Page 5 of Temptation and the Artist

“You deserve a rest.”

Surprised laughter broke from her and his pencil, held between those long, capable fingers, flew over the page, while his steady gaze rose and fell continuously.

He changed the subject. “Why come all the way to Renwick’s Hotel for a card party?”

She shrugged. “It suited my plans.”

“Will you tell me what they are?”

“Would you believe, avoiding family?”

“God, yes,” he said with fervor, which was interesting. “Was that your only aim?”

“No. I was helping a friend who had a great idea but lacked the means to carry it through.”

“What sort of idea?”

She considered. “I don’t think I can tell you that or my reputation for discretion would fall apart. But you will be glad to know it worked and was fun besides.”

He worked in silence for a few moments. “Why do you feel the need to avoid your family?”

“They are Basil’s family. He stayed with them in France during my troubles that you referred to at Christmas. I fetched him away—we may have omitted to say goodbye—and now they want him back.”

“Do they have a right?”

She shrugged. “In law. He is heir to the estate they live off.”

“But you don’t trust them?”

“I trust them to feed Basil, educate him, and look to his safety. I don’t trust them to love him.”

“Why not?” he asked.

“Because they won’t have me living there with him.”

He paused long enough to reach for his wine glass, take a drink, and set it back down on the table. “That is unkind. How old is he?”

“Eight. There is no need to tell me English boys are often sent away to school younger than that. It does not make it right.”

“No,” Dornan agreed. “It doesn’t. But aren’t you just putting off the fight by coming to Renwick’s? If they traveled to England, they are unlikely to give up and go tamely back to France just because you are not at home for a day or so.”

“No, but I don’t have to make it easy for them, do I?”

Ne nodded thoughtfully, continuing to work.

After a while, she said, “Why do you avoid your family?”

“I don’t like them. The feeling is mutual, so to be fair, there is not much avoiding to be done these days. Do you like the wine?”

“It is light and pleasing, quite appropriate for a decadent afternoon’s quaffing.”

His eyebrows lifted. “You find the proceedings decadent?”

“Not so far. To be honest, Mr. Dornan, I find you something of an enigma.”

“How so?”

“A puritanical man who spends so much time with such cordial beauties as I met you with today, that he is quite at home with them. But then, I suppose you would have to be puritanical to withstand temptation and get any work done.”

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