Chapter 8 #2
She shook her head too quickly and any worry she’d shown was erased. “Of course not. His box is directly across from yours. It will almost be a showdown.”
“We’ll win the showdown by pretending not to care. Are you ready?”
She nodded as he helped her into the small hallway behind the boxes and maneuvered her to where his was located. A footman held back the little curtain and they stepped into the box.
The gazes of those around them pivoted to them, both below in the main gallery and in the boxes surrounding the stage.
The buzzing crowd quieted a moment and then a burst of whispers began again, this time pointed and without trying to hide her name or his.
He looked at Evelina and found she was staring across the way.
He followed her look and saw that her gaze was pinned on Southwater’s box.
When he let his eyes move to the same spot, he found the duke was there and Florence was with him.
As for their former partners? Well, both were also staring at him and Evelina.
Southwater looked just as enraged as he had a few days before when he encountered Vaughn at Evelina’s new home.
His face was actually red and his hands fisted at his sides.
Florence kept looking up and then back into her lap.
She was too far away to make out her expression, but her posture was tight and unhappy.
Vaughn wanted the thrill at that fact to be stronger and more pleasing, but it left a raw emptiness in his chest instead.
“Staring should be theirs, not ours,” he suggested gently.
She started. “I hadn’t realized I was staring,” she whispered.
He felt her hand slide into his and he put all his focus onto her. She smiled up at him, her eyes brimming with tears but her expression calm. No one would know about her pain. She was remarkably strong, it only made him like her more.
“Why don’t we sit?” she suggested. “Try not to look at them again, just keep focused on me.”
He arched a brow as they settled into their places and the lights of the theatre flickered to tell the crowd that the opera was about to begin.
“That won’t be difficult,” he said. “My companion is the loveliest woman in attendance.”
She laughed lightly and placed their still-entwined hands into her lap. “That’s very convincing.”
“It’s very true,” he said. “You really are beautiful in that color.”
He reached out and brushed a stray curl from her cheek. Her breath caught at the motion. None of this was real, of course. He knew that even if it took a little reminding. But she was certainly gorgeous.
The lights went down in the house and they didn’t talk anymore, but focused on the opera. But even though no one could see them anymore, he was keenly aware that she kept his hand on her lap through the entire show, their fingers intertwined. And he made no attempt to separate them.
* * *
Evelina wished she could have said that she lost herself in the opera.
She actually loved the art and was enraptured most of the time.
But she hadn’t been able to focus all night, not when she knew Harry and Lady Blackburn were across the way, cuddled up in the very box where she’d once watched opera with him.
She’d been far too aware of them. And also very aware of Vaughn beside her, his lean, strong fingers tangled with her own.
How was he feeling? And was this a good idea, to lean into their worst impulses in order to tweak those who’d harmed them?
She didn’t know the answer, but as they made their way through the slow crowd after the performance, she tried not to think about it too hard. She’d lost track of Southwater and Lady Blackburn at some point and hoped she’d not see them again.
A hope that was denied when she and Vaughn moved toward the door and there the other couple was, just ten feet away in the milling crowd.
She froze in her place, causing Vaughn to come up short next to her. He followed her gaze and she felt him stiffen, his posture reflecting what his unreadable expression didn’t.
Lady Blackburn really was beautiful up close, with perfect blonde hair and pretty, bright eyes, not to mention her elegant brocade gown.
She was also wearing a large, brightly bejeweled necklace.
Evelina’s stomach turned when she realized it was a piece Harry had given to her and demanded back a month ago.
The other woman leaned up toward Harry and they spoke for a moment, then she looked back at Evelina and she…she smirked. The bright rage Evelina rarely allowed herself in this untenable situation rose up in her and she tugged Vaughn’s elbow gently.
He looked at her and she smiled even as she whispered through clenched teeth. “Kiss me. Now. Kiss me.”
His eyes widened, but he glanced toward the other couple for a brief second before he cupped Evelina’s cheek and slowly his lips descended to hers.
Their first kiss had been brief and impulsive.
There hadn’t been much time to analyze it or feel anything from it.
But this…this was something else. His lips brushed hers, gentle, even somewhat hesitant.
They were soft, firm, fuller than one might have expected.
His fingers bent a little against her jawline and the pressure of his mouth increased, became more real.
She found herself resting her hand against his chest to steady herself as all her thoughts faded and she was left with just… this.
This kiss. This man. This moment. It was public, far too public.
It was meant to upset, not to soothe, and yet somehow it did just that.
She felt calmer with his mouth touching hers, and she also couldn’t deny the sizzling heat of awareness that rushed through her whole body as he drew back, his green eyes dilated and stunned.
She was a little dizzy as he lowered his hand from her. “Well,” she said softly. “That was lovely.”
He laughed roughly and only then did he glance up. She looked, as well, and saw that Southwater and Lady Blackburn were gone. She had to imagine they’d seen the embrace. Certainly the gawking crowd would be sure to give them both the details if they hadn’t stayed for the entire exchange.
Vaughn’s hand moved to the small of her back and he guided her through the crowd and out where the carriages were coming.
It was a crush, but soon enough their vehicle arrived and he helped her up into it.
They settled into place across from each other and after they began to move, he merely stared at her in the dimness.
“Did I offend you with my demand?” she asked when he didn’t speak or move for what felt like a lifetime.
He shook his head. “Not at all.”
He was silent once more and she shifted. “Because there’s a tension now. One I hope won’t spoil things between us.”
He swallowed and then he let out his breath in a shaky sigh. “I suppose I must be honest about what I was thinking. I simply realized that both times we’ve kissed, you’ve been the one to run it all.”
“Oh,” she said. Was he getting bigger? That wasn’t possible, but as they spoke he seemed to fill the space more.
He shifted to the front of his seat a little and draped his elbows over his knees. It was a casual pose, really, but it felt anything but in that charged moment where he seemed to pin her with nothing but a focused stare.
“And it makes me wonder what would happen if I just…” He hesitated a fraction, his gaze breaking from hers, then returning with no less intensity. “What would happen if I kissed you. Not because you pulled me in or ordered me to do so with such a fire in your stare that you could not be denied.”
“I didn’t have fire in my stare,” she interrupted, feeling her cheeks heat. God, she was a courtesan and yet this man made her blush over and over.
“Oh, you did. Impossible to refuse you when you take charge like that.” He was teasing, but she didn’t feel light. Or at least not entirely. There was just too much tension between them to do so.
“So are you saying you want to…to kiss me? Really kiss me?” she asked.
He nodded slowly. “I…I do.”