Read Online Drury Lane Darling by Joan Smith - Free Book Online

strangers. Added to it was the bonus that this particular stranger was young and handsome, and wearing a jacket of a cut seldom seen in the country.
    Breslau felt a burning sensation in his chest. Jealousy was a stranger to him; he thought it was merely annoyance at the interruption in their conversation. “Would you like to be presented to him?” he asked, intending sarcasm.
    She immediately bounced to her feet. “I should like it of all things. Do hurry, Lord Breslau, he’s leaving.”
    By the time they reached the ballroom, the man had left, and a group of locals were shyly shimmying forward to compliment the Flawless Fleur.
    “Too late,” Pamela said, and looked around for some other group to join.
    Breslau placed a firm but gentle hand on her elbow to lead her back to the refreshment parlor.
    “Let’s stay here,” she suggested. “There’s no one in the refreshment parlor. We’d be all alone, and I haven’t found a partner for the next set yet.”
    Breslau smiled in rising dudgeon and remained in the ballroom. So the lump spurned the opportunity of being alone with him! Had God sent her to teach him a lesson? Miss Comstock had soon attracted another gentleman’s eye. A callow youth approached, and she smiled in apparent pleasure at someone called Ethan, wearing a jacket Breslau wouldn’t have tolerated on his servants.
    “I hear the marquise is putting up with the Raleighs,” the young man said. “What’s she like, Pam?”
    “Not nearly as dashing as I had hoped,” Pamela replied, and began to regale him with some anecdotes.
    Breslau coldly excused himself and left, perfectly aware that he wouldn’t be missed one iota. He made a firm resolution not to honor Miss Comstock with another dance, and stuck with it till after dinner, which was a perfectly hideous affair. Fleur was in one of her moods, and became louder and less polite as the meal advanced. She flirted with every yahoo who stopped at the table to meet her.
    The more she flirted the stiffer Lady Raleigh’s face grew, till in the end she couldn’t get her mouth pried open to eat anything. A delicious cream bun grew soft on her plate, and cream buns were one of her few weaknesses. The Maxwell table was about the only one in the room that wasn’t staring at Lady Chamaude with varying degrees of ire or admiration or mirth. No eye at the general’s table was allowed to come within a right angle of the actress.
    “An intolerable evening,” was Lady Raleigh’s opinion when they reached home, and for a change, her husband agreed with her.
    “I have a splitting headache,” she said. “The youngsters will remain belowstairs for a half hour or so. Breslau will play propriety. If I am with that creature for another moment, I shall crown her.”
    She informed Breslau of his duty and retired abovestairs at once. He was incensed to hear himself relegated to the role of chaperone, but concealed it like the well-bred gentleman he was. Sir Aubrey accompanied his dame upstairs. He thought the open doorway was an oversight. Dot had specifically mentioned she had a headache. He wouldn’t inopportune her at this critical juncture. He’d need all her goodwill to explain a few matters.
    The marquise had only a glass of wine before retiring. “I’ll look over chapter four before sleeping,” she said to Nigel. “Tomorrow morning we’ll get busy on it. I expect you’ll find more broken sentences. He is always teasing me about my poor grammar,” she explained. “Say ten o’clock in the library?”
    Nigel smiled a blissful smile. “I’ll be waiting.” He sighed, then turned to the guests. “Well, this visit ain’t going as badly as you thought it would, Wes.”
    “No, it is going worse,” Breslau replied, and helped himself to wine. He brought a glass to Pamela, which she set aside, untouched, though she did give him the echo of a smile for his thoughtfulness. It was enough encouragement that he sat beside her.
    Any notion of proceeding with