Lady Be Bad by Elaine Raco Chase Page B

struggled to a standing position.
"I love you, damn it"
    Marlayna lifted her shoulders in a carefree
shrug. "Really? Well, you are certainly making a lousy effort to
convince me."
    "Just what in hell is that supposed to
mean?"
    She inspected her manicure before speaking.
"I'm not quite sure."
    His harassed, confused expression matched
hers. "If you don't know what you want, how am I supposed to know?"
Noah sat back on the bench and waited.
    The dinner gong turned out to be her savior.
"Maybe I'll think of something while we're enjoying Arthur's kingly
feast" Without a backward glance, Marlayna blithely strolled in to
mingle with the others who were exchanging the terrace garden for
the banquet hall.
     
    If she hadn't seen it with her own eyes and
actually been a part of it, Marlayna would have claimed that it was
impossible to serve two hundred people a sit-down dinner all at the
same time. But the vaulted ceilings in the castle's massive dining
room echoed with applause once everyone took their assigned seats
at the tables, which were arranged in the shape of a horseshoe.
    Her seat was on the inside curve. On her
left was the senior senator from New York, on her right a movie
producer from Hollywood, immediately across was an ambassador and
his wife. Catty-cornered was Arthur's smiling face. On the left and
farther down, Noah's scowling one.
    Shaking out a red linen napkin emblazoned
with the Kingman crest, Marlayna knew the next move with Noah was
up to her. "And for the life of me, I don't know what to do!" She
mumbled to herself. "Or exactly what I want," she added
ruefully.
    No, that wasn't quite true. Marlayna knew
what she wanted. She wanted to be away from all these people. Away
from all the gossip and laughter. She wanted to be with Noah in a
secluded spot so they could talk and share their respective agonies
and see if their future was to be together.
    "More champagne, miss?"
    "Thank you, Perkins." She smiled at his
intense expression. "Everything looks wonderful. I don't know how
you and the staff managed all this."
    "Neither do I." His eyes glanced left and
right. "Henry the Eighth never hosted such a gathering." Perkins
wiped the neck of the bottle of Moet with a white cloth. "If I may
say, Miss O'Brian, Mr. Drake is a bit overwhelmed by your
status."
    Marlayna leaned back into the red leather
chair so she could speak without her table companions listening.
"What would you suggest I do?"
    He was thoughtful a moment while his fingers
deftly rearranged two forks that were in reverse order. "Men,
unfortunately, have quite fragile egos, miss." Perkins gave her a
minuscule little bow and moved on to fill the next empty
goblet.
    So that was it! Noah was having an ego
problem. Marlayna slanted a casual glance in his direction and
found that he was staring at her. She hastily looked away. A
deflated ego was a bit out of character for him. Not that he had
ever been a swaggering Mr. Macho. But Noah had always been very
self-confident, sure of himself in any situation. He always was
there to support her when they were in a group.
    Maybe she had overwhelmed him. He kept
commenting on her appearance and pointing to his own. Yes, Noah's
disability was one that could be seen. But she had one too — a
disability that had affected her heart, mind and soul.
    Suddenly, it came to her just what her next
step should be. Marlayna had to reinforce Noah's own knowledge that
he was a desirable man. That she was attracted to him. That she
wanted him. "I certainly do," she whispered, lifting the water
goblet to her mouth.
    Arthur Kingman's deep voice invaded her
private deliberations. Marlayna cheered and lifted her glass in the
air along with one hundred ninety-nine others, but she wasn't
listening to a word the man was saying. Another man occupied a more
important place in her mind.
    She decided to employ that age-old technique
of feminine warfare — flirting. Or, as the French called it, faire les yeux doux, to make sweet eyes. Again,