~ Nineteen ~
LADY MARLING’S ESTABLISHMENT WAS ALIVE, with candles gleaming romantically in every room. The scent, fresh from the hothouses, of blooming daffodils, orchids, crocuses, and exotic azaleas, wafted gently in the air.
Fires lapped upward in their grates, now and then dropping a log for a white-wigged servant to hasten and set to rights as her ladyship’s guests filled her home to overflowing.
Belfort stood aside and allowed his eyes to run over Letty’s person, noting every detail of her dark pink silk gown. Her hair had grown so that her curls bounced around her lovely head, and he found himself…lost in her.
He leaned into Lady Marling at his side and said, “You have outdone yourself, Fanny!”
“Indeed, I agree.” She laughed. “And our Letty…oh, but she outshines every debutante… every woman in the room!”
“I quite agree.”
He watched with some irritation as the Russian baron bowed over Lady Marling’s hand and then made his way to Letty. He aggressively pushed quite a few young Parisian pups out of his way as he made his approach to Letty, all under Bel’s scrutiny.
Bel was about to make his way across the room to his ‘little one’ when a gloved and feminine hand touched his and said, “Bel, darling.”
“Ah, Liz.” He noted she looked lovely in her gown of gold, and the flimsy material was just transparent enough to display the shape of her very fine nipples.
He sighed and kissed the wrist she offered to him and remarked, “Your gown, Liz, even for you is daringly enticing.”
She laughed. “I know. I mean to outdo every woman here!”
She saw his eyes dart to the far too entrancing new debutante, Letty Rochdale, and raised a brow. “She is not in your usual style, dear.”
“I am not sure what you mean. All beautiful women…are in my style,” he evaded, he believed neatly.
She laughed again, and they looked up to find John Darcy approaching.
“Ah,” the viscount remarked. “Your latest admirer.”
“Perhaps,” she said softly.
* * * * *
Letty looked across the room and watched the viscount with Lady Liz, and bit her bottom lip. How could she possibly compete with a sophisticated and beautiful woman like that? Indeed, she could not!
She saw the viscount put his hand on Lady Liz’s waist and draw her near just as John Darcy seemed intent on approaching the couple. She had overheard Charles and Fitz talking about John Darcy having an interest in the Lady Liz, and from the look on his face, this fact seemed quite evident.
She waited to see the outcome when Darcy suddenly and abruptly turned on his heel and made his way to her instead. Her brow went up, and she wondered about it, but he was already before her and taking her gloved hand to his lips.
“Letty…I may call you Letty, as we shall become great friends, you and I,” he said, and smiled at her.
“I already thought we were great friends,” she countered.
He laughed. “Of course we are, but our friendship and time spent together is something I mean to encourage…with your permission.”
“Why? I may certainly be a green girl to all of society’s machinations, but I have learned that there are always hidden meanings to everyone’s particular efforts.”
He touched her nose. “Brilliant little beauty. Indeed, I shall start by asking if your heart aches as much as mine?”
“Now, what a very odd thing to ask of me. Why does your heart ache…why do you think mine does?”
“Letty, I believe even Fitz is aware of your feelings for Bel,” he said softly.
“Oh, John, does it show so very much?” she said on a hushed, sad sound.
“I am afraid it does…at least to anyone who is not Belfort,” he said ruefully. “Take a little advice from an old hand who has been in this monstrous love game a good time longer than you. Don’t let your heart show so openly. Bel, by now, must take your admiration…affection, for granted. Don’t allow it any longer. Look elsewhere for company, and allow him to see your affections stray.”
“That is basically what Charles has been telling me to do,” she said thoughtfully.
“Well, then, you see…Charles and I are quite correct,” John returned, and sighed heavily. “You have but to stand back and allow him to see that every eligible man here is intent on catching your attention, including me.”
She laughed. “Is that what you are doing—attempting to make the Lady Liz jealous?”
He inclined his head. “Not so much that as avoiding making a cake of myself by trying to compete with Bel for her time when she clearly means to snub me. I was tardy getting here, and I am certain that has annoyed her.”
“Oh my, these games everyone plays are quite absurd,” Letty said with a shake of her head. “But…does she mean to have Bel? She flirts outrageously with him.”
“No, their time was over long ago, nor does he want her. She knows it and I know it. She is merely ignoring me and playing up to him as a means of doling out her punishment. However, I shan’t allow her to win this little battle.”
“Why? Are you playing in earnest?” she said as she suddenly realized the extent of John’s feelings for the woman. “I am so sorry.”
“Sorry? Oh no, my pet. Don’t be sorry. Lady Liz makes me feel alive.” He waved his hand in the air. “Besides, matters are not at all what they appear. It occurs to me that we might be of mutual benefit to one another.” He took her hand and slid it through his crooked arm.
“I am not sure I like the sound of that, but as time goes by, I am beginning to think perhaps, just perhaps…?” she mused out loud.
“Trust me, sweet Letty. Bel needs a sharp awakening, as does my Liz.”
