Wizards Daughter

Mink? Trust a writer. 'Yes, she's got the minkest-colored hair I've ever seen. Shy? Not with me, she wasn't shy. Not a single blush. Accept it, you're her hero. Go now.'

Grayson laughed as he lightly touched a fingertip to her cheek. 'Hmm, let me weigh this. Would I prefer to sit in a box next to a pretty girl who worships me… or to sit with loud, drunk, belching friends in the pit? This is very difficult. Ah, there are my parents sitting not two feet away from me, Rosalind. That doesn't make it so easy a question, now, does it?'

'You dolt, your parents will not be perched on your shoulder. They would not dream of disapproving of her, what with all the praise she will doubtless heap on your empty head. They'll probably join her, making you insufferable. Grayson, if you do not ask her, I will hurt you very badly. You know that I can.'

Grayson remembered that long-ago day she'd lurked in the shadows on a second-floor balcony of Brandon House, waiting for him. When he'd walked below, whistling, minding his own business, she'd thrown a bucket of freezing soapy water on him, all because his ugly pug Jasper had chewed a pair of her Slippers and he'd had the nerve to laugh. 'All right, I will go around and speak to her. Does that make you happy?'

'You don't have to marry her, Grayson, so don't sound so put-upon. But you know, now that I think about it, you're nearly ripe enough-as Uncle Douglas says-to manage being a decent husband. Shall I ask him?'

Grayson looked ready to run. Then he began to look thoughtful. 'Lorelei,' he said, studying the Grecian urn on the mantelpiece, 'it rather sings on the tongue, don't you think?' And he walked away, whistling.

She called after him, 'All this worship for you, a moron of the first order, it fair to makes me gag.'

He laughed, waggled his fingers at her, but didn't turn.

TheRoyal Theater, D rury Lane

Rosalind said behind her hand to Aunt Sophie, 'Kean pauses so very long between his sentences, it's difficult to know if he has finished declaiming his monologue. Poor Ophelia thought he was through with that last one and began her lines-even from here I could see the nasty look he gave her, and then he mowed right over her.'

'Ah,' Aunt Sophie whispered close to her ear, 'but the passion in him, my dear, it fairly radiates around him, and the dramatic poses, so moving, so evocative-and would you look at the lovely stage sets, Rosalind. It's said he strives with all his artistic might to make all the scenery and the settings accurate.'

'Aunt Sophie, are you laughing at me?'

'A small chuckle, no more. I will say he is not his father, but he does the part well enough.'

Nicholas sat quietly, his arms crossed over his chest. He looked on the point of nodding off.

Rosalind poked him in the ribs. 'Don't you dare fall asleep, Nicholas. Your snoring would be the ruin of all of us.'

He slowly turned to smile at her. It was only a smile, but it smote her. Rosalind actually felt her heart thump down heavily on the toes of her white satin slippers. Isaw him the first time only two nights ago, she thought; only this morning I felt his mouth kiss my hand, so meaningless in the course of things, but he made my world turn upside down. Or right side up. It doesn't matter. Whatever he did, he did me in.

'No,' he whispered, his breath warm on her cheek, 'don't look at me like that. I'm a weak man, Rosalind, spare me.'

'Weak, he.' She pressed her fist over her mouth to smother the giggle. She looked over at Grayson and Lorelei Kilbourne. Grayson looked fascinated; she knew the signs. Unfortunately his fascination wasn't with his companion, it was with the drama unfolding on the stage. He was sitting slightly forward, his hands on his knees, absorbed. As for Lorelei, she wasn't looking at Kean; she was looking at Grayson, and the adoring look on her very pretty face made Rosalind want to kick her. She was a rug waiting for him to tread upon. But wait-did she, Rosalind de La Fontaine-look at Nicholas like that? Like a besotted half-wit? Oh, dear, could that be possible? She would get hold of herself. She would have dignity.

Nicholas whispered, 'Lorelei is lovely and Grayson is basking.'

'Not really,' Rosalind said, eyes narrowed on Grayson's face. 'The blind sod is more interested in what's happening on the stage.'

'You're wrong. He is being smart; his seeming indiffer ence to her is drawing her in and he well knows it.'

'She's already drawn in. If he draws her in any more she'll be plastered to him. But if you're right, that must mean he likes her. And that means he'll probably make her the beleaguered heroine in his next book.'

Kean yelled something toward the audience, clasped his hands to his breast, flailed about, and, head bowed, collapsed gracefully on a chaise, his posture artfully arranged. The green curtain swooped down. Applause rang out, loud and sustained.

When the applause, whistles, and stomping feet finally dwindled enough that they could hear the orange girls calling out, signaling the intermission, Rosalind said to Nicholas, 'This is a lovely box. We can see everything and everyone. There are so many people. I'll wager nearly all three thousand seats are occupied tonight. How delightful your father forgot he owned it.'

'Miranda is furious she couldn't get her hands on the box.'

She saw he was staring toward a box to their left. She followed his line of vision and saw two young men staring back at her.

'Your half brothers, I presume?'

He nodded. 'The eldest, the tall dark one who looks remarkably like me, is Richard Vail. The pallid young man beside him who looks like a tormented poet is Lancelot. Of the two of them, I would guess he's the more vicious, since he hates the way he looks, hates his name, wishes I were dead at his feet, and needs only a sharp stiletto. Or perhaps he would prefer a nice heavy rock.'

'And the youngest brother?'

'Aubrey is his name. He is only eighteen, at Oxford for his first term. I have no idea of his character.' 'Those two aren't smiling.'

'No, they are not. They're probably wondering why I am with the Sherbrookes, a powerful family they dare not cross, and you, of course, who must be connected to the Sherbrookes. Perhaps they will come to visit during the intermission. Ah, I do believe they're leaving their friend's box.' He waited, still as stone.

She whispered close to his ear, 'Don't throw them over the side of the box, Nicholas, you might hurt some innocent below in the pit.'

He gave her a swift smile.

Not four minutes later, the curtain at the back of the large box parted, and Richard Vail stepped inside. He immediately stepped toward Ryder and Sophie Sherbrooke and bowed. 'Sir, madam. I am Richard Vail. This is my brother Lance. We did not know you were acquainted with our half brother, Nicholas.'

Ryder nodded at the two young men, quite aware of the tension pouring off them. A gentleman to his toes, Ryder said pleasantly, 'A pleasure. Allow me to introduce you to the rest of our party,' which he did. 'And of course you are well acquainted with your own brother.'

'Half brother,' Lancelot said.

There were curt nods from Lancelot and Richard, a bland smile from Nicholas. Because Rosalind was sitting close to Nicholas, she was closely scrutinized. She hated it because it was laced with malice.

Lancelot said to Grayson, 'I have read your books, Mr. Sherbrooke. I have thought to write myself, perhaps a memoir since my life has been so very fascinating, but I am so very busy, you know.'

Grayson nodded. 'That is so often the case with people I have met. You must be very pleased to see your brother again after so long an absence.'

'Half brother,' Lancelot said.

An awkward silence filled the box. The air thrummed with animosity, but ingrained civility won out, that and the presence of Ryder and Sophie Sherbrooke. Richard nodded. 'Oh, yes, to see Nicholas again must please us greatly, even though he is only our half brother, as Lance just said.'

Grayson looked surprised at that. 'What does it matter? A brother is a brother, don't you find that true?'

Finally, after a moment, Richard nodded. 'As you say, Mr. Sherbrooke.'