Page 32 of Seven Nights with the Wicked Duke (Regency Beasts #3)

" W hat are you doing here, little mouse?” came the angry masculine voice from behind her where she sat close to the potted plants.

It was the most secluded place she could find to watch the dancers, their movement too sensual for polite society.

That was why these balls could never become part of polite society's season.

It was sensual, it was scandalous, and most importantly, it was secret.

Ordinarily, she would never be here, except she was, thanks to the ticket that she had stolen from Theo's table as she made her way home that last night.

While she had longed to return to Theo's house and fall into his arms, she was determined to resist the urge.

This way she could complete her scandalous list without involving Theo.

Finding the way here had been a little challenging, she had to disguise with a mask she hoped she had secured well enough then hired a hack and told him the address.

The hack stopped at the back of a modiste.

She was confused at first, but she knocked and a middle-aged woman with a huge bosom answered the door.

She had on heavy make-up and was dressed in a high-necked flowing gown.

The contradiction in her appearance confused her and she was contemplating returning home when the woman spoke,

"Good evening, my lady, might I have your password?” Her voice was smooth like warm chocolate, inviting and exotic.

"Password?" she asked dumbly, flipping the card in her hands until she spotted the words at the bottom in lowercase letters.

"Red swan," she said to the woman, wincing at the uncertainty in her tone. The woman eyed her up and down for a while and Cecilia feared that she had gotten the password wrong and the words on the card were not truly the password.

Finally the woman smiled, her red painted lips widening to reveal straight white teeth that shone in the moonlight.

"Oh you must be Lord Theo's lady, I suppose that means he will be gracing us with his presence soon."

"He was running late. He sent me ahead," Cecilia lied through her teeth, forcing a smile for the woman's benefit.

"It is not often that females decide to visit us alone. You are truly courageous, my lady. After all enjoying sensual pleasure is not only the province of men," the woman said with a lascivious smile.

It was unfortunate that Cecilia was not doing this because she felt courageous, this was her last lifeline, her only opportunity to explore life before she submitted herself for the cage prepared for her. But this woman did not know that and she did not need to.

"Welcome, my lady. I wish you quite a splendid night," she said, stepping aside to allow her make her way into the depths of the room. There was another door inside and the mysterious lady opened it and stepped through, urging her to follow her in.

The moment, Cecilia stepped through into the ball.

She knew it was nothing like the balls she had always attended.

The room was filled with several masked couples.

Some danced suggestively on the dance floor, while at the corners she could detect several couples were locked in passionate embraces.

There were half-dressed exotic dancers weaving through the crowds and the waiters were barely clad handsome men who carried their trays high on their shoulder for any guest that might find themselves thirsty, and with the rigor with which they danced, she was willing to bet that there would be many that required the sustenance.

"Perhaps you might want to make use of one of our rooms above stairs, they are quite the treat," her guide said with a secretive smile that promised unhinged delights. Somehow, she sensed that whatever those rooms contained would be even more untoward then what she had seen so far in the ballroom.

It was probably safer that she stayed where she was, but she had come here to explore sensuality and scandal and that was what she was going to do.

She followed behind the woman as they took the stone staircase that was adorned with small statues of fat cheeked cherubs, the images almost sacrilegious in such a scandalous place.

When they got to the landing, she was able to see all too clearly what was happening below. She was aware of the proprietress moving ahead of her, but she had suddenly lost interest in seeing the rooms. She was content to watch from the mezzanine.

Suddenly, there was a disturbance in the crowd.

Theo had arrived. He was dressed in a crisp white shirt that had quite a few buttons open to reveal the gleaming skin of his chest. He had not bothered with a mask but then it would have been useless, she would recognize him anywhere.

The powerful breadth of his shoulders, the bulging muscles that filled his shirt.

The man might be a nobleman, but he was built like a warrior.

Of course he was once one, and warriors always stood out everywhere they went, people were either attracted or repulsed by the predatory aura that surrounded him.

This night, the people at this ball were attracted to it.

Some of the ladies abandoned their partners to cozy up to him, blinking coquettishly at him from beneath their lashes.

Cecilia could feel her face heating with jealousy as she watched. She was aware that she had no right to feel this way. He did not belong to her. He had rejected her devotion. He had claimed he wanted nothing to do with her, but why then did her heart still ache for him?

