Knaves Read Online Free PDF

name,” she said. “And I consider myself an aficionado of our cinema.”
    “ I would hope,” Valmont interrupted, “that you were not an aficionado of Eloise’s productions. She tended to go by the name Lupa in those days.”
    Sebastian slammed his hand down on the table, causing the chips —and the prissy lawyer beside him—to jump. The Lithuanian scowled at this and stood up. “I thought we were here to play,” he muttered, aware that something was going on. “Marquis, perhaps another night.”
    Valmont saw him off with a negligent flick of his wrist.
    “La Lupa!” Sebastian exclaimed. “I knew I’d seen you before! Bloody hell! I never thought I’d get the chance to meet you.”
    This caused Jeanne Duval to glare at him for a second, but Valmont was more surprised to see that Eloise regarded the handsome Englishman with a frank expression of interest that she never displayed—unless it was with his permission.
    “ Madame Bissette,” Jeanne asked, a certain iciness in her voice now, her words clipped and precise. “I seem to be in a state of some ignorance. What were the films you appeared in?”
    It was Valmont who answered. “I believe that when we met, you were in Cannes to promote… now, what was it? Les Voleurs de l’Âne Perdu 3 , ah, yes, that was the one.”
    Sebastian clapped his hands together once again, apparently completely oblivious that hell was freezing over beside him. “I remember that one. Yes! Incredible, the stuff you could do.” He winked at Eloise and flashed that bright smile at her again.
    “ Raiders of the Lost Ass 3 ,” Jeanne translated, her voice dropping a degree in temperature with each word. “I hadn’t realised there was a trilogy, and I’m so sorry to have missed examples of your œuvre , Madame Bissette. I assume that Spielberg missed the chance to direct that particular masterpiece.”
    Valmont laughed, indulging himself in a moment of rare, undiluted pleasure. He could feel Eloise prickling beside him and was a little bemused, but also entertained, that for once she appeared to be discomforted by his revelation of her former career. “He was unavailable that day,” he remarked, “though I believe that everyone involved made a good deal of money, isn’t that true, Eloise?”
    “ I was a big fan of your work,” Sebastian added, apparently oblivious to the fact that both women were glaring at each other now. Looks were not seeking merely to kill now, but also to disembowel and eviscerate in the most painful manner. Valmont felt a delicious thrill at the thought of how these two would behave if left alone.
    “ Was?” asked Eloise, attempting to reassert her equipoise.
    Sebastian looked slightly bashful, his dimple reappearing as he smiled and dipped his eyes almost shyly. “Well, I’m sure you know how it is. A chap has obligations, and all that.” His eyes flickered towards Jeanne and, encountering hostility there, slid puppy-like towards Eloise.
    “ I understand entirely,” Eloise observed.
    For a moment there was silence and, taking that as a cue, the dealer began to pass cards around the table to the three men remaining.
    “What are the stakes?” Sebastian asked, immediately forgetting any tension. “Shall we keep it small to begin with? Five thousand?” The lawyer looked concerned at this and, when Valmont nodded, it was his turn to blanche.
    As the dealer repeated the stakes, Jeanne was clearly not finished with the previous conversation. “An… unusual companion, if I may say so, for a Marquis.”
    Ignoring the sudden rudeness of the comment because he comprehended entirely it ’s source, Valmont shrugged. “I am a man of unusual tastes, Madame Duval.”
    “ I’ll say,” snorted Sebastian. He glanced sheepishly towards Jeanne and then, almost too quickly for even Valmont to notice, his eyes became keen as they turned to the cards before him. After that, casually—almost too casually—he looked towards Eloise once more and smiled.