Page 21 of Enticed By an Earl
“I—” Kit tried again. He had to swallow dryly before he could summon the courage to say, “I am Miss Kitty Dryden.” The words gusted out of him like they might be the last he ever spoke.
Unbelievably, Lord Deveraux smiled. “I knew it.”
“You did?” Kit blinked, wondering if his champion had known all along.
“I did not know at the time,” Lord Deveraux said, inching back a little more. “Of course, now that I’ve seen you in the light of day, I cannot imagine how I missed the truth before. I suppose when one does not expect to see their new acquaintance in an entirely different form and context it is forgivable to miss the obvious.”
“Was I…was I that obvious?” Kit asked, panic welling up in him. Lord Deveraux might not have recognized him, but Lady Everly had. Others might have known who he was as well. They might have known and sent word to his father.
“You were not,” Lord Deveraux said, a curious expression painting his face. “Your features are well suited to a feminine disguise.”
“It is not just a disguise,” Kit blurted, perhaps unwisely. “It is who I feel as though I am inside.”
Silence fell between them. Kit was certain he’d ruined whatever chance of keeping Lord Deveraux as a friend that he had.
But the spark that came to Lord Deveraux’s eyes was not one of hatred or rebuke. If anything, it was a look of…excitement.
The silence between them continued for another moment before Lord Deveraux stepped back entirely, taking a breath as though he would move the moment on. “We should discuss this matter somewhere other than a dark alley,” he said, stepping out of the recess.
Kit should have been glad for the space and the ability tobreathe again. In fact, he did not like being so separated from Lord Deveraux. He could barely breathe anyhow and hadn’t been able to for years.
“What do you suggest?” he asked nervously as Lord Deveraux gestured for him to follow to the opposite end of the alley from where they’d entered.
“There are a large number of coffee and tea shops in this area,” Lord Deveraux said. “We will sit and talk in one of those.”
Kit didn’t know what to say. He followed Lord Deveraux out of the alley like a puppy, staying quiet and glancing up at his possible savior, or possible judge, as they circled back to Hyde Park via a longer route.
Kit had learned long ago that there was a great deal of anonymity in crowds. As someone of his stature, he had frequently been able to hide away in plain sight amongst men, and some women, who were taller than him. Lord Deveraux was a striking figure, though, and even when they found a table at a small tea shop near the northern edge of the park that seemed to be frequented mostly by the middle class, Kit was afraid they would stand out. At least the maid at the shop did not seem to know who they were as she brought them tea.
“Now,” Lord Deveraux said once they were seated with warm cups in their hands. “Tell me everything.”
Kit swallowed awkwardly then said, “I do not know what to say, my lord.”
Lord Deveraux frowned. “None of this ‘my lord’ nonsense,” he said. “If the events of the day have done nothing else, they have made us friends. Call me Deveraux, or even Dev, as my closest friends do.”
“Dev?” Kit spoke the name breathlessly. He broke into a smile before he could school his expression. Since it onlyseemed fair, he replied with, “I am Christopher, but those closest to me call me Kit.”
“Or Kitty,” Lord Deveraux—Dev—pointed out with a rakish smile.
Kit’s face went hot with a blush. “I have never ventured out into public as Kitty before,” he said in a whisper. “I would not have for your mother’s ball, but after explaining my truest feelings to the young seamstress who sewed the gown for me, she and Mr. Wilkes convinced me to give it a try.”
“Mr. Wilkes the tailor?” Dev asked, his expression lighting with amusement.
“You know the man?” Kit asked.
“I do. He has done work for me in the past.” Dev laughed. “I’d no idea Wilkes was such a revolutionary.”
“I should not have done it,” Kit said, his spirits sinking all over again.
“Whyever not?”
Kit stared at Dev. The man could not possibly be suggesting that he had every right to attend a ball dressed as a woman. It was unheard of. The trouble he could have gotten into had he been exposed was too much for him to think about. “It is wrong,” he answered Dev.
Dev shrugged. “Is it wrong for men to play women’s parts on the stage, as they have done for countless centuries?”
“A ballroom is not a stage,” Kit said. His stomach fluttered, and he could not stop himself from adding, “And I was not merely acting.”
Dev nodded slowly, growing serious again. “You enjoyed yourself?” he asked.
