This Fierce Splendor

by Iris Johansen

  “I suppose we ought to see about finding them—”

  The Baron grinned and stood tall beside her. “Yes, and I’m being terribly unfair to keep you all to myself like this. Syl will have my hide; she wanted me to introduce you around to the other guests in this little drama. I guess I’ll have to share you.” He took her hand and tucked it inside the crook of his arm. “But only for a while. After all, we have all those lost years to catch up on, my lovely Tessa.”

  My lovely Tessa … Halley basked in the fantasy of it all for a second, then smoothly swept across the room on his arm, her eyes lustrous and her head held high.

  As they approached each group, Halley noticed the admiring looks, the questioning brows that indicated the people were wondering who she really was, but the Baron introduced her only as the Contessa, and before long, Halley began to feel as if her slippers were made of glass and her pumpkin were waiting just outside the door. She had a long time to go before midnight.

  Dinner was a whirlwind of animated conversation and rich food served at round, linen-draped tables. Dozens of servants hovered over the guests, and a string quartet played on a small balcony off the dining room.

  There were twenty-four guests in all, and Halley marveled at how eagerly each one of them fell into his or her role. There was a proper spinster, a fading movie star, and, of course, a butler among the guests, and near her at her table sat a Mafia don in black tie, chewing a fat cigar. Kids playing dress-up and finding unexpected delight in being someone else, she mused. Just as she was doing.

  Her glance swept around the elegant table for the twentieth time that night and paused as it had each time on the profile of the magnificent Baron, sitting directly to her left. It would have been hard not to look at him, so imposing a presence was he. Halley Finnegan’s Baron—for two days. The thought sent unexpected chills up and down her spine. Who was he really, beneath the elegant tux and lovely talk? He fit the role of baron so perfectly, it was difficult to think of him as anyone else. Most of the guests had greeted him warmly and familiarly, some slipping and calling him Nick. Nick the Baron, with the laughing, dark eyes and the splash of gray at his temples. He was laughing now at something the older woman on his left had said, and Halley watched him over the rim of her wineglass.

  A deep, bellowing voice interrupted her thoughts. Herb Harrington leaned toward her, the buttons of his four-star general’s costume straining against his chest. “Ah, the Contessa is enjoying herself. Good!”

  Halley pushed her thoughts to the back of her mind and nodded to her host. “Leo Thorne was right on target, Mr. Harrington. Your parties are unusual! This is the nicest group of could-be murderers I’ve mingled with in some time.”

  He laughed heartily and patted her hand. “Well, Syl and I like a good time, Contessa. Yes, we do. And the Baron, is he introducing you to people?”

  “Oh, yes. Baron von Bluster certainly seems to know his way around.”

  “Ah, so I see his reputation can’t stay under wraps, even under that baronial title.”

  Halley shook her head quickly. “Oh, no, I only meant here. Everyone … well, he seems to know all the guests.” She glanced at Nick, but he was busy talking to someone.

  “Oh, that he does! Yes, ma’am, the Baron knows everyone, right, Abbie?” Herb smiled at an elderly woman with clear brown eyes who was sitting to his right.

  Halley had noticed her earlier with a distinguished-looking man who had thinning gray hair, and whom Halley assumed was the woman’s husband. They seemed to take special note of her when Nick had introduced them on the patio. She searched her memory for names, and when they came to her, she realized they weren’t using their real names, anyway. She knew them only as the once famous vaudeville team of Otto and Olive Bailey.

  The woman smiled warmly at Halley. “Yes, the Baron does know many people. And you seem to be getting along well, Contessa. So the Baron is being good to you?”

  Halley smiled. “Oh, he’s being very patient with me. I’m new at all this, you see. I—” She suddenly felt embarrassed. The woman was watching her so closely. It was not an unkind look, though, but rather one of intense interest.

  “Well, young lady, I can see in our Nick’s eyes that he’s enjoying himself. That’s good.” She nodded her head carefully and thoughtfully.

  Herb rested one hand over the woman’s and spoke kindly. “You see, Abbie? Who knows …” His voice drifted off then as he turned to summon a waiter for dessert, and the older woman’s attention was taken by the gentleman seated next to her.

