The moon had risen, and its beams bathed the gravel path with pale light. The breeze was soft and the air fragrant with the scent of Julianna’s night-blooming jasmine. Val told herself she wasn’t really nervous. After all, she’d sat with him in the gazebo before, but never alone in the dark, an inner voice reminded her sagely.
They took seats opposite each other in the darkened gazebo. She heard the scratch of a match, and light sprang to life on the wick of a small candle that sat on a piece of tin in the center of the table.
“You came prepared,” she said.
“I wanted to be able to see you and hoped it would make you more comfortable.”
“I appreciate your caring.”
“Always the gentleman.”
For a few moments, silence rose between them, bringing with it the unique music of the night. She savored the breeze and watched it ruffle the candle’s flame.
“Tell me something about you I don’t know,cheri.”
“No one’s ever called mecheribefore,” she replied.
“No?”
“Do you address other women that way? Your mistress, maybe?”
“Is that the hellion asking?”
“Yes.” She wanted to know because if he used it commonly, she’d rather be addressed by her name.
“Then tell her no, and that I no longer have a mistress. She’s received a better offer.”
She searched his face in the wavering light. “Are you saddened by it?”
“My ego is. The rest of me will live. I enjoyed our times together, but it was a business arrangement, nothing more.”
Val realized how naïve she was. She never considered a man’s arrangement with a mistress might be viewed so dispassionately, but that he no longer had a mistress didn’t sadden her, either.
“Tell me something else,” he encouraged softly.
The passionate kiss between Raimond and Sable rose in her mind, but she shied away from adding that to the conversation. “I’m terrible at singing, embroidery, and playing the piano.”
“All the things society expects a good woman to master.”
“Unfortunately, yes. I enjoy science, but my father wouldn’t let me add more schooling to my education.”
“Why not?”
“He believes too much education damages women and makes them unfit for bearing children. Do you believe a woman wanting to learn is damaging?”
“With the Lovely Julianna as my mother? No.”
She smiled. He was easy to talk to. In that way he was much like Cole. She thought of him and wondered about their future.
“Penny for your thoughts?”
“Honestly? I was thinking about Cole.”
“Give me my penny back.”
She laughed. “I was thinking that the two of you are alike in that you’re easy to talk to.”
“It doesn’t matter. A man convinces a beautiful lady to sit with him in the dark, only to be told she’s thinking about another man.”