“She didn’t say anything that wasn’t true. Many people regard me as an overdressed, insufferable fop with a sharp tongue.”
“No one who really knows you thinks that,” Carenza said. “Although I do wonder why you’ve gone to such pains to give that impression to the majority.”
Julian shrugged and offered her his usual charming smile.
“Perhaps it’s easier to let people believe what they think than challenge their perceptions.” He set down his cup. “I didn’t come here to talk about me. There is trouble brewing elsewhere.” He related his conversation with Mr. Cox earlier that day and his unfortunate encounter with Calloway, and Carenza grew very quiet.
“I could strangle Olivia,” Carenza eventually said.
“You wrote the advertisement,” Julian reminded her.
“I didn’t. I merely made suggestions, and Olivia decided to put the original draft in the newspapers! I thought that was just for fun between friends.”
“Perhaps Mrs. Sheraton isn’t as good a friend to you as she should be.”
Carenza looked at him. “Please don’t involve yourself in the matter of my friendships.”
“Am I not also your friend?”
“Yes, but this is a completely different conversation and you know it.”
“I’m just warning you not to assume her values are the same as yours.”
“And I’m asking you to stop talking.” She glared at him. “And currently, you and I are not friends. We are lovers.”
Julian raised an eyebrow. “Can we not be both?”
She blushed. “I don’t do …thatwith my friends.”
“Strip them naked and demand things? I’m glad to hear it.” He paused. “There is no need for such intensity between us, Carenza. We are perfectly capable of carrying off a light affairanda friendship.”
There was quite a long silence as Carenza folded her arms and sat back, her hazel eyes calm. “If you think what is happening between us is ‘light,’ then I cannot imagine what your other affairs have been like.”
“That’s exactly my point.”
“You wish to end the relationship?”
He frowned. “I didn’t say that. I just meant that such affairs are generally conducted with less intensity.”
“I see. You’re suggesting I’m too forward.”
“That’s not—”
“You’re just like Hector.” Her smile disappeared. “He didn’t want an equal partner in bed, either. He wanted someone to applaud and admire him.”
“I know what Hector was like, and I can assure you that—”
“Of course. You have intimate knowledge of my husband’s rutting ways because you had a first-class view of them!” She breathed out hard through her nose.
“Carenza, will you please calm down and let me finish a sentence?” Julian snapped.
“Calm down?” She looked him right in the eye. “I think I’ve heard enough. You agreed to an affair onmyterms. Perhaps Allegra was right and all you are fit for is—”
“Don’t.” He reached over and cupped her chin.
“What? Talk? Enjoy bedding you?” She tried to jerk out of his grip, but he pulled her close and kissed her hard.
She wrenched her mouth away. “That’s not fair.”
