Page 6 of The Devil's Deceit

I push open the door that leads to the gardens. The scent of summer flowers is everywhere, and her nostrils flare as she draws in a deep breath.

“Gosh, it’s beautiful.” She moves away from me, stopping by an array of pink peonies and bending to smell them. She straightens, panning her gaze around. “If I had a garden like this, I’d spend all my time here.”

“It’s lovely in the summer. In winter, though, the wind whips off the English Channel and cuts right through you.”

She faces me, that faint smirk a little more pronounced. “Ah, there’s your flaw. Weather related small talk. There had to be one.”

I grin, utterly enchanted by her. Someone who says something profound one moment, then teases the next isn’t the kind of person I come across every day. “You got me.”

Pivoting, she moves farther into the gardens, her heels clicking on the stone pathway. I follow, my focus on the subtle sway of her hips. For her, it’s not put on. It’s just how she moves. She spins suddenly and catches me staring.

I meet her gaze and wink. “I’m not even going to apologize.”

“No.” She gives me a close-lipped smile. “You strike me as the kind of man who doesn’t apologize for his actions.”

“That’s a bold assumption considering we’ve just met.”

“I’m good at reading people. Comes from being the quiet, watchful one in a crowded room.”

Baby, where have you been all my life?

I gesture to a bench in front of the lake, the main feature of the gardens and my favorite place to be. The sun has fully set now, the moon bright in the sky and reflecting off the still water.

“It’s so peaceful here,” she murmurs, sitting with grace that reflects the name her parents gave her.

I sit beside her, staring out at the water. “When I was a child, we’d spend every summer swimming in the lake or boating. It wasn’t so peaceful then. Not with six rowdy kids splashing around and causing mayhem.”

“Must be nice to have a large family.”

Her voice dips, as do her shoulders, as though the weightof grief is too much to bear. As much as my family drives me crazy at times, I can’t imagine being alone in the world.

“It has upsides and downsides.”

Her smile returns, soft and knowing. “Like being able to share secrets? Or never getting away with anything?”

Her mention of secrets fires another mass of guilt into my bloodstream. There are some secrets I can share, and others that are mine to bear. “Precisely.”

She closes her eyes and takes another cleansing breath. The movement lifts her chest. I drop my eyes to her cleavage, then drag them back up to her face.

“Take your mask off, Grace. Let me see you.”

There’s a hint of hesitation—one that makes me curious. Is she hiding something beneath her mask? Something she doesn’t want me to see.

“I thought this was a masked ball.”

“We’re not at the ball.” Reaching around the back of my head, I loosen the ties on my mask and let it fall into my lap. She takes her time turning to face me, as though she’s fighting an internal battle.

“Allow me.” If she stops me, I’ll respect her boundaries, but as I pluck at the tie holding her mask in place, her arms remain by her sides, and she allows me to remove it.

I peel it away from her face, and my chest contracts. She’s more than beautiful, and not only on the surface. In the depths of her irises there’s something broken in her gaze. Something I want to fix.

I’m a firm believer in lust at first sight, and there’s enough lust surging through my body to power London for a month.

“Wow.”

She lowers her eyes. “Wow good or wow bad.”

I chuckle. “Good. Definitely good.”