The Twelfth Night Murder Read Online Free PDF Page B

she knew, this was the first male tart she’d ever seen.
    Daniel’s expression never betrayed a knowledge he was about to go upstairs with a boy. Furthermore, as his conversation with the young sodomite progressed, it became plain Daniel did intend to take him upstairs. His hand went into the slit at the side of the boy’s dress, as the boy pretended coyness and stepped away from the earl. He snapped his fan closed and wagged it side-to-side in a
no-no
gesture. Daniel laughed as if the boy were joking, and pulled him by the waist to press himself against his belly. Suzanne watched closely to see whether Daniel would sense something beneath the copious skirts, but he seemed not to notice anything amiss. His grin was wide as the boy smiled behind his fan and looked up at him with dewy eyes and dimpled cheeks. Daniel looked as if he might steal a kiss.
    It was definitely time to put a stop to this lest he embarrass himself. “Daniel!” she cried, and put a hand on his arm. “Daniel, you must taste this wine! ’Tis the finest Young Dent has ever served here!”
    Daniel was awfully taken with the boy in his arms, if not smitten. It took another pull at his arm to get him to even look at her. She grabbed his collar and yanked him hard enough to bend him at the waist so she could speak directly into his ear. “Daniel! Stop that now!”
    He laughed, ready to ignore her as if she were only jealous of the prostitute, and that surely was the reason for this display. But she held tight to his collar and continued, “That is a boy you’re about to bed!”
    He laughed again, certain she must be having him on.
    “Heed me, Throckmorton! Look at him!” She shook his arm in an attempt to bring him to his senses.
    Daniel saw her eyes, and the smile left his face. A frown put a crease between his eyes, puzzled, and he looked at the boy. For his part, the boy maintained his femininity though he knew he’d been revealed. He graced Daniel with the softest, most adoring eyes and pursed lips Suzanne had ever seen, even in a skilled prostitute.
    But Daniel finally saw through the ruse. He straightened and reddened. Then he looked around to see who else had seen, and found the entire table of Players watching, some grinning and others unsure where to look from embarrassment. There was no saving the moment. So, with all the social grace bred into him by generations of noble ancestry, he took the boy’s free hand and quite formally bent and kissed the back of it in the Continental manner. Then he straightened and said in the warmest tones he could manage at the moment, “I must apologize, mistress. I fear I’ve just remembered a commitment I’ve made elsewhere. I hope you will forgive me, for I must cut short our conversation.”
    The boy said, “Another time, then?”
    There was a snort of laughter from someone at the table. Suzanne looked to see who it was, but couldn’t tell by their faces. They all listened intently for Daniel’s response.
    He replied, “I doubt our paths will cross again.”
    The boy’s eyes betrayed disappointment, but he curtsied with utter grace and said, “As you wish. I should have liked to make your acquaintance, but one must accept what one cannot change.”
    “Indeed.”
    There was another snort, and this time Suzanne caught Louis laughing into his cup. She threw him a sharp look, and he looked away, struggling not to giggle.
    The boy tart tapped the end of his fan against Daniel’s chin, then ran it down his chest as he turned away from his would-be client and the rest of the table, immediately off on his quest for someone with interest as well as money. He disappeared into the press in an instant, and Suzanne looked to Daniel for his reaction.
    The red cloud of embarrassment hovered over him as if he were smoking that tobacco plant from the New World. Suzanne could almost see it rising from the top of his head, in waves of heat.
    Ramsay said, “That boy is one of the most beautiful women I’ve