“Not the whole of the time.”
“Then who else?”
They had reached the bottom of the stairs and Sheena looked up into his eyes, intending to defy him or perhaps tease him further.
Then, suddenly compelled by the authority she saw there, she was forced into telling him the truth.
“The King came in.”
She felt the Duc’s sudden tension.
She saw his lips part as if he was about to say something, but before he could speak, before she could know whether he was surprised or affected in any way by what she had said, the Duchesse de Valentinois turned round and her voice interrupted them,
“Do hurry, Your Grace, or there will be no time for the performance,” she pleaded. “The King will have finished his game of tennis and I shall be prevented from seeing the marvels of this new entertainer.”
The