Just watching him, she could feel the effect of his presence, the way her breath heightened and her body heated in unmentionable places. Her body had always wanted him and it cared little about the humiliation she had suffered in his arms.

Just then, as if he had felt the weight of her gaze, he looked up, locking eyes with hers.

Her heart thudded painfully as she wondered if he had recognized her?

. Surely he could not have recognized her from that distance.

She fought the urge to reach upwards to check if her disguise was still intact.

He stared for a long while, and just when she was sure that he had recognized her, he looked away, bending to whisper something to the girl that clung to his arm.

Cecilia exhaled heavily, feeling weak with relief. She didn't wait to be found, she scrambled down the stairs, skirting the perimeters of the ballroom, finding her way to the potted ferns and the seclusion they offered.

When she arrived at the first fern, she was shocked to find that a couple already occupied the space behind it.

They were so locked in their passionate embrace, the sounds that came from the woman's mouth was enough to bring a blush to Cecilia's cheeks.

Thank goodness that the music was loud enough to drown out the sinful sounds flowing from her lips.

Forcing herself to move, she moved to the next potted fern that was blessedly devoid of passionate couples.

From her position there, she had a good view of the ballroom and she understood now why the proprietress had been amazed that she had arrived alone.

The room was swarming with couples and she understood just how out of place one would feel in such a place.

Well, her solitude ended the next moment when she heard a masculine voice asking her rather angrily what she was doing here.

It was impossible Theo recognized her, her disguise was perfect. She just had to stay quiet and not reveal her hand until she was sure of how much he knew.

"Cecilia," he said more urgently now, dashing her hoped that her disguise had worked. "I know it is you. I would recognize you anywhere even if I had lost my sight."

Cecilia gaze jerked up to his. His eyes were darkened with anger. She was in so much trouble and she was yet to decide if the quiver in her body was fear or desire.

"Now, tell me why you stole my ticket to come here alone. Have you no fear?"

Cecilia decided then it might be a mixture of both, but desire was fast leaching away the fear. She was lost just like she always was with him, but she could find no reason to stop herself.

She just had to be the most aggravating female in the entire universe, and this was one of the moments in which he grappled between the urge to strangle her and the urge to kiss the shocked look off her face.

It was indeed laughable that she thought that a cheap wig and mask could hide her from his eyes. He had intimate knowledge of her body, he could recognize that saucy mouth and the elegant lines of her neck anywhere.

He had first bought those tickets for the both of them, when he still felt like he could appropriately guide her into scandal, but after the last night and the vivid conclusions he had come to regarding his feelings for her, he had decided to end it all, in the hopes of finding a solution to his madness.

Imagine his shock when he realized that one of the tickets was missing.

He looked everywhere for it, and as a last resort he decided to go to the party on the off chance that the minx might have attended with his ticket.

He didn't quite believe it was possible, after all, it was difficult for most members of nobility to find their way to this part of town.

He couldn’t believe his eyes when he found her right there at the ball, wandering around like she was in her brother's castle instead of a scandalous ball with several chances of her getting ruined or even worse.

"Do you not understand the risk that you took to come here?" he asked, fighting to control the urge to shake her.

"There is always a risk when one is dealing with scandal."

"There are better ways to avoid the risks. It does not include you coming here alone, unchaperoned."

"You broke our arrangement, you were not going to take me. I wanted to complete my list. I could not sit around forever and wait for you to take me to the ball."

"Is that why you had to take one of my tickets without my permission?" Theo huffed, the frustration getting better of him.

"You were not going to use both of them. I did want mine to go to waste. Besides, you did not truly want to take me here."

"I do not care what your excuses are, you had no rights to take that ticket without my permission."

"Why, would you have given it to me? You may be content to mask your feelings and suffer, but that does not mean that I have to do the same. At least at this ball I could get another lover, one that would be willing to hold on to me, rather than run away at the first appearance of difficulty."

That was it.

The thin thread of his self-control snapped, flooding his vision with a tinge of red; anger and desire a toxic mix in his blood. In the next moment he was dragging her to him and slanting his mouth over hers, sating his desire on the sweetness of her lips.

Cecilia was going to be death of him.