Devil's Daughter (Devil 2)

Rayna watched the marchese and Arabella walk to the far end of the salon, where refreshments were laid out on long tables. She felt something like what she thought was jealousy, and was surprised at herself. She noticed that her dancing partner was watching her closely.

“I have not stepped on your foot, signorina,” the comte said.

“No,” she said. “I suppose that I am not used to the heat.”

“Heat?” Gervaise raised

his brows.

Rayna realized that the vast room was really quite cool. “I meant cold.”

“Ah, I see,” he said pleasantly enough. So the girl is taken with the marchese, he thought. He would quickly change that.

“We mustn’t spend too much time together, Bella,” Adam was saying to his sister.

“Better with me than with Rayna,” Arabella said. “Lady Delford had a mild fit while you two were dancing.”

“It was only one dance,” Adam said.

Arabella sipped at the sweet wine punch and said in her blandest voice, “I think you’ve made an impression on Rayna.”

“She has changed.”

Arabella laughed and touched her hand familiarly to his arm. “Ah, Adam, can it be that you are equally taken?”

“With a child fresh from the schoolroom?” Adam asked. “Really, Bella, strive for a little sense. Now, tell me what you have been doing.”

“Well, we moved into a charming villa last Wednesday. It is on the outskirts of the city, set upon a hill overlooking the bay. Sometimes I can almost imagine that I am home in Genoa, with the smell of the water and all the flowers.” She saw that Adam’s eyes had strayed from her face to the dance floor. “Soon you won’t have to speak French with Rayna. She is quite fast with languages, and will be fluent in Italian in no time at all, much to her father’s disapproval, I might add.”

“I am relieved she didn’t recognize me. Lady Delford, as you said, was rather put out. You shouldn’t have engineered the dance between us.” He negligently flicked a puff of lint from his sleeve and added, “Her father will not like it when he finds out she danced with me twice.”

“Twice?” Arabella asked.

“I also told Rayna I would dance with you. Come along.”

“No,” Arabella said. “You are only my brother, and I don’t have to suffer through a dance with you. You see, I am wearing Rayna’s slippers, and alas, they are too small for me. But tell me what you have learned. Has the Comte de la Valle anything to do with what father told us about?”

“God, yes,” Adam said. “I am in his good graces now, having saved him and one of his friends late one night from three vicious brigands. Daniele’s men, of course. No one was hurt, thank God. Keep Rayna away from him, Bella. And don’t you tread near him either.”

“Yes, I shall.”

“As to learning anything, no, not yet. The comte has let slip that he has a mistress, an older woman who is in the court circle—near to the king, I might add. His friend Celestino let drop that the old hag is making Gervaise richer than he has a right to be.”

“Rich with our cargoes?”

“Possibly. As for this society he has organized, I haven’t yet been asked to join. But I think I’ve met most of the other members at Gervaise’s lodgings. They are, for the most part, young noblemen bored and primed to be wicked. Gervaise is undoubtedly their guiding light.”

“Well, I shall have very attentive ears and eyes. If the woman is here in the court, I am bound to meet her.”

“You will take care, Bella.” He nudged his knuckle against her jaw.

“You know I will.”

Rayna forced a smile. “It is all so exciting,” she said to the comte.

“Indeed,” the comte agreed.

Rayna was thankful the music came to a stop. She dipped a curtsy. “I must return to my mother, sir. I see her waving to me.”