  Halley pondered over the strange conversation for a moment, then realized she simply wasn’t used to dinner party chatter, that’s all. And barons.

  A gentle pressure on her leg beneath the drape of the tablecloth scattered her thoughts. For a fraction of a second she thought it was a dog, until a soft, very human whisper caressed her ear. “You’ve been giving far too much of your attention away to others, Contessa.”

  Halley jumped slightly. “Baron, you scared me! Is that you playing games with my knee beneath the table?”

  “Hmm, perhaps we should both go down to check?”

  “Wouldn’t that be a perfect moment for the murder? No, Baron, I don’t think it’s a wise move.”

  He nodded in mock seriousness. “You’re right, of course. We’ll save that until later. For now, though—” he cupped her free hand in his and pressed it to his lips—“we can simply relax in the pure delight of being together.” His kiss lingered on her fingers long after she had rescued her hand and slipped it down into her lap.

  A gravelly voice from across the table broke in. “Ho, Baron von Bluster, you have found yourself a lovely woman there, I see!”

  Nick looked over at the Mafia Don and chuckled. He was really an Episcopalian minister and was obviously enjoying his role immensely. “Well, sir, the way I see it, we need to make this party a success. And the only way is to play our parts to the hilt.”

  The plump man lifted his glass in wholehearted agreement, then swallowed its contents in a single gulp. “Right you are, Nick. Eat, play games, and be merry, for tomorrow you may die!” He laughed at his own joke, and Halley found herself joining in. He was having so much fun playing his role that it was contagious.

  “So, lovely lady, who are you?” The Don sat back and patted his wide girth.

  “This, Don Siciliano,” Nick said, “is the exquisite Contessa Ambrosia, named for the gods’ nectar and every bit as sweet.” Nick leaned sideways and kissed Halley gently on the cheek.

  “Aha, the Contessa! How lovely you look. And how lovely for you and the Baron to have found each other again. Lovers should be together.” He chuckled merrily, then added with a wink, “You see, I read my invitation carefully.”

  Halley felt Nick’s fingers once again doing tap dances on her knee. The silky material of her dress slid back and forth beneath his fingers, and she wondered how soon it would be before her labored breathing would cause her breasts to spill out of the form-fitting gown.

  “Yes,” the elderly female vaudeville star chimed in from Halley’s right, not seeming to notice her plight. “I agree, Don Siciliano. It’s about time Nick—ah, the Baron, excuse me—found a love.”

  Nick smiled at the woman, and Halley noticed it was a softer, more intimate smile than he offered to the others. The Baron cared a great deal for Olive Bailey, whoever she was.

  Halley managed a smile about the time Nick’s fingers began a slow massage. Fighting him was simply too tiring, she realized as she bit down painfully hard on her bottom lip. And there was no need to, anyway. It was all a game … and no one had ever accused Halley of being a poor sport! Playing along was the only practical course of action.

  “Yes, and being apart has been dastardly!” Halley announced with gushing enthusiasm. She wound her arm through Nick’s and pressed her cheek against his smooth tux, her face tilted up to smile at him with sensuous longing.

  Nick grinned down at her and fingered a lock of silky hair. The
evening was getting better and better, he decided. “Remember the last time we met?”

  “In Antibes, wasn’t it, darling?” Halley asked, fluttering her eyelashes. Antibes—where was Antibes, anyway?

  “Hell, why couldn’t I have been cast as a baron?” the butler complained. “Care to trade, sir?”

  “Not on your life! It’s about time I got lucky.” Nick wrapped his arm around the back of her chair, and his fingers pressed lightly on the bare flesh of her upper arm. “And my Tessa here is about the most beautiful good-luck charm a man could hope for.”

  His look invited a response, and Halley smiled a sophisticated, sexy contessa-like smile at him that surprised even herself.

  A shuffling of chairs and the ringing of a tiny silver bell by Herb Harrington quieted the guests, and Herb rose from his seat.

