Jane Feather - Charade by Unknown (howl and other poems .TXT) 📕

side. But she is always the soul ofpropriety."

"I think 'always' might be a slight exaggeration," Justin corrected,taking snuff with delicate insouciance. The frown, however, had lefthis face and the duchess breathed an imperceptible sigh of relief. Itwas not wjse to arouse the earl's ire at the best.of times and he wouldtolerate no breath of criticism of his wife.

"That wife of yours, Justin, for all her youth is well up to snuff,"she declared firmly. "I suspect that she does nothing unintentionallyand even her occasional ... uh ... misdemeanours, are carefullycalculated. She enjoys surprising people, Linton, but rarely goesbeyond the line of what is acceptable."

Justin nodded. He had noticed the same thing himself, but had alsonoticed that Danielle escaped Society's censure for acts that would putothers, at least temporarily, beyond the pale. It had something to dowith

a certain flair she possessed, combined with her irresistibly charmingmanner and her mostextraordinary beauty. In six months she had earned an undisputed placeas one of the leaders of the ton—an extraordinary feat for a new bride,particularly one so young.

"Well, if you will excuse me, Amelia, I shall go in search of my bride."

Amelia laughed. "By all means, and if you remove her shortly Iguarantee that you will be the hero of the hour for every young womanpresent."

Danielle, at this moment, was standing on the wide terrace outside thefirst-floor ballroom, a glass of champagne in hand, surrounded by heradmiring court. She teased, flirted lightly, laughed at acceptablesallies, and treated those unacceptable with an icy indifference, buther mind was elsewhere. She knew that Justin would arrive this eveningas surely as if he had promised, and she waited only for the softfootfall, the light amused tone, the caress of his fingers on her bareshoulders. Her body, well versed now in the arts and joys of love,ached for the feel of him, resented the vast loneliness of her emptybed as

she fell into slumber and awoke to the same emptiness. Even insleep she missed the warm possessive relaxation of his hand on herstomach, her buttocks, breasts, as she curled tightly against him. Hisinsistence that she remain in town while he dealt with urgent mattersat Danesbury had led to a monumental argument. She had capitulatedeventually only because he was right—it would have been unthinkablydiscourteous for both of them to have been out of town for hergrandparents' ball which

had taken place three days previously andwhich, contrary to expectation, she had enjoyed enormously, except forthe empty bed at its end. They had parted friends and lovers, but shewas anxious to dispel

any lingering reserve at what she now recognizedto have been a display of childish obstinacy.

*  *  *

Justin paused in the open door to the terrace, stealing a second toview his wife unobserved. The urchin of his memory was gone as totallyas if she had never existed. Her eighteenth birthday had passed lastmonth—at her insistence with total lack of remark. The date wouldalways carry for her the memory

of the massacre of her family and was one she saw asa day ofmourning rather than celebration.

Her face, now lifted in laughter to some comment of Julian's, stunnedhim anew, its beauty that of a mature, experienced woman who knew thepain of loss as well as the joy of love. Her hair was unpowdered, drawninto a soft knot at the nape of her neck with artfully arrangedringlets circling her

ears and caressing the wide alabaster brow withfeathery tendrils. Her refusal to wear powder had at first amused himand then aroused his admiration as he realized how exactly right shewas to defy convention. That wheat-colored hair with its strawberrytinge stood out in its simplicity amongst the ornate confections of herpeers. Monsieur Artur had been relegated with the utmost disgust to thefiery depths of Hades. She had somewhere found a young French emigrewho had seized on her unconventional ideas with the utmost enthusiasmand was beginning, as a result, to become much in demand amongst thosefar-seeing mamas who wished their daughters to emulate the success ofthe young Countess of Linton.

She was wearing a gown of bronze satin looped up over enormous sidepanniers to reveal an underdress of ivory, threaded with goldribbon—simplicity itself, almost plain to a fault if you discounted thesuperb cut and did not allow your eyes to move upward to a necklinethat barely covered her nipples. Her breasts rose in a soft roundedswell, lifted by the hidden stays, their creamy whiteness accentuatedby the bronze of the gown. Justin felt an unreasonable shaft ofirritation as one young buck leant overly close to her, ogling thegorgeous bosom.

"You appear to be amusing yourself, milady." He stepped forward intothe circle of flickering light provided by the many-branched candelabraon the low parapet. If he had been in any doubt as to his wife'sfeelings for him, they would have been dispelled instantly as shewhirled to face him, her eyes a smoldering glow of love andanticipation.

Danielle fought the urge to run into his arms. Public displays ofmarital affection were not considered at all the thing in so'ciety.While she did not herself give a button for such foolishness, she hadno desire to annoy her husband at thisjuncture.

"Why, my lord, what a pleasant surprise. I was not expecting you foranother week." She moved out of the circle, hand extended in greeting.

"Oh, infamous madam," he murmured, raising her hand to his lips. "Youmust have known that I dared not risk the consequences of disobeyingyour summons."

"Dared not, sir? La, but I must protest! I had no idea I was such astern mistress." Her eyes sparkled

with laughter as she gazed at him innaked admiration. In his black velvet coat, black knee britches withdiamond buckles, plain white silk stockings, and profusion of Dresdenlace, he stood out from the richly dressed, heavily jeweled throng—theepitome of elegance amongst popinjays.

"You are about to suffer the consequences