Girl in the Beaded Mask

by Amanda McCabe

  He untangled himself from her and sat up on the edge of the chaise, turned away from her, his back ramrod-straight. She could feel the tension vibrating from him, the anger he held in check. For a moment she was confused—how could he be angry about what had just happened? It was stupendous!

  But then she remembered. He didn’t know who she was.

  She slowly sat up against the high, scrolling back of the chaise and drew her knees to her chest. She felt cold and shiveringly vulnerable, where only a moment ago everything was stars and flowers.

  David reached for his shirt on the floor and handed it back to her. As she put her arms into the sleeves, he said roughly, “Who are you? What kind of game is this?”

  “It—it’s not a game,” Lulu stammered. She hadn’t planned out this bit of the scene. “I just wanted…” You. All she had ever wanted was him. Surely she had shown him that now.

  She had to tell him the truth now. He deserved that, and she needed to know how he really felt. If he rejected her, if he were furious…at least she would have this one memory.

  She slowly untied the mask and let it fall to her lap. “It’s me, David. And this isn’t a game. I just didn’t know how else to reach you.”

  David looked back over his shoulder, and for an instant his own grim, stone-like mask fell away and his eyes widened. He looked shocked, appalled, furious. And for just one glimmering second…happy.

  Or maybe that was her wishful thinking. In the next moment he grabbed her arms and gave her a shake, the mask back in place.

  “Lulu Hatton, you crazy little fool!” he growled. “What on earth were you thinking?”

  Chapter Four

  David stared down at Lulu’s pale, heart-shaped face as he held on to her arms. In the chalky starlight filtering through the canvas walls, her eyes were huge and glowing green. She bit her lip as if she were scared or nervous, but she looked back at him boldly and didn’t turn away. Her body was warm and as pliable as a willow branch, and he remembered all too well how it felt naked and pressed against his.

  This was a wild dream—a nightmare he would surely snap out of at any minute. He had seen her like this so often in his troubled sleep, it couldn’t be real.

  But this was no dream, no fantasy. It was much, much too real. He had just taken Lulu Hatton’s virginity. In a lakeside cabana at a noisy, drunken party. All because he was overcome with lust.

  No—no, not lust. When she had danced with him, when she had so tenderly kissed his hideous scars as if she were not repulsed by them, something had seized hold of him. Something warm and soft, and full of a powerful longing. Something he had thought long dead inside of him.

  Tenderness. A great, aching tenderness. For her. His newfound angel.

  But the angel was Lulu Hatton.

  He let go of her, practically thrust her away from him, and turned around to run his hands through his hair. He had to make this right, but how? He would make her the most appalling husband. She deserved so much more.

  “Please, David, don’t be angry,” she said, her voice trembling. “This is my fault. I just…well, I just wanted you so much, I grabbed the moment. I shouldn’t have deceived you.”

  “No, you shouldn’t have,” he answered.

  “Would you have kissed me in the first place if you knew it was me?”

  He gave a humorless laugh. “No. I would have dragged you back to Hatton Hall immediately.”

  “Exactly. So I lied. And I’m sorry for that.” Her voice was thick with tears, but she added defiantly, “But I’m not sorry you made love to me! It was just as I dreamed it would be. And I won’t tell anyone, I promise. You won’t ever have to think about me again, if that’s what you want.”

  David laughed again. Not think of her anymore? As if he could think of anything else! Even now, in the midst of his anger, he could smell her lavender perfume, feel the soft warmth of her against his back, and it nearly drove him mad. That tender longing crept back onto him.

  He wanted to taste her again, feel her arms around his neck drawing him close to her. He felt like a starving man, trapped in a lonely desert, who was given one sweet taste of nectar, and now it was gone again.

  Lulu, Lulu—what had he done?

  He turned back to her and took her gently into his arms. She rested her head on his shoulder and gave a choked sob. He couldn’t hurt her anymore, he had to do the right thing. If only he knew what that was. He never had when it came to Lulu.

