Though she’d much rather see that fate befall the latter. Kitty did not like Lord Debenham one bit. His eyes were cold, his mouth thin indicating a cruel character, and he appeared vain and arrogant, rather like his wife.
No, Kitty decided, the less she had to do with Araminta and her new husband, the better.
“Lady Debenham is very beautiful,” Kitty remarked, just to see what Lord Silverton would say, when they’d passed on. She picked up her skirts to avoid her lovely gown being ruined by the channels of dirty water that washed over the cobblestones from the rain earlier that day. For a moment, she’d been terrified Araminta would recognize it as hers. However, Kitty had trimmed it with contrasting ruffles and was wearing a pelisse and a bonnet festooned with flowers, so the ensemble would have looked very different to anything Araminta would have remembered.
Lady Debenham had also looked a trifle careworn, despite her beauty, Kitty reflected, and wondered how Araminta was coping during the latter stages of her pregnancy. She did not look the kind who would bear it very well at all.
“Lady Debenham is, I am afraid, rather too much hard work for a man of my tastes, though I’m sure she and Lord Debenham do very well together. No, I far prefer golden-haired beauties such as yourself.”
Kitty was interested by Lord Silverton’s ironic tone and surprised he would speak so bluntly to her. But then, he assumed she was sim
ply the lowborn young woman it had amused him to take on an afternoon jaunt. Which, of course, was true. No doubt he didn’t expect ever to see her again unless he came to throw flowers at her on stage.
This reminded her of the urgent need to repeat her audition for Mr. Lazarus, and she gripped Lord Silverton’s arm to draw his attention back from the pig that could apparently spell, though Kitty hadn’t seen evidence during the three minutes they’d been observing it.
“Please, Lord Silverton, what do you think Mr. Lazarus is looking for to cast me in the role of Juliet?” she asked. “When I met him at the theater in my village during their tour of the provinces, he said he felt in his bones I would be his next leading lady. He even said I looked perfect for the role of Juliet.”
Lord Silverton transferred his fixed attention from the pig that could spell to Kitty’s no-doubt anxious face. “Did you flatter him?”
“Flatter him?”
“Of course, every man loves to be flattered. Especially a man like Mr. Lazarus. You need to show enormous admiration for his theater skills and add to the cocktail a dose of personal flattery. He’s not getting any younger, but he wants to believe he is as handsome as he was when a young buck of thirty.”
“Is that what you like to hear, Lord Silverton?” Kitty asked with a flash of a smile.
“Oh, I don’t need your flattery, Kitty, and if you start now, I shall know not to believe it after this little lesson I’ve given you.” He patted her shoulder. “Besides, I’m only just past thirty, very handsome and athletic, so, in fact, in my prime. I fancy I am also too intelligent not to recognize false flattery, but Mr. Lazarus is an altogether different beast. I suggest you return to see him at the theater, looking suitably tragic and contrite. Ask if you can audition again because you’re heartbroken to have been so green as to have flubbed your first chance at what you’ve always desired...to be directed by the incomparable Mr. Lazarus, a theater director greater even than David Garrick.”
Kitty considered this as they left the spelling pig and wandered off to visit the tiger where she shrieked when it lunged at her, though it was of course repulsed by the bars of its cage.
“Do you think Mr. Lazarus will want to kiss me again?” she asked after a while.
“I expect so. That’s why he chose that passage from Romeo and Juliet.” Lord Silverton gave her a considered look as they were about to move on. “No doubt he wants to see if you are able to pretend to like being kissed by someone you hardly know. You will need to be very convincing if the audience is to believe you’d rather take your own life than be parted from your Romeo. Perhaps you’d like to practice with me later this evening.”
Kitty jerked her head up, shocked, to find he was grinning at her. He pinched her cheek. “I am joking, but I’m also quite happy to help you perfect this difficult role you must master if you are to secure Juliet from Mr. Lazarus.”
Kitty put her hand in the crook of the arm he offered. “I don’t know if I can do this...if I’m not in love,” she said doubtfully. She thought of the dashing young buck with his inky curls and blazing eyes who’d so flattered her earlier that morning and added softly, “Or, what if I am in love with another?”
He shrugged. “Well, I am in love with another, but sometimes kissing a stranger can be quite the antidote.” Almost distracted, he added as he assisted her over another channel of dirty water, “Well, that’s what one tries to believe.”
“You are in love with another? Oh, Lord Silverton, she would be so jealous if she saw you squiring me around.”
“Not at all. She’d be delighted since she was so very sorry to have hurt my feelings last night when she rejected my marriage proposal in favor of someone far inferior.”
Kitty saw he was trying to inject humor into his tone for she did not miss the bleak flare of his eyes. Despite being highly suspicious of him in view of what Mr. Cranborne had said, she felt a surge of sympathy. “I’m very sorry for it, Lord Silverton.”
“It’s an episode relegated to the past, and now you are here to help take my mind off my pain. What do you say to a night of dancing?” Suddenly, he was all exuberance as he took her hand and whisked her back toward the Tower entrance.
“But what about my landlady?”
“When I escort you back, I’ll have a more than adequate excuse and a few pennies to take the edge off her anger. But first, we must have some dinner. Come, Miss La Bijou. If we are both bearing broken hearts, then we must console one another, and tomorrow you will prove your worth to Mr. Lazarus. What do you say to such a proposal?”
Chapter Four
Kitty had never been dancing before. Not even to the Assembly balls held in the village. Her mother had kept her daughters close, perhaps wanting to shield them from the whispers. Kitty realized the plan had always been for Lissa to find a post as a governess, Ned to be apprenticed to some worthy occupation—boys were not so damaged by the stain of bastardy—but Kitty, despite her love of adventure, was expected to stay at home to help her mother.
Clasped in Lord Silverton’s arms, she once again felt pangs about abandoning her mother as she skirted the dance floor of the insalubrious salon above a row of unprepossessing shopfronts. This was a place, she supposed, where young bucks could take their fancy pieces without demur. As for herself, Kitty didn’t expect to be recognized by anyone, and she assuaged her conscience with the knowledge she wasn’t doing anything wrong.
“Well, Kitty, how have you enjoyed your first night painting the town red, as they say?” Lord Silverton asked as he drove her back in his phaeton.