The Prince of Pleasure (Notorious 5)

"You won't ever give up, will you?" Julienne said in exasperation.

Dare flashed his notorious grin. "Certainly not. You should know me better than that by now."

"Regrettably, I do. I have no doubt you will spend the entire week trying to seduce me."

"What else? But Madame Brogard can come along to play chaperone if you feel you need protection."

"She hasn't proven to be adequate protection in the past," Julienne muttered. "What sort of living arrangements did you have in mind?"

"I always hire a lodge at Newmarket each spring. It's not luxurious, but it's comfortable."

"And totally unacceptable. I am not about to live there with you, Dare. It would appear too much like you are winning our wager. Solange and I will stay at an inn instead."

"It will be nearly impossible to find rooms at an inn at this late date. The Guineas is a leading meet, and the entire racing world will be in attendance."

"Well, if you want me there, you will find a way."

Julienne gave him an arch smile of her own. "I'm certain the resourceful Marquess of Wolverton can rise to the occasion and charm a set of rooms from a Newmarket innkeeper."

"You drive a hard bargain, love, but I will do my best to satisfy you."

"Satisfying me will be quite a feat," she reminded him in dulcet tones.

Dare's frustration hadn't lessened as he watched Julienne's performance the following evening. He had sidestepped her questions about the companion's lover because he could see no point in alarming her unnecessarily.

There was no reason to tell her about finding the pearl broach in his carriage or the likelihood that Caliban had planted it there. Lady Castlereagh had confirmed that the bauble was indeed the one Alice Watson had worn, which made Dare almost positive Caliban had been taunting him.

Dare's thoughts were centered on his nemesis rather than Shakespeare's play by the time Lady Anne was supposed to be poisoned. He watched Julienne take a sip from her wineglass and launch into an impassioned speech lamenting King Richard's malevolence. It was perhaps five minutes later when her voice suddenly quavered and she touched her throat. She managed a few more words, but then her delivery faltered altogether, making Dare wonder if she had forgotten her lines.

Suddenly she swayed and slowly sank to the stage floor, as if in a faint.

Her collapse just now was not part of the script, Dare was certain.

Her fellow actors seemed bewildered by the digression. One of the "palace guards" knelt at Julienne's side, making up lines as he went. "My queen! Are you ill?"

When Julienne gave no response, fear snaked along Dare's spine. Without conscious thought, he rose from his seat and hurriedly left his box, making his way along the corridors and down to the pit.

By the time he leapt up on stage, a crowd of actors had gathered around Julienne, and there was an audible buzz from the puzzled audience.

He pushed his way through to kneel beside Julienne.

She was barely conscious, he realized. Her breathing was shallow and her pulse so weak it was almost undetectable.

"Summon a doctor!" Dare demanded, his voice rough with dread.

He chafed her wrists to no avail. When someone handed him a vial of smelling salts, he waved it under her nostrils. Her eyelids fluttered and she gave a soft moan, but her body remained limp.

Lifting Julienne in his arms, he carried her backstage to the green room, ignoring the questions directed by the anxious manager, Samuel Arnold.

Dare laid her down on the chaise and loosened the tight bodice of her gown, his gaze riveted on her pale face, her blue lips that were barely moving as she tried futilely to speak. The last time he'd seen such a bloodless visage, it was that of a dead woman.

To his relief, a man claiming to be a physician appeared almost immediately, saying he had been in the audience. Dare paced the floor during the examination of Julienne, scarcely hearing one of Kean's oratories in the distance as the play continued.

In only moments, the doctor frowned. "Perhaps the wine she drank was noxious, but it is possible… My lord, I wonder if she might have been poisoned."

"Poisoned?" Dare rasped, his chest clenching, while Arnold echoed the same shocking question.

"Yes. Ingesting wolfsbane will have this particular effect."