Grace drew her brows together, puzzled. “I am not acquainted with him.”
“You would remember him if you had been introduced. Quite the reputation with the ladies, which makes him all the more attractive.”
“Honestly, Moriah, I find it hard to understand how you can go from protector to protector as you do and enjoy it so much.”
Moriah gave a heavy sigh. “Do not be fooled by outside appearances, dear, and be thankful you have your own money and a brother to protect your interests. Not every widow is as fortunate.”
Grace clasped her friend’s hand. “I am sorry if I said something offensive. I did not mean for my words to hurt you, Moriah.”
Her friend smiled brightly. “I am made of sterner stuff. A few words will not do any damage to my feelings.”
Grace leaned back into the seat, thankful that she had not ruined one of the few friendships she had. “I do not remember any announcement of a masquerade.”
“You need to get out more, my dearest friend. I cannot believe you have not heard that there is a Grand Masquerade at Vauxhall Gardens this evening to celebrate the victories on the Peninsula.”
“I have been busy of late,” Grace responded rather aloofly.
“Spending all your life with your nose pressed between the pages of a book is not living, Grace.”
She shrugged. “I suppose you have that right, but I enjoy learning something new every day.”
Moriah put her mask in place. “Yes, well, I refuse to allow my very eligible friend to sit home alone again, entertaining no one but her brother and sister.”
Grace sighed. “Adrian has gone out for the evening—heaven knows where—and it would have tried my patience to amuse Miranda with nothing more than my boring company.”
“I was right to think you might enjoy the entertainment. Was I mistaken?” she inquired sweetly.
“You know very well that you are not mistaken, although I should think you would much prefer to be alone with your marquis instead of having another woman along. With identities hidden tonight, you could very well mingle among the ton with no repercussion. For all intended purposes, you could very well be one of them.”
Moriah leaned forward. “You should heed your own words, Gracie. Who knows what the evening may bring?”
Grace’s brow rose. “I am hardly one to have a midnight rendezvous with some unknown gentleman, Moriah.” She began tying her mask into place in imitation of her friend.
“Why ever not? Tonight you can be anyone you wish and, come the morrow, no one will be the wiser.”
“You make it sound so very simple, dear friend,” Grace murmured while she watched the evening scenery through the window. “I have never been, nor shall I ever be, one of those simpering misses batting her eyelashes or flirting shamelessly to get a man’s attention. I am not my younger sister.”
Moriah took her hand and placed a sisterly kiss upon her cheek. “You know I love you just the way you are, but tonight, I wish for you to enjoy the evening to its fullest potential. Could you do that for me, Gracie? I want you to be happy.”
Grace envied the determined and confident look on Moriah’s face. Small wonder she was managing the world all alone and with at least a fair amount of success. Such a look surely got her whatever she wanted. Miranda knew the same trick.
A merry laugh escaped Grace. “You know I could never deny you anything, but you should save such a look for this marquis you wish to dazzle this evening. You may just be eating your own words, Moriah. You never know what the evening may bring you.”
When they reached their destination, Grace was amazed at the throng of people. Was all of London here this evening? A footman came to assist them, and Moriah was the first to leave the carriage. Grace extended her hand to him and stepped down. A sudden rush of people on the walkway caused the footman to lose his grip on her hand, and Grace quickly lost sight of Moriah as she became jostled amongst the enthusiastic group of individuals excited to be a part of such an event. She began to lose her footing on the walkway, but before she slammed into the ground, Grace found herself captured in a strong embrace.
Arms of steel wrapped around her waist to prevent her downward pitch. Her rescuer’s cape whirled around their bodies as though the cloak itself would conceal them from the night and those around them. Fathomless dark eyes were all but hidden in the black mask that concealed his features, yet a flicker from the walkway lanterns hinted at their color. His eyes were brown, much like his hair, she surmised, if the curls that formed around the edges of his hat and mask were any indication.
Grace gasped as he quickly maneuvered her off the pathway to save them from being run over by the eagerness of the crowd. She shivered, but not from the cold, for she was far from chilled. Quite the opposite. She quivered from the warmth that raced up and down her spine at being this close to a man, let alone held intimately for the first time in many years.
“Are you hurt, my lady?”
His deep voice went straight to her heart. His low tone plummeted down to reach into the very depths of her soul to awaken a part of her that had been left dormant as though she had been waiting for him her entire life. Waiting… yes she had been waiting for someone to come along who would give her this sudden feeling of completeness, even though he was a total stranger.
The realization of what she was doing hit her as if a bucket of icy water had been thrown over the top of her head. He was asking her something, but her brain could not wrap itself around what he had inquired.
“Pardon me?” she asked in a breathy whisper of astonishment, especially when she realized she had been caressing the lapel of his jacket beneath his cloak.
His arm tightened around her. She watched in mild fascination as one side of his mouth turned up in a cocky grin. He knew exactly how her body was reacting to their close proximity.
“I asked if you were hurt, although I might also beg for an introduction.”
