Love and Splendor: The Coltrane Saga, Book 5

by Patricia Hagan

  “Lily, stop it!” Dani snapped, holding up a hand for silence. No way was she going to be manipulated into helping plan a wedding she quite frankly thought was a terrible mistake. “I don’t have time, and that’s final, now please accept my congratulations and best wishes for your happiness and again I ask you to leave me.”

  Lily took a step away from her, felt her cheeks growing warm with humiliation. “I came here to apologize if I angered you last night; I offered my hand to you in friendship, and this is what I get. A slap in the face.”

  Dani was not about to be intimidated. “I merely tried to explain that I don’t have time to help with your wedding, Lily. I’m sorry if my refusal offends you.”

  Lily’s eyes narrowed ominously. “When I’m Mrs. John Travis Coltrane, you won’t treat me like this. You’ll give me the respect I’m due.”

  Dani suppressed a snicker. “I’ll treat you as I treat anyone else, Lily, which is as you deserve to be treated. Now”—she took a deep breath, let it out slowly as she pointed to the door with an unwavering finger—“if you don’t leave, I’m afraid I’m just going to have to help you out, as you leave me no choice.”

  At that, Lily exploded, losing all traces of composure. “Why, why…you conceited little bitch,” she sputtered, then cried, “Colt told me how you’ve never thought of anyone but yourself your whole life, never gave a damn how you hurt people as long as you got what you wanted. Well, I’ll tell you one thing, Miss High-and-Mighty Dani Coltrane, you’re going to get what’s coming to you when you find out your precious Russian lover is nothing but a whore-hopping scamp. He’ll bed any woman who spreads her thighs for him, and if I wanted to, I could take him away from you like that…” She snapped her fingers beneath Dani’s nose.

  Dani was having an extremely difficult time holding her temper in check. She desperately wanted to slap Lily’s face until her teeth rattled, but she was determined to hang on to her self-control as long as humanly possible. She closed her eyes for an instant, then took a deep breath and reached out and clamped her hands on Lily’s shoulders and shoved her with all her might toward the door.

  Lily began to scream and struggle against her, but Dani, though smaller in size, was quicker, and she was able to fling her through the door with a mighty thrust and then leap back to slam the door in her face and lock

  Lily promptly yelled, “I’ll get you for this, Dani. I swear I will. You had your chance. I’m going to many your brother whether you like it or not, and I’ll take over this house, and I’ll make your life hell, and you’ll have to get out and go live with your whoremonger Russian as long as he’ll have you…”

  Dani leaned back against the door, trembling from head to toe. My God, where was everyone? The servants could not help but hear and were, no doubt, discreetly ignoring what was going on. Of course, the family was out, or they would have come running. She felt so sorry for Colt. There was just no way he could fancy himself in love with Lily if he could see her as she was now. It made her want to cry to think of him married to such a little witch, but what could she do to prevent it? He would never believe her if she told him about this dreadful scene.

  Lily kicked the door repeatedly as she continued to rant and rave. Dani shook her head in disgust, and wondered how long the tirade would continue. Then, suddenly, Lily screamed something that caught her attention.

  “Colt told me how your mother tried to break up Travis and Kitty. No wonder Drakar appeals to you. He’s a whoremonger like your father, and no doubt you’re just like your mother!”

  That did it!

  Dani’s eyes fell upon the vase of late-summer roses beside her bed. She walked over, removed the roses, took the vase of water and returned to the door. With one swift movement, she yanked open the door and flung the water in Lily’s face, then slammed it quickly against the sight of water dripping down her astonished face.

  With a loud shriek, Lily turned and fled down the long hallway toward her room, the sound of her furious cries echoing and then fading along with the sound of her clattering footsteps.

  Dani methodically refilled the vase, rearranged the roses, wondered what lies Lily would tell Colt…and decided she just didn’t care. How she yearned, now more than ever, to just move out of the house and have a place of her own, free of judgment and interference from others. Only then would she start to feel she was truly in control of her life.

