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“It’s unlikely we will see anything of interest tonight.” He reached across her. “Drink. You are whiter than these sheets.” He lifted the glass and handed it to her, lowering himself to his elbow so he lay across the bed. “Was it the mob from this afternoon and the head on the pike?”
She nodded and sipped the wine. Let him believe that was all it was. She could not bear the shame of what she had allowed Bowder to do to her.
“They will never touch you,” he said.
She gave an inelegant snort. “You cannot promise that.”
“I can.”
When she rolled her eyes, he puffed his chest indignantly. “I told you I will never lie to you.”
“And if you believe you can actually keep yourself safe, much less me, then you are completely daft.”
“How you flatter me, mademoiselle.”
“Leave me to dress in peace.”
“When you have finished the wine.” He tilted it toward her lips. “Drink.”
She obeyed.
“Shall I tell you a story from my illustrious youth? I could ride faster, shoot straighter, and memorize all of my lessons far more quickly than any of my brothers or sisters.”
“Of course, you could. I am certain you were the perfect child.”
“Mymamanalways said so. You know, I learned to love women from her.”
Honoria sipped again. “What do you mean?”
He sat, turned, and leaned back against the bed’s headboard so they sat side by side. She knew this was far too intimate for propriety, but now that her head swam with the effects of the wine, she was not so concerned about propriety.
“The marquise was beautiful, witty, accomplished, and loving. When she looked at me, she made me feel like the most important person in the world.”
“So that’s where you learned it.”
He glanced at her. “Do I make you feel like that when I look at you?”
Honoria sipped her wine again. The marquis did not need more flattery from her.
He shrugged. “She was always laughing, and even when she scolded us, she did it with gentleness. I thought her the most perfect being alive, and I remember thinking my father the luckiest man alive. Their marriage was arranged, of course, but they grew to love each other. When she looked at him, her whole face glowed and her body leaned toward him. She was a flower and he the sun.”
“That’s beautiful,” Honoria murmured.
“It was. I wanted a wife just like her.” He grinned. “One day.Mamansent me to Versailles because she worried I would seduce every girl in the province.”
Honoria gasped. “I do hope you were not that bad.”
“Of course not. As I said, my mother was witty. She knew I would love Versailles.”
“And did you?”
“Of course.” His face darkened, turned sad.
“What happened to your family? Your siblings and your mother?”
“We left for Scotland as soon as the violence began. We have property there and had decided to live as exiles. I came back when I heard the fate that had befallen the royal family. But we were speaking of Versailles, I think. Beautiful, grand, fascinating Versailles. I cannot believe it is gone—not the place, of course, but the court. The people. The king.”
The anguish in his tone when he said the last word surprised her. “You loved him?”