  “Welcome, friends,” he said in deep Shakespearean tones. “By now you have probably all met, but I’d like to introduce you one more time, just in case you may have missed one or two of our treasured guests. Take careful note as I do”—his voice plunged ominously—“because right here among us we have someone who will no longer be here on the morrow, and another who is responsible for his or her demise.”

  A ripple of laughter swept through the room, then Herb went on, introducing each guest and following up the introduction with a humorous note about the character.

  Halley was introduced right after a Russian Czar, and she managed to keep her smile bright and level, even during Herb’s declaration that she “and the Baron could certainly be using their reconciliation as a front to plot something far more dangerous.” Nothing, she knew with clear certainty, could be more dangerous than a “reconciliation” with the mysterious Baron.

  “And now,” Herb continued, his eyes sparkling brightly, “the party will continue outdoors with music and dancing and boat rides. As you mingle, you are to keep your ears and eyes open to hints and clues. And once the crime is committed, no match-book cover should go unchecked, no torn business card overlooked, no strange packages left unopened. And … no guest should be overlooked as a possible suspect.”

  Animated chatter once again filled the room, and Herb quieted them for one final directive. “The party will end with a buffet tomorrow evening, at which time all of you will demonstrate your deft powers of deduction and attempt to point the finger of accusation in the right direction. A prize—marvelous, of course—will be awarded our supersleuth. Meal schedules and such are in each of your suites, and the staff is available for anything you might need. Go now”—his large hands swept the air—“and mingle, my friends. With … murder!”

  The room was filled instantly with excited conversation and the shuffling of chairs as people got up from their tables.

  Nick whispered into Halley’s ear, “What will it be, my Tessa? Dancing? A boat ride? Or perhaps we could retire to my guest suite and renew old acquaintances?”

  “Oh, I hardly think we’d find clues in your suite. Much too obvious!” Halley’s words tumbled out on top of each other, her mind racing. Even the Contessa wasn’t ready to tackle that last choice! And although she’d love to dance, her feet were beginning to feel like bruised cucumbers in Rosie’s skinny heels; she knew she wouldn’t last on the dance floor. “How about a short walk?”

  Nick’s warm smile was her answer, and they walked outside and down the cobbled path that cut through the rolling lawns as it wound its way to the lakeshore. Halley breathed in the crisp night air. So this was what Cinderella had gone through. Lovely …

  “What are you thinking?” The Baron’s deep voice matched her dreamlike mood, and she smiled.

  “That I’ve had enough champagne tonight to last me the rest of the year. That the meal was absolutely fantastic. That it’s a lovely, beautiful night and that I’m enjoying myself.”

  “You forgot one thing.”

  “Oh?” She tilted her head sideways.

  “You forgot to mention that the Contessa is surprised at her enjoyment.”

  “Well, sure, a little surprised. I did have other plans for the weekend—”

  “Oh? Let me guess.” His arm slipped around her waist as they walked, his brows drawing together in an expression of exaggerated concentration. “You were planning on spending it in the solitude of a great museum, admiring magnificent works of art.”

  She shook her head and smiled.

  “No? Well, then, let me try again.” His free hand swept the air in front of them. “I have it! You were to be the guest of honor at a gala charity dinner for the preservation of pigeons, a lavish event attended by the rich and famous.”

  Halley laughed as she loosened herself from his hold and slipped down a side path and onto a curved bench that was surrounded by a cluster of bushes. A circle of thick-growing cedar trees backed the foliage and formed a grove, lit only by the moonlight trickling through the branches.

  “Please, may we sit for a second? I find your conjectures delightful, but my feet are absolutely killing me.” She slipped off the shoes and sighed deeply. “Oh, that feels wonderful! I’ve been wanting to get out of those high heels all night.”

  Nick sat down beside her and watched the slow graceful movement of her legs as she stretched them out before her. “Here, let me.”

  Before Halley could respond, he bent over and lifted both her feet, sliding them across his knees while her whole body rotated automatically on the cool stone. “I know just the trick,” he said calmly. With both of her stockinged feet in his lap, he slowly began to massage the tender arches.

