“Yes,” she said emphatically. “Even though it seems impossible that they fell in love upon first deciding to be partners, reasonably thinking, they must love deeply during the course of their lives while caring for one another and for their babies. Don’t you think?”
“We are still talking about birds, aren’t we?”
“Indeed,” she said.
Vincent considered. “It makes sense that they are not indifferent to one another.”
“Indifference,” she scoffed. “That’s a tepid notion. But we have strayed from the point,” she said.
He had never carried on such a conversation while dancing. What’s more, he had forgotten the point.
“Which is?” he asked.
“Swans don’t worry over hair color or the daintiness of the lady’s feet. They don’t waste time leaving calling cards and paying fifteen-minute visits so they can discuss the weather. They don’t spend months dancing around the subject before forming an attachment. Nor do they then, with a cruel and fickle nature, decide upon another.”
Vincent considered. “Surely that is because they have shorter lifespans and because ... well, they are birds!”
She heaved a large sigh, which was a beautiful sight in her dress. “I suppose. Did you love her quite ardently?”
He startled. Brilliance had changed the subject, or rather brought it back to heartbreak so swiftly she left him dazed. She had finally given in to her curiosity, and he had to admire the duration of her restraint in questioning him.
Luckily, the dance ended before he could form an answer. Nevertheless, while they walked, she looked up at him expectantly. In fact, Brilliance nearly collided with another guest, but Vincent tugged her aside in time.
“No answer,” she mused.
“The discussion during dancing ends with the dance,” he said, hoping that sounded like a societal truism.
Her pretty mouth formed a smallO.
“Is that a rule? I had no idea.” Then she smiled. “Maybe we should have a third dance at the evening’s end.”
He couldn’t help grinning at her words. She wished to glean the details from him and wasn’t trying to hide it. Yet since he felt relaxed and happy with her, he would prefer to focus on the present than get mired in the past. For him, it held somethingmore insidious than a single fickle female, worse even than simple treachery, although Lydia had been treacherous enough.
“Would you like to take a stroll in the garden?” he offered. “Perhaps another look at my cousin’s topiaries?”
He shouldn’t have asked her. Given their brief intense history, he knew what would happen, as did she. If Lady Brilliance agreed, she would expect a kiss, and Vincent would gladly grant it. He was, in fact, nearly desperate to embrace her again. His cousin had been very effective in keeping them apart except for earlier by the stream. And when not her, then the Colonel.
Suddenly, they had almost run out of time, and he wasn’t ready to see the back of her as she climbed into a carriage and rode away.
“Despite the freedom I have enjoyed all week,” Brilliance said, “because I am at a ball, my instincts have me looking around for my mother or one of my married sisters.”
“House parties are an anomaly unto themselves, are they not?” he said. “Yet at this one, because my cousin is an upstanding woman who takes her duties as hostess very seriously, there have been few hijinks.”
“Hijinks?” she repeated, allowing him to lead her toward the terrace. “Do you mean of a lascivious nature?”
He said the most carelessly frank things to Brilliance Diamond upon topics he wouldn’t dream of bringing up with other ladies, such as heartbreak or the loose behavior of the average house guest. Vincent had caught Lord Fincham in a steamy embrace with Miss Newton, and Lord Pattersonin flagrante delictowith a chambermaid.
Neither shocked him particularly, except he recalled thinking how glad he hadn’t discovered Brilliance in any such vulgar position — unless it was with him. Even then, he couldn’t imagine her going along with something like Patterson’s ill-advised and hackneyed tumble on the floor of one of the bathing rooms.
Thus, he had to question his intentions by taking her out into the darkness.Not lascivious!He felt something more honorable than that. At least, he liked to think so. All of Lady Martine’s warnings returned, like a swarm of wasps.
Changing his mind at the door, Vincent halted with his hand on the small of her back. “Perhaps it is too chilly after all.”
“Nonsense,” Lady Brilliance said, thrusting open the door and stepping outside. “The air is warm tonight. Besides, look, the lamps indicate our hosts’ intent for their guests to enjoy the outdoors, don’t you think?”
Vincent looked around.
“It’s not as though we are alone out here,” Brilliance continued.
