Page 55 of The Gentleman’s Leading Lady

“Now try for the other shoulder. Gallery?”

“Of course. Upper and lower.”

He blocked her as she lunged, a quick tilt of his elbow. He was good at this. “Two entrances?”

“At least. One for the carriages, and one for the foot traffic. It would be nice to design a drive where the carriage line isn’t stretched for miles, but I wouldn’t know what that would look like.”

“I’ll give it some thought. Watch my hand, I’m coming in low. Good,” he approved as she parried in time, and his brief smile lit a candle in her chest. She loved approval—it was another flaw—but his, in particular, she had a sudden craving for.

He stepped to the side again, circling her. She shifted to face him. She liked being the focus of his attention. She liked when he was the focus of hers.

She wondered if he wanted to kiss her again. Could she make him want to?

“Covent Garden was built like a horseshoe, which was good for the sound.” He studied her, sword raised, appraising her stance. “I’ll design something like that for you.”

“I wonder what the new theater looks like, after the rebuilding.”

He raised his brows and flicked his sword out. She met it with her own. “Did you visit the old Covent Garden, before the fire?”

“Yes, several times.”

“Did you act there?”

She laughed. “No. The plays I saw gave me the thought that I might like to act, I grant you. But I was always a spectator. I wonder if Kemble would even hire me for a season. He’ll have his pick of much more seasoned performers.”

“Why the stage?” he asked, watching her still. She had his complete, undivided attention. It was exhilarating.

She made a desultory thrust, thinking. He turned her foil away easily. “I wanted to try something entirely new. That was first and foremost, or at least, that was the excuse I gave my mother.” She thrust from another direction, and once more he parried, matching his strength to hers. “I wanted adventure. New experiences. A chance to see the world.” She withdrew to her guard stance. “I wonder if what I really wanted was to know if the world would see me back.”

His eyelids flickered, and his mouth turned up on one side, that slanted smile she was beginning to love the sight of. It was hard to move him, impossible to amuse him. The smallest of smiles from him was a treasure.

“And does it?” he asked. “See you.”

She lifted her foil and stared at the blade instead of him. “Not really. They see the role. My value is how much I please or beguile the audience. My worth lies in how much I can bring to the company.”

“Which is why you have determined to bring them a theater.”

She shrugged, pushing away the worry that bit into her. What did she mean, really, in the vast scale of things? In the company, actors might join or leave all the time. No one expected this to be her life. With her family—of course she had a place there. She had her roles there, too.

And what did she mean to Dante? No more than an irritant, perhaps, like sand in his shoe, or a fancy that would pass with the season. A shield he was wearing so Bathsheba Baeccon could not sink her claws back into him.

She fell into her stance. The action gave her a way to focus her restlessness. “I would like to do again what we did before. Explore Cheltenham and look at some of the other buildings. I would like to see what you would suggest for our designs.”

Abruptly he lowered his foil, button pointing at the floor. His face flickered, as if an emotion wanted to bloom there, and he’d caught and contained it. “I could show you my house.”

“The one you are building?”

“Yes. Outside of town, toward Charleton Kings. It isn’t finished yet, not nearly habitable, but⁠—”

He stopped himself from saying more, and in the low light from the windows she thought a ruddy flush touched his cheeks, as of embarrassment. She waited.

“It is the one thing I have been able to build here that is purely of my own design. No other architects with a hand in it, no specifications from the builder or buyer. Entirely my own.”

That warm flame burned within her chest, steadily, like a lamp that would never run low on fuel. “I would like to see it.” She raised her sword, advancing. “Your sisters will come live with you there?”

“Yes.” He put up his defense, and now his gaze was wary. “Why do you ask?”

“I am curious about your life. You are on good terms with your mother?”