“Was. How did you know?”
“Was?” Beth echoed, a little glow starting within. She knew he wouldn’tlie to her. He nodded. “Lord Deveril told me,” she said.
The marquess’s eyes flashed. “Did he, by God? It strikes me thesimplest way out of this coil is to kill him.”
“You can’t do that!” Beth protested. Violence again. Was that hissolution to everything?
“He is a bit old for a challenge,” agreed the marquess thoughtfully. “Iwonder if I can get him to challenge me.”
Beth was horrified. “Lucien, it would be murder.”
“Call it an execution,” he said, and she saw, with dismay, that he wasperfectly serious. Before she could marshal all the arguments against theevils of dueling, he spoke again.
“To return to the point,” he said, seemingly much refreshed by theprospect of killing someone, “if you know about Blanche, she may providethe help we need.”
“How?” asked Beth, finding this turn in the conversation no better. Hemight have given up the actress, but that was no proof he had given up hisfeelings for her.
“No one would connect Blanche with Clarissa, and Blanche would give herrefuge.”
“A Cyprian?” gasped Clarissa.
“An actress,” corrected the marquess coldly. “And a remarkable lady.It’s the only refuge you’re likely to find. If your parents know you’vevisited Beth, they’ll be on the doorstep tomorrow.”
Clarissa looked to Beth for guidance.
“I think you should accept this help,” said Beth. “It seems safe, andit’s a trifle late for us to be fretting about your reputation, Clarissa.I truly don’t know what’s to become of you, but as you said, anything willbe better than marriage to Lord Deveril.”
The girl nodded. “Very well. What should I do?”
“Go and dress,” said Beth.
When Clarissa had left the room, Beth asked, “Can she go to this placenow? Or will Madam Blanche need warning?”
“How very discreet. I don’t believe Blanche has a new protector, but Ishould send a message. She will be at the theater now, anyway. We’ll haveto wait an hour or two I think. A messenger . . . Ah yes, the littlebird.”
He turned to go but then looked back. “Can you forgive me?” he askedseriously.
She smiled. “I already have. It all began anyway when I convinced you Ihad known a dozen lovers. You were right ? words have a life of their ownonce spoken.”
He came and held her, a gentle hold of cherishing. “I stole it fromHorace,” he confessed. “‘Semel emissum volat irrevocabile verbum.’Let’s cap him withVirgil. ‘Omnia vincit amor.’I love you, Beth. Even if you were debauched,God help me, I would still love you. That was what drove me mad. I thoughtyou a whore, but I still hungered for you,”
Beth tightened her arms around him and completed his quotation, “ ‘Nos cedamus amori.’”Let us surrender to love.
“I know you to be virtuous,” he continued. “I know you to be a virgin.”With a hint of humor, he added, “Unfortunately.”
Beth laughed and looked up at him. “And I love you, though you’re abarbarian.” Shyly she added, “I, too, think it unfortunate.”
But what she thought unfortunate was that the moment of deliriouspleasure had been destroyed. She could not imagine how they were torecapture it.
He moved out of her arms. “I am not a barbarian,” he said. “A barbarianwould throw Clarissa out of the window and carry you to his bed. I’m ababoon in its milieu. I will act according to my code.”
“Will you ever let me forget that?” she demanded.
“Never,” he said with a grin. “It is the most wonderfully rude thinganyone has ever said to me.”
“Whatisthe code of a baboon?” Beth asked.
“I thought you knew. Must I lose my faith in you?”
