by Diane Gaston
He stifled her cry, kissing her in that moment of satiation, that moment they were made one in pleasure.
Collapsing beside her, he lay very still. She nestled against him, pressing her lips to his body, entwining her legs with his.
He put an arm around her, holding her close. ‘I should not have done that,’ he said, his voice low and rough.
She moved her lips against him. ‘Do not say that. I know you liked it as much as I did.’
He lifted her face to his and gave her a long kiss. ‘I liked it very much.’
She laughed and slid on top of him. ‘It was marvellous!’
He rubbed his hands along the bare skin of her back. ‘We should not become lovers, Ariana.’
She put her lips on his forehead, his nose, his chin. ‘Why not? Why deprive ourselves of enjoying this while we can? Besides—’ she felt his arousal grow again ‘—it is too late.’
He groaned in reply, and joined with her once again.
Chapter Ten
Jack woke to a chilled room and Ariana’s warm naked body next to his. He gazed at her face, so beautiful he wondered if he could ever capture such loveliness in her portrait.
He ought not to be lying next to her, even though this was where he most wanted to be. Waking from that dream, he’d needed her. All resolve to resist her had vanished.
He glanced towards the window. The dim light of dawn peeked through the curtains. He’d spent the whole night with her.
Very slowly he eased himself up. She mumbled something and he froze. She rolled over and he waited until he heard her soft, regular breathing. Carefully he climbed out of the bed. The bare wood floor was even colder beneath his feet than the room itself. He untangled the bed covers and placed them over her, then walked to the fireplace to put more coal on the dying embers. At least she would wake to a warm room.
Jack discovered his clothing neatly folded on a chair, everything but his shirt, which he found beneath her shift on the floor. He dressed as quickly and as quietly as he could, watching her the whole time. Holding his shoes in his hand, he walked towards the door in his stockinged feet.
The bed covers rustled.
‘You are leaving?’ she murmured, her voice raspy with sleep.
He turned back. ‘I tried not to wake you.’
She sat up in bed, her hair a jumble of curls. ‘Why must you leave? You are not painting today, and we are not going to the Egyptian Hall until later.’
He glanced at the door. ‘The house is still quiet. I will not be seen.’
She grimaced. ‘No one here will mind that you stayed the night with me.’
It was not what they thought of him spending the night that concerned him. ‘Your friends here all speak so freely. It is one thing for them to talk of me as your guest for dinner, but quite another if it is mentioned that I spent the night. It is best if no one knows.’
She stared at him. ‘You are worried that Tranville will hear of it?’
He nodded. ‘That is precisely it.’ He stepped to the side of the bed and brushed the hair from her face. ‘I will see you later when Nancy and I come to collect you.’
She clasped his hand and brought it to her lips. ‘Until then, Jack.’
It was all he could do not to taste those lips again, to throw off his clothing and return to the delights of her bed, the delights that banished his demons, at least for that space of time. Jack cared nothing if Tranville became enraged with him, but his choices could hurt people he cared about. His mother. Ariana.
For them Jack must take care with Tranville. He must confine his contact with Ariana to the studio. They must go on as merely artist and subject.
With that resolve, Jack left the bedchamber and walked quietly down the stairs, hearing and seeing no one. Once outside he put on his shoes and started for Adam Street. The city was coming to life with carriages and wagons and workers hurrying on their way. Street vendors carted their wares, crying, ‘Fresh pies,’ or, ‘Dutch biscuits,’ when he came close enough to hear.
Jack purchased a spicy gingerbread biscuit, wrapping it in his handkerchief and putting it in his coat pocket to eat with his morning tea. It would save him the trouble of breakfasting at his mother’s table and the risk of finding Tranville there again.
The brisk morning air felt good in his lungs, and his ears were free of the whisperings of Badajoz. He could almost feel happy.
When he crossed the Strand to Adam Street, however, Jack’s growing good mood fled. Tranville emerged from his mother’s door and turned in his direction.
Tranville strode up to him. ‘Up early, are you, Jack?’
‘As are you, Tranville.’ He tried to keep his voice even.
