Page 8 of A Duchess to Unravel (The Devil’s Masquerade #3)

CHAPTER FOUR

“ M iss Theo,” Theo heard Alistair call from behind her.

She continued marching down the small, torch-lit path lined with lilies and tulips, waving a dismissive hand in the air.

“Go away, Your Grace,” she warned, “I have no wish to speak with you.”

His deep chuckle only served to annoy her further.

“Oh, but I believe you do.” He replied, sounding closer.

“No!” She quipped back.

“Miss Theo,” he called again, his tone full of amusement as she took an abrupt left turn toward the sculpture garden.

She ignored him again.

“Calypso.”

Theo froze. Not just upon hearing the name but by the change in his voice as he spoke it. Deep. Possessive. Familiar.

She whirled around, eyes narrowed, teeth bared, but her face went blank as she found him so very close behind her. She’d known he was following her but hadn’t expected to be so near to her person. Theo swallowed, fighting the sudden shiver of excitement.

Now that he was so close again, she felt foolish for not recognizing him right away.

His height and size for one had reminded her of Cernunnos.

She was dissuaded though when he first spoke, his accent was mostly English.

Then there were his eyes. In the bright light inside, they were a deep greenish-blue.

A mesmerizing color, yes, the likes she’d never seen before, but not black as they’d been at the Devil’s Masquerade.

Without the bright light, however, she saw how those unique colors camouflaged themselves with the darkness, making them appear black once again.

She’d grown more curious when she began to hear the Scottish brogue in his voice, but then when he’d said disguise in such an insinuating tone, she positively knew.

This was the man she’d lost her senses with. The man that had been able to pull her from the numbness so her friends could make their way back in.

“Do not call me that ever again,” she warned, her tone low. “Not here, not anywhere.”

His handsome smirk unnerved her, and the chuckle that followed sent a strange flutter into her heart.

“Not even in the privacy of our future bedroom?” He asked, his voice dropping into a deep, seductive tone.

Theo’s body responded deeply to Alistair’s surprising words and she demanded herself to stop. She’d felt nothing at all for months, now she was feeling everything. Anger. Alarm … desire, and she suddenly hated him for it.

“You do not speak so intimately with me, do you understand?” She answered forcefully. “You do not know me.”

“Oh, but I want to,” Alistair replied readily, raking his eyes down her body.

“Ye have a spirit the likes I have never seen.”

There was praise in his voice, awe, even, and Theo felt herself yearning to accept the compliment. That he saw her as such ate away at her anger from earlier--but she would not allow him to know that. A man like this--so quick, so perceptive--was dangerous.

“You did not seem to think so at the table,” she argued.

“Oh, I did. You were just too prideful and willing to play the offended lady to notice,” he replied.

Theo tsked, using the argument as an excuse to take a step back. In truth it was because her body was beginning to hum with need. It itched to feel his large hands around her again. Feel his lips seduce her into a kiss that had begun haunting her dreams.

“Willing to play the offended lady? I am the offended lady!” She shot back. “None of you was willing to allow me into the conversation, not even you!”

“I agreed with ye!” he laughed, his brows rising in bewilderment.

“To coddle me,” she retorted, annoyed that he was now laughing.

“To get an answer,” he insisted. “Ye made an excellent point.”

“Oh, stop,” she groaned, “You are just like all of them!”

“Really?” He asked, almost purring the word, his grin widening as his eyes lit up. He took another step toward her, the heat from his body encroaching upon her space and making her giddy.

No! She chastised herself. I will not enjoy this argument.

“So, all of those other men have felt you melt in their hands? Tasted your sigh of pleasure on their lips?”

Theo’s jaw dropped at his words, and he tsked and chuckled as he took another step, close enough now to reach up a hand and touch her if he wished.

She wished.

“ My, how I underestimated ye, Titan’s daughter,” Alistair mused, pinning her with his intense gaze, “Ye are far more wicked than I ever imagined.”

Theo slowly shook her head, unable to assemble her own words.

“I … you … you are the Devil.” She stuttered out, managing to raise a pointed finger at him.

His grin grew more seductive as he took the tiniest possible step, bringing his chest to touch the tip of her finger.

“Ye already knew I had horns,” he teased. “I wonder what the Horned God of the forest and the sea goddess of lust and mischief could create together?”

