Diana by Alexa Aston

Author:Alexa Aston
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2019-07-24T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eight

THE CURTAIN FELL for intermission and Diana found she couldn’t move. She was in another world, another time and place, so far away from everything in London.

“What do you think so far?” Lord Merrifield murmured in her ear, his lips lightly grazing her lobe, sending a shiver through her.

“It’s indescribable. To hear and see such a moving story told through song. The voices of the singers sound like angels.” She frowned. “Don Giovanni is a nightmare of a man.”

He leaned back. “Would you like to stretch your legs a bit?”

“Yes, I’d like that.”

He assisted her to her feet and she saw Lord and Lady Merrick already standing.

“I can tell from your face how much you’re enjoying Don Giovanni,” Rachel said. “Isn’t the woman portraying Donna Anna remarkable? She was here last year in another production. I think her range has grown even more since then.”

Diana laughed. “I can barely carry a tune. I play the pianoforte adequately but don’t ever ask me to sing. If I did, cats would be yowling everywhere at the discordant sound coming from me.”

They moved from the box into the corridor that linked to the other boxes and she strolled down it with Lord Merrifield, who’d tucked her hand through the crook of his arm. Touching him excited her. That alone told her it was not a good idea to do so. After this excursion to the opera, she would make sure not to see him until the Duke of Everton’s ball. She knew she couldn’t avoid him there and that he would most likely ask her to dance.

It would probably be the first—and last—time they did so.

“Diana? Is that truly you?” a voice called.

She looked to her left, where a familiar face stared back at her, one she’d cherished. “Linda? My goodness, I haven’t seen you since you were twelve? Thirteen?”

“Thirteen. You were twelve.” The woman smiled. “Good evening, Lord Merrifield.”

“Lady Ashmore.”

Linda said, “Diana and I are old friends. Our estates lay next to one another. My father died and my mother remarried when I was thirteen. We left for York and I never saw Diana again, until now.”

“We tried to write,” Diana said. “It’s probably my fault. I was never much good with correspondence.”

“The same here.” Linda looked back to Merrifield. “Would you mind if I stole Diana for a private word, my lord?”

“Not at all.”

Linda took her arm and pulled her several steps away from the others gathered and then said sternly, “Diana, what are you doing in London? I heard everything, you know. It will not go well for you here if you think to find a husband after what you did.”

Her gut clinched. Thinking the words to herself was one thing. Hearing a treasured friend voice the sentiment aloud was much worse.

“You think the gossip will follow me?” she asked, her head growing light.

“It will. Not from me, of course,” Linda assured her hastily, “but there will be others among the ton that once they hear your name announced at the first event you attend, they will eviscerate you.

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