Devil's Daughter (Devil 2)

“Washed-out? Really, mon ami. That beautiful auburn hair and those exquisite hazel eyes? And she is so very young and untouched.”

Adam’s eyes followed the comte’s to Rayna Lyndhurst, who was standing slightly behind Arabella. He started at seeing her. The scraggly little peahen of a girl he remembered had emerged as a young lady of glorious plumage. She was standing very close to her mother, gazing timidly about her. He had the unaccountable urge to tell her not to be afraid. It was all show. Adam tried to subdue the uneasiness he felt at the comte’s words.

“She has the look of a convent,” he said indifferently.

“And I have the look of a man who will scale the convent walls.”

“I believe,” Adam said thoughtfully, ignoring the comte’s jest, “that she must belong to the Lyndhurst family. He is the new adviser to Sir Hugh Elliot, I hear.”

“How convenient that I am such an ardent royalist,” the comte said. “After they have paid their respects to their raddled majesties, I will contrive an introduction. I wonder if that other lovely girl is also a daughter. I did not know the English bred such exquisite females.”

Both females were curtsying deeply to Queen Maria Carolina, having endured the king’s ogling.

“Welcome to Naples,” the queen said, giving her hand to Viscount Delford. “You have made Mr. Acton’s acquaintance, have you not?”

“Indeed, madam,” Edward Lyndhurst said. He nodded formally to Acton, who stood beside the Princess Amélie. He felt a tug of liking for the most powerful man in Naples. He was tall, portly, and heavily jowled, but his eyes were alight with amusement at some untold joke.

“My wife is shortly expecting a baby, else she would be here to greet you, my lord,” Acton said.

“Please offer our congratulations to your wife, sir,” Lady Delford said. “This is my daughter, Rayna, and her friend Lady Arabella Welles.”

“Charmed,” the queen said, bestowing a royal smile on the two young ladies.

“As am I, your majesty,” Arabella said with a brilliant smile.

“I will agree,” Acton said, his smile widening. “Ladies,” he continued after a moment, “I will leave you with Sir Hugh, the English ambassador. He knows everyone and will give you splendid introductions. Lord Delford? Have you a moment?”

To Arabella’s surprise, the queen rose and led Acton and Viscount Delford through a narrow door behind the dais. The king did not appear to notice their leaving, for he was in conversation with an older woman who was flirting outrageously with him from behind her ivory fan.

Sir Hugh noticed Arabella’s raised brows and followed her gaze. He said in a lightly snide undervoice, “Please ignore his majesty, my dear. He takes little notice of the running of his kingdom. The lady is his latest flirt, a newly arrived contessa from Genoa or Milan, I am not certain which.”

“This is a splendid gathering, Sir Hugh,” Lady Delford said.

“And the palace is impressive,” Arabella added.

“Indeed, ladies,” Sir Hugh agreed. “It is a pity the queen dislikes it so much. You see, the French held Naples back in 1797 for some five months, and used the palace for their own diversions. It holds some bitter memories for the royal family. They now do most of their entertaining at the palace at Caserta. But Monsieur Alquier is approaching.”

Arabella thought the monsieur a slippery snake when he finally allowed them to escape. Her thoughts were so clear in her expressive eyes that Sir Hugh chuckled.

“Do not, my dear,” he said quietly, “let Alquier know what you are thinking. He is unbelievably powerful. For the moment, he is content to allow their majesties to reign.”

“It is a fault of mine, Sir Hugh,” Arabella said. “I will contrive to keep my lashes fluttering.”

Sir Hugh turned to Rayna. “What did you think of Monsieur Alquier, Miss Lyndhurst?”

Rayna did not hear the ambassador. She was occupied in staring at a tall young man who was standing on the opposite side of the salon. He was dressed elegantly in black velvet evening clothes, with frothy white lace at his throat and wrists. His eyes were a startling blue, and he sported a full black beard on his lean face, as dark as she was fair. A man shouldn’t be that beautiful, she thought, shaking her head at herself. Maybe she was wrong about his eyes; after all, he was some distance away. Maybe he had bad teeth. She remembered her father telling her “foreigners have nothing worth hearing to say and their manners have no dignity,” or some such thing. In this man’s case, she doubted her father’s pronouncement.

“Rayna, my love. Are you all right?”

Rayna blinked. “Yes, Mother?”

“Sir Hugh is speaking to you, my dear.”

“Oh. Yes, Sir Hugh, I agree with you fully,” she said.

“Excellent.” He laughed and tossed a smile to Arabella, as if sharing a secret. He led the ladies through the salon. He appeared to know everyone. Arabella was beginning to think her face would freeze into a permanent smile before they were through. She met Adam’s eyes as they approached and winked at him. A brief frown crossed his forehead.

“Monsieur le comte,” Sir Hugh said. “Allow me to present Lady Delford, her charming daughter, Rayna, and Lady Arabella Welles. Ladies, the Comte de la Valle.”