Playing The Duke's Mistress. Eliza Redgold

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      ‘I’ve not the faintest notion,’ Herbert replied, slack-jawed.

      ‘Ask your cousin to explain,’ Miss Fairmont said.

      There was a scratch at the door and suddenly two of the inn’s servants entered, bearing aloft silver-domed platters. They laid them on the table.

      ‘Leave the lids,’ Darius ordered when one of them made to begin serving.

      He waited until the servants had left the room. No doubt they would hover outside the door to listen to the conversation between two gentlemen and a couple of actresses. It made it all the more pressing to end this affair immediately. Herbert clearly had no idea what he was getting himself into.

      Beside him he noted Miss Fairmont’s slender fingers were gripped together.

      ‘I suppose we can get straight down to it, Miss Coop. I had hoped to handle this with some finesse, but since Miss Fairmont presses the point...’ A glare in her direction was met with an answering flash of her eyes. With effort he wrenched his attention from her to focus on the blonde actress. ‘You’re a young woman of obvious charms, Miss Coop, but if you have ideas about marrying my cousin Herbert I’m afraid I must put them to rest.’

      Her big eyes instantly brimmed with tears. ‘What? Oh!’

      ‘I say, Darius,’ Herbert protested. ‘We’re here for a pleasant supper. Steady on.’

      Darius ignored him. ‘I’m the head of the Carlyle family. My cousin will under no circumstances marry an actress.’

      ‘What do you have against actresses?’ Miss Fairmont demanded from his right.

      He twisted to face her. ‘Must you force me to be blunt?’

      Her chin tilted higher. ‘Please. Let’s not play-act.’

      Darius shrugged. ‘Actresses are no more than title-hunters.’

      Miss Coop gave a shriek.

      ‘That’s an outrageous thing to say.’ Miss Fairmont hardly raised her voice, yet the anger in it reached him. ‘Women have been on the stage since the days of King Charles the Second. How long will it take for us to be granted respect for our craft?’

      ‘Acting isn’t a craft,’ he said scathingly. ‘For women, it’s merely a version of the oldest profession, at which they are well versed.’

      ‘Men are actors, too,’ said Calista.

      ‘Male actors act,’ Darius conceded, with a derisive look at Mabel’s décolletage. ‘Females of the species merely display their wares.’

      ‘Now, Darius,’ Herbert blustered from the other end of the table. ‘That’s a bit much.’

      Darius took up his glass of whisky. ‘Miss Fairmont is correct about my motivations. My desire is not to spend time in the company of actresses. It is to discover the price of avoiding such company in future. Let’s get down to business. How much money will it take to ensure you leave my cousin alone, Miss Coop?’

      Now tears trickled down the blonde woman’s chin into the crevice of her cleavage. Her bosom heaved.

      Miss Fairmont leapt to her feet. Except for the two spots of redness in her cheeks her complexion appeared pale, almost waxy. ‘You’re being extraordinarily rude. Don’t speak to my friend in such a manner. You have no right. You don’t know her.’

      Darius banged his glass down and stood. Miss Fairmont came to just above his shoulder.

      ‘I know of actresses. Every actress in Covent Garden wants to marry a lord or a duke. It’s become an epidemic. Perhaps you’re the same. Are you angling for a title, too?’

      ‘How dare you!’

      ‘Lady Calista. Countess Calista. Duchess Calista,’ he mocked. ‘Is that why you’re here tonight? Is that your secret hope, like all actresses?’

      Against her white skin Miss Fairmont’s blue eyes were as brilliant as sapphires. ‘Is it beyond your imagination that some actresses might not want a coronet? I am one of them. I answer to the stage, not to a duke.’

      ‘Come, come,’ he sneered. ‘You’re indulging in play-acting now.’

      ‘Not at all,’ she said. ‘My family goes back four generations on the stage. I have a lineage as proud as yours. My mother and grandmother were actresses, and my father...’ her voice wavered ‘...my father was a playwright. You’ll never understand what the stage means to me. You talk of the actresses who left the stage to marry into the aristocracy. I’m sure many of them regretted it and longed for the stage when their husbands refused to allow them to act again.’

      ‘As I’m sure many aristocrats regret their marriages to actresses,’ he shot back. ‘I’ve seen it myself in the circles of my acquaintance. It never works. It leads to ruination. As head of the family it’s my duty to ensure no Carlyle becomes embroiled in such a disastrous match again.’

      Her eyes snapped blue fire. ‘You seem to think being a titled wife is such a prize. Why, I’d rather be a mistress than a wife to an aristocrat like you.’

      ‘My mistress?’ He raised a brow. ‘At least you’ve made your price clear.’

      ‘You’re twisting my words,’ she said through pinched lips. ‘I merely mean to say that being a duke’s wife is not what every actress wants.’

      ‘Every actress has a price.’ He spun on his heel and faced the sobbing Miss Coop. ‘Well? What’s yours, Miss Coop?’

      The actress’s lower lip wobbled. ‘I just wanted some lobster.’

      Darius released a stab of a laugh.

      Miss Fairmont moved swiftly around the table. Even in anger her walk maintained that elegant glide. ‘Come along, Mabel. We’re going home.’

      ‘Herbie...’

      Herbert’s napkin fell to the floor as he stood. ‘I’ll call on you tomorrow, Mabel,’ he said nervously. ‘I promise.’

      ‘Come now,’ Miss Fairmont urged, helping her friend up and pressing a white handkerchief into her hand. ‘Please. Don’t stay here for such insults.’

      Over her shoulder she cast Darius a look of scorn. ‘I only hope no actress ever has the misfortune to become your wife.’

      ‘What a performance.’ Darius lifted his glass to her. ‘You’re almost convincing, Miss Fairmont. Bravo.’

      Miss Calista Fairmont slammed the door behind them.

      * * *

      Outside on the street Calista pulled her cloak around herself. Beside her Mabel still sobbed.

      Never before had Calista been quite so furious.

      Title-hunters! How dare he!

      The way the Duke of Albury had treated her, as if she were beneath СКАЧАТЬ