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He paid their entrance at the door Halfway down the tunnel, Lily pulled up and refused to budge
"Not until you un-trussup her lips to send a burst of breath upward, toward a stray ringlet dangling between her eyebrows like a sausage link Her huff briefly lifted the curl but failed to dislodge it "This is ridiculous," she said "I need the use ofwhich he considered the inherent dangers of re a hand to her fair, lovely brow, and tending to the stray lock himself … Julian capitulated He released all but the upperant, white-gloved hand to brush the ilet aside A ray of peach iridescence burst froray wrap
"You ht around her shoulders in case the tunnel’s di his words "The hood as well"
She signaled agreement with a nod
When they reached the house, Julian scanned for the two boys he’d paid to reserve their seats There they were, in the center of the second row, staring slack-jawed as a h their paces on stage Just viewing their wide-eyed expressions, Julian paused, reluctant to disrupt the boys’ enjoyht of hiether they rushed to vacate the seats, hungry for their pros Much as they liked the entertainment, they wanted the coin--and the food it would purchase--more
Julian slipped each boy a crown instead He could well reh molten lava to retrieve a sixpence A sixpence was a true windfall--it h the soup line for him and Mother, each More like four for him and two for her, because she always spooned some of her portion into his bowl They could have dined on a crown for weeks
As the trained poodles departed the stage, Julian shook off those cold, hungry memories and laid a hand to Lily’s back He ushered her to their place on the velvet-padded bench A juggler in classic harlequin garb took the stage for a few hts dimmed a touch
As the curtain rose on the play proper, Lily leaned close Her warainst his ear "Thank you"
Just as quickly as she’d co his Suddenly, Julian was reliving a different part of his youth--those heady adolescent years when he’d lived for the slightest brush of feli-clad ankle That exhilaration of first contact was hard to recapture now As a consequence of his exploits over recent years, he’d grown jaded, and precariously close to bored, when it calance from her could be a thorn to his side or a bal She could voice but a syllable, and it was like silk sliding over his skin And nothing thrilled hi her content That whispered thanks against his ear ht hile Honestly, it probably redeemed the better part of his year
Absurdly choked with eaze toward her She sat with her head tilted up, staring at the actors on stage Her eyes were bright with reflected stage la a mass of dark curls and her dusky, parted lips She was lost in the performance, utterly absorbed
For his part, Julian didn’t hear a word of the play
"My goodness," Lily said, "did you not hear a word of the play?" She took Julian’s aruests crushed on all sides, forcing theether "How could you fail to have an opinion?"
"What opinion can one have on a comedy? Either it amuses or it doesn’t"
"But that’s not true A cos Take the character of Tartuffe, for exauise of false--"
Lily’s reoer jostled her from behind She stumbled, but Julian pulled her up and steadied her elboith his free hand When she’d regained her balance, he pivoted her to face him
"Are you well?" he asked
She wasn’t sure The look in his eyes--blue and bri with intense concern--ain Goodness This must be the look he used to seduce wo is broken, I will fix it Tell ather herbs for a poultice Sir Walter Raleigh hadhis cape over that th, she nodded "I’estured in the vicinity of his brow "Your hair is showing"
With an exasperated tug, Lily drew the woolen hood up and over her curls Really, if there were people of her acquaintance in attendance, they were not likely to be scanning the crush of humanity in the pit And, even if there were, the chances of one of the Lily out in the croere slih the saed, they found the night cold and dark Moisture fizzled in the air--not quite rain, not quite fog Now and then, a knife-edged gust of wind cut straight through the protection of Holling’s thick cloak
"We’ll find a hack just up here," he said
Despite the stinging mist, Lily kept her face up and her eyes open wide The streah an entirely different channel than the route she was accusto They turned onto a narrow street, lined with little shops Street vendors waved to the roasted nuts and steaentlemen, flowers for the ladies, ballads for lovers
Her eye was drawn to a Ro a basket of cut flowers Her sue and roypsy woed Julian’s ar hiave her a disbelieving look as people streamed around them
"Come on," she said "Why not?"
"Because it’s late and cold and raining, and if we stand about chatting with shady street merchants, I predict with certainty you’ll catch a chill"
She smiled patiently "Fortunately, I do have a rather formidable cloak"
Lily kneas late, and the weather was harsh Truth be told, she was shivering violently in this gray woolen cocoon But she just couldn’t bear the thought of the evening being over After this night, he’d only pro to dwell on that thought It neighbored too close to desolation
Working beneath her cloak, she tugged one hand frolove and stretched it toward the fortune-teller "Give her a coin, won’t you?"
Julian grabbed for Lily’s hand instead He turned it palrip and said, "If it’s a fortune you want, I’ll read it"
The sudden contact left her breathless "Oh"
A fingertip clad in war kid leather slid over the lines of her palht didn’t see a line froe of her palm "Good health and happiness" He lifted her hand and pretended to peer at it "Ten … No, eleven"