we do.” She laughed, completely in character for Maria’s sake, and shifted to Thomas’s side, taking his arm. “Thomas and I ran in the same circles in London,” she explained to Maria. “Though we’re only just becoming better acquainted now.”
She turned to Thomas, fixing him with a look that ordered him to say as little and be as charming as possible. A flash of confusion pinched Thomas’s brow for a moment before he smoothed it out and smiled.
“We have so much catching up to do,” he said.
“Yes, we most certainly do.” Violetta giggled and pretended to fawn over him, though that much wasn’t hard to do. “Come over here so that we can have a word in private,” she said, taking Thomas’s hand and leading him to the far end of the room.
She tugged him behind a screen, then, when she peeked through the cracks to see whether Maria or any of the other troupe members who milled about, getting ready for the show, were watching, she lifted the edge of the tent and pulled Thomas outside and into an alley beside the church.
“I’m sorry that it took me so long to figure things out last night,” Thomas said in a tight whisper. “If I hadn’t been so tired from the journey from Venice—”
Violetta clapped a hand over his mouth to silence him. “The less that is said on the matter, the better,” she whispered. She craned her neck to look up and down the alley. There were far too many people crossing this way and that, either coming to the plaza to see the show or going about their usual business. Anything they said there ran the risk of being overheard.
“It’s just that Lord Beverly didn’t give me much information to go on,” Thomas continued in a whisper. “He told me to look for the English Columbine, but he didn’t—”
Violetta grabbed the lapels of his jacket and lifted to her toes, planting a deep kiss square on his mouth. It was the only way she could think of to shut him up, seeing as he utterly missed the point of her telling him to be quiet.
As soon as his shock at her bold move passed, he hummed deep in his throat and closed his arms around her. Violetta should have been alarmed by the way he molded her body to his and kissed her back, but the ability to think quickly left her. His body was solid and tempting. His lips parted hers, and his tongue slipped deep into her eager mouth. Shivers of lust seared her as she gave in to the kiss, going so far as to make desperate, pleading noises. Every inch of her was suddenly on fire, and all she wanted was more, more, more.
The sound of something being dropped in the tent beside them and a man clearing his throat shook her out of the moment of bliss. She gasped for breath and leaned back, though Thomas continued to hold her. Her pulse raced, both from the kiss and from the sure and certain knowledge that someone inside the tent had been spying on them. She hoped to God it was just Maria being nosey.
“Do you see why we must wait to discuss this until later?” she whispered, barely audible.
He made a series of indistinct sounds that didn’t quite form themselves into words. The way his eyes were glazed over was a sure sign that he wasn’t certain what had just happened.
Violetta giggled for the benefit of anyone who might still be spying on them. “My, my, Lord Landry. You are a treat,” she said as though he were just another theater patron who hoped for a second show after the public one.
“I…um….” He continued to look bowled over.
Violetta slipped her arms up over his shoulders, leaning into him and bringing her mouth as close to his ear as she could. “I have a few ideas where your brother might be,” she whispered, still smiling. If anyone was able to see them, they would think she was making lewd suggestions and not sharing crown secrets. “I believe he has been moved more than once since being brought to Rome. But we can’t speak now. I have a show to do.”
“Er…um…a show?” Slowly, after a few blinks, his face still pink with passion, Thomas started to come to his senses.
“Yes.” She rocked back, gazing up at him with undisguised interest. “Once the show is over, I’ll show you everything you want to see and then