“If you are in need of another escort, I would be happy to oblige,” Mr. Lewes had put in.
If Calliope’s stomach ever recovered from the encounter, she would deem it a miracle. For, she couldn’t think of anything she wanted less than being forced to endure the company of both men at once. A ball was one thing, as she could count on the presence of a crowd to act as a buffer of sorts. But with two of them making up their party of four, Calliope wasn’t certain how she would make it through the afternoon.
“We wouldn’t want to impose,” Dominick said. “I had already committed to accompanying the ladies, and it is no hardship for me to do so even without Hastings’s company.”
Calliope was taken aback by the acerbic bite in Dominick’s tone. He’d sounded as if he wanted Mr. Lewes’s presence for this outing even less than she did.
No, that wasn’t it. She did want Mr. Lewes to be near; she always did. What she truly wished was to send Dominick away, so she didn’t have to wrestle with the conflict he’d stoked in her with nothing more than a brief touch. However, there was no way for her to accomplish that without appearing rude, so she simply watched in stunned silence as the men squared off from opposite sides of the room like two bulls about to charge.
“Truly, it is no trouble,” Mr. Lewes had insisted, politeness mixing with determination in every word. “In fact, I find myself curious about the cause that commands so much of Miss Barrington’s time and devotion.”
Dominick looked ready to protest again, but Diana had cut in before he could.
“Wonderful! It will be nice to have you both along, will it not, sister?”
Calliope could have murdered Diana, who merely gave her a wink before approaching Mr. Lewes.
“I’ve been informed that the carriage is ready. Shall we, Mr. Lewes?”
Calliope had tensed as two pairs of male eyes settled on her, making her feel as if she were physically being tugged in opposite directions. However, Mr. Lewes could hardly cross the room to offer his arm with Diana standing right in front of him.
So, he’d offered a smile—though it was clearly forced—and extended his bent arm toward Diana. Dominick did the same with her, and together the four of them had departed for the home.
Now, Calliope sat in the conveyance praying for a quick end to this visit so she could escape—from Dominick or Mr. Lewes, she wasn’t certain.
The two men overwhelmed her senses—Mr. Lewes sitting close on the squabs at her side, his arm brushing hers with every jostle, Dominick doing nothing to disguise the fact that he was watching her from his side of the carriage.
Diana chatted about nothing in particular, and Dominick did an admirable job of lending her his ear and replying when appropriate. But his piercing gaze never wavered from Calliope, making it difficult for her not to squirm in her seat.
She nearly lunged through the open carriage door when they arrived, the footman laying the steps and waiting for them to descend. Instead, she gathered every bit of her composure, and waited for Mr. Lewes to step down and offer his hand, pointedly meeting her gaze and not Diana’s.
A low, masculine sound emitted from within the carriage—Dominick, she realized. The noise was heavy with disapproval, but Calliope ignored him and took Mr. Lewes’s hand. As he led her toward the front door of the orphanage, she told herself to make the best of this day. Instead of working to spread gossip about her and Dominick, she could now spend the next few hours in the company of the man she truly wanted. She’d lost her head momentarily, forgetting what was most important. It didn’t matter that another man’s touch had affected her in such a way. How could she know whether that reaction had been good or bad when she didn’t yet know what it was like to be touched that way by Mr. Lewes? Dominick was a courtesan, which meant there was nothing special about the things he’d done or said to her. It likely came as second nature for him to flirt and seduce. Why should she make more of it than that?
As she raised the brass doorknocker, she took a deep breath and pushed Dominick out of her mind—a difficult feat when he stood just behind her, but not an impossible one.