Tranville made the pretence of a smile. ‘Your mother’s household are all still abed.’
Jack ground his teeth.
Tranville laughed softly, aware, no doubt, that he’d annoyed Jack. He suddenly stepped back, eying Jack as if seeing him for the first time. ‘You look as if you slept in your clothes. Where have you been?’
Jack met Tranville’s eye. ‘If I have slept in my clothes, sir, you may be certain I am too much of a gentleman to discuss it.’
Tranville laughed out loud. ‘Been with a woman, eh?’
Jack did not answer.
Tranville glared at him. ‘I hope this woman of yours is not keeping you from working on the portrait. I want to see what progress you have made.’
‘There is nothing to see.’ Jack glared back.
‘What?’ Tranville’s brows rose. ‘You’ve done nothing? Time is of the essence, you know. It is almost March and the play will run in April.’
‘I am aware of the timing,’ Jack replied stiffly.
Tranville jabbed the air with his finger. ‘Well, do not dally. I wish to know the instant it is finished. The instant I may see the final product. And it had better be soon.’
Jack nodded brusquely. ‘You will be so informed. Prepare to bring the balance of my fee at that time.’
‘Do what I want when I want it and you will be paid.’ Tranville started to walk away, but turned back. ‘In fact, I want you to make two portraits. One is my gift to Miss Blane; the other will be mine.’
Jack disliked the idea of Tranville owning even an image of Ariana. He shot back, ‘The fee is double, then.’ Tranville would be a fool to accept such terms.
‘Double?’ Tranville huffed. ‘It will not take you double the time, I dare say.’
He inclined his head in disdain. ‘It will delay me from accepting other commissions. Take it or leave it.’
Tranville’s eyes had narrowed menacingly.
Jack added, ‘I expect half the sum by tomorrow, or I will have to accept another commission.’ A commission he did not have, but Tranville could not know that.
Tranville frowned, but finally waved his hand as if swatting at a fly. ‘What is money to me? I’ll pay your trifling amount.’
He was a fool, Jack thought.
Tranville waved his hand again. ‘I have no more time to waste with you.’ He hurried off.
Jack watched him turn the corner on to the Strand.
‘Go to the devil,’ he muttered before proceeding to the studio.
That afternoon, Ariana checked the window again to see if Jack and his sister had arrived yet. This time she was in luck. She saw them walking up to the door.
She ran into the hallway outside her room and called to the maid, ‘Betsy, my guests are coming. Tell them I will be one minute. They can wait in the hall.’
‘Yes, miss,’ Betsy replied from below.
Ariana hurried back into her room and put on her new deep green sarcenet pelisse that had just come from the mantua maker. A matching green hat and buff gloves completed her costume. She took a quick glance in the mirror, hoping Jack would think she looked well in it.
She returned to the top of the stairs, seeing only Jack gazing up at her. Her senses flared with the memory of his arms stroking her, his body engulfing her. By the time she reached
the bottom step, she saw that his sister stood next to him.
‘I am all ready.’ She smiled at Nancy. ‘It is a pleasure to see you again, Miss Vernon.’
Nancy curtsied. ‘For me as well.’
Ariana smiled at her. ‘Your Michael is not with you?’
‘He had to attend his classes.’
‘What a pity.’ Ariana had wanted Michael and Nancy to have their outing together as well.
She turned to Jack. ‘Mr Vernon, thank you for suggesting this outing.’
Nancy looked confused. ‘Jack told me it was your idea.’
Ariana grinned impishly at Nancy. ‘It was.’
Jack opened the door for them and they stepped outside on to the pavement. ‘If you do not mind walking, I suspect it is no more than a mile to Piccadilly.’
‘Walking will do,’ Nancy replied.
Jack turned to Ariana. ‘Miss Blane?’
She took his arm. ‘Walking it is.’
Nancy seemed more subdued than she had on their first meeting, but Ariana supposed it was because Michael was not with her. Ariana envied the girl her young love. There was much to be said for being courted by a respectable young man and looking forward to a conventional, predictable life.
