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He said lightly, his hand closing over her fingers, “Nay, cara, they are not for you to refuse, for I have not offered them to you. I do not seek to buy you, simply to enhance your beauty. You will, of course, return them to me at the close of the evening.”
“I would rather wear nothing.”
“The gentlemen present this evening would be much pleased, I doubt not. However, I would prefer to have them only guess at what lies beneath your gown.”
“You wretched man, that is not what I meant, and well you know it.”
“Guilty,” he said with a quick smile. “I do apologize for teasing you, Cassandra. Would you do me the great honor of wearing the pearls, just for this evening?”
She regarded him suspiciously for several moments, but as the expression on his face remained serious, and indeed, he appeared to be contrite, she slowly nodded. “Very well, but only for tonight.” She added with ill-concealed bitterness, “I suppose that if I must be put on display, it is only fitting that I look the part of the expensive harlot.”
His thick black brows drew together. “I have told you, Cassandra, that it is not you on display this evening. My friends are here for your inspection. I would not hold this dinner party if I thought you would be slighted.”
“No, I do not suppose that you would.” She sighed. “It would make no sense. However, you will admit that my perceived position at the Villa Parese is not enviable.”
“And you will keep your promise?”
“You mean that I am not to stand upon the dinner table and shout to your guests that I am your prisoner?”
“Precisely.”
“Is it time to go downstairs, my lord?” As he made no reply, she added lightly, “You have more promises to wring out of me? Take care, my lord, it was but one sailboat that you gave me.”
He smiled and shook his head. “No, little one, no more promises. There is, however, something I should tell you. One of our guests this evening will be the Contessa Giovanna Giusti. I did not particularly wish to invite her, but Signore Montalto, a close friend and business associate, is much enamored of her and very much wanted her company.”
“Are you concerned that I will be rude to the contessa?”
“It is not your propriety that concerns me. If you would know the truth, the contessa was once my mistress. I of course broke off our affair before I left for England.”
“Your mistress?”
The earl smiled, clasped her arms in his hands, and dropped a light kiss upon her closed lips. “Yes, but she needn’t concern you. I only tell you to give you fair warning that Giovanna might not be all that is pleasant.”
“Thank you, my lord, for the warning.” Her voice was clipped and flat, and he wondered what the devil she was thinking. He drew her hand through his arm and escorted her from the bedchamber. To lighten her mood, he said, “Caesare will of course be here. You will, I trust, enjoy his company.”
“Of a certainty I shall, my lord,” she said, but her voice was cold.
He continued in a gently teasing voice, “To keep you at ease and help you to remember your promise, I will contrive to stay at your side throughout the evening.”
“That, I daresay, is wise of you.”
There was laughter in her voice, and he relaxed. As he walked beside her down the wide stairway, he looked down at the creamy pearls about her throat. The pearls had belonged first to his grandmother, then to his mother. They were bride’s pearls, the only jewelry allowed to a young lady before and during her first year of marriage.
Once downstairs, the earl nodded in satisfaction to Scargill, who was dressed in butler’s wear, and surrounded by three young male servants hired for the evening.
“Don’t look so pained, Scargill,” the earl said. “All of us must occasionally make sacrifices.” At Scargill’s grunt, he added with a wide smile, “Just ensure that your men keep the wine flowing, and your success is assured.”
Cassie gazed about her with pleasure. Fresh flowers overflowed from vases that lined the walls of the wide entrance hall, and branches of candles had been added, making the villa as dazzling bright as if it were day.
The knocker sounded loudly, and Scargill motioned one of the footmen to the door.
“It would appear, my lord, that you have approached this evening with quite a flair,” Cassie said behind her hand as the wide front doors swung open to admit Caesare.
“I hoped that you would approve, cara. Ah, my dear brother, you are a vision to behold.” He pumped Caesare’s outstretched hand.
“As ever, Antonio, it must be I to carry on the Parese tradition of elegance. Ah, but you are the vision, Cassandra, not I,” he said, his eyes resting a moment on the pearls. “Antonio, expect all the gentlemen tonight to yearn for your imminent demise.”
The earl laughed. “I trust that you will protect me, Caesare.”