  He smoothed her tousled red hair and murmured, “Shh, Lulu, don’t cry. Everything will be okay. I’ve lived like a hermit bear in my cave for so long I can’t remember how not to roar at people. I got carried away, I’m sorry.”

  “I’m not sorry,” she whispered. She wrapped her arms around his neck and held on as if she would never let go. “Not for making love to you. I’ve been waiting for a long time.”

  Waiting—for him? David could hardly believe it. He pressed a kiss to the top of her head and said, “You would make a terrible movie vamp, Lulu.”

  She tilted her head back and grinned up at him. “I know. I lack the wardrobe for it, for one thing. But I’m getting better. I just need a little practice.”

  “Minx.”

  “What are you going to do now? Take me home?”

  “Do you want to go home?”

  She shook her head. “Who knows when I’ll get to see Bertie’s party—or you—again. I think I’d like to dance.”

  “Dance?” he said in surprise.

  She nodded. “Of course! I’ve been learning the Charleston, it’s the latest thing from America you know.”

  “I haven’t danced in a long time,” he said doubtfully. He rubbed at his leg, but the old pain had long turned to numbness. He wasn’t sure it could ever feel again, certainly not enough for the kicks and leaps of the Charleston.

  But then he had also thought his frozen heart was dead. And now it felt as if it were touched with a sunny, thawing warmth as Lulu smiled at him and he longed for her so much.

  “Even bears can be trained to dance. You did so well before, by the lake,” she said. She let go of him and leaned down to pick up her dress. He caught a tantalizing glimpse of the pale skin of her upper thighs under the edge of his shirt.

  She gave him a teasing grin over her shoulder. “Come on, David. We need to live a little.”

  Live a little—that was exactly what he was afraid of….

  Chapter Five

  Lulu leaned toward the bathroom mirror as she carefully applied her lipstick. She was almost shocked that she didn’t look completely different, that her face hadn’t changed to match her heart. But aside from a flush in her cheeks she looked just the same.

  Yet she wasn’t the same at all. She had just made love. With David.

  She wanted to shout the words out loud, to throw out her arms and twirl around. The bathroom was too small for that, though, so she just grinned at herself in the mirror. She tossed the flannels she had used for washing into the covered basket, dropped the tube of lipstick into her handbag and patted her hair into place before she replaced the mask.

  What would happen now? She had no idea. David had looked so angry and appalled by what happened between them. She thought her heart would shatter until he took her into his arms again. She didn’t want to think about the future. She just wanted to think about tonight, with David, and how all her hidden, secret dreams were coming true.

  She unlocked the door and stepped out into the corridor, where a short line of women in pastel silk dresses waited for the bathroom. As she made her way down the wide, winding grand staircase, she saw that the party had spilled from the tents and into the house itself. Knots and rivers of people, loudly laughing and shrieking to each other in greeting, flowed in and out of open doorways and around carved pillars. The smell of perfume and champagne was heavy in the air.

  Lulu slid past them, catching up a pink cocktail from a waiter’s tray as she went back out to the gardens. There were even more people there, and a row
of cars with their headlights blazing still made their way up the drive. The strains of “Lovin’ Sam (The Sheik of Alabam’),” her sister’s favorite novelty song, drifted out from the tent along with the click-clack of dozens on high-heeled shoes and the rattle of beads.

  She stood at the top of the front steps and sipped at her drink as she scanned the crowd, looking for David. She couldn’t see him at first, and her heart sank. Had he already left?

  But then she glimpsed him, taller than the crowd that milled around him. He drank a glass of champagne as he stood there at the entrance of the tent, watching the party with a bemused half smile on his face. And her heart pounded all over again with joy to see him there.

  She hurried over to him, dodging around the staggering stream of people until she stood by his side. He looked down at her and his smile widened.

  “Are you sure you feel brave enough to jump into that?” he said, and gestured to the dance floor with his glass.

