Charmed and Dangerous (4 page)

“You are Countess Krelov?”

The woman nodded, raising her brows slightly.

She was very beautiful, Laura thought. Her hair was red-gold and her clear, deep blue eyes were set at a slight slant in her triangular face. Of medium height, with a voluptuous figure, she also possessed a sharp, intelligent gaze. It was no wonder Gavin was taken with her, Laura thought. “May I talk with you for a moment?” Laura added.

“Who are you?” was the reply. The countess's accent was slight, and unidentifiable.

“My name is Laura Devane. I'm a visitor here from England.”

“Married to one of the congress delegates?” A spark of interest entered those blue eyes.

“No. Only observing it.”

“What do you want?”

This was the difficult part, Laura thought, feeling a small thrill of excitement. She was stepping out of the careful world of rules and conventions that had governed her whole life so far. She was releasing the safety those things had brought her, along with the boredom and frustration and limits. “I have heard,” she began carefully, “that you know a great deal about the people here at the conference.”

“You have some information?” was the sharp response.

“No. I should like to learn…that's all.”

Countess Krelov blinked in surprise. She looked Laura carefully up and down once again. A smile tugged at her lips, then broke out in a full-throated laugh. “You have heard I am a spy,” accused the countess mockingly, “and you have some romantic notion of becoming one yourself. You read too many novels, Miss…Devane.”

Laura was already shaking her head. “I don't see anything particularly romantic about it,” she replied. “It is a sort of business, isn't it? Anyway, I don't care about that.”

“What, then?”

Laura looked around the very public area in which they stood. “Could we meet somewhere else—more privately?”

The countess examined her through narrowed eyes. “Who are you?” she asked again.

“Laura Devane,” she repeated. “I was a governess for ten years, before getting the…opportunity to visit Vienna.” The idea of returning to a schoolroom and new charges was less and less appealing, Laura thought.

“Opportunity?” repeated the other woman. She was looking at Laura's expensive gown.

“A friend of my mother's invited me here.” And that was all she could say, Laura thought. If it wasn't enough, this scheme was doomed.

Countess Krelov looked dubious, but also a bit curious. When voices sounded in the back of the hall, signaling the departure of other guests from the party, she gave a little shrug and dug in her reticule for a card. “Come and see me,” she said, handing it to Laura with a mocking little flourish. “Tomorrow…no, the next day, in the afternoon. Three o'clock.”

Laura took the card, slipping it quickly into her glove. “Thank you.”

The countess made a throwaway gesture and turned to the door. Laura slipped away as a group of people entered calling for their wraps. She was back at Catherine's side before her absence caused any concern.

* * *

The Krelovs were lodged in a large house that contained several suites of apartments. When Laura knocked, she was escorted up to the second floor by the landlady, a stoic Austrian who didn't seem to wish to talk even when Laura spoke German. Upstairs, she was admitted by an unusual figure who didn't look at all like a maid. A tall spare woman of fifty or so with gray hair pulled back into a tight bun, she gave Laura several exceedingly sharp glances from under lowered eyelids. She didn't speak, however, as she ushered Laura into the countess's bedchamber. Sophie sat at her dressing table examining her face in the trio of mirrors atop it. “I shall never get old,” she declared. She opened a bottle of lotion and began to rub it into her skin. The scent of roses filled the room. “You came,” she said to Laura. “I didn't think you would.”

“Why?”

She shrugged. “I thought perhaps it was a joke.” She examined Laura with acute intelligence. “I have learned never to reject any source of information. But I really do not see what we have to talk about.”

“Countess…” began Laura.

“Call me Sophie,” said the other, recapping the bottle and putting it back on the dressing table. “And do sit down. It is tiresome looking up at you.”

Laura sat in an armchair that flanked a small table by the window.

“In whose house were you a governess?” Sophie asked, surprising Laura with the accuracy of her memory.

“The Earl of Leith.”

The other woman frowned, considering. “I have never heard of him. He is here?”