  She rang for Lurline and could tell from the nervous way she acted when she walked in that she had heard the commotion. Deciding to ease the tension, Dani declared, “I’m truly sorry everyone had to hear all that.”

  At once, Lurline seized the opportunity to broach the subject the entire household staff was buzzing about. “Mademoiselle, what was wrong with Mademoiselle Lillian? Never have I heard such screaming. She was like a woman gone mad!”

  Dani went to her wardrobe, began to look through her vast and lovely selection of gowns. “I really don’t like talking about my family’s personal life, Lurline, but if you haven’t already heard enough to know what’s going on, you soon will, so I see no harm in telling you that my brother has asked Lily to marry him. She asked me to help her plan a wedding, I told her I just didn’t have time, and she exploded.”

  She selected a dress of mauve velvet with a slightly provocative neckline and straight skirt. Simple yet elegant. Her marten fur cape would complement the gown, and the evening would certainly be chilly enough for such a warm wrap.

  Suddenly, she realized Lurline had not made any comment about her confiding such news. Turning to look at her, she was surprised to see how upset she looked, but Dani knew the household staff had no affection for the spoiled and unpleasant guest, either. “I know, it’s a shock,” Dani told her as she headed for the alcove where her bath awaited. “It’s hard to believe that Colt can’t see through her and realize what she’s really like.”

  Lurline followed her into the alcove still not speaking. Dani settled down into the warm water and, when she noticed how Lurline’s hands shook as she poured fragrant bath oil into the tub, could not help asking, “What on Earth is wrong with you? You’re shaking like a leaf, and look at your face! You’re so pale.”

  Lurline shook her head, backed away, murmured an apology for her behavior, and started from the alcove.

  Dani sat straight up, water sloshing over the rim of the tub. “Lurline, come back here!” she ordered. “I want to know what’s wrong with you…why are you acting so strange?”

  Suddenly, Lurline turned, and the look of fright was gone from her face and in its place one of indignant anger. “All right,” she all but screamed, “I’ll tell you. It’s none of my business, and you’ll probably report me to Madame Coltrane and I’ll be fired, but I just think someone should know what I saw last night and early this morning.”

  “I think,” Dani said coolly, “you’d better explain yourself, Lurline.”

  Lurline sat down on a nearby stool. “I’m going to tell you everything, and I swear to you I haven’t told this to another soul, and the only reason I’m telling you, mademoiselle, is because I think someone in your family should try to do something to stop Monsieur Colt from making what could be the biggest mistake of his whole life.”

  Dani nodded, urged, “Go on, please.”

  “Someone,” Lurline declared haughtily, “should make him see that just because he bedded the devil doesn’t mean he has to marry her.”

  Dani was beginning to understand what she was getting at, nodded once more for her to continue.

  Lurline explained how the night before, she had been working upstairs late, because Mademoiselle Lillian had complained that her suite was not being properly cleaned. Afraid that she might lose her job if the complaints continued, Lurline took advantage of the family dinner and went into Mademoiselle’s quarters to freshen things up a bit. “The truth is, I fell asleep,” she admitted a bit sheepishly. “I was so tired from working extra hard, and I lay down on the divan in one of the alcoves and fell asleep. Mademoisel
le did not see me when she came in, and I awoke only when she dropped something.

  “I wasn’t about to make my presence known then,” she hurried on defensively, “She would have really been furious to find I’d been sleeping in her quarters, so I just lay there and tried to be as quiet as possible. I was scared to death, I assure you, because the only hope I had was to slip out once she fell asleep, but she didn’t go to bed. I could peek around the end of the divan and see into the bedroom, and I saw her change into a negligee and then she went out again.”

  Lurline paused to allow Dani to absorb that. “She went to Monsieur Colt’s bedroom.”

  Dani raised an eyebrow but said nothing.

