Free [Samuel Barbara] Lucien's Fall(Book4You) by Unknown Page B

eased. "I can say without vanity that most girls your age would choose my company over your marquess."

    "I’m not most girls."

    "No. You aren’t, are you?" Casually, he looked past her, then back. "It’s Lucien who tantalizes you, isn’t it?"

    That strange, sharp feeling went through her again. "Don’t be ridiculous. What earthly good is a rake of his sort?"

    "Look at him."

    Madeline turned her head. Lucien ignored his food and leaned back in his chair, his elbows braced against the arm rests, his fingers steepled in front of him. Dark amusement glittered in his eyes, curled his full lips. He looked like nothing so much as a cat in certain pursuit. When he caught Madeline’s eye, he winked.

    Next to her, Jonathan chuckled. "He has no interest in Juliette, you know."

    "No?"

    "He wants you only."

    Madeline bent over her plate. "I’d rather talk of something else," she said.

    "Very well. Name your topic."

    Just then, a broad slash of lightning burst with a blinding sizzle across the sky, followed instantly by a crack of thunder that sent dishes clattering and the overhead chandelier swaying on its chain.

    "Strike me blind!" Madeline swore, jumping to her feet. A torrential rain began to pour from the sky.

    Dinner forgotten, the guests left the table to crowd around the windows, exclaiming to each other over the power of nature. Madeline went with them, pressing her face as close as she could into the pane. Within moments, huge raindrops filled the small terrace beyond with water. Rain slammed against the doors. Wind tore leaves and small branches from the trees, and Madeline glimpsed small shreds of red and pink and orange borne away—flower petals torn from tender plants.

    In the press of people, Madeline did not at first notice the heat along her arm and spine. Not until she scented a particular and distinctive smell did she realize she was hip to hip with Lucien. She shifted to break contact, and he did not follow but stood so close behind her she could feel the brush of his breath over her bare shoulder blade.

    "Magnificent, isn’t it?" he said.

    Annoyed, she tilted her head to look at him. "Must you stand so close?"

    He lifted a finger to his lips. His eyes held a bright, glittering look. "Listen," he said, with an odd note in his cello-rich voice. A kind of reverence. "Do you hear the music?"

    She frowned, all too aware of his hand on her shoulder, just as it had been on Juliette’s, his bare fingers on her skin. Hot and uncomfortable. She squirmed a little, but his light grip tightened.

    "Listen," he said again.

    The word was so insistent that Madeline inclined her head and opened her ears to the sounds all around them. "Rain, wind, the rising and falling of voices," she said aloud.

    "Closer," he said, almost whispering. "How many notes there are in the rain!"

    Madeline looked at him. He closed his eyes, and there was on his face an almost transcendent look of joy. She wanted to hear what he heard and she closed her eyes, too.
    Many notes in the rain? She listened. Yes. The heavy splat of fat drops hitting the stone balustrade, the higher, sweeter tinkle of it striking the glass, and the hollow splash of it on the empty brass planters on the steps. "I hear it!" she exclaimed.

    Lucien opened his eyes, and his fingers moved very slightly against her neck.
    "What else do you hear, Madeline?" He touched her earlobe with his index finger.
    "Listen."

    There were dozens of sounds, some faint, like the clatter of a serving spoon against china as a footman stirred a dish. Some boomed, like the hard stomp of thunder.
    Skirts rustled, voices swirled, rain pattered and slapped and tinkled. "Wonderful," she said.

    So intently was she listening that she heard the hail a split second before it hit the walkway beyond the windows. It came roaring in, tearing at the trees and gardens, coming toward the house— "Move away from the windows!" she cried. Two-and three-inch ice stones crashed through the