“No. He has nothing to do with politics.” Only gambling, Laura thought, and drinking, and other conventional debaucheries.

“You have some information to sell?”

“No.” Laura tried to formulate what she wished to say to this woman. There was a brief silence.

“That color is very flattering to you,” Sophie commented, taking in every detail of Laura's deep rose morning dress.

“Thank you.”

“I still do not understand what you want.”

That wasn't odd, Laura thought. She wasn't sure she understood it herself. She had wanted to meet this woman, the object of Gavin Graham's affections, to see her and learn more about her. This, she thought, would give her clues, ways to win the game between them. This was the kind of woman Gavin admired, she thought, surveying the countess's obvious charms. “My life has become very different, very quickly,” she ventured. “I left a nobleman's schoolroom to come here. It has been rather…disorienting.”

The countess raised her brows.

“I thought you might have some advice for someone in my…situation.” This wasn't terribly convincing, Laura thought, but it was the best she could do.

“Advice?” Sophie looked astonished. “You want my advice?” Her eyes narrowed. “Either you are up to something that I don't understand, or…” She stared. “Or you are a very odd creature,” she finished.

“I am rather odd,” replied Laura evasively. She hesitated, realizing that she would have to reveal more to get any response from the countess. “I had hopes,” she said slowly, “when I was a girl, of seeing things, even doing things that were…significant. Silly hopes. Then the world I had known collapsed.” She raised her chin. Sophie Krelov was watching her intently, she saw. “It was just gone. It is a little that way now.”

The countess's expression had changed. She looked thoughtful. “What do you expect from me?”

“I…heard of you, and it seemed you had made such different choices. I wanted to see what you were like.” Had she imagined that some of the countess's attractions would rub off on her? Laura mocked silently.

“Choices,” repeated Sophie. She shook her head. “Do you think women have choices?” Her beautiful lips turned down in a sneer. “I, too, had dreams, once upon a time…” She sniffed. “You have met the count?”

Laura shook her head. She had never even seen him, as far as she knew.

“No. He prefers the society he finds in the gutter. He thought to take me there too. Then he found that my father had taught me to handle a pistol, and my marriage had given me the resolution to use one.”

“You shot him?” exclaimed Laura.

Looking haughty, Sophie nodded. “A wound only. But in a spot that…discouraged him from annoying me further.” Her grin was feral. “He knew that the next time I would deprive him of parts that he valued greatly.”

She should be shocked, Laura thought, but in fact she was fascinated. The story reminded her of things she had read in the earl's library.

“This was in Russia, years ago,” added Sophie with a wave of her hand. “Afterward, Ivan would give me no money—not that he had ever been generous. So I was forced to find my own interests.” She shrugged again. “I didn't care, as long as he left me alone.”

“You couldn't leave him?” asked Laura. She knew this was often difficult, or impossible. A lone woman had few options, as she herself was well aware.

“Once we had reached our agreement, it wasn't necessary,” answered Sophie with a thin smile. “And Ivan's work in the foreign service offered opportunities.”

“Did you really work for Bonaparte?” Laura blurted out.

Sophie laughed. “Others may say what they will, but I am discreet. I do not wag my tongue about any small…errands I may undertake for friends.”

The two women gazed at each other in the ensuing silence. The winter sun was lowering. She had to get back soon, Laura thought, before she was missed.

“So,” said the countess.

“How do you fascinate a man?” said Laura.

“Ah, now we come to it. A man.”

“An odious man.”

“Ah,” said the countess in a different tone. “Who? I swear I must know him.”

Laura looked away. Gavin Graham was captivated by Sophie. Suddenly it occurred to her that she hadn't considered Sophie's part in this. “Do you… Are you in love with anyone?”

“Love?” Sophie sniffed and tossed her head. “I look on men as the eagle does the mouse.” Joking, she moved her fingers like talons. “I don't waste my time with stupidities like love.”

Laura sat back in her chair.

