He would wait for her in the hallway.
Down the hallway.
At the furthest end of the hallway, at the bottom of the stairs where he watched the underside of her slippers graze the top step, that was as far as he would go to wait for her.
Within a few minutes, Luke’s efforts were rewarded. He was leaning against the wall in the shadows when he heard the woman dashing down the stairs. She stopped midway down and looked around as if hearing something. Realizing that if he popped out now he might scare her, he continued to wait in the shadows until she had reached the ground floor.
The moment her feet hit the floor, Luke cleared his throat.
A clear shiver ran up the woman’s arms.
“I didn’t mean to scare you.”
“Then what are you doing here in the dark?”
“I was waiting for you.”
“Me? Why?”
Luke walked over to the woman. He strained to keep his arms at his side. He must not touch her and her gloriously creamy skin, regardless of how beautiful the heart was that beat within her.
He needed to know her identity.
It went against the entire purpose of the masquerade, but unless he could confirm without a doubt who this woman’s husband was, and he had better be built like an ox, Luke wasn’t convinced that he could resist the pull of her on his heart.
“I must know.”
“Know what?”
“Who are you?”
Chapter 4
“WHOAMI?”ADELINEresponded to the stranger’s query. “Doesn’t asking that defeat the purpose of a masquerade?” Unaware of the source of her courage, Adeline chalked it up to the domino. To be anonymous meant she could be anyone. The man in front of her, didn’t know who she was, so there was no reason, in this moment, to act like a lady’s maid.
The man was taking strides toward her and she was merely inching back, so the space between them was closing. It couldn’t be helped. There was a force preventing her from withdrawing completely. This couldn’t be the same man from the carriage, could it? His voice was so familiar, but could she be deceiving herself? The pull she had felt then was just as strong now. But why would he care who she was?
Her diversions must have spurred him to try a less direct approach. “How’s your baby? Is Katie alright now?”
“She’s not my baby.” The words were mechanized. And thankfully so, because they hastened the most glorious grin on the already beautiful man before her. A man her body was petitioning her to kiss.
“All the same, is she alright?”
“Yes.”
“That’s good.” He moved closer to her now, and she found herself unwilling to retreat any further. “So, no husband then?”
She shook her head as a spark flamed in her core. Was he flirting with her? Obviously he had no idea who she was, or if he did, certainly he wasn’t the duke. But which was it? He knew who she was, and he wasn’t the duke? Or he didn’t know who she was, and he was the duke? Or neither? The alternatives were blurring in her mind as the petitions grew in number. First it was her eyes that had signed up. Gazing at his adorable smile, the way he held little Katie. Second were her ears; upon hearing the melting honey of his voice drop from his lips. Third were her feet. Then her throbbing core. Then the scorching heat between her legs. Now her lips were all signed up, and if he were to make a move, she didn’t have a rational argument to compete with all the petitioners. Maybe each on their own, but not altogether. That was the true power in numbers.
“No baby,” he tapped his chin. “No husband. That leaves me with only one course of action.”
She waited for him to complete his thought even though she was sure she knew what he was hinting at. When he allowed silence to grow heavy between them, she couldn't take it any longer, so her lips prompted him, “And that would be?”
“I must kiss you.”
Even though she knew it was coming, she wasn’t ready. She had never been kissed before. And if he was the duke, she really did not want to set herself up for that disappointment. Perhaps if it was a footman or someone closer to her rank, then she would consider taking Margaret’s advice to be the ember. But the heat radiating from his body was working awfully hard to convince her that the man directly in front of her was as good a candidate as any. His heat was claiming her. Persuading her to let it happen. Whatever it was. The shivers on her arms indicated that her hands and forearms had signed the petition. But her mind, somehow, in some recess of morality, still held out.
“There’s no reason to kiss me.” Her morals were strong, even as she gazed up into his crystal clear blue eyes. Heavenly. She sighed slowly to hold on to any semblance of control she might have.
