LITMIR.BIZ

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An affaire was terminal. There would be an end—such a liaison began with that assumption in mind. It was the end that contained the risk. How would it end? With her heart still intact? With Haviland angry and knowledgeable of the deception that had been perpetrated on him? With Haviland happily naive to the drama around him and moving on to his summer in Switzerland?

      Alyssandra came up short at the top of the steps leading down to the kerb, partygoers moving about her as people entered and exited the mansion. The carriage was there, an expensive, shiny black-lacquered vehicle complete with glass windows and lanterns. Two greys pranced in their traces, eager to be off. Seeing tangible proof made the decision real. Twenty more feet and there’d be no turning back.

      The decision might be reckless, but that didn’t mean it hadn’t been thought out. Being with Haviland would mean far more to her than it would to him. He would go on to be with other women, she would be one of many to him if she wasn’t already. A man like him must have women begging for his attentions. But she would live on this for ever. The coachman pulled out a watch to check the time, and she felt a surge of urgency. He was getting impatient. Had fifteen minutes passed already? What if she missed the carriage?

      Then she would miss it—her one chance to date at experiencing true, unbridled, physical passion. She didn’t hold out much hope there’d be other opportunities. Tonight had been Haviland’s gauntlet thrown down. There would be no more arguing over trust and motives. If she did not take the carriage, he would not ask again. All would be settled between them whether she liked that settlement or not. Haviland North was not a man to be toyed with. Nor was he a man who tolerated having his word challenged.

      Alyssandra hurried down the steps. It was time to be reckless. What had caution ever done for her anyway? The coachman nodded at her approach. A footman waiting at the kerb lowered the steps and helped her in. It all seemed so disturbingly normal when she felt as if the phrase ‘I’m off to a clandestine rendezvous’ was scrawled across her forehead.

      The interior of the carriage bore out its external luxury with plush grey-velvet seats and matching draperies held back with maroon ties. But the carriage was disappointingly empty. Haviland was not inside. She supposed discretion demanded he be picked up at a separate destination a distance away from the venue, but she was disappointed all the same. Now that she’d decided to take his invitation, she wanted that invitation to begin right now.

      She didn’t have to wait long. The carriage pulled over three streets later to pick up Haviland, who managed to look urbane and quite comfortable with these arrangements as if he had assignations all the time. For all she knew, he probably did. He certainly could, anyway.

      Haviland took the rear-facing seat across from her and gave the signal to move on, a rap of his walking stick on the carriage ceiling. He reached under the seat and drew out a thick lap robe of luxurious fur. ‘Are you cold?’ He settled the blanket across her knees. The warmth felt good and helped to quiet her nerves. Spring evenings and pending anticipation had their own special brand of chilliness.

      ‘I thought we would drive for a while and enjoy the evening. Then, I have some place I would like to show you.’ Haviland reached under the seat and pulled out a basket this time. ‘I have champagne and if we drink it now, it should still be cold.’

      His dexterity was nothing short of amazing. He managed to pop the cork and pour two glasses without spilling while the carriage moved over the rough cobblestones of the Paris streets. ‘Years of practice.’ He handed her a glass with a wink, and she had the feeling that ‘years of practice’ referred to far more than pouring champagne.

      ‘Pour champagne for women in carriages often, do you?’ she teased, sipping carefully from her glass.

      Haviland laughed and had the good grace to look slightly abashed. ‘I am hoist by my own petard, as the expression goes. Can I just answer “maybe” and leave it at that?’

      ‘Absolutely. A gentleman with a bit of mystery to him is far more intriguing than an open book.’ She smiled and risked clinking her glass against his—a difficult manoeuvre to accomplish in a moving carriage without spilling. She liked him this way; more relaxed, less intimidating than he was at the salle. It was the way he behaved around the men in the members’ salon. She’d seen him in there on occasion working with others. He was a natural leader even in casual circumstances. It was how he’d been the day he’d come on her errands, as if a mask had been stripped away. When he was with Julian and even with ‘her brother’ he was different. In those lessons, he exuded a formality, an intensity that was as magnetic as his casual charm. She wondered which persona he’d bring to the bedroom.

      ‘As is mystery in a woman, up to a point.’ His eyes held hers, blue and intense over the rim of his glass. Mon Dieu, those eyes of his could sell a line. ‘I think the mystery lures a man in, but after a while, he wants to know more and that desire for knowledge outweighs the desire for mystery.’ That was the urbane rake in him delivering a practised line for certain—a remark designed to compliment and pursue, to bring a woman into his circle of sophistication.

      Even knowing it, she couldn’t stop a thrill of excitement from racing down her back. Still, she would not be an easy conquest. She might have agreed to this assignation and they both might be fully aware of the evening’s intended conclusion, but she didn’t have to be a quivering blancmange just because he was handsome and silver-tongued beyond reason.

      Haviland looked out the window. ‘Pont Neuf. Right on schedule. I thought we could take a walk. It’s still just early enough in the evening to be safe out.’

      Alyssandra laughed. It was only ten o’clock, early by Parisian standards. ‘The streets aren’t truly dangerous until after midnight. Surely, London streets are no different.’

      Haviland jumped down to set the steps. He reached out a hand to help her down. ‘They’re wider though. For such a modern city, Paris has the narrowest of streets. I think a medieval merchant could walk through town and find the city unchanged in many regards.’

      ‘I think that’s true of most European cities.’ Alyssandra stepped down onto the pavement. ‘You will find Florence much the same.’ She thought she detected the fleetest of grimaces. In the gaslight, it was difficult to be sure. It might have been a trick of shadow and light. ‘You are going on to Italy, are you not?’

      He smiled, and she felt sure the grimace had been nothing more than shadows. ‘It is one of my greatest wishes.’ He tucked her hand through his arm and signalled the driver to meet them on the other side of the bridge. They began to stroll, joining other couples taking the evening air. She had not been out like this for years and it was intoxicating; to be out with this man, in this place. The Seine was dark below them, smooth and still, the gaslights lining the stone vestibules of the bridge, casting a kind light on everything around them.

      ‘I meant it, a few minutes ago, about trading mystery for knowledge.’ His voice was low, weaving privacy about them even in public. ‘Tell me about yourself, Alyssandra. Have you always lived in Paris?’

      ‘The Leodegrances have a country home in Fontainebleau. We were raised there, but we’ve lived primarily in Paris since I was eighteen.’ No need to mention that living in town allowed them to close up the country house and economise. The beautiful home in Fontainebleau was too big to keep open for just two people. It was enough of a financial commitment to live in the family hôtel.

      ‘The salle d’armes occupies a great deal of your brother’s time, but what about you? What do you do all day?’

      ‘It might surprise you, but my days aren’t much different than yours.’ She offered him a coy smile and stepped into one of the vestibules, out of the flow of pedestrian traffic. She didn’t want to lie to him, but she wasn’t above distracting him when questions became more akin to an interrogation.

      ‘You might be surprised what I spend my days doing.’ His words were husky. His eyes darkened, his gaze falling on her mouth. ‘I think about doing this.’ His mouth took hers in a firm press of a kiss, and then another one. ‘And this,’ he whispered against her mouth.

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