Mademoiselle, but if you should come to better understand me, you will find me capable of discernment enough to know what is right, boldness enough to do it, and sufficient power, should fortune choose to abandon my standard, to compel capricious circumstances to yield to my will.”
Braggart ! She wanted to shout. Despite his protest, his words sounded exactly like the boast he claimed to shun. A Gascon by birth, her passions ran hot. Like anything wild and pure of spirit, they could be checked but never tamed. She rubbed her palms together, warming to the easy banter of ridicule.
“I am very eager to comprehend the manner by which you have persuaded the graces of fate to look upon you with such favor, Monsieur. Your prowess must be great indeed to grant you talents so marvelous and yet at the same time, so very well concealed.”
The sting of her derision was obscured beneath a pleasing tone and an even more agreeable smile. The stranger gazed at her but a moment, then lowered his head and began to slowly pace the floor, hands clasped behind his back. After a few moments of considered wandering, he stopped and met her mocking look with a glance so soft it was almost a caress. Then he turned his eyes gently aside and seemed to look at nothing in particular.
“You mock me, Mademoiselle, and most scornfully so, but I do not mind it. To be teased by you is to be noticed and I much prefer the sound of your disdain, to the silence of indifference. The beauty of your smile is my consolation, and I accept the lash of your rebuke as a stallion accepts the riding crop. Strike again if you will and rouse me from dull amazement. The sting spurs me to greater effort and I will yet stand and speak as plainly as you find me now. I have an eye for seeing the extraordinary, in horseflesh and in people. Where others find a plain plough horse, I discover a Bucephalus.”
She almost laughed out loud. If he meant to flatter her by comparing her to the favorite warhorse of Alexander the Great, he was more than a fool and no man of breeding to make such a clumsy appraisal. The last of her patience was expelled with an audible outrush of breath. It was time to see off this clumsy pretender who had only his pleasing form to recommend him and obviously nothing else of wit, grace, or substance.
“Now you mock me, Monsieur, and with far less grace than you pretend. If by hazard, then I pity and pardon you. If by purpose, then most assuredly, you are no gentleman. Your actions and speech make it clear you are unfamiliar with the practices of etiquette and decorum required of this house. I shall therefore grant you a measure of leniency by not informing my uncle, the Baron de Salvagnac, of your lack of courtesy and respect. I shall invite you instead, to take your leave of my person and this room and embark upon a tour of our fine stables. You will find sufficient flesh there on four legs and two, to which you may apply your “discernment” to your heart’s content. Perhaps the equerries will find you more illuminating than I. If not, you may try conversing with the livestock directly, but, so our discourse should henceforth conform to the requirements of our respective stations, from now on, you may address me properly as Mademoiselle la Vicomtesse de La Bouhaire.”
At the announcement of her noble rank, a look of utter bewilderment flashed across the stranger’s face. She watched the change with satisfaction. In one stroke she had succeeded in perturbing the cool arrogant detachment of the unwanted guest. Still, she was ever mindful, as any person of gentle breeding must be, of the duty to properly educate and shepherd the less fortunate. In keeping with this obligation, she made a concession to his embarrassment. Though by design it was but a small one.
“After your tour of the stables, I’m sure the equerries can guide you back to my uncle’s waiting room, from which you have become so evidently lost. You may continue to attend him
Braggart ! She wanted to shout. Despite his protest, his words sounded exactly like the boast he claimed to shun. A Gascon by birth, her passions ran hot. Like anything wild and pure of spirit, they could be checked but never tamed. She rubbed her palms together, warming to the easy banter of ridicule.
“I am very eager to comprehend the manner by which you have persuaded the graces of fate to look upon you with such favor, Monsieur. Your prowess must be great indeed to grant you talents so marvelous and yet at the same time, so very well concealed.”
The sting of her derision was obscured beneath a pleasing tone and an even more agreeable smile. The stranger gazed at her but a moment, then lowered his head and began to slowly pace the floor, hands clasped behind his back. After a few moments of considered wandering, he stopped and met her mocking look with a glance so soft it was almost a caress. Then he turned his eyes gently aside and seemed to look at nothing in particular.
“You mock me, Mademoiselle, and most scornfully so, but I do not mind it. To be teased by you is to be noticed and I much prefer the sound of your disdain, to the silence of indifference. The beauty of your smile is my consolation, and I accept the lash of your rebuke as a stallion accepts the riding crop. Strike again if you will and rouse me from dull amazement. The sting spurs me to greater effort and I will yet stand and speak as plainly as you find me now. I have an eye for seeing the extraordinary, in horseflesh and in people. Where others find a plain plough horse, I discover a Bucephalus.”
She almost laughed out loud. If he meant to flatter her by comparing her to the favorite warhorse of Alexander the Great, he was more than a fool and no man of breeding to make such a clumsy appraisal. The last of her patience was expelled with an audible outrush of breath. It was time to see off this clumsy pretender who had only his pleasing form to recommend him and obviously nothing else of wit, grace, or substance.
“Now you mock me, Monsieur, and with far less grace than you pretend. If by hazard, then I pity and pardon you. If by purpose, then most assuredly, you are no gentleman. Your actions and speech make it clear you are unfamiliar with the practices of etiquette and decorum required of this house. I shall therefore grant you a measure of leniency by not informing my uncle, the Baron de Salvagnac, of your lack of courtesy and respect. I shall invite you instead, to take your leave of my person and this room and embark upon a tour of our fine stables. You will find sufficient flesh there on four legs and two, to which you may apply your “discernment” to your heart’s content. Perhaps the equerries will find you more illuminating than I. If not, you may try conversing with the livestock directly, but, so our discourse should henceforth conform to the requirements of our respective stations, from now on, you may address me properly as Mademoiselle la Vicomtesse de La Bouhaire.”
At the announcement of her noble rank, a look of utter bewilderment flashed across the stranger’s face. She watched the change with satisfaction. In one stroke she had succeeded in perturbing the cool arrogant detachment of the unwanted guest. Still, she was ever mindful, as any person of gentle breeding must be, of the duty to properly educate and shepherd the less fortunate. In keeping with this obligation, she made a concession to his embarrassment. Though by design it was but a small one.
“After your tour of the stables, I’m sure the equerries can guide you back to my uncle’s waiting room, from which you have become so evidently lost. You may continue to attend him
Similar Books
Huntsman: Love Will Find a Way
Rebecca Davis
The Dead Man's Brother
Roger Zelazny
A Promise of Fire
Amanda Bouchet
Kitchen Affairs
Brooke Cumberland
My Control
Lisa Renée Jones
War Path
Kerry Newcomb
Supplice
T. Zachary Cotler
Kill on Command
Slaton Smith
Crooked Heart
Lissa Evans
Confess (The Blue Line Series Book 1)
Reagan Phillips