"Kate Elliott - Jaran 2 - An Earthly Crown" - читать интересную книгу автора (Elliott Kate)

"Charles, I've brought one of the actors to meet you. This is Diana Brooke-Holt,
of the repertory company."
"Ah." Soerensen stopped. "M. Brooke-Holt. I'm honored to meet you." He
looked ordinary enough, but his stare was intense: Diana felt as if she were being
recorded, measured, and filed away against future need.
However much she wanted to collapse into a gibbering heap, she knew how to
present a collected exterior. She extended her right hand, and he shook it. "The honor
is mine," she said, careful to give the words no earth-shattering sentiment, only
simple politeness.
"You played Zabina, did you not?" he asked.
"Yes."
"She comes to a rather bloody end."
Diana chuckled. "Yes, she does, poor thing. But I suppose that I've always felt
more sorry for Zenocrate."
He looked suddenly and acutely interested. "Why is that?"
"Because once Tamburlaine had marked her out as his, she didn't really have
much choice but to fall in love with him, did she? Not that he coerced her as much
asтАФ" She shrugged, and was abruptly aware that both Soerensen and Marco regarded
her intently, as if she were revealing some long-sought-after secret to them. She
faltered, realizing that the entire retinue had stopped to listen, some with polite
interest, some with no interest at all, but none with the piercing attention of the two
men. With an effort, she gathered together the shredding fabric of her self-confidence
and drew herself up. "A man like that would be hard to resist," she finished, with
dramatic flourish.
"Bravo," said Marco, sotto voce.
Soerensen smiled. "But I particularly enjoyed your performance as Grusha in the
Brecht play. I look forward to seeing what Owen and Ginny come up with for their
next experiment. If you'll excuse me." He nodded, collected the attention of his
retinue with unconscious ease, and went on his way.
 Marco lingered. "I must go," he said again, although he made no move to follow
the others.
"I must, too," she replied. "Really."
"I'll see you on the ship, perhaps."
"Oh, we'll be rehearsing the whole way out. Owen and Ginny are rather dragons
about that, when they're developing new material."
"Then in Jeds."
She smiled and finally disengaged her fingers from his elbow. "If there's time."
"In Jeds? Believe me, you'll have plenty of time in Jeds."
"For what? Sight-seeing, I suppose. I'm bringing a journal with me, real paper,
bound, and pen and ink, to write down what I see."
"Pen and ink?"
"Rhui is an interdicted world. What isn't there already, we aren't to bring."
"Golden fair, you astonish me." He took her hand in his and bent to kiss it, his
lips lingering longer on her skin than was, perhaps, warranted by the briefness of their
acquaintance.
Diana withdrew her hand from his grasp and blew him a kiss as she retreated
through one of the double doors that led into the house. " 'And if thou lovest me, think
no more of it.' "
Marco laughed, delighted. "Do all actors quote?" he called after her.
But she let the door swing and click shut behind her without answering him.