“Goodbye, Clothilde.” He bowed to her back and left. He hadn’t expected it to be a pleasant conversation but now he realized that he had hoped for an amicable agreement to bring their liaison to a cordial close. But maybe he should have been more realistic. Clothilde was never an easy woman and her bitterness, while regrettable, was probably only to be expected. However, he couldn’t deny the lightness, the sense of relief, as he walked back toward Piccadilly. He could now with a clear conscience devote his attentions to getting to know Miss Rutherford in all her manifestations.

Something Clothilde had said troubled him though. Why hadn’t he realized that Petra’s name was being bandied about in the clubs and drawing rooms of Mayfair? He should have realized the danger of his attentions to her reputation, but all his liaisons hitherto had been with women who could not be touched by gossip, and who certainly wouldn’t be concerned by it. The irony of his insisting she not walk home alone at night, while he recklessly played fast and loose with her reputation, was not lost on him.

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Eleven

“Must we really go back inside for the second act?” Petra asked in the crowded foyer of the Covent Garden opera house. “We all know Elsa falls down dead at the end.”

“At the end of the third act,” Diana pointed out.

“Oh, yes. I managed to forget there are three acts,” Petra said with a mock groan.

“I think you’re feeling faint, Petra.” Fenella took a sip of champagne. “I think we should take her home, Diana, don’t you?”

Diana grinned. “Definitely. You’re looking really sickly, dearest.”

“Oh, am I? I do feel a little unwell.” Petra drooped into a convenient armless chair, her hand pressed to her forehead. “One of my headaches is coming on.”

“I’ll make our excuses to Bella Carrington,” Fenella said.

Her friends watched her thread her way through the chattering throng to where their hostess stood with some of their fellow guests in the Carringtons’ party. Petra sighed and wilted convincingly as Lady Carrington looked toward her with concern. They couldn’t hear the conversation between the lady and Fenella but it looked as if Fenella was more than convincing in her tale.

“She is an actress after all,” Diana said with a stifled laugh as Bella patted their friend’s arm and looked again toward Petra, saying something urgently to Fenella.

“Oh, I do hope she’s not coming over here to see for herself,” Petra whispered. “I’m not an actress.”

“No, it’s all right. Fenella seems to have put her off. Look, she’s coming back alone.”

“And now I feel horribly guilty,” Petra said.