Ostensibly Don Juan's question about whether Hudson was here with anyone was meant to encompass people he would have to check in with before he left — parents, sisters he was chaperoning, that sort of thing — but it also could have been any easy out if Hudson was here because he was interested in someone at the party. Don Juan had felt in their conversations so far that probably wasn't the case. One of the remarkable things about their talks was that he felt as though he had Hudson's full attention and could give his own in exchange, which was rare for ballroom small talk and would have been impossible if Hudson had been scanning the dance floor or watching the entrance for a particular young woman. Still, there was a small rush at having his suspicions confirmed. Don Juan hadn't been willing to leave the party without Hudson coming with him; Hudson was perfectly up for leaving with him, which didn't exactly mean this was directly reciprocated, but it was a step in the right direction. And they were going to be walking alone together in London for some while, and Hudson was up for a little adventure. Don Juan's pulse was picking up. He didn't even know what kind of adventure he had in mind — adventure could mean anything — but he was eager to get it underway.

"Allons-y," he echoed with a grin. Once they'd cleared the front door of the ballroom and had an arm's distance from the crowd, he picked up one of their earlier conversations right where they'd left off, as if there hadn't been forty minutes of other mundane conversation with other people shoved in between. "You know, you may have only been abroad a quarter of the time I was but most people would never know it. You really soaked up everything," he said appreciatively. "What's your secret? For wringing so much life out of an experience?"

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   Johanna Applegate