As he led her out of the room, she hesitated and told him, “John, I don’t think we should go off alone again. Bel was so very upset with you the last time.”
“Indeed, but if you will believe me, both Bel and my Lady Liz are staring after us with complete disbelief. Bel because, as you say, he has already warned me off, and Liz because she cannot believe I find any other woman more interesting than her.”
Letty laughed out loud. “John, are you sure you really want her? I suspect she will lead you an exhausting dance.”
“Indeed, Lady Liz is everything I have ever wanted, and the dance, I mean for it to last a lifetime. She must, however, discover I am not a pet. You see, I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that she has fallen in love with me. I need to make her realize it. She is of the opinion that she will never love a man. Liz believes men callous and deceitful. I have to show her she is wrong, and that she is not playing with a boy, but a man in earnest.”
“I see, or at least I think I do,” Letty said, frowning. “All these games. Why don’t people just tell one another how they feel?”
He laughed and pinched her cheek. “They should, shouldn’t they?”
“Bel does spend a great deal of his time attending to her…?” she said sadly.
“He has no interest in her whatsoever,” John returned sharply. “Of that, I am certain.”
“Perhaps you are correct in that. It has occurred to me that Bel’s reasons for being in Paris are not hedonistic.”
“Letty, you are truly not green at all. The same has occurred to me,” John agreed, and opened the door to the quiet of the library. He carefully left the door opened as he led her inside. A quiet group of four was playing at cards at a round table set up in the corner, but didn’t pay them any mind.
“What is your plan, John…with regards to Lady Liz?”
“Why…I mean to marry her,” he said simply. “She needs me, for I believe, in the end, she really needs someone to curb her restlessness. She needs what I can give her…reliability and fun all wrapped up in one package.”
Letty laughed. “You are very sure of yourself.”
“Indeed, I am,” however, there was no chance for more, as Bel’s large and storming form came charging towards them at this point.
“Bel, ole boy!” John said loudly before Bel could speak. Letty’s hand had been pressed between his elbow and his side. She attempted to pull away, but he did not allow it, and she cast him a quick, quizzical glance.
“John!” Bel said between gritted teeth.
Letty saw Bel’s eyes dart towards the four card playing gentlemen in the corner, and she realized he obviously did not wish to make a scene.
“Letty, do come along,” Bel said in a hushed tone as his violet eyes raked over her. “There is someone you must meet.”
“Deuce take them,” John stuck in. “Must we go now. Letty and I were just having the most interesting conversation.”
“Yes, Letty and I must go,” Bel hissed. “You, of course, needn’t join us.” At this point, Bel stuck out his bent arm towards Letty.
Letty would have gladly placed her hand on Bel’s arm, had she been able, but John Darcy had it tightly pressed against himself, and she would have forcibly had to remove it.
“Ah, always jesting. Come on then, lead us…who do you wish us to meet?” Darcy insisted.
Bel stared at his friend, and said in a low, seething tone, “This round to you, friend John…with a warning.”
Bel then took up position beside Letty, taking her free hand and leading them forward and to the drawing room, where he presented an old friend of Lady Marling’s to her.
The viscount, much like a guard, took position beside Letty, as though daring anyone to abscond with her to private rooms!
John Darcy kissed Letty’s hand and took his leave without ever looking towards Lady Elizabeth Broadhurst, and Letty smiled to herself as she watched the beauty’s jaw drop open.
* * * * *
Later, much later, the occupants of Lady Marling’s home gathered in the drawing room to declare her rout the greatest success of the Parisian Season.
Not much after that, Letty looked up to find herself alone with the viscount, and felt a blush steal to her cheeks as she imagined she might get another kiss from him.
He sat beside her and took her hands. “You do know how bewitchingly lovely you are, Letty, don’t you?”
Her green eyes examined her lap.
“I need to tell you, because I don’t want your head turned by Russians and Frenchies…I…”
“Oh, I know. You think them insincere,” she interrupted. “Indeed, they think they mean all the complimentary nonsense they shovel my way, but I know they are only living in the moment. Only the moment.”
He eyed her and said grimly, “My little one has grown up…and one day soon, I will lose you.”
“No…Bel…never!” The next thing she knew, she had thrown herself into his arms.
He kissed her then, parting her lips with his, gently introducing his tongue, as he had when he kissed her last, to hers. She met his fire with a fire of her own, and heard him groan deep in his throat as he pulled away and held her shoulders out and away from him.
She had been lost in his kiss. He seemed intent to keep her apart.
“Letty…no.”
Fitz walked into the room and said, “Went upstairs, but I don’t think I can sleep.”
“Nevertheless, I think we all must try,” Bel said, and gave his hand to Letty. “Come, my dearest little one.”
“Stay here with Fitz…I shall go up on my own,” she told him, turned her back, and with a nod at Fitz, hurriedly left the room.
Would he now avoid her? Oh no, would matters turn awkward between them? No. She would not allow that, even if she had to grab him every chance she got and plant dozens of kisses on his face. She smiled to herself as she met Max in the hallway and picked him up.