Gabriel couldn’t blame her. No one had paid the redhead the slightest heed since Madeline had glided into the pit at the end of the first act. The ladies above peered over the sides of their gilded boxes with varying degrees of disgust, outrage, and envy. Their gentlemen escorts kept their heads averted, but after a few moments, although their opera glasses remained trained on the stage, the eyes behind them drifted to the far more entertaining performance below.The gentlemen surrounding Madeline didn’t try to hide their ogling. Or their groping. Gabriel knocked away a hand reaching for her.The actress on the stage finished dying to a smattering of halfhearted applause. She miraculously revived and flounced offstage before the curtain had fully closed.With the pause on stage, more men gathered around Madeline. A drunken Corinthian, eager to press closer, stumbled into Gabriel, driving him backward into Madeline. He reached to steady her but two of her admirers were already hoisting her back to her feet.Madeline laughed with abandon, as if she could imagine nothing more delightful than being tossed about by overanxious theatergoers.
