Page 24 of A Touch Wicked
Her fingertips skated along the back of the settee, the action seemingly designed to draw his attention.
“Oh, yes. Several times.” This time, her sigh was almost wistful, sad. “But he tires of her different disguises. In the end, she simply tries anonymity. She meets him in a mask and sleeps with him in the dark, never revealing to him her face.”
Now he couldn’t take his eyes off her. He wanted to say so many things — ask so many things. Had Selene read this story?
“How does it end?” he found himself inquiring. Of all the things he could have asked.How does it end?
She curled her fingers around the book, still not looking at him. “She becomes with child and her mother sends her to a monastery in France.”
James straightened. Without reason, he found himself irritated. “I think you had it right, Miss Dumont. This doesn’t sound like a book I’d enjoy.” He made a sound of frustration. “All those disguises and she never once considered telling him who she was? Didn’t this woman think of his feelings at all?”
Now Miss Dumont turned to him, and for the first time since knowing her, he saw ire in her gaze. Fire. It was extraordinary.
“That’s where you have it wrong, my lord. This is not a story for men. Men, who are afforded every privilege in society — whosefeelingsare catered to in every instance — cannot understand what would compel a woman to want something so badly that she would denounce her own identity. Why such a woman would give the nameIcognita, because her real one was too much of a risk.”
She stared at him, as if startled by her own outburst. Then, in a low voice, she said, “No, my lord, this is a story only a woman can understand. One where she must choose between her reputation and what she wants most. And in the end, she’s left with neither.” Miss Dumont thrust the book into his hands. “I suggest you read it. You might learn a thing or two.”
When she turned to stride out of the library, he found himself calling her name. “Miss Dumont.”
She stopped. “Yes, my lord?”
“How do you think it should have ended?”
James couldn’t help but notice that her hands shook, as if the question startled her.
“I can’t answer that,” she said.
“Why not?”
He saw her lift her chin, but she still didn’t turn to face him.
“Because,” she replied, “the man in that particular book did nothing to deserve her.”
James stared down at the book long after her footsteps had faded.
Chapter 14
James had been dancing for the better part of an hour, and his patience — which he typically prided himself on — was wearing thin.
Lord and Lady Ashby invited most families among thetonto their annual ball; it was tradition for the event to start the London season. The ballroom heaved with eligible bachelors, debutantes, and married couples of influence. Many members of the Masquerade would be here without their disguises.
Which meant Selene would be in attendance.
Knowing that, James danced only with debutantes. Still, his gaze strayed to women there with husbands, seeking some familiar feature. Like her wicked smile, or a hint of a French word.
Or, perhaps, a woman more interested in unmarried gentlemen than her own husband. James sought curves of a body made for his hands, a throat that still bore the marks of his kisses, his light nips as he thrust into her.
“You look distracted,” Alexandra said by his side between dances. “Have any ladies caught your fancy?”
James stole a champagne flute from the nearest waiter. “Several were perfectly pleasant.”
Perfectly pleasantwas, of course, a kind way of sayingdull. Debutantes were taught to rely on their beauty to set them apart, not their quality of discourse. They stuck to the same safe topics: the weather, the season, their families; polite enquiries intended to get a man to talk about himself.
But James didn’t wantperfectly pleasant. He wanted that same all-consuming desire he felt when he first heard Selene’s voice. The need to kiss her, to mark her somewhere on her body so she would gaze upon it in the mirror and think of him.
Even Miss Dumont garnered more emotion out of him than every woman he’d danced with. James was beginning to wonder if a part of him was only tempted by women he couldn't have. Servants and those with husbands.
My problem is that I want too much, Selene had said.
