Page 47 of Burning Secrets of a Lady's Pen
Although none of his imagining had anyone else present…save, perhaps, for that dining room table they were seated at. Though in his mind it was cleared easily of everything on it with one swipe of his arm so that he could place her there instead for an entirely different sort of feast.
“Since we are announcing things,” Sir John laughed, “let me add another.”
Corin jerked his attention back to the present, forcing his gaze on his host and not the temptress sitting at his side.
“To start, our dire news is that Alphonso Riveras has unfortunately fallen ill.”
Alphonso—Ah! The leading man in his production. It took Corin a second too long to process.
The rest of the table groaned and looked stricken. All, of course, except Mr. Fellowes, his contrite look one that Corin could immediately recognize as put on. He wasn’t nearly accomplished enough as an actor to not have obvious tells…
“Yes, yes. That was much my reaction as well,” Sir John sighed theatrically. “Well, that and a good deal of other language I won’t utter in any lady’s presence. However! We are in luck. Theodore here has agreed to assist me by taking over the part!”
Lady Merrit clapped, immediately followed by Imelda.
Corin, looking at the man, watched his quickly hidden smile and the way that his eyes lingered on Imelda before he pompously cleared his throat.
“I’m afraid I won’t live up to the part, but how could I possibly dream of letting you down,” Mr. Fellowes murmured, his voice smooth and charming. He spoke to Sir John, but no one missed the way that his eyes lingered on Imelda at the ‘you’.
And Corin didn’t miss the quick way his eyes cut to Sir John and Lady Merrit to ensure that they had noticed either.
So that was his game.
Corin bit back acid as he took another long drought of his drink, and the congratulations flowed in.
He just had to grin and bear it. There was nothing he could do to speak up to what he was sure the young actor’s ulterior motives were, not without proof.
***
“You’re sure that you cannot stay for a drink?” Sir John asked, tarrying just outside of the parlor where everyone else had retired to as Corin pulled his gloves back on to leave.
Corin considered it. Not staying for the company, as it was, he could barely stomach another moment in a room with Theodore Fellowes. But he did pause and think about revealing his suspicions to Sir John.
An inclination that he decided against. “No, thank you. But I’ll see you soon.”
“You can count on it.” Sir John grinned, shaking his head and ducking through the door as Corin left out the front.
He had only just turned to jog down the steps when he was stopped by the realization that there was already someone there.
Joanne…Tuberville. That was her name. She stared peevishly at him, her eyes running between him and the door he had just come through thoughtfully.
“Ah, Miss Tuberville. How lovely to see you.”
“And you,” she returned as he side-stepped her. “I just came to read with Miss Merrit.”
“I’m sure she’ll be delighted,” Corin murmured, trying to remain polite while still walking away from her all the same.
“Oh, I hope so.” Miss Tuberville paused, looking Corin over once more before her lips quirked in an unusual smile. “How lucky she is to have a friend like you, my lord.”
Something about the way she phrased it, the ominousness of it, left a bad taste in Corin’s mouth, but he could only nod, offering her a half-smile just before she lifted her hand to knock on the door.
Friend. There was that word again.
If he heard it once more he was sure to despise it.
Chapter 17
“We needn’t have met like this, you know,” Corin teased from the doorway of the stables as he ducked into them.