“I h-hardly think this en-encounter is a-appropriate,” Grace stammered. Was that actually her voice sounding so unsure of herself?
He leaned down, and, for an instant, she thought he was about to kiss her.
“How utterly charming that I have you all tongued-tied.” His words whispered gently in her ear were almost her undoing.
Before she could comment, Moriah’s voice was heard above the noise of the crowd, and she quickly untangled herself from the man who did nothing to hide his disappointment.
“There you are,” Moriah declared as she stared up at the stranger. Grace could only imagine what was going on inside her friend’s mind, given their recent conversation. “I am sorry I lost you. Are you all right?”
Grace nodded. “Yes… of course. Thank you, sir, for your assistance this evening,” she murmured shyly to the gentleman whose lips turned up into a charming grin.
He raised his fingers to tip his hat toward her. “It was my pleasure to rescue a fair damsel in distress.”
Her eyes followed him through the crowd until he disappeared. Her heart hammered in her chest. What in the world had just happened?
“Gracie? Are you sure you are fine?” Moriah questioned.
She touched her lips almost as though she could imagine the feel of the gentleman’s mouth pressed intimately against her own. She looked at her friend. “I am not sure.”
Her words lingered in the evening air and left her wondering what the remainder of the night would bring.
Chapter 4
Nicholas watched the woman whom he had held within his arms just a short while ago from across the crowded rotunda. She curtsied to her partner upon the dance floor. It was a shame really that she was already claimed by another. Something he had not felt in a long while stirred within him.
He pushed away his earlier thoughts of jealousy when she had sat next to a gentleman while dining in a private supper box with another couple just a few boxes away from him. At one point, the other female occupant removed her mask, and her male companion did the same. He was
not acquainted with the Marquis of Aldridge, but he was familiar with his reputation. The lady he knew as Mrs. Hernshaw was a widow fallen on hard times and appeared to have found her next benefactor.
Nicholas had stifled the urge to intrude upon the lady he rescued but regretted it when he saw her take to the floor and follow, to perfection, the detailed patterns of a dance. He was almost at his limit of remaining uninvolved when another came and replaced her partner who, in turn, asked another woman to dance. He began to wonder, given her company, if she, too, was a lonely widow looking for companionship.
He took a sip of his wine before adjusting the annoying domino stuck on his face. When George and Lord Hooper had asked him to accompanying him to Vauxhall Gardens, he had no idea that he would now be shamelessly staring at some unknown woman that he wished to know better.
“She is lovely, is she not?” George asked with an amused grin.
“Who?” Nicholas replied as indifferently as he could be in spite of the turmoil that roiled in the pit of his stomach when another claimed her.
George’s burst of laughter caused several people to turn their attention toward the pair. “Why, the woman in the purple mask that you have been ogling the entire evening, that is who.”
“I have no idea what you are talking about,” Nicholas grumbled. Was he so easily read that even George could see for himself who was occupying his thoughts?
“Oh, yes, you do. It is about time that you are finally interested in a lady.”
“I never said I was interested in her.” He took another sip while his gaze followed her when she made her way to the refreshment table.
“You did not have to. Perhaps she is available to take as a mistress. She appears a little older than some of the other flirtatious women that are here this eve. Considering her company, she just may be the woman to keep you satisfied for a while. As least with this one, you would not have to worry about taking her to wife.”
“Shut up, George.” Nicholas balled up his fist. From where in hell had come this emotion to defend a woman whose name he did not even know? Surely he must be going mad.
“Ask her to dance before you lose the opportunity.” George slapped him on the back. “You may just decide you would like to keep her for a spell.”
Before he could give a retort, George left him, chuckling all the while about how cupid’s arrow had found its mark. His retreat was probably in his best interest given that Nicholas would have liked nothing more than to plant his fist into George’s smirking face.
Where was she? Even as the thought crossed his mind, their gazes locked across the crowded floor. He gave the briefest of nods and was pleasantly surprised when she returned it with one of her own. Nicholas stood and began closing the space between them, weaving his way between guests.
A sense of satisfaction filled him while she searched the room until their gazes held one to the other once more. Her hand lifted to her throat as her chest rose and fell as though she were out of breath. Nicholas pondered if perhaps she was as taken by surprise from their brief encounter as he was. There was no better way to find out. He continued closing the distance between them, his determined approach as subtle as the lady was fair. Perhaps he should take George’s advice, for it had been some time since he had been with a woman, and this one appeared open to the possibility.
He bowed. She curtsied. The musicians struck up a chord as if Nicholas had instructed them to do so for his own benefit. He held out his hand. A bold move, but one he was willing to take this night.
“May I have the pleasure of this dance?” he inquired politely, already knowing her answer.
Her gloved hand slipped into his, and he felt as though he had waited his entire life for her to say yes. Yes to the dance. Yes to anything else he might propose, be it for one night or something they might both wish to be a longer commitment.
