Jane hesitated and then slid into the far left seat. As Gabriel sat, Chloe’s chattering filled the tense quiet. “Does your excitement for the evening’s festivities meet your expectations?” She gave a cynical tilt of her chin, motioning to the theatre below where lords and ladies craned their necks about, shamelessly taking in the other peers about them.
“I daresay, the real reason for my excitement would be for the performance itself.” As Jane spoke, she cast an eager look about the expansive hall.
Chloe leaned past Gabriel and held Jane’s gaze. “No one attends for the performance.”
“How very sad,” Jane lamented as the orchestra thrummed their haunting strands of Rossini’s work. “One should not cease to find joy in something just because…” She paused. Her brow wrinkled.
He leaned closer, intrigued by the confusion in her eyes. “Just because what?”
She met his gaze. “Because there are unpleasant others about.” Her eyes reflected surprise at her own words.
Whatever his sister would have said was lost to the increasing tempo and beat of the orchestra’s tune. From the corner of his eye he took in Jane as she returned her attention to the stage and studied the performance below with an uncharacteristic softness in her expression.
Attending the theatre was no different than attending a soiree or ball or dinner party. Each affair bore the same social obligations. They were events in which lords and ladies went through the motions of life focused on the power and wealth that drove their relationships. Since he’d left university and fulfilled the responsibilities thrust upon him as the Marquess of Waverly, he’d gone through the proper motions of Societal life. All the while knowing there would be nothing more for him or of him, and that had empowered him. For it was a decision in which he’d reclaimed his life after years of abuse and shame.
Seated beside Jane, with a cynical eye he looked out to the stage, at the actors and actresses, as they performed Rossini’s La Cenerentola with the theatre abuzz in loud whispers of gossip. These affairs were as contrived and tedious as any ball or soiree attended by members of the ton. Surreptitiously, he peered at Jane. Her wide eyes formed round moons and her lips were parted, as she stared at the stage with the kind of awe worn by Adam when he’d first seen Eve with that succulent apple in her temptress’ fingers. He glanced down at the stage and then back to her. Had he ever been so innocent as to find pleasures in events such as these?
“Are you enjoying the performance?” he drawled quietly. It was a foolish question. The lady’s appreciation was stamped in every delicate plane of her heart-shaped face. And it was there on her quivering mouth—that mouth he’d kissed so recently and dreamed about since.
Jane started and then glanced about to ascertain whom he spoke to. A small frown formed on her lips. “I am.” She returned her attention to the stage below.
Ah, the lady was displeased with him. He should leave the stilted relationship between them as just that—disapproving and combative. He spoke on a hushed whisper. “You have an actress’ soul, then.”
A crimson blush stained her cheeks and all pleasure faded from her eyes. Regret cut into him. She angled her chin up a notch. “My lord?” There was a challenge there.
He waved a hand. “Do not allow me to distract you from your pleasures, Jane.”
Her frown deepened at the use of her Christian name and she stole a glance at Chloe. Had the young woman heard that bold familiarity? When she returned her gaze to Gabriel’s, there was a fiery challenge in her eyes. “Are you having fun at my expense, my lord?”
A flush burned his neck. “Is your opinion so low of me?” Or was her opinion so low of any gentleman? His breath stirred the loose curl that hung over her eyes and it took a physical force to keep from brushing back that silken tendril. “You came to enjoy the theatre.”
“I came as your sister’s companion,” she pointed with a pragmatism that made him grin. She peered around Gabriel and cast a glance over at Chloe. He followed her stare. For all his sister’s protestations to the contrary, she studied the stage below with a similar excitement he’d spied from Jane.