  “I know,” Lurline went on confidently, “because once she left the room, I naturally hurried to leave myself, only when I eased the door open, I was just in time to see her go into that little alcove down the hall. She must have hidden in the shadows a half hour or so before Monsieur Colt came upstairs. Then she waited a little longer after he went to his room before she just went to his door and opened it and walked in.”

  Dani knew that Colt would not be cajoled into marrying a woman merely because she sneaked into his bed and invited him to seduce her…or she seduced him. Oh, no, there had to be more than that. Lurline was watching her to see what her reaction would be, and, impatiently, she motioned for her to please continue.

  “Be angry with me if you wish, mademoiselle,” she flippantly invited, “but I despise that woman, and I wanted to know what she was up to because it was obvious your brother didn’t invite her to his bedroom. Why would she have been hiding in the shadows waiting for him if he had? Why didn’t she just go on into his room and be there when he got there?”

  Lurline smiled with malicious delight. “I tiptoed right up to that door and pressed my ear against it and heard her crying about how terrible she felt over what had happened at dinner and how she was going to leave and go back to London, and Monsieur Colt was telling her everything would be all right, and then things became very quiet…” She allowed her voice to trail off meaningfully, letting Dani draw her own conclusions as to what happened next.

  “And,” she rushed to say, “when I went to clean her room the next morning, it was quite early, around seven, I think, and her bed hadn’t been slept in, but when I returned later, the covers were pulled back and the sheets mussed to make it appear she’d been there all night.”

  Dani gritted her teeth. Lurline had gone too far in her snooping. Reaching for a towel, she wrapped it around her, stepped from the tub, and faced the servant girl with angry, condemning eyes. “You should be ashamed of yourself. If I hear that you’ve told anyone else about this, I swear I’ll see to it you’re fired, and I’ll also do everything I can to see that no prominent family in Paris hires you.

  “You’ve no right to pry into other people’s lives,” she continued, mind whirling with all she’d just been told and wishing, despite the possible need to know such gossip, that she did not know.

  Lurline stared at her incredulously, horrified to be chastised. She hurried to defend herself. “But, mademoiselle, I told you how I came to be in her quarters in the first place. I wasn’t prying. True, I became curious when I saw the strange way Mademoiselle Deauneve was acting, but aren’t you glad I followed her? Surely you and your family have right to know Monsieur Colt is involved with a—a demimondaine!” She shuddered with exaggerated loathing.

  “How dare you say such a thing?” Dani demanded. “Regardless of your personal feelings and observations, let me remind you that you’re a servant in this house and you will keep your opinions to yourself. You are impudent and disrespectful!”

  At once, Lurline lowered her head contritely and whispered, “Oh, I’m truly sorry if you’re angry, mademoiselle. I just thought you should know. Forgive me, please, and I won’t say a word to anyone. I swear it on my mother’s grave…” Her voice wavered, caught on a sob.

  Dani waved her away, not wanting to listen any longer. “Leave me, please. Just go.”

  Lurline backed to the door, then turned and ran out.

  Dani’s mind was whirling furiously as she finished dressing. What to do? What was there to do? It was none of her business if Lily slipped into Colt’s room at night. And how did she know Lurline had not made up the whole story? It was certainly no secret that the servants despised Lily because she was so unpleasant…always screaming at them, complaining and criticizing. Yet, it was doubtful that Lurline or any of the others would go so far as to invent vicious lies to attempt to dishonor her.

  So what did it all mean?

  Colt was obviously not happy about the thought of getting married, so how had Lily managed to manipulate him into announcing their engagement? Did last night have anything to do with it?

  In that moment, Dani could be sure of only one thing—that it was best she stay out of it.

  Dani had earlier sent word to the kitchen staff that she would not be at dinner. Promptly at seven o’clock, she saw Drake arrive. At the sight of him, a smile touched her lips. Handsome and appealing though he was, he was also her friend and confidant…something she had never experienced with a man before.

  She grabbed her fur cape, started downstairs, wanting to leave the house as quickly as possible to avoid any kind of confrontation with Colt or Lily, or her parents. Then, halfway down the stairs, she saw her father crossing the foyer in the direction of his study. She prayed he would not see her.