  It was so packed, a kaleidoscope of black evening suits and bright gowns, that she could scarcely tell one person from another.

  “Maybe I need to finish this drink before I give it a try,” she answered. What she really wanted was to be alone with him again. But she didn’t want him to vanish from her life once more.

  “You must go to parties like this all the time,” he said.

  Lulu shook her head. “Deb parties are much more staid and quiet! We have to fox-trot with boys down from Oxford while our mothers keep a close watch.”

  David gave her a wry smile. “I’m surprised you’re not already engaged to one of those Oxford boys. They must be lined up outside your door with offerings of orchids and boxes of chocolates.”

  “Not me,” she said with a laugh. “I can’t listen to long stories about shooting parties and cricket games for the rest of my life. I think Mum and Dad might like to get me off their hands, though.”

  “I can’t believe that. I never saw such fond parents as Lord and Lady Hatton. Your house always seemed so warm and welcoming, full of fun.” David’s voice sounded sad and distant.

  Lulu gently touched his arm. “It still is. We’d love to see you there so much. Mum and Dad and Jessica talk about you so often. I think Mum worries about you.”

  He laughed. “Does she?”

  “You know what a mother hen she is, always feeding people and tucking shawls around them. Won’t you come and see us sometime soon?”

  He gave an unreadable look, and for an instant she dared to hope he would come. But then the music slid into a slow, lilting song, and he turned away from her to watch the dance floor. It cleared of the thickest crowd, leaving couples clinging to each other as they drifted in slow circles.

  David took her empty glass from her and deposited it along with his on a tray. “Come with me,” he said, and offered her his arm to lead her out of the tent and into the house.

  David held on close to Lulu as he slowly led her up the stairs. With her he forgot about his limp, his scars, he even forgot the terrible nightmares that plagued him. The guilt that never left him.

  In her shining, hopeful eyes everything looked new, and made him feel new, too. Made him look at the world in brand-new ways.

  Come back to Hatton Hall. Her soft plea echoed in his mind. Once Hatton Hall had been his favorite place in the world, so full of laughter and fun. So different from the cold, quiet rooms of his family’s house. He had thought of it so many times over the years, thought about going back and seeing them again. Seeing Lulu.

  But then he would remember his last visit there, the black wreath on the door and Lady Hatton’s red-rimmed eyes. He knew only one thing then—he lived, and Bill died. Hatton Hall was gone for him.

  Lulu didn’t seem to think so, though.

  He looked down at her head on his shoulder, the glow of her red hair in the golden light. Sweet, passionate Lulu. Did he dare hope? Could he let himself?

  They stopped on the shadowy, quiet landing and he couldn’t stop himself. Seeing her, holding her, it was like a force of nature he couldn’t hold back. Lulu swept over him like a hurricane.

  He bent his head and covered her mouth with his. Her lips parted in surprise, and he swept his tongue past them to taste her deeply. She was so sweet, like lavender and cocktails and the country night air. She was the innocence and wonder he had lost, and found again in her tonight.

  She curled her fists into the front of his jacket and pulled him closer to her as she answered his kiss with a passion of her own. Their feet grew still and he forgot where they were, who he was, he forgot everything but her, and how it felt to make love to her.

  To come alive again with her. She was his magic sorceress.

  Suddenly he desperately needed to see her face, to hold her and know it was her. To show her the life-changing tenderness she had shown him.

  His kiss slid from her lips, skimming over her soft, pink-flushed cheek until he could whisper in her ear.

  “Come somewhere quiet with me,” he urged. She went still, glancing over his shoulder to the crowd downstairs, and at first he was afraid she would refuse. That she would leave him alone again.

  Finally she nodded and gave him a smile. “I will.”

  Chapter Six

  Lulu heard the click of the door as David closed it behind them, leaving them in the darkness of a deserted bedchamber. She nervously smoothed her gown as she studied the room, the shapes of the old-fashioned four-poster bed, the chaise, the tall carved fireplace, all shadows in the moonlight that streamed from the window.

