An Earl’s Broken Heart by Ella Edon
Prologue
So much of courtship is unspoken. The lingering glance. The slow rise of colour in the cheeks. The knowing twist to the lips that rests somewhere between a smile and a laugh. Levi had learned the language of courtship. He could almost tell when a woman wanted him from the tone and timbre of her voice. From the strength of her perfume.
As Levi stepped down from his carriage and strolled through the doors of the opera house, he could tell. He was wanted. Their eyes fell on him like hyenas on a choice cut of meat. Whispers rose like the buzz of bees when the hive is disturbed. He could guess what they were saying or some semblance of it. There goes Viscount Gatton, son of the Earl of Exeter. Almost thirty and still not married because he can’t stop being a rake. He repressed a sigh, rolled his shoulders, and stretched his neck from one side to the other until he heard a soft, satisfying click.
The opera house was packed to the rafters. The audience consisted largely of the landed gentry, but it was not unusual to find the odd high noble watching the proceedings from a balcony in one of the private boxes. Tonight, he would be doing just that. Opera was his escape route, his reprieve from the choking press of high society. A place where he needed not to be, but only to feel and listen.
His footman, Jasper had managed to reserve the royal box at Levi’s behest.
Turning his back to the inquisitive glances around the room, Levi ascended to the royal box.
“My Lord,” Jasper said with a full bow. He parted the dark curtain to the royal box for Levi to walk through.
Levi gave a subtle bow in return. “Thank you, Jasper.”
The box was carpeted with crushed red velvet, with plush red upholstered seats arranged at the perfect angle to get an incomparable view of the stage. Light in the box was provided from a four-tiered crystal chandelier which coruscated with all the soft brilliance of a hearth fire.
Levi took in a deep breath. It would do for the night.
He called out to Jasper, and the young footman stuck his head in through the curtain. “My Lord?”
“My good friend Lord Turnbull will be joining me soon. Please show him up when he arrives.”
“Yes, my Lord. Will you need refreshments?”
Levi smirked. “Well, you know Lord Turnbull.”
Jasper nodded. “I will arrange for their finest brandy, my Lord.”
Levi took a seat and turned his eyes to the empty stage. It had been a few weeks since he had been back at the opera, and he was eager to see what the night’s performance had to offer. It was a performance of the pastiche opera, “Love in a Village,” a ballad opera with three acts and over forty musical numbers. Levi had it on good account that it told the story of the heroine Rosetta, a woman fearful of her impending marriage to a man she has never met who runs away from home and acquires a position as a chambermaid. The lead role of Rosetta would require a truly gifted coloratura soprano.
A few moments later, Jasper parted the curtain to admit Lord Turnbull into the box. He was flanked on either side by two young ladies and their older chaperone.
“Levi, my good friend,” said Lord Turnbull, “allow me to introduce to you Lady Elizabeth Thurnlock and her sister Lady Natalie Thurnlock.”
The two ladies curtseyed perfectly.
Their chaperone wore a hard, inexpressive stare. She had a knowing suspicious look about her eyes and a face that said, “try me.” The perfect chaperone for two young ladies around a famously unmarried rake. Levi always felt that this particular aspect of his reputation had been unearned, the product of concentrated hearsay. He was not a rake. Any woman who took to his bed knew she was toying with a broken thing. They came for discreet adventure, and he delivered on that promise - a mutually beneficial arrangement at the best of times. He could not be blamed for those small few who grew in frustration as they realised that he was beyond their mending. That he was not theirs to keep. Only his friend Edward knew the truth about him. Everyone else satisfied themselves with a vague approximation of it.
He met the chaperone’s eyes. If she wanted to see a rake, he would be the rake. He gave her a well-practiced look. It was a look he kept for when he wanted to set people into a disconcerted haze. To make them remember his status as heir to the earldom of Exeter.
Lord Turnbull frowned, noting the look that passed between Levi and the chaperone. “This is their chaperone for the night, Mrs. Barnaby.”
Levi bowed. “A pleasure, Mrs. Barnaby.”
