Next the butler would be hiding dog treats in his pockets. Chuckling, Alexandra strolled into the breakfast room—and stopped dead, her jaw dropping. Rose sat at the table, a fashion magazine open before her and her breakfast plate pushed to one side. Leaning over her shoulder and gesturing at a sketch on one of the pages was Kilcairn.
“Good morning, Miss Gallant,” he said, straightening.
Alexandra wondered if the responding rush of blood through her veins showed on her face. She hadn’t expected the sudden lust that hit her as their eyes met. So much for business as usual. “Good morning,” she said breathlessly.
“Oh, Lex, come see what cousin Lucien found!”
Straightening her shoulders, she joined them at the table. Lucien watched every step of her approach, and if Rose and two footmen hadn’t been present, Alexandra thought he would have pounced on her. At least she hoped so, because she very much wanted to be pounced upon.
“What have you found?”
“A gown for the opera next week! Isn’t it exquisite? Do you think Madame Charbonne could complete it in time?”
“No doubt she can be persuaded,” the earl said dryly. “Have some breakfast, Miss Gallant. You must be hungry after your exertions last night.”
If she hadn’t been blushing before, she was now.
Rose nodded happily and closed her magazine, returning to her ham and biscuits. “I’m starving. I don’t think I sat down for five hours straight.”
Lucien pulled a chair away from the table, and with a quick glance at him, Alexandra sat. “Thank you, my lord.”
“My pleasure.” His fingers brushed her cheek as he straightened and returned to his own seat.
This was absolute torture. She could barely look away from him long enough to butter her toast. His own expression of canary-eating satisfaction didn’t help matters in the least. Alexandra wasn’t sure whether she wanted to whack him or kiss him. She took a deep breath. Mooning over the Earl of Kilcairn Abbey was not on her agenda for the morning.
“My lord, have you given any further consideration to a birthday party for Miss Delacroix?”
“I have.”
“And?” she prompted after a moment of silence.
“And I’m awaiting a response to a note I dispatched this morning,” he said calmly. “Soiree planning will have to wait until then.”
“A note to whom?” she persisted, frowning at him.
Lucien looked up at her from beneath his long lashes, a smile touching his mouth, and then turned his attention to his morning paper. “Cousin Rose, what do you have planned for today?”
“Lex and I are going shopping for hats, and then we need to work some more on my drawing room French.”
Amazed at the sight of the black panther playing with the mouse and keeping his claws sheathed, Alexandra looked from Lucien to Rose and back again. Not one barbed comment so far. Not even a look of suspicion or boredom from either party.Somethingwas going on.
“I meant to ask you before,” the earl said. “What, precisely, is ‘drawing room’ French?”
Rose finished her mouthful of toast. “It’s much better than real French. When a gentleman says something to you that doesn’t require an answer, but only an acknowledgment, you respond in French, thereby giving the impression that you speak the language.”
Alexandra added a good memory to Rose’s list of natural talents. The explanation was almost word for word the one she had given her pupil last week. She waited for Kilcairn to spring, hiding behind her cup of coffee. The morning’s peace had been pleasant while it lasted.
“I see,” the panther purred. “What sort of expressions do you utilize?”
For the first time even Rose looked surprised, but when nothing caustic followed, she smiled again. “Mais oui, mais non, d’accord, á bien sur, and…” She glanced at her companion.
“Andabsolument,” Alexandra finished.
Lord Kilcairn sat back in his chair. “Amazing. When I think how much time I wasted with my tutor on actual French when I was young…ah,quel dommage!”
“Ooh, I like that one, too.Quel dommage.”
Finally some sarcasm. Alexandra recognizedthatLucien Balfour, though he was still behaving in an extremely mild fashion. Perhaps last night had sated him, though she knew that before her arrival at Balfour House he certainly hadn’t been celibate. She studied her coffee cup for a moment. Though she couldn’t be entirely certain, she thought he had been celibate since her arrival—except for last night. Except for her.
