Chapter 12 #2
She rolled her own eyes in response. “You know I don’t mean face down, you cad.”
He flashed her that quick grin and settled onto his back on the blanket, his head resting against her thighs. She looked down into that truly beautiful face and forced herself not to have a full-body shiver. Instead she began to thread her fingers through his thick hair.
“Oh, that’s nice,” he said, and his eyes shut. “We should come to the park and make a scene twice a week.”
He was teasing, but she didn’t smile. She found it was far too difficult to do so now that reality was back.
All of it, including the secret she might know about the countess.
The one she hadn’t the heart to tell him when she was diving into passion and pleasure and locking out everything else.
But here in the park wasn’t the place to tell him about Florence.
She cleared her throat. “I’ve never met a man who didn’t like to be petted like a dog.”
He snorted at the quip but didn’t open his eyes. “That’s me. Your loyal bird dog. And you would be a sleek cat whose affection one must earn.”
“But once one does, I hope it’s worth the trouble.”
Now his eyes did open and the green depths were truly impossible to look away from. “Very much worth the trouble.”
She looked up to break the spell and found that Lady Blackburn was watching them.
The countess was very pretty, with her perfectly quaffed blonde hair and a dark blue dress that was beautifully made from what looked like a gorgeous damask silk.
At present, though, her lips were pinched.
Even from a distance her frown was obvious.
She shook her head and looked away as she realized Evelina was watching her.
“Oh, she doesn’t like this,” she said softly.
He lifted his head slightly. “No?”
She shook her head and glanced at the woman again. “She’s not looking anymore, but her companion keeps glancing this way and folding and unfolding her arms.”
“That’s her sister, Honora. They’ve always been very close. Florence has financially supported her and her n’er-do-well of a husband a great deal over the years. With all the scandal, she must be calling in those favors.”
Evelina blinked. “Oh. Oh.”
“Why oh?” he asked.
“It’s silly, but I suppose I never think of them having family.”
“Them?” he repeated, his tone laced with confusion.
She glanced again at the pair. Lady Blackburn’s sister tossed her hair and snapped her gaze away and the two put their heads together for what looked like irritated chatter. Good. Let them fuss and worry after what that woman had done to Vaughn.
“All those proper ladies who are far too good for the likes of us. Of women like me or my sisters. The ones who judge us for the path we had to take to survive what they couldn’t even imagine.”
“Evelina—” he began, his tone softer.
She interrupted him, partly because she had information to convey and partly because she didn’t want to be placated or pitied. “Lady Blackburn has stormed off to the path now though her sister remains and is just glaring at us.”
“Wouldn’t your sister do the same if she was watching someone you once cared for with a new love?” he asked.
She jerked her stare back to his face. “We aren’t loves,” she corrected. “And if Arabella saw Harry out with your wife, she might just scratch her eyes out. Or, more likely, his.”
He gave just the flicker of a smile. “She’s protective.”
“Yes. She always was, before we left home and after. Even now.” She smiled as she thought of Arabella. Her sister had nearly died for her and for Julia. But she was safe now. Happy. And Evelina’s heart soared when she thought of it.
“I’ve met her,” he said. “Briefly, years ago when she was still with Kentwood.”
She smiled a little. “He gave her the house, you know. What was he…a marquess?”
His brow wrinkled. “A duke, actually. You don’t recall?”
“They’re not important. And once they’re gone, it’s better to forget.”
“Even Southwater?”
She drew in a shaky breath. “I wish I could forget Harry,” she admitted, and was frustrated that tears filled her eyes and her voice broke just a fraction. All those emotions she so tried to control were right at the surface and she hated revealing them to anyone.
Vaughn touched her face gently. “You will. Because one day you’ll realize he wasn’t fit to shine your shoe. That if he held even a sliver of your heart, he was the fortunate one, not you.”
“Those are pretty words,” she said.
“I mean them,” he insisted. “I’ve been close to you for only a few weeks, but you are a remarkable woman.”
She swallowed hard before she bent her head. He lifted to meet her and they kissed. It was brief, it didn’t spiral into passion, but there was something so powerful in that public, gentle display. When they parted she was a little dizzy from it.
“Oh,” she said as she became aware of her surroundings again. “Both Lady Blackburn and her sister are fully gone.”
He started, almost as if he’d forgotten they were doing all this to annoy his wife. “Well, I suppose we did what was needed.”
She expected him to push out of her lap and move on with their day, but instead he drew the biography they’d been stealing back and forth between each other from the inside pocket of his jacket and handed it up to her.
“Now, when I last left off he was just entering the islands of New Zealand.”
“Oh, yes, I was almost there,” she said, and took the book. “May I start a few pages beforehand?”
“Of course.” He settled his head back into her lap and she began to read. But even as she lost herself to the adventures of the captain, she tried to remind herself how she needed to pull herself back from any emotions this man might engender in her. She needed to remember how to be a courtesan.
After all, it wouldn’t do to make the same mistake twice.