“You don't wish to tell me who he is,” Sophie concluded. “No, I can see that you don't.” She gave Laura a cajoling look. “It would be so much more amusing if I knew.”

“I…” Laura searched for an excuse.

“Oh, very well. But I could give you better advice if you told me.” Sophie waited a moment to see if this drew an admission, then she shrugged. “How do you fascinate a man?” she mused. She picked up an ebony comb from her dressing table and turned it in her hands. “First, you must take care to look your best, in your own style.” She gave Laura a searching glance, nodding as if she approved of her in this regard. “You needn't be beautiful,” she added. “I have known some positively ugly women who had scores of admirers. It is much more than looks, you see.”

“What more?” asked Laura, truly curious about the knowledge this woman had gained in her unconventional life.

Sophie gave her a sidelong glance. She started to say something, then appeared to change her mind. “It is good to have a bit of mystery about you,” she continued. “You should not be someone he can count on—not steady, or reliable, or safe.”

Laura wrinkled her nose. “I should be unsteady and unreliable?”

“It should never occur to a man to ask you to dance because he is afraid to ask the one he really wishes to partner,” stated Sophie. “He should not think that he will talk with you because you will not unsettle him in any way.”

Laura frowned, trying to assimilate this information.

“And then there is…” The countess hesitated, looking at her visitor from under lowered lashes.

“Yes?” prompted Laura.

Sophie made a vague gesture. “Attraction, allure, the…uh…”

“Physical side of things?”

The other woman nodded.

“I have read about such matters,” Laura assured her. “I am not some ignorant schoolgirl.”

“Read?” answered Sophie, as if the concept surprised and interested her. “What have you read?”

“Books. Portfolios.” Laura waved a hand, trying not to look self-conscious. The Earl of Leith's library had included a large collection of works on this subject that he hardly even bothered to hide. The first one she'd opened had shaken her deeply. She had put it away at once. But over the years, she had gone back and examined the materials. What she had learned was astonishing, funny, disgusting, and engrossing by turns.

“Portfolios?” speculated the countess, her eyes gleaming. “What sorts of…?”

“The earl has low tastes,” she declared. “So you needn't worry about speaking frankly to me.” She sat a bit straighter, trying to look worldly and knowledgeable.

Sophie laughed delightedly. “You are a truly unexpected person. I like you.”

She rather liked the countess, Laura thought. “Tell me,” she urged, “about allure.”

Sophie gazed at her with an indulgent half smile. “Allure,” she repeated. “For that, you must discover your own desires. When they are in your eyes, no man can resist.”

“My own…?” This was not at all what she had expected to hear.

“If your passions are fired, they illuminate you. They add that final element, that thing the French call
je
ne
sais
quoi
.” She turned her hand in the air as if grasping some intangible.

“But I…I don't…” Laura was speechless.

Sophie laughed at her expression. “Did you think I would advise you to wear low-cut gowns and offer kisses in dark corners?” She pushed the idea away with a quick contemptuous gesture. “Men are drawn like moths to the flame of desire. It needn't be
them
that you want. Much better if it isn't. But if you can find the spirit that blazes in you, and set it free, the world will fall at your feet.”

Laura stared at her, trying to understand. In all her studies, one topic she had never considered was her own desire.

Sophie took a long breath. “You have turned me into a philosopher!” She laughed.

Where did she look? Laura wondered. She had been in hiding for so long she didn't know where to find herself.

* * *

Gavin shifted his position in his chair, crossing one leg over the other and leaning back, trying to ease his frustration and boredom before they exploded into some completely unacceptable behavior. None of the fifteen other men sitting around the table looked as impatient as he was, he thought. A number actually looked interested in the topic of their meeting—drafting a document that set forth guidelines for drafting other documents. How could anyone care about such things? he wondered. And yet a few of his fellows appeared to care quite insanely. One of them was speaking now, droning on and on about forms of address and equivalency of titles from different countries.