Amour: Historical Romance (Passion and Glory Book 1) Read Free Page A

there to beg for whatever particular favors you seek. I should be happy to call for the assistance of the servants to guide you, if you cannot find your way out.”
    Without waiting for a reply, the vicomtesse turned her back on the stranger, walking toward a cabinet to the left of the hearth, to take up the bell which would ring for the house lackeys to come at once. Her temper simmered as she considered all the indignities she had been forced to bear. How tiresome they are, these grasping fellows who fill my uncle’s drawing rooms each day in search of a position or a favor. And this one has neither the sense nor the manners to know his place. What could he possibly have in his head but mischief, to make his way here to the private areas of the house? Well, he had best be on bended knee in apology when I turn around, or I’ll have him thrown out and he’ll lose for good whatever position he had hoped to obtain by coming here in the first place .
    From the center of the room the vicomtesse heard the sound of laughter. She turned in complete consternation, the behavior so unexpected she couldn’t decide whether it was endearing or infuriating or both. Their eyes met again and the innocence of his regard quickly took the heat from her temper. Yes, he was laughing, but she could see by the hunching of his broad shoulders, that her words had hurt him. There was something artless and sweet about the way he looked at her now, like an over eager puppy who’d been scolded too harshly. She hadn’t really meant to wound him so.
    But the thing in his eyes which had held her, that special confidence he had possessed as a matter of nature, that was gone now. She hadn’t meant to rob him of that either. Because that magic belonged to him. A part of his spirit as her temper was a part of hers.
    As she looked across the room, the giant she had fashioned, suddenly seemed no more imposing than a bewildered child, despite his daunting size. He shuffled his feet and there were tremors of nervousness in his hands. Had she simply been too preoccupied with her own presumptions to notice his anxiety as well? He bowed low before her. The act was boyish, ungainly, and yet, utterly charming.
    “A third time I ask for your forgiveness, Mademoiselle. You have every right to be cross with me. The unexpected pleasure of finding you here and my own youthful inexperience has caused me to twist a tribute into its opposite. I am not by nature hesitant or uncertain, but standing in the light of your presence has reduced me to being a complete bungler. I beg of you to stay your hand but a moment more and allow me the honor of presenting myself to you, as I should have done from the beginning.”
    Rather than wait for the vicomtesse to reply, the stranger hurried on with his speech, as if afraid she might refuse him even this last request.
    “I am Nicolas Étienne Alexandre Hyacinthe-Christophe de Montferraud, Chevalier and Vicomte d’Argentolle, and I am entirely at your service.”
    “Vicomte d’Argentolle?” the vicomtesse gasped.
    The summoning bell fell from her hand and struck the floor with a dull clang. The chevalier retrieved the bell and returned it to its place on the serving cabinet. The vicomtesse’s hands pressed against her cheeks in embarrassment.
    “Then you are not here to see my uncle for a position, Monsieur?”
    “Not at all, Mademoiselle. I came with my father, the Marquis de Blaise, and my brother, the Comte de Marbéville. We arrived at the invitation of Monsieur and Madame de Salvagnac. I believe my father wished to discuss a potential alliance between my brother and Mademoiselle de Salvagnac.”
    “Oh,” the vicomtesse replied.
    It was a very small sound, dampened by mortification. The vicomtesse bent forward to return the chevalier’s bow with a full curtsey of her own, her face as pink as a rose. My Aunt told us we were to have special guests. My cousines and I were all warned to be on our best behavior! she