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"Certainly" He kissed her hand before releasing it "I’ll be back in a trice"
Then he was gone, giving Bel a few precious hts and reevaluate her life She’d fallen in love with her husband, and now everything was ruined Wasn’t it?
How could she fully devote herself to service and charity, with this loud, sy out all her best intentions? She tried to recall her schedule for tomorrow She was certain she had so with the house staff about the upco machinery?
But for the life of her--for the love of Toby--she couldn’t rene’s effect had faded now Bel saw clearly what she needed to do She must choose This love had infected her unawares, but perhaps she still had hope for a cure It was not too late to deny this passion, to push her husband away and refocus on her work She’d been in London society long enough to understand the polite, affectionless arrangees She could insist upon the sa both passion and terror at once She could place her soul in the keeping of arake Really, there was no choice at all
"Here we are" Toby slid back into the box, a dewy glass of water in his hand Bel took it, tipping the glass and downing the water gratefully Slowly So long as she was drinking, she need not speak Soon the lights diain, and Toby pulled his chair close to hers Close enough that she felt his warmth, even in the dark
"Are you able to understand the opera?" he asked in a low voice "I don’t suppose you have any Italian?"
"No," she whispered back, setting the water glass aside "But I learned Spanish froh that I can follow the story" And what a story it was--the dashing, infamous lothario and the besotted worave Out of blind, unrequited love
Yes, she’d learned this story from her mother in more ways than one If her father had had fewer lovers than Don Giovanni’s thousands--it surely was only because their island was so s, her mother had loved him with a fierce, loyal passion--even beyond the boundaries of reason and health The doctors said hereffect of her brain fever, but her mother had believed otherwise
She insisted she’d gone mad with love El a, feverish passion that robs the mind of sense, that spins a soul toward darkness and despair
Bel would be a fool to follow that exaloved hands fisted in her lap She must resist this love She must break free of the bond he’d soan to sing, Toby’s hand covered hers, and she knew She didn’t truly want to be freed
"Have you seen this opera before?" she asked
"Yes"
"How does it end?" She turned to hi" He chuckled "Our hero dies, alone and unrepentant, and the devil takes his soul to hell"
Oh, God help her
As she listened to the haunting aria, the hairs rose on Bel’s neck and a familiar, terrible heaviness formed in her chest She wanted to cry, but the tears wouldn’t coo, she’d believed this to be the sort of tension a wo Now, thanks to her talented husband, she knew there to be another cure Her body cried out for the pleasurable release only he could give
"Reled with the fading applause
"Yes," she whispered back "The way the note hangs in the air, even after she ceases to sing …
I know I’er, but I feel it, resonating in the air In me"
He was silent Bel’s cheeks heated She must sound ridiculous and naïve
"I understand perfectly," he finally said His voice held no trace of amusement--only warmth and tenderness "I think I feel that way sometimes, when I’m parted from you Even when you’re not with me, it’s like … there’s an echo of you that settles in ht it to his lips, then pressed it to his solar plexus "Here I feel you here, always Sometimes it hurts"