“I will look worse than terrible,” Giles said. “Lady Blakeley writes:To our own Valmont and his dangerous liaisons.”He threw down the note and said, “Dalton is very lucky he escapes this year over some family thing he’s forced to attend. Why cannot I have a family thing? I cannot be painted as Valmont!”
LaRue succumbed to a rare fit of laughter. “Les Liaisons Dangereuses?” he cried. “You? As Vicomte de Valmont? I am amused.”
“Stop your amusement this instant. Do not you see? Last year I was a collector of hearts. Now, I am cast as the worst sort of seducer! I am not aseducer!”
“Naturallement,” LaRue said, looking over Giles’ person, “no lady would agree to it.”
Giles ignored his valet’s latest salvo. “If I stay away, I will be the talk of the evening, it is always so. The honor usually goes to Lady Montague, as Lady Blakeley always manages to send her a barb. But this year it will be me!”
“And so, you must go?”
“How can I go…wearing this?” Giles asked.
“You will not go?”
“I have to go,” Giles said.
“Très bien. You go.”
“But then I am sure Miss Dell will attend and for her to see me in this?”
“Not going again?”
“On the other hand, she would never have been exposed toDangerous Liaisons. Nobody would have ever mentioned such a book in her presence. I doubt anybody would dare it this evening. Of course, that’s the case. No person in their right mind would discuss the subject of that tale with an unmarried lady. There will be those who know, and those who donotknow. She will not know.”
“And finally, you are going.”
“I might come up with a different explanation, should she ask. I might say the V is for…valor?”
LaRue snorted.
Giles paced the room. “There must be something inoffensive that will have the ring of truth. Victory, valiant, vaunted, valuable—”
“Vacant?”
“Vanishing, vanquisher—”
“Vacillator?”
“Vicarious.”
“Vapid? Vain? Villain?”
Giles spun around. “That’s it!” he said, nearly at a shout.
LaRue crossed his arms. “Valmont was a worthy villain. You? No.”
“Not villain,” Giles said. “Vain. Everybody knows I take particular care with my dress. I can go as vain. Yes, that will do nicely.”
“And these fantastical white curls?”
“I don’t know. Maybe I am Louis XIV. The Sun King was known to be vain. Who cares? I have my answer.”
LaRue bowed. “You mean to say, you havemyanswer.”
*
The beginning ofLady Blakeley’s half-masque was always the most interesting part of the evening. Everyone would scan the crowd to see how others had come masked. Sometimes the masks were so obvious that one need not inquire who wore it or why. Other masques were more subtle and would inspire guesses and speculation.
