the scarlet red of their waistcoats. The walls were adorned with frescoes—lush, erotic scenes on a red background—and the windows covered with heavy swathes of red velvet. Gold-framed mirrors glinted, reflecting light and the scene before them, adding to the sense of space and grandeur. Here was the theatre that had been absent on the outside, the scene set as a playground for the rich and the reckless.
Phoebe felt Max’s arm stiffen beneath her hand, and looked up to see a man approach them. He was tall and dark, hair glinting blue-black like a raven’s wing as he moved beneath the glare of the chandeliers. Whoever he was, people stopped to watch him pass, the women’s gazes admiring his broad shoulders and lithe form, the men stepping out of his way as he brought with him an air of menace that came as a surprise when he stepped closer, for he was a young man, certainly no older than Phoebe, and dreadfully handsome. Eyes as black as a sloe berry regarded her solemnly for a moment before he bowed to them.
“My Lord and Lady Ellisborough, you and your guests are most welcome at Rouge et Noir this evening. I am Nicolas Alexandre Demarteau, proprietor of this humble house.” There was a glimmer of something dark and amused in his eyes as he spoke, the arrogant devil, for he knew well enough there was nothing the least bit humble about Rouge et Noir. “I ’ope you will have someone inform me if there is anything you need,” he proceeded smoothly, “but for now, I believe you might be interested in one of the private games.” He gestured to a shadowed archway, cloaked with a heavy black velvet curtain, and then held out a bag of gaming chips. “I understand you to be a man of integrity and honour, my lord.”
Max nodded his thanks and accepted the bag. “All and any debts shall be paid in full, you have my word, and now I believe we will take a look behind that curtain. Thank you, Monsieur Demarteau.”
“My pleasure, my lord, lady. I hope you have a… successful evening.”
Phoebe watched the man walk away before lifting her gaze to Max again.
“He knows,” she said, a little shocked.
“I suspect that a man who runs a business such as this makes it his business to know everything,” Max said, his tone dry.
The viscount laughed softly and nodded. “I made a few discreet enquiries about the brothers who own Rouge et Noir, but there was no one willing to breathe a word about them. Not so much as a murmur. I think that speaks volumes.”
“Well, then, shall we go and see what Richard is about?” Nina asked, turning her attention from Charlie to Phoebe.
She spoke lightly, but there was a thread of tension in the words that revealed her true feelings. The viscount frowned down at her and covered the hand that rested lightly on his arm.
“There is no need for you to involve yourself in this. No need to provoke the baron’s anger. He need not know you led us here, nor that you had a part to play in it.”
Nina shook her head. “I have always been honest with Richard. I despise falsehoods, trickery… though I would not blame you for disbelieving that, having posed as your wife these past days. Nonetheless, I prefer to face him. There was no great love affair between us, but there was affection, on my part, at least. I do not like to believe my faith in him was so ill-placed, but I shall face him and look into his eyes. I believe I shall know if he thought to cheat on me and leave.”
Kline regarded her with such obvious admiration that Nina laughed, that good, hearty sound that Phoebe had liked so well.
“I may be a whore, Lord Kline, but I flatter myself I am an honest one.”
Kline’s face darkened and he took her hand, raising it to his lips. “I see only a lady, and one that has faced adversity and survived. Come, let us face this young dandy and see what manner of man he truly is.”
Phoebe read a startled look on Nina’s face, followed by a flush of pink that she suspected surprised the lady even more. Nina did not strike her as a woman who blushed easily, if at all, but she followed Kline as he led them towards the curtained alcove. The viscount held the curtain back and Nina stepped through, followed