When he straightened, he gave her his most subtle smile. A smile that always seemed to unsettle the uptight. It worked. The woman sputtered as though meaning to say something, but no real words came out. Levi let the smile linger then turned to the Thurnlock sisters.
They were both stunningly pretty. Lady Elizabeth, who seemed the older of the two, possessed rich brown hair which caught and captured the chandelier light. Her wide, encouraging smile was as good and blatant an invitation to courtship as Levi had ever seen.
Levi bowed politely and kissed her hand. In a feat of inhuman elasticity, her smile widened, and she let her hand dance in his before she drew it back.
He gave a start and turned his glance to the younger of the pair.
Lady Natalie was a near facsimile of her elder sister, except that her hair was straight where her sister had curls. The bridge-wide smile, it seemed, ran in the family.
“A pleasure to meet you both,” Levi said.
An awkward silence passed. Clearly, the ladies were expecting more from him. Perhaps even Edward was. Levi knew he had a reputation for being a veteran rake with no small appetite for riotous living, but he hadn’t come for flirtation tonight. Pretty as the Thurnlock sisters were, he had no real desire to do anything but enjoy the opera. That was the problem with high society - you could never tell the difference between genuine admiration and delicate bluster. Theirs was a game of sharp glances and eyelashes and licked lips that grew tiresome to play when you had seen it so many times before.
Being the heir of one of the oldest earldoms in the peerage came with a special sort of loneliness. The sort that allowed you to be surrounded by people but always alone. Never knowing who just wanted to use you like a rung in a ladder. His life was not entirely his own. Levi belonged to the earldom almost as much as their countryside estate. He was expected to preserve the status of the earldom at all costs, even if it meant marrying someone he barely knew whose wealth or land holdings were beneficial to the earldom. The few friends he had only ever managed to accumulate were those who had somehow managed to slip through his father’s careful scrutiny on account of their relative wealth or their proximity. Tonight, he just wanted to relax and forget.
Edward frowned and moved to scupper the silence. “This is a remarkable box, Levi. However were you able to reserve it?”
Levi frowned. Edward knew exactly how. He had joined him at this very box several times in the not-too-distant past. He was trying to stir the pot of conversation. Clearly, he thought Levi should take an interest in one of the lovely sisters. Is everyone in London trying to find me a wife?
Levi shrugged. “Our lucky night, I suppose.”
The sisters giggled in musical unison, and Levi suppressed the urge to roll his eyes. Jasper appeared with two servants, a tray of decanters, cut glasses, tea, and butter cakes. Edward wasted no time in offering the Thurnlock sisters a drink which they promptly and politely declined. He didn’t let their rejection slow his step as he held out a glass to Jasper.
“Jasper, please make sure my glass is never empty tonight,” said Lord Turnbull.
Levi laughed. “You’ve given him the busiest job of the night, Edward.”
The ladies chuckled, and Jasper – the utmost professional – suppressed a small smile.
Edward, ever the entertainer, took it in good spirits and threw back his drink in a single gulp. “Your work begins, my good man.”
Levi laughed, also allowing himself a small measure of brandy. The sharp uprush of heat at the first sip made him straighten as he waited impatiently for the show to start.
Just as the awkward silence threatened to return, the bell rang, and silence fell upon the audience like a heavy-set clodhopper.
He took the seat closest to the action and found Edward had arranged for Lady Elizabeth to be by his side. The powdery musk of her perfume caught his attention the way the fox scent catches the hunting hound. Levi almost wished he could tell her that her efforts would be a waste on him. There was no spark between them. He always needed a spark.
The lights dimmed, and as the curtains rose, her knee touched his thigh. Delicately enough to be dismissed as a harmless mistake for those unaccustomed to this game, but for a seasoned seducer, it was the first salvo in a subtle sword dance. It was expertly done and almost enough to get Levi to play the game. Why not? He turned towards her, chin rising as he did. Then he heard a voice.
