Page 33 of Beneath the Devil's Mask
“You don’t seem entirely surprised to see me, Sorrow,” he remarked.
“I’m not. I’m beginning to believe you are an evil genius set on earth for the sole purpose of tormenting me for my sins.”
“Sins you have yet to commit, milady.”
Anne chose to ignore this suggestive remark. “What are you doing here? I cannot believe it is merely chance this time that—” She broke off, recollecting the number of times this evening she had fancied herself being followed. It must have been Mandell all along. He had witnessed her reunion with Norrie, that private moment of tenderness and heartache, all played out before Mandell’s cynical gaze.
“Damn you!” she cried. “You have been spying upon me ever since I left Lily’s. How dare you!”
“Alas, you must forgive me, my dear. I am a jealous fool. I never dreamed this midnight rendezvous of yours would be with a child.”
Mandell jealous? Anne eyed him with disbelief. He spoke lightly enough, but with an odd grimace. That was the trouble with Mandell and his sardonic facade. One could never be sure whether he was serious or not.
“How did you even know I would be meeting anyone tonight?” Anne demanded.
Mandell groped beneath the folds of his cloak. He produced a crumpled scrap of paper. You dropped this out of your purse at the theatre. I pocketed it when I retrieved the reticule for you. If you mean to engage in this sort of clandestine adventure, you ought to get in the habit of destroying your notes at once.”
“I would have done so, but I never had the chance. No sooner had I received the message, then Lily—” Anne broke off. Why was she troubling to explain anything to Mandell? She continued angrily, “It makes no difference. You had no right reading my messages or following me.”
“Someone must keep watch over you, if you will persist in these midnight wanderings,” he said. “Who was the pretty child that draws you out at such a perilous hour?”
His question caused Anne to realize something. While he had been able to observe, he must not have been able to hear any of the whisperings between herself and Norrie.
“The child’s identity is none of your concern,” she informed him loftily.
“I suppose I can always make inquiries of your sister.”
“No!” Anne’s hauteur dissolved in an instant. “You must not say anything about this to Lily or to anyone. No one must know that I have been here tonight. If Lucien ever found out that I had seen Norrie, I would never be able to get near her again. Please, my lord. If you have any decency at all, you will keep silent.”
Mandell regarded her through half-lowered lids. “My silence would have a price.” She might have known he would say something like that.
“Very well.” Anne raised her head with all the drama of a martyr about to meet her doom. “Take your payment then.”
She pursed her lips and closed her eyes, bracing herself to be assaulted as Mandell had done that night in the garden, the blood drumming through her veins.
The moment dragged out and she felt nothing but the wind ruffling her hair. When Mandell did kiss her, his mouth just brushed hers, the contact warm and fleeting.
Anne’s eyes fluttered open in surprise to find Mandell’s dark eyes glinting with amusement.
“Very sweet,” he murmured. “But a kiss was not what I had in mind, Sorrow.”
Anne’s cheeks flushed hot with embarrassment. “Then why did you take it?”
“How could I refuse what was so prettily offered? But I fear I must demand payment of another sort. I want to know what is going on. Who is this Norrie? I believe that is what you called her?”
Anne compressed her mouth into a stubborn line.
“We are not going anywhere until you answer me, Sorrow. We will stay here all night if we must. It will not bother me. I have always been a nocturnal creature by habit.”
Mandell leaned back against the gate, inspecting his nails, looking as disinterested as though he graced some boring afternoon tea. Yet Anne knew he meant what he said. He was fully capable of holding her prisoner by Lucien’s gate until dawn if need be. And despite the marquis’s negligent posture, she doubted she would get far if she attempted to flee.
“All right,” she conceded. “I will tell you whatever you want to know. But can we not continue this conversation elsewhere? Ihave already risked enough by lingering this long. If Lucien were to catch me, he can be so vindictive.” Anne shivered, drawing the ends of her shawl tightly about her. “Can we please leave this place?”
Mandell came slowly away from the gate. He undid his cloak, sweeping it from his shoulders. Before she could guess his intent, he draped it about her, engulfing her in the heavy black folds.
“Oh, n-no,” she stammered, finding the contact of the fabric, warm from his body, redolent with his musky scent, disturbingly intimate,
Mandell ignored her protest, fastening the cloak about her neck. “I want no confessions from a woman with chattering teeth. Let this be another lesson to you. Don’t attend a midnight revel so scantily clad.”
