“If it would make you see me as a lover, I would tear off this costume and throw it into the fire right now,” Antonio said with a dramatic flourish. “You are the sun and the moon to me. You are the ideal of beauty. You make Venus herself jealous.”
Violetta laughed and pushed Antonio away. “You are too kind, sir.” The wariness that gripped her gut tightened. She pretended to find Antonio nothing but amusing and turned away from him to check her make-up in the mirror once more. “Who knows what the future will hold?”
“I know,” he said, leaning in and resting a hand on Violetta’s backside for a moment. He squeezed—thankfully, she barely felt it, thanks to the layers of her costume—then walked off, whistling to himself.
“It shocks me the way he ogles you,” Maria whispered. She glanced over her shoulder at Antonio’s retreating form, then looked at Violetta in the mirror. “I’m anxious for you.”
Violetta laughed as though she hadn’t a care in the world, though she was just as wary as Maria was. “Antonio is harmless. Actors are all shameless flirts. I can take care of myself.” More than Maria could ever guess. Her Majesty’s Secret Service had trained her in far more than just deciphering documents and sending coded messages. She could defend herself physically far better than poor Antonio would ever guess.
“Still.” Maria lowered her voice even more. “He obviously has wicked intentions toward you. I would be afraid to walk home alone in the dark if I knew a man wanted me the way Antonio wants you.”
“I might not have to walk home alone in the dark any time soon,” Violetta said, returning to her gossipy persona.
Maria took the bait, lighting up. “Do tell.” She twisted on her stool to gaze adoringly up at Violetta.
“I met a charming English lord last night.” Violetta grinned from ear to ear. Her grin was genuine, as was her need to tell someone all about Lord Landry. “He’s the handsomest devil I’ve seen in a long time.”
“What does he look like?” Maria asked, clasping her hands to her chest, eyes wide.
“He’s tall,” Violetta said with an overdone sigh. She told herself that her mooning was all part of the act, but it seemed perfectly right, given the circumstances. “He has dark hair and even darker eyes. He’s about as well-formed as a woman could ask for, with broad shoulders and strong arms.”
Maria’s eyes went wide at the description. Or perhaps at something she saw behind Violetta.
Either way, Violetta went on. “He’s the sort of man you hope will steal into your bed in the deep of night to—”
“I hope to God you plan to finish that sentence the way I want it to end.”
Violetta gasped and whipped around to find none other than Lord Landry standing right behind her. Maria had seen something after all.
“Lord Landry,” Violetta squeaked. She told herself that her breathlessness and the heat that flooded her face were from surprise and nothing more. “What brings you here?”
“Call me Thomas, please,” he said with a rakish grin. Though there was a certain amount of tension in that grin. He darted a look to Maria before glancing quickly around. “After all, we have so many mutual acquaintances that we’re like old friends, are we not?”
Violetta’s heart raced for a whole different set of reasons. Lord Landry—Thomas—had figured things out, or so it appeared. But Violetta could tell in an instant he wasn’t particularly skilled in the art of subterfuge. “Of course, we do.” She laughed, completely in character for Maria’s sake, and shifted to Thomas’s side, taking his arm. “Thomas and I ran in the same circles in London,” she explained to Maria. “Though we’re only just becoming better acquainted now.”
She turned to Thomas, fixing him with a look that ordered him to say as little and be as charming as possible. A flash of confusion pinched Thomas’s brow for a moment before he smoothed it out and smiled.
“We have so much catching up to do,” he said.
“Yes, we most certainly do.” Violetta giggled and pretended to fawn over him, though that much wasn’t hard to do. “Come over here so that we can have a word in private,” she said, taking Thomas’s hand and leading him to the far end of the room.
She tugged him behind a screen, then, when she peeked through the cracks to see whether Maria or any of the other troupe members who milled about, getting ready for the show, were watching, she lifted the edge of the tent and pulled Thomas outside and into an alley beside the church.
“I’m sorry that it took me so long to figure things out last night,” Thomas said in a tight whisper. “If I hadn’t been so tired from the journey from Venice—”
Violetta clapped a hand over his mouth to silence him. “The less that is said on the matter, the better,” she whispered. She craned her neck to look up and down the alley. There were far too many people crossing this way and that, either coming to the plaza to see the show or going about their usual business. Anything they said there ran the risk of being overheard.
“It’s just that Lord Beverly didn’t give me much information to go on,” Thomas continued in a whisper. “He told me to look for the English Columbine, but he didn’t—”
Violetta grabbed the lapels of his jacket and lifted to her toes, planting a deep kiss square on his mouth. It was the only way she could think of to shut him up, seeing as he utterly missed the point of her telling him to be quiet.
As soon as his shock at her bold move passed, he hummed deep in his throat and closed his arms around her. Violetta should have been alarmed by the way he molded her body to his and kissed her back, but the ability to think quickly left her. His body was solid and tempting. His lips parted hers, and his tongue slipped deep into her eager mouth. Shivers of lust seared her as she gave in to the kiss, going so far as to make desperate, pleading noises. Every inch of her was suddenly on fire, and all she wanted was more, more, more.
The sound of something being dropped in the tent beside them and a man clearing his throat shook her out of the moment of bliss. She gasped for breath and leaned back, though Thomas continued to hold her. Her pulse raced, both from the kiss and from the sure and certain knowledge that someone inside the tent had been spying on them. She hoped to God it was just Maria being nosey.
“Do you see why we must wait to discuss this until later?” she whispered, barely audible.
He made a series of indistinct sounds that didn’t quite form themselves into words. The way his eyes were glazed over was a sure sign that he wasn’t certain what had just happened.
Violetta giggled for the benefit of anyone who might still be spying on them. “My, my, Lord Landry. You are a treat,” she said as though he were just another theater patron who hoped for a second show after the public one.
“I…um….” He continued to look bowled over.
Violetta slipped her arms up over his shoulders, leaning into him and bringing her mouth as close to his ear as she could. “I have a few ideas where your brother might be,” she whispered, still smiling. If anyone was able to see them, they would think she was making lewd suggestions and not sharing crown secrets. “I believe he has been moved more than once since being brought to Rome. But we can’t speak now. I have a show to do.”