She, however, had chosen otherwise and must be content with what her life provided her. The excitement of performing. The freedom to do as she wished. No one expected an actress to be chaste. She could choose to share her bed with Jack, if she so desired. She did, most ardently, desire to share her bed with him again.
Nancy became more cheerful when the Egyptian Hall came into view. ‘It looks like the prints we saw of the buildings in Egypt.’
The building’s façade was intended to resemble the entrance of an Egyptian temple, its three storeys were made to look as if they were one. Two huge statues of Isis and Osiris stood high above the entrance, which was flanked by two columns as tall as the ground floor. Egyptian symbols, appearing as if carved in stone, embellished the window frames.
‘It looks grand,’ admitted Jack.
He paid their admission and they entered the building, soon walking into a huge musty room with a display of large wild animals in the centre, birds and smaller mammals in cases lining the walls.
Ariana gazed around in disgust. ‘They are all dead.’
These creatures, once running, flying, chasing prey, had been stuffed so that people could gaze upon them. She glanced at Jack, who returned an understanding look that made Ariana flush with pleasure.
‘Oh, my!’ Nancy immediately hurried over to the elephant. She had to hold on to her hat to look up at it. ‘I never imagined elephants to be so huge.’ She walked around the centre exhibit, gasping at the hippopotamus and the polar bear and the zebra.
Ariana was left standing alone with Jack.
She put her arm through his. ‘She seems in better spirits.’
‘Better spirits?’ He looked surprised.
She tilted her head. ‘You and your sister are very quiet today.’
He put his hand over hers. ‘There is much I cannot say in front of Nancy.’
She grew warm at his touch. ‘I am very much in sympathy with that statement. What is troubling Nancy, though?’
He glanced over at her. ‘I do not know.’
She whispered, ‘If I can contrive it, I shall try to find out.’
He slid a look towards a wall covered with dead birds. ‘I will leave you to it, then, and will become fascinated by these colourful fowl.’
She resisted a strong urge to kiss him. Their gazes caught and she saw a mirror image of her yearning. The desire between them flared with such heat, it was a surprise the dead birds did not burst into flames.
‘I had best examine these birds,’ he murmured.
She took a breath. ‘Yes. I shall keep your sister company.’
She joined Nancy, whose initial enthusiasm for the big animals seemed to have flagged. The girl was staring blankly at the zebra.
‘It certainly looks like a horse, does it not?’ Ariana said.
Nancy blinked and darted a glance to her. ‘Yes. Yes, it does.’
‘You seem unhappy today, Miss Vernon,’ she began. ‘What is amiss?’
Nancy sighed. ‘Nothing, really.’
Ariana made Nancy look at her. ‘I am not convinced.’
Nancy gazed down at the polar bear. ‘Oh, it is just that Lord Tranville keeps talking of finding me a husband.’
Tranville again.
‘Does he?’ Ariana said in a harsh tone.
They wandered over to look at display cases of dead reptiles.
‘I suppose he thinks he is helping,’ Nancy went on. ‘But I do not think I want to be married yet.’
‘Have you explained to Tranville about your Michael?’
Nancy blushed. ‘You keep calling him my Michael, but we are mere friends.’ She sighed. ‘Besides, he has a year of studies to finish and then he must work for someone. And—and he may not want me.’
‘Not want you?’ It was clear to Ariana that Michael was besotted with her.
‘Because of my family, you know.’
Ariana did not understand at first, but it dawned on her that outside the theatre world, liaisons with gentlemen made a respectable woman a social outcast. For Tranville, of course, it merely increased his cachet.
Two young men in dandified clothing began casting them impertinent looks, appearing as if they had just about worked up the courage to approach.
Ariana tilted her head in their direction as a warning to Nancy, but the young woman seemed oblivious that she had attracted such attention. ‘We had better join your brother,’ Ariana told her.
Jack smiled as they walked over to him. Together they left that room in search of one with Egyptian artifacts.
Jack had a chance to ask, ‘Did Nancy say what is troubling her?’
