should do that more often,’ Lilya remarked.
‘Do what?’
‘Laugh. Smile.’
‘I laugh. I smile,’ Beldon protested.
‘Not nearly enough. You have a wonderful smile, it was one of the things I noticed about you when we danced at the Fitzsimmons’ ball.’
‘And Mr Agyros? Does he have a wonderful smile as well?’ He was stoking the fires again. Lilya looked as if she’d been struck. It was not well done of him. He wished immediately he could take the words back.
Lilya stood up and gathered her things. Her tone was frigidly formal. ‘If I was not clear then, let me be clear with my gratitude now. I appreciated your interference although it was not necessary.’
Beldon rose along with his temper. He was angry with himself and this current gambit of theirs made an easy target. ‘My interference? Is that what you call it?’
‘What would you prefer I call it?’ Lilya said, undaunted.
‘How about “intervention”? “Interference” implies I was sticking my nose where it wasn’t wanted.’
‘Perhaps you were.’
‘Would you have preferred letting Mr Agyros kiss you?’
‘I can handle myself with a gentleman. Nothing would have proceeded without my permission.’ Lilya gave her hair a regal toss. ‘Now, I think it best you take me home. I want to make sure Philippa is feeling better. She was feeling poorly when I left this morning.’
He promptly left Lilya after a short visit with his sister to assure himself of her health. But his day seemed decidedly empty after that. Beldon had no appetite for the social engagements on his calendar that evening and he opted for a night in, poring over atlases in his library and searching his shelves for books about the Ottoman Empire and the hospodars.
That night he dreamed of a dark-haired woman wearing only the Pendennys emeralds.
In the morning, he sent a hurried note to Mr Brown. He’d take the tourmaline bracelet after all.
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