A Powerful Little Love

Chapter 20

Amorette tried to pull her hand away, a little embarrassed at how Franc dragged her with him towards his parents. She hated the thought of people thinking that there was more between them than there was but Franc was unstoppable. She supposed it may have been partly her fault too. Just two days ago she had clung to Franc's arm as if he was the salt of the earth and laughed at his inane ramblings even though in reality his jokes were terrible and his opinions rather constricted. She put on the most wondrous show she could in order to give the impression that she was having the best time and that she hadn't a care in the world. She had wanted the Comte de la Fère to see her happy radiance from where he stood a few tables away, but he had eyes for her no more than he did for her father. Perhaps Franc had taken those foolish attempts to make Athos jealous a little seriously and now thought he was in with a chance.

Franc's parents were exactly as she had expected. The mother was meek and quiet as a mouse whilst the father, although well-spoken was surly and inept. Amorette could think of nothing worse than a family meal with the la Belisle's. In fact, Amorette pitied his mother. Although her face was lined with age there was still a pretty air about her. Perhaps she had once been as lively and fun-loving as Amorette herself before she married her husband. Amorette chastised herself then for thinking so ill of Franc's family. They may have appeared boring and contrite to her but perhaps they were just not her sort of people. On the whole they had been polite and courteous which made thinking so ill of them even worse.

Although Amorette liked Franc and thought him sweet she longed for the parties of just one week ago where Buckingham and Henry Fitzgerald caused as much havoc as they could just for the fun of it and where Athos could be found tucked in a corner having a terribly intelligent conversation with his peers. Buckingham was intelligent too, but he was rather too silly most of the time to show it. He liked to wrestle people in the lake, throw food at parties and sneak up on young Mademoiselles in their night things and all of this Amorette found funny because she too was just a child in essence. Buckingham made her feel like herself whereas Athos made her feel like a bereft old spinster still pining after her long lost love. Countless times she had witnessed Athos rolling his eyes at Buckingham's antics but that hadn't changed how she behaved. In truth she rather liked the thought that Athos thought her silly and boisterous because then at least he was thinking of her. When she tried to reach Athos' own wavelength she found that she fell extremely short. She could match him in conversation, wit and manners but nothing of that kind seemed to move him at all.

Amorette was finally coming to terms with the fact that moving Athos was something she was not capable of at all. He never admonished her for her behaviour though and that she appreciated. Taller and broader in stature than any of her other friends, Athos cut quite the figure in a room of dandies and fops with his French country way. Amorette often found herself entranced by the intricate conversations she would catch snippets of as she danced past him. He was completely alien to her and yet every day in her mind she secretly thanked her cousin Charles for introducing her to the Comte de la Fère.

With both Athos and Buckingham gone along with their respective parties of friends, only Franc remained. Strangely, Franc had been meaning to depart too but just an hour after Buckingham left he decided to extend his stay. Amorette found out why shortly after she was whisked away from his parents for another dance. Dancing with Buckingham or Henry Fitzgerald was as chaotic and humorous as possible with them missing steps on purpose to confuse Amorette, or kicking their shoe off mid-dance so that it hit someone in the face. Dancing with Franc though was another story. He took each dance seriously, informing Amorette of important titbits about the music while they moved. At the end of a rather slow two dances Franc and Amorette escaped to the library. Amorette had no want of staying in the hall too late now that there was no one there to really make her evenings worthwhile and Franc seemed to like the solitude of the library. They spent an hour together in companionable silence searching the shelves for books before settling into adjacent chairs. Amorette was two chapters in to her book before she glanced up and realised that Franc had not even started reading his. Gazing at him over the top of her book, Amorette watched as he fidgeted in his seat and worriedly caught her gaze before looking away sharply.