Forbidden by Susan Johnson (good books to read for teens .TXT) 📕

"I don't tell you everything. Consider yourself fortunate," she added in a quiet reflective tone. "Everyone's love is not so easily fulfilled."

"Secrets, Mama?" Etienne's query was at once teasing and sympathetic.

"Long before your time, my dear," his mother said, recovering her former spirits with a well-grounded discipline. "Now tell me what the Archbishop and that poker-faced mother-in-law of yours had to say this morning."

The Duc moved his head in an almost indistinguishable movement—cautioning his mother. "It was nothing… an empty gesture," he briefly replied. "I was hoping you might like to go to the races with us sometime. My black's been running well lately."

"The Archbishop and your mother-in-law?" Daisy inquired. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"There was nothing to tell." It was a masculine answer of avoidance.

His mother recognized the restraint in his voice and knowing the Montigny gracelessness after twenty years, understood the extent of her son's warning. "I'd love to see your black race, darling," she interposed into the small silence that had fallen.

The Duc's smile was swift. "Good. On Friday then. Would you like to dine with us tonight? Daisy has promised to join me for dinner."

"I'm committed to the Prince Cherevel this evening. I'm sorry. Would you care to join his party? Although I warn you, it's diplomatic with several of the embassies invited."

"And you're hostess for Philippe, charged with charming all the colonial attache's." Etienne's smile was affectionate. "Mama is Philippe's best ambassador," he said to Daisy. "Capable of convincing the most hotheaded foreign minister indignant with his treatment by the colonial office that at least Parisian women understand the dilemmas facing his country."

"They're all strongly committed men with legitimate grievances. My sympathy is genuine, darling, you know that."

"Mama has turned down more proposals of marriage to colonial ministers than one can count."

"How can I keep an eye on you if I leave Paris?" she replied with a teasing smile. "Etienne needs a great deal of care," she added, amusement rich in her voice.

"She first noticed me when I was sixteen," the Duc facetiously retorted, not immeasurably devastated apparently by his mother's lack of concern in his childhood.

"You had Rennie, dear, who was the best darling in the world. You know you preferred her to me anyway."

"She was special."

"Of course. She'd been my Rennie first. I was simply generous enough to share her with you."

"Yes," he simply said, knowing in an odd convoluted way, his mother's generosity had been sincerely maternal. Rennie had loved him unconditionally and he her, and not a day went by he didn't think of his childhood nanny—although she'd been dead now almost twenty years.

"I don't suppose your traditions include nannies," Heloise said to Daisy.

And the remainder of their visit centered on a curious conversation about children and child-rearing, a subject generally outside the perimeters of Etienne's social conversation. His mother noticed his unusual interest, was aware as well that Etienne never brought his lovers over for tea. With all her heart, she wished him happiness; Isabelle had taken too many years away from her son. He deserved more.

"Don't scowl at me," the Duc said as they settled into the soft carriage seats. "I don't want to argue."

"You don't have to protect me from the tumult."

"There's no point in rehashing irrelevancies. It's over. They're gone; they won't be back."

"I'd simply like to know what everyone else seems to know. I'm not a child or a simpering ingénue," Daisy quietly said.

"You don't want to know, believe me. The Montignys are stupid," he tersely added, a trenchant bite to his tone.

"About what?"

He hesitated for a small space of time. "About my children," he softly said,"… among other things."

"Can't I help?" He was clearly upset regardless of his gentle tone. "I've dealt with enough controversy in my life to have a well-developed ability to cope. Law school hardens one to discourtesy." She grinned. "I'm very tough."

His smile, genuine and suddenly relaxed, altered the stormy green of his eyes to a warmer shade. "I love you, darling, for your intelligence and understanding"—His brows rose in jest—"along with one or two other things, but coping mechanisms, no matter how well-developed, won't find a rational basis for dealing with the Montignys. They're profoundly insensitive to anything short of lethal threats, which I dispensed with an appropriate degree of sincerity. Now, can we please discuss something more pleasant… like the ravishing color of your lips or a honeymoon itinerary or the name of our firstborn?"

While teasing, he clearly didn't wish to discuss the Montignys and because she loved him, she said, "You win, Monsieur de Vec… this time." She smiled. "But only because humoring you has its advantages."

He laughed out loud at her smiling insinuation. Leaning back into the upholstered seat, he gazed across at her in a speculative way, his green eyes amused. "Are you expecting some favor in return for your humoring me? A performing kind of quid pro quo?" he added, his voice a lazy drawl.

"The thought crossed my mind. Nothing you can't handle, I'm sure." Her dark eyes held a sleepy, seductive allure.

Glancing at the carriage clock, the Duc made some mental calculations mat didn't work out, and thinking that with any other woman a stop at the jewelers would solve his problem, he said, "I don't suppose this is a good time to ask whether you'd mind if I play a game this afternoon."

Dressed in a ribbon silk in shades of olive, her hair loosely tied at her neck with pearl-embroidered gold braid, Daisy had the look of an odalisque in the shaded interior of his carriage, her pose as relaxed as his. "We're not talking about the same kind of game… are we?" Her voice was sleepy like her eyes, husky, redolent; her smile almost made him change his mind.

If she disapproved, he thought, he'd ignore his schedule; there would be other matches. But his teammates would sulk because they were currently in first place for the club championship. "It's not of great import, chou-chou. Valentin can find