Soft and sharp, clean and clear. The voice rang out across the theatre, stunning it to total silence. Levi glanced over his shoulder towards the stage. Ladies and gentlemen sat agape, startled by the sheer power of the voice. There was an incredible duality in it - it was both pain and strength, defiance and destruction. Never before had Levi heard a voice that radiated such pure, unpretentious energy. It soared above the instruments and touched something within, transporting him to a forgotten time and stirring up emotions that he had long left for dead. He shook himself, narrowing his eyes to get a look at the singer’s face.
She was - in a single word - unprecedented. Her eyes, even at a distance, captured the light and made it her prisoner. Her silhouette carried every curve to set his heart aflutter. Beautiful, he found, was too common a word for such uncommon beauty. This was something more. Something compelling.
He hissed as though offended by it all, but his heart did not stop hammering away.
Her voice rose, and Levi found that his chest rose with it. Who was this woman? Levi wanted to know. Needed to know. He put his drink aside, tugging his shirt collar to let in some air as a sweet heat ran through him. As her gaze suddenly locked with his, Levi was struck with the realization that he had been staring at her. Their eyes met for a small moment, and Levi became aware of the solid, incontrovertible truth at the bottom of his stomach: he wanted her.
“What a voice,” Lady Elizabeth whispered beside him.
He made a dismissive gesture that he only realized was rude after he had done it. He would make his apologies later. For now, he only wanted to fill his ears and his soul with that intoxicating voice.
The opera singer finished her verse, and another far less gifted soprano took the singing lead. Levi let out a sharp breath and leaned back into his seat, like a captive released from his bonds.
He turned to Lady Elizabeth, who was frowning at him, clearly slighted by his dismissive hand gesture. He smiled, trying to placate her, but she was not amused. Levi thought to render an apology, but to apologize to her would only deepen the insult. The best he could do was to let the lingering tension have its way and hope that it would fade.
Eventually, as Levi indulged in the idle conversation her stare so plainly demanded, her icy frown melted away to a small smirk and then at last to that wide smile.
Even with his eyes fixed on Lady Elizabeth, he could not shake the effect the singer had on him. Every time she had a line to deliver, her voice made his blood run cold. Every time he looked at her, he tensed up. It was - after a while - liberating.
When the show came to an end, the curtain fall was greeted with rapturous ovation. There was no doubt that they had all seen something special there that night. A singer who could turn a single note into a story.
“Will you be joining us, Lord Gatton?”
Levi shook himself back to full consciousness. Lady Elizabeth had asked him something. He couldn’t for the life of him remember what she had been saying. He smiled sheepishly and rolled the dice.
“Yes?” he said with a questioning tone.
She smiled, turning to her sister. “Oh wonderful! Isn’t that wonderful, Natalie?”
“It most certainly is,” added her sister without skipping a beat.
“We shall be seeing you soon then, my Lord,” said Lady Elizabeth.
Levi had no idea where or when they would be seeing him. He’d have to ask Edward what the hell she was talking about later.
He accompanied Edward to escort the ladies to their carriage and excused himself to return to the theatre. His friend seemed curious but did not badger him further about it.
He stepped into the theatre and immediately sought out Jasper. Catching sight of him, he beckoned him close.
“My Lord?” Jasper inquired.
Levi spoke in a low tone. “That singer, the lady, who is she?”
Jasper raised an eyebrow. “She… as far as I’m aware is just an opera singer, my Lord.”
“That’s not what I’m asking. I mean, what is her name?”
He stared at Levi, confused. “Her name is, well, Diana, my Lord.”
Levi straightened. Diana.
He wet his lips and put a hand on Jasper’s shoulder. “Do we have a moment?”
“Of course, my Lord.”
Together, they found a quaint florist at the corner of the street. Levi picked out all the finest flowers he could find. Orchids, lilies, roses, and moonflowers. The storekeeper’s eyes widened as she watched him select only her most exotic and expensive flowers.
The bouquet, when assembled, cost a pretty penny, but Levi barely glanced at the storekeeper’s tally when presented to him. He produced a small coin pouch and summoned Jasper.
“Deliver these to Diana. Please.”
“Of course, my Lord,” Jasper said, taking the bouquet. “Will you not be leaving a note, my Lord?”
Levi scratched his chin. “Yes, I will.”