‘Apparently Lord Tranville is still talking of finding someone to marry her,’ Ariana whispered.
‘That damned man,’ Jack uttered through clenched teeth.
They found a room displaying South Seas curiosities, including preserved insects and reptiles, as well as more dead birds. Ariana was eager to move on to another display, but Jack seemed intent on minutely examining every shell and piece of coral in the room.
‘Let us go on,’ she whispered to Nancy, taking her arm. She called back to Jack. ‘We will be in the next room.’
This housed the American exhibit dominated by a large statue of a red-skinned Indian dressed for battle. Two gentlemen stood examining it. Ariana saw immediately that one of them was Edwin Tranville; the other was an older man who was on the theatre’s national culture committee with Lord Tranville. She glanced at Nancy, who frowned and turned back towards the door, but not before the older gentleman, Lord Ullman, saw them.
He waved his hand and approached. ‘Miss Blane!’
Lord Ullman was an average-sized man in his forties with thin hair and a thick waistline.
‘Miss Blane, how good to see you.’ When he glanced at Nancy his eyes grew large. ‘May I be presented to your enchanting friend?’ He sounded as if he’d forgotten how to speak.
Ariana pursed her lips. Lord Ullman probably assumed Nancy was also an actress, a ripe fruit ready for his picking. She darted a glance at Edwin, who was looking at them but did not approach. One was a nuisance, but the other could be trouble. Jack certainly would not want his sister near Edwin.
She made the introduction Ullman requested, speaking quickly. ‘Miss Vernon, this is Lord Ullman, who is known to me from the theatre.’
‘Charmed, my dear.’ Lord Ullman bowed.
Nancy made a polite curtsy.
Ariana turned to Lord Ullman. ‘Nancy is not with the theatre, sir. She accompanies her brother, who is the artist painting my portrait. He is in the next room.’ She was confident Ullman would lose interest once he knew Nancy was not one of the trinkets on sale. ‘I requested that Mr Vernon bring me here to view the Egyptian artifacts. I want to be certain my p
ortrait as Cleopatra has authenticity.’
Lord Ullman continued to gaze at Nancy. ‘I see.’
Ariana added, ‘We were about to leave.’
Ullman did not heed her. ‘Do you assist your brother, Miss Vernon?’
Nancy’s forehead creased in confusion and she darted a wary look toward Edwin. ‘When he asks me.’ She stepped back towards the door.
Ullman smiled at her. ‘I am delighted you assist him today. It is my good fortune to meet you.’
Nancy was saved from responding to this unwelcome flattery by Edwin.
He’d sauntered up to them, giving Nancy an unfriendly glance. ‘I seem to be knocking into Vernons everywhere I turn.’
‘I am equally as pleased to see you,’ Nancy retorted sharply.
Lord Ullman scowled at Edwin. ‘Dashed unfriendly of you, young man. I will not have it.’
Ariana curtsied. ‘We must leave. Good day to you both.’
She and Nancy hurried to find Jack.
Nancy ran up to him and pulled at his sleeve. ‘Jack! Edwin is here, of all people.’ She turned towards Ariana. ‘He is Tranville’s son and we’ve known him since childhood. He was a hateful boy, always harassing me and picking fights with Jack. He looks terrible with that scar.’
Jack looked out into the hall and saw Edwin in the doorway of the next room. The two men glared at each other.
Jack turned back to Nancy. ‘Stay clear of him.’
‘You do not need to warn me about Edwin.’ Nancy pulled on her brother again. ‘I do not want to be here, if he is here. Can we leave now?’
Jack looked to Ariana.
‘We have seen enough for me,’ she said, although they had not spied even one Egyptian artifact.
They made their way through the building and out of the grand doorway back on to Piccadilly.
‘I dislike it that Edwin has seen us together twice now,’ Jack whispered to Ariana as they stepped away from the building.
Ariana tried to give him a reassuring look. ‘I explained we were doing research for the portrait. I doubt it could be credited as anything more.’ Her curiosity burned to know the origins of such extreme reactions to Edwin Tranville. Would Jack ever tell her? she wondered.