her, acting just as a father should.
That was just it. It was impossible for Gray to know just how much he was acting, but judging from Hannah’s eyes, it was a performance to rival Kyle’s Titania.
“I hear you’ve been asked to stay on another week,” Blayne said. “That Titania of yours is astonishing. I can understand your keeping her close, but on Thanksgiving Day? My dear fellow, is that fair, is that kind?”
Kyle smiled, “My dear sir, no. It is not. But it is expedient. You know your good friend Mr. March would offer her the moon, while your own impresario, Mr. Baker, would add the stars, if she’d sign with them.
But luckily for me, she and I have an understanding.
She doesn’t mind dinner in her room, so long as I come by later with her just desserts. ”
Blayne Darling threw back his mane of dark hair and gave a full-bodied peal of laughter, very much in the style of his D’Artagnan, Hannah thought. Then he shook a finger at Kyle, “Naughty, naughty fellow. But clever. She is indeed, a find. Shall we see her in New York?”
True sorrow flashed in Kyle’s eyes before a more familiar ruefulness replaced it, and he sighed and said, “Who can say? She is of Romany descent. I have her fast now, true. But her moods change with the wind. She’s a creature of elemental fancies and desires.
I can no more hold her than I can hold the wind in my palm.
Alas, that is her glory and her fault, and so I must only appreciate her whilst I may, and live in hope.
She will play the rest of this week. But after that? ” Kyle shrugged. “Who can say?”
At that, his troupe applied themselves to their dinners with studied concentration.
He was giving an even better performance tonight than he did as Titania, because they’d all heard him say firmly this morning and this afternoon, as he had the night before or whenever any of them asked about whether he’d do it after this engagement: “Never, not ever, never again.” He’d discovered, to his astonished sorrow, that though he’d do almost anything to survive in the theater if he absolutely had to, there were, after all, some limits to what he’d do to succeed in it.
And so the Harper Company’s “Titania” was fated to die, as she was born, in the West. Kyle had sworn them all to secrecy, insuring it when he’d informed them it was their return fare and bonus he was earning for them.
If word of Titania’s true identity became known, by any means, they’d all walk home, he assured them, and then never walk out on any stage he ever heard about again.
If word leaked out, later, as it might—this being, he’d said sadly, a vile and imperfect world— he’d deny it so convincingly, he’d make the tale-teller look like a mug. They didn’t doubt any of it.
“A great pity. She’d be a sensation. I tremble just to think of the Scots Lady she might do,” Blayne mused, deliberately avoiding mentioning Lady Macbeth by her proper name, in the best tradition of the theater.
“But what a hold you have over your people. No one can get a word about her. Not even I,” Blayne said, smiling his sweetest smile at Hannah, “and I have connections—or thought I did.”
“ ‘How sharper than a serpent’s tooth,’ sir?
” Kyle quoted, as he glanced to Hannah’s downcast eyes as she studied her plate.
“Ah, but I think not. Rather, it’s a case of loyalty for her word to me, despite the urgings of her heart.
Though tom, she remains steadfast. However it appears to you now, you brought up a noble woman, I assure you. ”
“Yes. She could not love thee so much, sir, loved she not honor more,” Gray misquoted gently.
“My word!” Blayne Darling said on a forced laugh.
“She’s ringed around with defenders. Where are my seconds?
But peace—you mistake me, gentlemen, I never meant to chide her,” he said gaily, though his eyes were not amused.
It was more than the fact that Hannah refused to introduce him to the mysterious Titania, or even give him her name so he could pass it on to his friends.
That was difficult enough to explain to them—though he would, because he could explain anything to anyone, given time.
It was that Hannah, without saying a word, had got everyone’s attention now. He knew how to change that.
“Your Titania is queen of the night, if not this night,” Blayne said, “so be it. More importantly, shall you be in town long enough to see me in performance at the Wheeler? My wife will be joining me in a week, as will our company, and the week after that, we’ll do our humble best to entertain the good citizens of Aspen.
Shall you be there? But give the word, and I’ll leave tickets for all of you. ”
“Alas,” Kyle said as the turkeys were carried out, “but no. We’ll have gone by then, I fear.”
Just as she’d already told him, Hannah thought, avoiding her father’s eyes.
But then, she’d said it when they were with all his friends and hers, and she knew he seldom listened for more than his cue to speak again when he was in a crowd.
She’d been as thrilled as frightened when she’d seen him in the audience last night, but now she wondered if he’d come to see Kyle’s troupe because he’d remembered it was the one she was with, or if it had been an accidental meeting.
After all, he hadn’t sought her out in New York since she’d left him.
But he might do so in the future, she decided, since he seemed impressed by Kyle, and even more so by her friendship with Gray.