  Her prayer went unanswered.

  Travis glanced up, paused. “Daniella. Good evening.” There was tension in his voice.

  She nodded, politely acknowledged his greeting.

  A shadow crossed his steel-gray eyes as memories of the unpleasant scene of the night before came flooding back. “Would you come into my study, please? I think we need to have a little chat before dinner.”

  Dani stiffened but managed to sound apologetic as she started to explain. “I really don’t have time. Drake and I—’’

  The door chimes sounded. She fell silent.

  Travis raised a questioning eyebrow, looked from her to the door, then waved away an approaching servant and admitted Drake himself. Dani hurried on down the stairs as the two men exchanged pleasantries, slipped her hand around Drake’s arm and murmured she was ready to leave.

  Travis’s eyes narrowed ever so slightly. “You two won’t be here for dinner?”

  “No,” Dani said quickly, too quickly, wishing she did not sound so nervous. “We’re dining out.”

  “Then perhaps you have time for a drink before you go?”

  Drake was about to speak, to accept her father’s invitation, Dani knew, and she couldn’t help thinking how nice it would be to have just one drink to perhaps ease the tension, but suddenly she glanced up to see Colt making his way down the stairs. “No.” Her voice was sharp, and she did not miss the odd way they watched her. Giving Drake what she hoped was a pleading look, she rushed on. “Didn’t you say you had made our reservations for seven thirty?”

  Hesitantly, he nodded.

  “Then we’d best be on our way.” She gave his arm a tug and feigned regrets to Travis. “Another time, thank you.”

  Travis opened the door for them. “Of course. Have a nice evening.”

  As soon as they were outside, Drake laughingly asked what was going on. “You were practically dragging us out of there.”

  “Later,” Dani murmured, relieved they’d gotten out without further to-do. “I’ll tell you all about it later.”

  Drake was warmed by the expression on her beautiful face as she smiled up at him almost adoringly. He pulled her close to kiss her forehead and whisper, “You know that if you have problems, my darling, you can always come to me.”

  With a happy glow, Dani knew that was true.

  Chapter Seventeen

  A carriage ride through Paris by night was far too enchanting an experience to be wasted discussing unpleasant subjects. Dani and Drake soon reached their destination—the small but elega
nt Le Palais Hotel situated with a view of the Tuileries Gardens. A concierge dressed in an impressive suit of black velvet with gold epaulets was waiting beside a bubbling fountain to help them alight from the carriage. He bowed graciously, greeted Drake with unusual familiarity, Dani noted, then moved swiftly to hold open one of two ornately carved mahogany doors.

  Inside, Dani was immediately impressed by the foyer, a small stepped aithrion. She knew from her studies of interior design that the inner court was of Greek origin, and that the Pentelic marble, the marble used in the Parthenon, had also been used here for the four columns supporting the glass roof above. The pattern of the floor was derived from that of the Greek temples, and the proportions of the columns no doubt derived from those of the Doric order of the Parthenon. Tall urns stood beside each and held thick bouquets of fragrant roses and carnations.

  Drake led her down the three steps and on across the gleaming floor. The aithrion was bordered on each side by small reception rooms, unfurnished yet impressive, for the walls of each were different. One was of mother of pearl, another done in mirrors and crystal, then white lacquer, and, finally, on the side from which they had entered, white silk. “Amazing,” Dani gasped, awed. “Every kind of sheen has been used to catch all the light and pass it on. My compliments to their designers, whoever they were.”

  She heard Drake’s light chuckle and whispered “Merci,” but had little time to dwell on whether she’d heard exactly right, for he was explaining about the beautiful gardens in the rear that he would show her sometime in daylight. “Small but spectacular. Large chunks of the marble that was brought in from Greece were left outside to use in making a little waterfall. Wild flowers, lavender, and rosemary have been planted all over the ground, so that when the leaves are crushed underfoot, the scents fill the air.”