How To Vex A Viscount by Mia Marlowe

Author:Mia Marlowe [Mia Marlowe]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Romance, England, Love Story, Historical Fiction, Regency Romance
Amazon: B0098PIUN2
Barnesnoble: B0098PIUN2
Goodreads: 16046804
Publisher: Novel Ideas
Published: 2009-02-12T14:00:00+00:00

“Anticipation is a whetstone that sharpens desire.”

—the journal of Blanche La Tour

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Daisy closed the heavy edition of Moll Flanders and leaned her chin on her palm. Her own life was too much of a tangle for her to feel any empathy for the misadventures of Daniel Defoe’s hapless heroine. Besides, Defoe tended to moralize a bit too much for the comfort of Daisy’s conscience. She imagined that worthy Puritan author would have a good deal to say about her masquerade as a courtesan and the fleshly adventures she and Lucian had almost shared.

It was the almost that brought a sigh to Daisy’s lips.

“Are you in terrible pain, sweeting?” Isabella glanced up from her own book. She and Lord Wexford had been playing a companionable game of chess earlier in the far corner of the parlour. Isabella looked lovely in the soft lamplight and was thoroughly enjoying trouncing her good-natured husband. But then Lord Wexford’s valet had arrived with a note, and Geoffrey excused himself early. Isabella had been wearing a scowl ever since. Daisy didn’t think her great-aunt had turned a page in the last quarter hour.

“No, the willow-bark tea seems to dull the ache.” Daisy’s injured ankle was propped on the tasselled pillow of the cunning Turkish-style ottoman.

“Then why the sigh?” Isabella asked. “You’re far too young to have such cares.”

Daisy exhaled noisily. “It’s just . . . well, now I’m no longer able to be Blanche, and I can’t be myself either. I mean, with this stupid sprain, I can’t even go to work at the excavation and—”

“And see Lucian Beaumont,” Isabella finished for her.

“Exactly.” Daisy shifted her foot to find a more comfortable position. “And yet, I have a feeling that given the choice he’d rather see Blanche than me.”

“Why do you say that?” Isabella asked. “Haven’t you and he enjoyed working together by day?”

“Yes, we have a jolly enough time, and I think he tolerates me well now, but—”

“But he presents a different side of himself to you when he thinks you are Blanche?”

Daisy nodded.

“Do you like him less by day?”

“No, I like him rather too much by day or by night,” Daisy admitted. “Oh, Isabella, what’s wrong with me? I believe I’m actually jealous of . . . of myself!”

“Then perhaps it’s time you put away your competition for good,” her great-aunt said. “Retire Blanche La Tour. Playing at courtesan is a dangerous game for even one night, and you’ve managed it for several. So far you’ve escaped relatively unscathed.”

“My ankle would beg to differ.”

“I meant your heart, dearest,” Isabella said gently. “You haven’t allowed the game to run away with your heart.”

Daisy wasn’t so sure of that.

Isabella cast a long look in the direction of Lord Wexford’s exit. “Once your heart is in play, the rules change.” She seemed to give herself a slight shake. “As far as Lucian’s presenting you with a different face when you are in Blanche’s shoes, we all do that. Like a chameleon that blends into his surroundings, we become what others expect of us.

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