Free The Seducer by Madeline Hunter Page A

beckoned her like an errant child.
    “My apologies, M’sieur Duclairc. My cousin forgets sometimes that I am of age.”
    “Duclairc is well aware that you are no longer a schoolgirl, my dear.”
    She ignored him and his hand. “You say that you are visiting Paris to attend the theater, M’sieur Duclairc. Perhaps we will see each other again. Thank you for your advice about London.” She went over to Margot, kissed her friend, and aimed for the door.
    Daniel did not follow immediately. She glanced back and saw him speaking quietly with Monsieur Duclairc. She got the impression of two men clarifying a few things.
    Daniel caught up with her as she descended to the lower level. He gripped her elbow firmly, and not entirely in support. “Do not ever do that again.”
    “Do what? Visit a friend?”
    “Keep me waiting.”
    “I did not ask you to come for me, nor did you indicate that you would. You cannot expect me to terminate my plans merely because it is convenient for your capricious impulses.”
    “I had the carriage out and came so you would not have to walk back. It was getting late and you have to prepare for tonight.”
    “I may not choose to attend the opera tonight. It isn’t as though anyone invited me.”
    Acknowledgment of that flickered in his eyes, but his expression barely softened. “Then I invite you now. Indulge me.”
    It wasn’t a true invitation. Not really. She had that sensation of being a doll again. It increased her irritation and embarrassment at being hauled away like this. “You were not invited to Margot’s
salon
and it was rude of you to come in. Your sister has taught me that well enough, along with everything else.”
    His expression turned severe. “I came in because it was obvious that your friend was parading you in front of Vergil and the others as a potential mistress. It was ignorant of you to visit here, and stupid of me not to stop it.” He opened the carriage door. “It is time for my sister to explain a bit more to you than how to look elegant. But I will give the first lesson. There are men who enjoy being a pretty woman’s puppet and who find Margot’s kind of game amusing. I am not one of them. I tell you again—do not ever keep me waiting.”

chapter
7

    S he kept him waiting.
    Daniel paced the library, dressed for the evening. First, word came down that Diane would be delayed because the maid had created a mess of her hair, and then a small tear was found in her gown.
    “She is doing this on purpose,” he said to Jeanette, who read a book near the hearth.
    “It is her first time to the theater and she wants to be perfect. Have some consideration.”
    Jeanette might be fooled, but he was not. This was a deliberate challenge, a woman’s way of getting back for the argument this afternoon.
    “She is not to visit that woman again. It was not just coffee between old friends. Others were there.”
    “By others, you mean men.” Jeanette looked up from her book. “If you had warned me about this Margot I would have discouraged the visit, but we had no authority to forbid it. Perhaps it is just as well that she went. She cannot be sheltered from such things, here or in London. Her lack of fortune will make her vulnerable. I will not have her ignorant, Daniel. That could lead to catastrophe.”
    “Then speak with her as frankly about this as you do about silks and bonnets.”
    “I fully expect that visiting Margot taught her a great deal.”
    “Perhaps not as you anticipated. Margot might be a bad influence.”
    “If an afternoon with a man’s mistress is a bad influence, I can only imagine what weeks with me have been.”
    “Jeanette, do not—”
    “I am finished with this conversation, dear brother. Rest assured that I will instruct her on the proper protection of her virtue.” She made a display of turning the page of her book, but not before she cast him an arch glance.
    That look said it all. Jeanette knew. She saw it in his forced indifference to