The Beautiful Ones - Silvia Moreno-Garcia Page 0,82
have said that, and yet as soon as the words were out of her mouth, she felt she could not have told him anything different.
“But you came here without an escort?” Hector asked, looking surprised for the second time that night.
“My great-aunts are supposed to chaperone me, but as usual, they are lax in their obligations. I am here alone.”
Gaétan was going to be in attendance at the party, so the matter had not been really dire, but he had failed to make an appearance. Nina did not mourn his absence. If he’d come, she would have had to talk with Valérie.
“We did not arrive together, I am not escorting you to this party. If we leave now, it might be thought improper. They could gossip about you,” Hector warned her.
“They are already gossiping about me because of the business with the fan,” she said, shaking her head. “I must leave or suffocate. Can you see me home, or should I fetch my own carriage?”
There was a curiously cautious air about him, he who was at other times incredibly sure of himself.
“I’ll take you home, in that case,” he said.
They did not speak once they boarded the carriage. He sat in front of her, looking melancholic, his eyes lost, and she kept her gaze on the pretty fan upon her lap. She felt she would burst in that silence and finally did, laughing.
“What is funny?” he asked.
“Nothing. I got into this carriage so I could speak with you, and now I don’t know what we should talk about.”
“Anything you want to talk about is fine with me,” he said sympathetically.
“I do not understand how people are supposed to behave when they meet again. Considering the circumstances.”
Hector drew a deep sigh. “I don’t either. But back in the library, we spoke without impediments.”
“Back there, I could have left any second I wanted.”
“I can get out if I offend you,” he offered.
“It’s not necessary.”
She examined him critically, like a painter ready to sketch a model. The shape of his mouth, the thick eyebrows, the strong hands encased in gloves.
“I wanted you to accompany me … to ride the same carriage, to prove that I could do it,” she said, thinking out loud. “That I could sit still and in control of myself. From now on, if I bump into you, I can ignore you or speak to you or do whatever I wish.”
“I see.”
“Not that … not that I want to particularly ignore you. You must not think me cruel. But it’s strange. I’m not mad at you. I don’t see how people … I look to books for advice, you see, but they don’t write these scenes.”
What a mess, what nonsense. She ought to have stayed at the party. She frowned, her fingers dancing over the fan.
“Perhaps we can figure it out. Would you ever consider seeing me again?” he asked.
“Because you still want to make amends,” she said, her voice almost cracking, to her annoyance. After she’d told him she was in control.
“Because your absence is noticeable.”
“What is that suppo—?”
“I miss you, too,” he said. “You also taught me.”
The exasperation that had gathered at the tip of her tongue dissipated and she stared at him, baffled. They had arrived in front of her great-aunts’ house and he exited the carriage, holding out a hand to help her down.
“Miss Beaulieu, I would like to see you again, but I won’t pressure you to say yes,” he concluded. “Thank you for your company.”
If he’d been Luc Lémy, he might have punctuated their conversation by reminding her once again how pretty she looked, declaring that her hair was as dark as midnight. Hector was not Luc, and he’d say no such words.
She looked at him carefully, and saw a man. Not the romantic notion of a man she’d glimpsed before, her vision colored with memories of books and plays. A man, flawed and sad, who’d hurt her once, but whom she nonetheless esteemed. She saw, too, his genuine regret and the honest emotion lurking in his eyes.
“Have you been to the aquarium?” she asked.
“I had to fetch a shark from it at one point,” he replied cautiously.
“Did you look around it?”
“Not on that occasion.”
“I am headed there tomorrow morning. I should be arriving around eleven. I wouldn’t think to demand that you escort me, and I imagine you are busy. But should you find yourself in the vicinity—”