Page 92 of Regency in Color

She swallowed the noise of surprise that rose in her throat and was deeply embarrassed when it still sounded like a muffled quack. Of course he heard it. Frank listened to everything. To his credit, he didn’t even smile. Andie clarified, “I mean…this seems…private?”

He waved a dismissive hand. “It’s all performance. Take everything you’ve got and leave it on the stage. Frustrated? You dance the tarantella. Bad day? You walk into my theater and absolutely destroy Der Hölle Rache.” Frank smiled as she fought the urge to hide her face. “You know, I’ve never seen anything like that in my life. You singing? I could smell the brimstone.”

Andie laughed in spite of herself. “Is that a good thing?”

“It’s the best thing.” He held her gaze a moment too long, and she felt it.

The spider bite.

Attraction leaked slow and warm into her veins, racing toward her heart. Would she have to dance to expel it, or could she transmute it somehow?

Recognition lit his eyes, and as his expression fell from surprise into a kind of nervous vulnerability, she knew.

He felt it too.

Frank took a deep breath, and it shook as he let it out. “It’s getting late. I suppose I should check on Lu.”

Andie sat up straighter. “Oh, is she here?”

He blinked, confused. “We live just upstairs—didn’t she mention? The door’s right around the corner. Do you, erm…” He swallowed. “Would you like to come up for a minute?”

Isthis a proposition? Frank was unguarded about so many things but oddly awkward in others, and she found she couldn’t tell. He’s hardly going to seduce you with his child present, is he? Feeling silly, Andie finished her rum. Surely there was no harm in seeing it for a moment. “That would be lovely.”

Frank stood, straightening his shirt and retrieving the bottle from the floor. With a last look over the balcony to check the progress of the show, he led her to the hall around the corner and up another flight of stairs, pausing to unlock a door at the top. “Lu, are you still awake?”

“Reading, Dad.”

Feeling like an intruder, Andie followed him into the space.

She wasn’t sure what she’d expected, but it wasn’t this. It appeared to be a maze of rooms leading into each other, more akin to the private quarters in a palace than a modern house. The rooms were much smaller, of course, but no less grand. The door led directly into a warm sitting room paneled in intricately carved walnut. Enormous windows with stained-glass flourishes looked out over the city, while a fire burned invitingly in the hearth. The mismatched furniture was upholstered in deep red velvet. It was beautiful.

Frank stepped easily through the space, no longer noticing the historic details or careful decoration. Whoever had done it had a good eye.

Perhaps his wife had done it before she’d passed.

Or perhaps he has a mistress who did it last week.

Reasoning away the unfamiliar spark of envy, Andie followed. On the opposite end of the next room—a cavernous space full of unusual musical instruments and a cabinet stuffed to overflowing with sheet music—a doorway glowed with the light of the lamp inside.

Frank paused in the doorway, his broad shoulders limned in candlelight. “Miss Archer is here. Would you like to say goodnight?”

“Miss Archer?” Lulu stood and peeked around the doorway in a long nightdress and brilliant purple robe. She looked at her father. “You haven’t done the washing; you’ll frighten her away.”

Andie laughed to herself. “You have a beautiful home, Lulu. Perhaps you and your father might visit mine for tea sometime?” The invitation was out before Andie thought better of it. She still wasn’t sure how Frank would feel about her living in Mayfair.

Lulu’s eyes widened. “Can we?” she asked Frank.

Frank raised his arms, giving up responsibility. “I’ll leave that to the two of you to arrange. Now get some rest. We’ve got the museum in the morning.”

“All right.” She waved from the doorway. “Good night, Miss Archer.”

Andie smiled. “Good night, Lulu.”

Frank kissed the top of her head, then gently closed the door behind him as he returned to Andie in the sitting room.

Clearly relieved that his daughter was safe and everything was right with the world, he still looked ill-at-ease as he paused in front of the fireplace. He looked around, blowing out a long breath. “This is it. Probably not what you’re used to.”

“I love it,” she said sincerely.