He snatched her hand, his movements quick yet gentle, and his large fingers wrapped around her still extended pointer finger and drew it toward his lips. His eyes locked on hers; Alistair drew out his tongue just enough to lick the pad before drawing the length of the digit into his mouth.

Theo’s cheeks flushed, heat blasting through her as her breath hitched, and stood frozen in place as his warm mouth suckled gently. He drew her finger out slowly, his teeth just barely nipping at the end of it.

“Do not put ye body against mine again unless you want it in my mouth, little Calypso. I am a hungry devil. I am never sated.”

Theo blinked rapidly as he lowered her hand and let it go, unable to fathom any words this time.

“Och, good,” he mused, taking in her stunned silence. “Now that I’ve got ye quiet, perhaps now ye will listen.”

He drew his finger up to her chin and gently closed her open mouth, smirking, then took a step back.

“Now, as amusing, if not irritating as ye behavior at dinner was, I would like to move on to a more important conversation. Ye friend the other night was not the only one to be ran out of the Masquerade. After ye left, someone was discovered taking notes on everyone who was bold enough to remove their masks, even for a moment. The notes were confiscated, the person removed, but we dinnae know what was committed to memory.”

The startling news shocked Theo out of her silence. This was not at all what she predicted he would say.

“Well, I never removed my mask that night,” she replied, “So why should I care?”

“Some traits are noticeable,” he remarked, sweeping his eyes down her again, “Even if a mask is worn.”

Again, it seemed as if he was giving her a compliment, but she didn’t react to it.

“You have the convenience of knowing many things about the Devil’s Masquerade,” she said instead. “As if you work, or perhaps even operate the party?”

She expected another chuckle, another answer that wasn’t really an answer, but this time Alistair just shook his head.

“I enjoy the likes of such company from time to time, but I have no interest in taking on such a venture,” he replied.

“Then how do you know so much?” she replied.

He shrugged, his smirk returning.

“I am highly perceptive man. I like details.”

“Too much,” she retorted sarcastically.

His smirk transformed into a seductive grin.

“Ye would not say that if ye had a chance to experience how much attention I can give to them.”

Yet again, Theo was almost rendered speechless, but this time she pushed on, refusing to give him the satisfaction.

“So, you are not the proprietor,” she stated, “Fine. And you delivered your warning. Thank you. I suppose. Are we done?”

Alistair shook his head, that twinkle returning to his dark eyes.

“Nay,” he replied. “As I said, there are other ways to identify people even if they were masked. You and I have particular figures. I am the largest man I have seen thus far among the ton. And ye? I’d recognize your figure anywhere. No matter the dress.”

“Stop,” she snapped, unable to take the compliments any longer. “I am not so noticeable. I have spent years among the ton being invisible. No one pays attention to me save to mock me.”

“If they mock ye they notice ye,” Alistair replied readily, though a flare of anger erupted in his gaze, “Even if it is idiocy to mock someone as ye.”

Theo saw his hand rise slowly, giving her plenty of time to bat it away if she wished.

Yet she stood still, watched as his fingers stretched out and made purchase with her face.

Heat bloomed beneath the scar near her eye as he brushed her hair away and caressed the imperfection.

Her lashes fluttered shut and she swayed into his soft touch, unable to stop herself.

“Is that why ye try to hide this?” He asked, his voice like black silk against her ears.

Theo’s eyes snapped open, startled that he’d asked such a personal question.

“What?” She asked, confused. Alistair smirked.

“Ye should not,” he responded, caressing his thumb once more over the scar. “It is beautiful. It is like lightening. A reminder from ye Titan father that you were a true goddess and meant for greatness.”

Alistair said the words so confidently, so intimately, that it stunned Theo into silence for several seconds.

“I…” she sighed. Then stepped away from his touch, hoping that it would help her concentrate. It did, but it also made her miss his touch immediately. She ignored the urge to step closer to him and focused on her words. Cleared her throat.

“I hate to disappoint you, but it came from no such thing. My parents had a surgeon remove a birthmark when I was young,” she answered finally.

Then muttered with disappointment, “Of course, they only exchanged one flaw for another.”

“It is not a flaw,” he stated, “And if ye were married to me ye would never have to cover it again. Ye would never be afraid to be fully seen ever again.”

Theo’s eyes widened and her way with words evaporated.

Before she gathered herself, Alistair continued, moving back to the subject of the Masquerade as if what he’d just said hadn’t shifted one of the great stone walls around her heart.