Page 48 of If the Duke Demands

Miranda bit back the urge to tell him that there was no need to hurry back and returned her attention to the performers.

A new group had moved into the alley. A man dressed all in black and a woman in a red feather-covered gown stood atop a small wagon pulled by a team of donkeys. With them on the wagon was a large wooden box and a small table.

Catching the audience’s attention, the man performed a variety of magic tricks at the table with the assistance of the woman in red, including making a gold sovereign magically appear inside an unpeeled orange and pulling a dove from a hat that he released to fly over the crowd and disappear into the night. With each increasingly difficult trick, the audience cheered, and Miranda applauded right along with them. She knew the tricks were nothing but illusion and sleight of hand, yet she watched enthralled. Perhaps the night might still prove magical after all.

Mesmerized by the final trick, she sat at the edge of her seat and leaned forward against the railing to watch as the man prepared to place the woman inside the box and make her vanish.

“Stay away from magicians,” a deep voice warned at her ear. Which could only have been Sebastian, so she scowled, refusing to take her gaze away from the illusionist. He’d returned far faster than she’d hoped. “They should be avoided at all costs.”

“Why?” She rolled her eyes and braced herself for another one of his orders to behave herself.

“Because they’re the worst kind of scoundrels and cads,” he murmured gently.

Surprised by that, she turned to look at him. He reached up toward her hair, the strawberry-blond strands pulled into a simple knot tonight, and tugged gently at one of the loose tendrils curling down to frame her face. When he lowered his hand, a small paper rose dropped magically into his fingers.

Her lips parted, speechless, at his magic trick.

“You are right, Miranda. I had no business ruining your evening tonight or your night at the opera.” His blue eyes held hers in private communication as he presented the rose to her. “I fear that I behaved no better than a magician. My sincerest apologies.”

Her heart tugged as she looked down at the red papier-mâché flower cupped in his palm. She might never understand this man, but she couldn’t stay angry at him, either, not when he apologized like this. Her fingers trembled as she accepted the flower.

“Thank you,” she whispered.

His eyes stared softly into hers. “You’re welcome.” After a short pause, he added, as if unable to help himself, “But do stay away from the tightropes, will you?”

She laughed and pressed the flower against her chest, her eyes tearing up at his apology. “I will, I promise.”

Of all the things for him to do tonight, she certainly hadn’t expected this! A flower as a peace offering. And most of all, an apology. Her chest lightened with relief. Now, they could be friends again, as they were meant to be, and he wouldn’t give what happened between them at the opera a second thought.

As if to prove her correct, Sebastian turned his attention immediately back to Lady Jane, who had tapped his shoulder to inquire about one of the other members of Parliament in attendance tonight. Jane smiled at him, that demure expression that came so easily for her. So urbane and beautiful. Even just sitting there, in her pale gray gown and white ermine stole, with strings of pearls woven through her dark hair, she was quietly graceful and refined. Exactly the sort of woman Sebastian wanted for his wife.

Miranda slumped back in her chair, her shoulders sagging. Which only made her feel even worse given how ramrod-straight Lady Jane sat on the other side of him. So she stiffened her spine, pulled back her shoulders, and once again missed the loose-fitting dresses she wore in the country.

“The more daring ladies wear them behind their ears,” Robert piped up as he leaned over her shoulder and saw the flower resting on her palm. Only a few weeks ago, she would have been all aflutter to have him speak into her ear like this. But now, oddly enough, she felt not a single butterfly rise in her belly.

But she didn’t let herself contemplate what that meant as she slipped the flower behind her ear. “Like this?”

“Beautiful.” He gave her a smile, then jerked his thumb toward the pagoda. “Diana and I are going for ices. Want to come along?”

What he meant was that they needed a chaperone. Her heart sank. A chaperone for another couple in love was the very last thing she wanted to be tonight.

But a glance at Sebastian told her that she couldn’t bear to stay behind with him and Lady Jane either.

She forced a smile. “Yes, I’ll come.”

As Robert and Diana slipped from the box, Miranda rose from her chair and caught Sebastian readying to give her one more warning. But she raised her brow in silent challenge and walked out the door.

Bustling with excitement and activity, the gardens were a wonderland of sights and sounds as she wandered into the busy alley after Robert and Diana. Within a matter of minutes, she’d lost sight of them in the crowd, but she wasn’t the least bit upset by that. Not when she had all of the pleasure gardens to explore, all the wonders to experience for herself now that she was freed from Sebastian’s leash. Besides, Diana and Robert were going for ices, which meant she’d eventually find them at the refreshments booths near the pagoda, at that point where the well-lit alleys gave way to the dark, close paths in the wooded acres away from the galleries and stages.

Around her, finely dressed men and women strolled past, along with more daring persons wearing fancy dress and covering their faces with masks. Harlequins danced by. So did a troupe of puppeteers, working life-size puppets in their hands. Two acrobats, holding on to each other’s ankles, rolled past like a human hoop. A juggler tossed flaming batons high into the air, and two men on stilts chased each other down the alley. Everywhere around her came strains of music, all being played by different quartets and bands. There would be fireworks later, but as far as she was concerned, the colorful crowd was enough fireworks for her.

As she approached the pagoda, she glimpsed Robert and Diana walking down one of the narrow paths leading into the dark trees. And decidedlynotinterested in fetching lemon ices. With a sigh, she hurried after them. If she was to be their chaperone, then she needed to stay with them whether they wanted her there or not. The last thing she needed was to give Sebastian any more ammunition to use against her.

The path grew narrower and darker as she went. Although lanterns had been strung from the trees, someone had extinguished them, leaving the path mostly in darkness, and she picked her way carefully, knowing Robert and Diana couldn’t be too far in front. Up ahead where the path curved, she saw their two dark figures step into the bushes toward a small folly made to look like the tumbled ruins of a Greek temple. She followed. As she rounded the end of the ruined wall, she started to call out—

Then Robert pulled Diana against him and kissed her. Not with the desperate urgency that Sebastian had kissed Miranda at the opera, but with such tenderness, such gentleness that her heart broke.

Rather, it should have broken. After all, Robert was the man she’d wanted for years. So why wasn’t she bothered as much as she should have been to see him kissing another woman? Was it possible that she didn’t love him anymore? Or that she’d never truly loved him at all?