  Halley’s eyes widened and her mouth dropped open, but there wasn’t time to refuse. She clasped the bench tightly on either side of her. “You … you’re a masseur back there in the real world, right?” Her voice sounded choppy, reaching her ears in starts and stops. But Nick’s fingers gently rubbing and pushing into her tired feet felt magnificent, and she closed her eyes and let her head drop back on her shoulders. “Hmmm, that feels absolutely wonderful. Even if it turns out you are the murderer.”

  His answering laugh filled the dark cove. “Contessa, you surprise me.” Nick watched her face closely as he spoke. “Here we are in our own private grotto, just the two of us. Aren’t you afraid?”

  “Certainly not. Why would I be afraid?” Because he might seduce her? No, no one, most especially a handsome baron, would seduce a quiet librarian with freckles on her chest. Didn’t he know that? A small smile teased up the corners of her lips.

  “Good.” His palms enclosed her ankles, and he rotated his hands gently, trying to ease the tiredness out of her bones. “I’m not afraid of you, either, although contessas, I’m told, are born to passion and are often quite aggressive.”

  Halley held her face up to catch the breeze and cool the hot blush that swept across her cheeks. His hands, on her ankles, were doing surprising things to her heartbeat as well as to other parts of her body. She took a quick breath and sought a contessa-like answer.

  “Yes, Baron,” she finally said, smiling at him down the length of her nose as the power of the masquerade rescued her. “But we’re also taught the fine art of control. And, dear Baron, I’ve mastered it beautifully.” There, she’d handled that well—well enough to make her wonder briefly if perhaps she had been royalty in another life.

  The Baron sneaked his fingers beneath the hem of the slinky red dress and crawled them slowly over the smooth, firm skin of her legs. Her dress collected around the stiff white cuffs of his shirt and rode up along with his movements.

  “Hey!” Halley shot up, her eyes wide as her body reacted violently to his explorations.

  Nick grinned slowly. “Perfect control, hmm?”

  “Baron,” she demanded feverishly, “remove your hands from beneath my dress immediately.”

  Nick Harrington wasn’t at all used to listening to the pleas of ladies in situations like this because the women usually meant the opposite of what they said. But then, the freckled Contessa was not like anyone Nick had ever met before. He removed his han
ds and smiled softly. “Sorry, just wanted to know the extent of that control. You’re a pretty sensuous lady, you know.”

  “You’re speaking in non sequiturs, Baron. A definite breach of logic.” She swung her bare feet down to the ground and wiggled her toes.

  Nick threw his head back and laughed. “Tessa, I think I’m falling in love.”

  “Well, good,” Halley said as primly and calmly as she could manage, her palms pushing away the wrinkles on her dress. “You’re following the script nicely, Nick.”

  “Nick? Now how did he get in here? It’s not fair, you know, that you know my name and I know absolutely nothing about you.” He sidled closer to her.

  She lifted her chin slightly. “Fair? There was nothing on my invitation, dear Baron, that said a thing about being fair. Now come.” She stood and looked down at him in the purple shadows. “Let’s head back. All this fantasy has made me terribly tired. I think it’s time I hit the hay.”

  Nick watched her as she rose from the bench. A stray beam of moonlight splashed across her face and lit her remarkably honest green eyes. More women than he could count had said the same thing to him in the past four years—in slightly different words, of course, but she was probably the first one who meant she wanted to go to bed … alone … to sleep.

  His smile went unnoticed by Halley, who was feeling around the pebbled walkway with her toes in an effort to find the spike-heeled shoes. Beneath that wonderful makeup job and sexy dress, Nick decided thoughtfully, was someone who had never come within fifty miles of a contessa in her life.

  “Here, contessa, allow me.” He bent over and picked up her shoes, slipping each one onto an arched foot while she balanced herself with one hand on his back.

  “Thank you. I feel like Cinderella.”

  “In that case, you’d have to leave one shoe behind, and those pebbles would hurt like hell.”

  Halley nodded. “Right.” She comfortably hooked one arm through his. “I’d also have to run off, and there’s no way on earth I’d be able to manage that tonight.”

  “Good.” He looked down and smiled softly. “I don’t want you running off.” He led her carefully back toward the well-lit terrace of the Harrington estate.