She was an accomplished dancer. He had already witnessed her talent, yet it was far more pleasurable to watch her when she was now his partner. He wished to know who she was, but the fast-paced dance was hardly a place to carry on a meaningful conversation about getting to know one another.
Was it two dances later or maybe three? Nicholas lost track of time but finally, he placed his hand about the lady’s waist to expertly guide her out into the garden. It had been some time since he had allowed himself the pleasure of enjoying a woman’s company, especially in the moonlight.
The evening was cool, and when he saw her shiver, he shrugged out of his jacket since he had left his cape behind in the supper box. He placed the garment about her shoulders. She took hold of the lapels and brought it closer. He swore he could hear her sniff the edges as if she were committing to her memory the smell of his cologne for when he was gone.
Nicholas reached out to remove her mask so he could finally see all of her features.
“No.” She held out her hand to stop his efforts. “The mask stays in place if you wish me to remain here with you.”
“If that is your wish, so be it.”
“It is,” she answered quietly.
Nicholas did not remember it being this difficult to kiss a lady in the moonlight, but she must desire to be with him, too, else she would not be standing outside with him now. He could no longer stand the distance between them. Surely some form of spell had been cast upon him to be acting so rashly.
“Who are you?” he asked, taking hold of both her arms and bringing her closer.
“Does it matter?”
“How else am I to call upon you tomorrow if I know not your name tonight, my lady?”
This unknown woman who teased his senses gave a careless shrug but took a step closer. She placed her hand upon his chest. “Let it be enough that for tonight I am free to do as I please.”
He grinned at her response. One moment Nicholas was staring into her mask and brown eyes, and the next he was lowering his mouth to meet her lips.
* * *
Grace was unsure if it were the moonlight that drove her to such reckless behavior or the thought of having just one moment in time to treasure with a man who wanted to be with a mysterious and, perhaps, desirable woman. In either case, nothing prepared her for the instant their lips met. She supposed, since she did not protest going down the garden path with him, this would be the natural course of what would happen. But still… surely she was slipping at the very brink of tasting heaven itself from their first kiss.
Such a kiss was at first like an introduction when his mouth slowly slid over hers as though he were searching for some hidden meaning to their attraction to one another. There was nothing demanding or urgent in seeing the matter over and done with. No, the kiss was a mingling of breaths. It was two souls connecting in the night. A simple kiss, yet there was nothing simple about it. He stopped as quickly as he started then stared into her eyes, yet she knew the mask hid her features well enough that he would be unable to identify her in the light of day.
Adrian would be mortified if he had any idea what she was up to with a complete stranger. Thinking of her brother conjured an image of her deceased husband. Although his kisses had been pleasurable, they could not compare to what this stranger made her feel.
“Tell me who you are,” he urged again. He tucked behind her ear a stray lock of hair that had fallen from her coiffure and then cupped her cheek. “You must tell me.”
She leaned into his palm. The sensation of his thumb tracing her skin had her resolve weakening but not enough to reveal her identity. “I cannot, for I will not have you think less of me from my actions here this night. I am not what I seem.”
“I see a desirable woman I wish to get to know better,” he declared with a grin and an appreciative glance at her heaving bosom. There was no way she could mistake his meaning given the proximity of their bodies and the bold glare he gave her down the length of her body.
“I am sorry if I have misled you, good sir. I will be no man’s mistress.”
The gentleman holding her gave a laugh. “Mistress?
I did not think our slight acquaintance went so far as to me offering such a long-term arrangement. Given your association with a particular widow, I thought you might be amicable to spending the evening together.”
She gasped, pushing herself from his arms. “You mean you only wanted… wanted just one… one night with me?”
He folded his arms across his chest as if to make a point. “I hardly doubt it would take an entire evening, my lady, but if you are so inclined, I can procure us a room so we can satisfy one another until the dawn.”
“You boorish cad! How dare you assume I would agree to such a… a… I am too much of a lady to even finish whatever thoughts you may have had going on inside your head.”
“Come now. You can hardly put all the blame on me when you gave me such an open invitation with those glances and smiles while we were dancing. You came outside with me willingly enough with nary a protest. What else is a man supposed to think?”
“You, sir, are no gentleman,” Grace huffed, although she knew that he was completely right in his assumption.
The lady deep within her refused to listen to another word he said. She began making her way back to Moriah and Lord Aldridge even while she heard him calling her to come back. Thank heavens Adrian was not here tonight. He had encouraged her to socialize, but he did not think much of Moriah because of her scandalous reputation and the company she kept. If he knew Grace had shared a supper box with the notorious Lord Aldridge, he would lock her away in her room, and she would never see the light of day again.
Her mind on the insufferable man she had just left, she was surprised when her arm was clasped in a firm grip. Oh, my Lord, no! Adrian is here. Her brother tore off his mask, his eyes blazing with fury that she was in attendance at such a risqué event. Grace began to wonder how he knew her identity but felt foolish when she realized her cleft chin would have given her away. She practically ran to keep up with him when she was informed he would escort her home.
Holly and Hopeful Hearts Page 12