They didn’t matter, not when Ezra was looking at her like that.
“Letty,” he breathed, and she didn’t even have the heart to scold him for such familiarity whilst in company. “You look… so beautiful.”
She ducked her head and smiled, feeling herself blush. The redness didn’t fade completely by the time they reached the carriage, and during the short ride to the opera, the distance felt longer because of the traffic-choked streets.
The opera itself left her head spinning with all its grandeur. Crystal chandeliers dripped from the ceiling, their cut facets scattering light around the room so bright that it seemed as though daylight itself shone within. Hugh and Persephone’s box was sumptuous, with velvet seats as soft as clouds. The duke and duchess themselves were nothing but kind, even if Hugh seemed taciturn by nature. But his sweet-hearted wife made up for it, introducing Letitia to anyone who came into the space as her companion, visiting from Belgium. The whole thing was so lovely that Letty didn’t even wince at the sound of the country where her worst nightmare resided.
And then there was Ezra.
He was more charming than usual and endlessly attentive. He seemed to treat every moment apart from her as if it were the worst kind of torture, and he returned to her as quickly as he could.
Letitia scarcely even watched the opera. She was sure that later, when this was all said and done, she would be sorry she had wasted her one chance to watch a grand performance, as if she were one of thehaut ton.
But for tonight, she didn’t care. She didn’t try to use good judgment or protect her heart. She let her head lean toward his as they whispered through the arias, and she pretended she was a young lady, and he was her social equal, and this was a real courtship, not a facade.
“Have you ever been to the opera before?” he asked, voice pitched low, his knee just grazing against hers as they sat in adjacent chairs.
She shot him a surprised look.
“No, of course not,” she said. “When would I have had the chance?”
“Letty, dear, you may not know this,” he drawled, “but I am mostly unfamiliar with Belgian culture. Maybe it’s required by law that every citizen go to the opera once a week.”
She regarded him dryly. “You will be utterly shocked to find that it is not,” she intoned.
Hewinkedat her, the utter rascal.
“Too bad,” he said. “I was going to ask you to educate me. I am an utter neophyte, I am afraid.”
He batted his eyelashes like he was a particularly missish debutante, just to make her laugh.
“I am surprised that we are here with your cousins,” she confessed during the intermission, while Persephone and Hugh were out of the box, off speaking to some acquaintance or other. “Is it just because we needed a chaperone?”
He gave her a lopsided smile. “Well, that was one consideration,” he admitted. “You might not know this, but I am a duke.”
She rolled her eyes. He let out a joyful peal of laughter.
“This means, among other things, that I am able to get seats at the opera if I so desire,” he said. “But, I will admit, that I have been more closely acquainting myself with my cousins recently.”
He said it like it was something to be ashamed of, but Letty could not hold back her pleased smile.
“You have?”
He nodded. “It started because I was seeking information about Iris, about some family history. But—and donottell him I said this, and certainly don’t tell Persephone—I actually like Hugh. He’s not that bad.”
“You say that like it hurts to admit it,” she accused.
“I have never felt such pain in my life,” he said gravely.
Her heart felt full to bursting.
The night was perfect, magical, and seemed endless. But, like all good things, it eventually came to an end, and the four of them—the dukes, the duchess, and the improbable governess—climbed back into the Blackwoods’ carriage.
It didn’t even cross Letitia’s mind to protest until they were already heading back across Mayfair, returning to Rutley House—she had completely forgotten to plan how to get herself back to her small, tidy rooms in Covent Gardens.
She bit her lip as she disembarked with Ezra, wondering if she should ask Persephone to inconvenience herself and lend Letitia the carriage home. But no—surely Ezra would aid her.
As she followed him inside, she knew that she was heading into the pit of temptation. Even so, she could not quite seem to stop herself.
