“I would be surprised, though, My Lord, if you were able to concentrate on the performance for the duration of the play,” Diana said in a low voice, holding his gaze as she spoke. There was something about his infuriating face that she found impossible to look away from.
The earl laughed. “You do have a very low opinion of me, don’t you, Lady Diana?” he paused and waited for her response. When none came, he plowed on. “Well, I promise that I will not distract you during the performance. I will be on my best behavior.” He looked at her and raised a slightly suggestive eyebrow. “Well, I shall try to be, in any case.”
Diana could feel her cheeks warming, a betraying blush creeping up her neck. She turned her attention to Grace, who had finally noticed that the earl was there and was looking up at him with interest.
“Lady Grace, what a pleasure it is to see you,” the earl said, looking away from Diana and focusing all his attention on Grace. “And I must say that you look particularly beautiful tonight.”
Grace was practically glowing as he spoke, basking in the light of his attention. Diana felt that she must put a stop to this somehow, but she could not work out how to do it without drawing attention to them.
“My Lord,” Grace said softly, looking at the earl through her long eyelashes. “I trust you have had a pleasant evening so far?”
“Indeed,” he replied. “Are there many people of your acquaintance here tonight? Perhaps some of the gentlemen who managed to call on you before I did, just the other day?”
Grace giggled. “I could not possibly say, My Lord,” she replied. “There are so many people here, it is hard to tell.”
“Grace has many suitors,” Diana said firmly. “As you well know.”
The earl glanced in her direction again. “Many more suitable than me,” he said in a low voice, so that not even Grace could hear him. “You made your opinion on the matter very clear to me the other day, and yet here I am, persevering.”
He was incorrigible, Diana thought. And the intimacy in the way that he spoke to her only made her blush even more. She felt that her cheeks were betraying her, as he stared at her.
“The play is about to start,” she said urgently. “Come, we must settle into our seats.”
“Lady Grace, perhaps I might sit beside you,” the earl said, moving towards Grace and looking as if her were about to insert himself into the chair next to hers.
“No, My Lord, forgive me,” Diana said firmly, stepping between them and sitting down.
“Diana, you cannot just – “ Grace said, staring at her incredulously.
“But that is my seat,” Diana interrupted her, feigning innocence. She knew that no one cared a fig for such things at the theater, and that her sister was annoyed with her for putting herself in between her and the earl. But the truth of the matter was that there was no way she was going to allow the earl to sit next to her sister for the duration of the whole play. There was no chance of that.
She settled into her seat, trying to hide her annoyance at the earl’s attempts to force himself into closer proximity to Grace. The earl sat down next to her, chuckling under his breath.
The arrogance of the man! She did not know how she was going to tolerate sitting so close to him, but tolerate it she must. There was no other option.
As the lights dimmed and the curtain rose, the theater transformed into a realm of intrigue and drama. Yet Diana found it impossible to focus on the opening of the play. As the story unfolded, she sensed his presence next to her even more strongly.
The end of the first scene came, and during the pause, the earl leaned closer to her, his voice a low whisper that sent shivers down her spine. “You are braver than you look, sitting next to a rake like me.”
Diana let out a soft laugh, trying to mask the fluttering in her stomach. “I am not afraid, My Lord. There is nothing you can do to me.”
“Are you sure?” he whispered, his breath warm against her ear. “Are you quite sure about that, Lady Diana?”
Diana bit her lip, her resolve wavering as she felt the closeness of his presence. The way that he spoke her name triggered in her a feeling that she had never felt before, a kind of tingling in her chest, and she was certain that her blush was visible to him, even in the darkness of the theater.
“Your charms will not work on me, My Lord, because I know what you are doing.”
The play continued, but Diana was distracted, her mind swirling with thoughts. She could sense that Grace was still irritated with her, but she was determined to shield her sister from the earl’scharm. If she was struggling to resist it herself, what chance did her sister have?
CHAPTER 7
Tristan could practically feel Diana squirming in her seat next to him. She was perched right on the edge now, as if she was trying to get as far away from him as possible, and he could tell that she was struggling to keep her composure.
Despite her rather pointed barb at him when he had arrived, Tristan rather enjoyed the theatre. He liked the hum of anticipation before the play started, as the audience settled into their seats. He liked the flickering candlelight and the way it case a warm glow over the ornate décor. He enjoyed watching the story unfold on the stage below, a vibrant tapestry of colors. All that passion and drama and intrigue. It always stirred something within him, and tonight he was feeling even more mischievous than usual.
“You ought to try to relax a little,” he whispered to her after a while. He could tell that he was annoying her, talking during the performance, but that made him even more determined to continue. No one else would care about such a thing; everyone else in the box was chatting between themselves, even hersister, who was engaged in conversation now with some other gentleman who Tristan did not know. It was only Diana who stared resolutely at the stage, trying not to permit distraction of any sort.
“I am perfectly relaxed, My Lord,” she hissed back, not looking at him.
