Page 44 of Making of a Scandal
Calliope pulled her slackened mouth shut and fought for composure. This was absurd. She didn’t want this man. Shedidn’t!
“I do not wish to speak of it. Please … I don’t want anyone to overhear us.”
He looked as if he wished to protest, but eventually agreed with a nod. “Very well. I never got a chance to tell you how much I enjoyed my visit to the foundling home.”
She stumbled to keep up as he resumed their walk, pulling her away from the open doors. Reeling from the abrupt change of subject, she scrambled for an adequate response.
“Really? I would have thought such an outing would bore you.”
“Yes, well, the absence of a Hazard table or lightskirts considered …”
At her shocked look, he laughed and patted her hand where it rested on his forearm.
“I was joking. Youdolike jokes, don’t you?”
“Of course I do. It is only that your jokes can often be so … inappropriate.”
“The best jokes often are. I know you do not think much of me, but I happen to like children, so a visit to the home was neither boring nor tedious.”
That statement called to mind the sweets he’d carried in his pocket, and the heartwarming sight of him surrounded by children and playing cards.
“You were very good with them, I noticed. Thomas, in particular, seemed rather taken with you.”
His lips softened into a genuine smile. “I’ve had a bit of practice with children over the years. My siblings keep creating them, and I keep thinking up new and inventive ways to spoil them and bring their more monstrous qualities to the surface.”
She couldn’t help an answering smile. “I am certain they adore you. I think you shall be a wonderful father, if you can convince some lady to abandon her sanity long enough to wed you.”
“Touché,” he said between snorts of laughter. “Perhaps I’d better make it easier on myself and head straight to Bedlam to begin interviewing prospective brides.”
Calliope wanted to be amused at his little quip, but for some reason could only frown. “You make light of your marital prospects, but surely it isn’t as bad as all that. Despite your reputation, you cannot have failed to notice the reaction you draw from women every time you step into a room. If your financial difficulties were so dire, why not marry instead of choosing to … well, you know?”
She glanced about to find that no one was paying them much attention, secluded as they were on the periphery of the ballroom. Still, she wouldn’t risk exposing his secret, and thereby the truth of her own connection to him.
Irritation flashed in his eyes. “No one wants to marry a third son when the elder sons are still eligible. Even after my brothers wed, I still carried the distinction of being the one a lady would have to settle for simply because the better choices were taken.”
There was such bitterness in his voice that Calliope was forced to view him in a different light. He had never looked or sounded as if he cared about anything other than chasing his own pleasure.
Could there be more to his devil-may-care facade than what one saw on the surface?
“Surely you don’t have such a low opinion of yourself.”
“When low opinions are the only ones your father, and it seems everyone else around you, has, it is difficult to feel otherwise. Besides, you make it sound as if being a courtesan is the worst thing a person could choose to be. I could be penniless and destitute, or living on the charity of someone else. Instead, I am independent and, as of a few months ago, completely free of debt.”
As before, she gazed around to ensure they hadn’t been overheard, fear overcoming her at the thought of someone hearing his indelicate words. He seemed not to care if they were found out, which only set her more on edge.
“Ilikeentertaining women, making them feel desired and giving them the sort of thrill their husbands or lovers could never achieve.”
“The ridiculous sum you earn for your efforts doesn’t hurt matters.”
“It certainly sweetens the deal. It is too bad you’ve decided not to take advantage of the full range of my talents.”
She came to an abrupt halt, forcing him to draw up short at her side. They had circled back to the open terrace doors again, but she hardly registered the cooling breeze as she glared up at him.
“I have asked you not to do that.”
He returned her angered look with a defiant one. “Sorry to disappoint you, goddess, but I’ve told you before that I find it impossible to lie to you. The fact is, you are in denial about a great many things, not the least of which happens to be that you want something you’ve convinced yourself you shouldn’t.”
Calliope’s throat burned with the urge to dress him down. The man made her forget about propriety and the perfect image she’d cultivated out of necessity—which made him even more dangerous to her than she’d first supposed.