  Up here, the noise from the party was muffled, like the distant echo of a constantly moving ocean tide. She could hear the soft sound of his breath, the roar of her heart. They were alone again, and this time it was different.

  Now he knew who she really was.

  She heard the lock turn in the door and his soft footsteps on the thick carpet as he crossed the room to stand right behind her. His arms slid around her waist and drew her back against his body.

  Lulu’s eyes fluttered closed as she felt his hand slide, hard and hot, over her belly and he lowered his head to kiss the side of her neck. His breath was hot and quick against her ear, and she thought she could feel his heart pounding through her. He held her close, and they were all alone, the only two people in the whole world.

  She had never felt more wonderfully alive than she did in this moment! Everything sparkled like fireworks, and the world was a beautiful place again for one night.

  The tip of his tongue lightly touched the nape of her neck, and she shivered. His kiss slid ever so slowly to the curve of her shoulder just where it was bared by the thin strap of her dress. He nudged it out of his way and it drifted down her arm.

  “So beautiful,” he said hoarsely, and in his words she suddenly felt beautiful.

  She spun around in his embrace to wind her arms around his neck. He pulled her up against him and their lips met in a hot rush of desperate desire. She had needed him so much for so long, and now she wanted him to need her, too!

  She held on to him tightly and felt his tongue trace the curve of her lower lip, lightly, teasingly, before he pressed inside to taste her fully. She opened eagerly to welcome him.

  Through the blurry, hot haze of their kiss, she felt him lift her up in his strong arms. The room tilted and swayed as he spun around, and then she found herself lying back on the bed. The velvet bedspread was soft under her, and the canopied posters enclosed them in their own warm, intimate space.

  He pulled back from her, breaking their kiss, and she cried out with incoherent need. He rose up above her to shed his jacket and tug his tie free before coming back into her waiting, eager arms.

  Their mouths met again in a hungry kiss, full of the vital need built up over years, the hunger for love and belonging, for each other. He tasted of champagne and clean mint, of that darkness that was only his and that she craved so much.

  Her legs parted as he leaned into her body and she felt the hardness of him through their clothes. I
t sent a thrill all through her, that sign that he wanted her, needed her, just as she did him. Once wasn’t nearly enough for them.

  He slid her gown away from her skin, slowly easing it down as he kissed each inch he bared. His lips and tongue touched every curve, every freckle, as if she were a beautiful, exotic goddess he worshiped. As the beaded satin slipped away from her breasts, he captured her aching nipple in his mouth, rolling it over his tongue as she cried out with the pleasure of it all.

  She reached out blindly to unfasten his shirt, ripping away one of the buttons in her haste, until finally his chest was bare. She tossed the linen away like a drifting ghost into the darkness, and as he slid slowly down the length of her body she traced a light caress over his bare shoulders, his chest. She marveled over the texture of his bare skin, so hot and smooth over his lean muscles. He was so gorgeous—and he was hers, all hers, even if it was only for tonight.

  He drew her dress and her knickers all the way off and they drifted away to join his shirt. She only wore her stockings and her dancing shoes, and it was a very naughty sensation indeed.

  David gently parted her legs even wider and lay between them. As she watched, gasping for breath, he kissed the flare of her hip, the soft, sensitive bare skin above her garter.

  And then, to her shock, his fingers gently parted the hot, wet folds of her womanhood and he kissed her there. His tongue plunged into her, tasting her deeply, and a hundred fiery sensations raced through her.

  “David!” she cried out. She tangled her fingers in his hair, but whether to pull him away or draw him closer she didn’t know. He wouldn’t leave her. He was relentless, kissing her deeper and deeper until she shattered into exquisite pleasure.

  Only then did he slide back up the length of her trembling body. He lowered himself over her, his face pressed to the curve of her neck and shoulder as he unfastened his trousers and then slid his body into hers in one smooth thrust.