Seductive Deception

Chapter 23

"I hope Tess hasn't gathered everyone to come looking for me yet," Morgan quipped as they walked toward the manor, hopeful their absence wasn't noticed.

She prayed Louisa hadn't attempted to track her down either.

Allegra coiffed her hair, straightened her skirts, and rearranged her mask. She'd helped Morgan straighten his tie as he unrumpled his waistcoat and shirt.

"Dance with me?" he asked, but it came out more like a command.

"You know I can't."

"Why can't you?"

"It would spur gossip."
"And when has that ever stopped you before?" he propositioned with a crooked brow.

She sighed.

"You're in disguise. Everyone here is in disguise."

"No," she corrected, "everyone here thinks they're in disguise. I can point out of everyone in that ball room and list their names the moment I walk back in."

He rubbed the back of his neck and looked up at the sky. "Do it because you want to, not because you're in disguise, not because it may provoke people to talk. Do it because you want to dance...with me," he pleaded. "Please don't make me dance with another lady like Cordelia."

And they both burst into laughter.

"That's not very cordial of you," she admonished playfully, biting her lip as a flame lit inside her.

In truth, the world would be a much better place if she could saunter onto that dance floor and give Morgan what he asked for. Hadn't she daydreamed of that? Hadn't she tucked that memory away, always going back to it to fantasize about what her their life could have been if fate didn't play a cruel part in it all.

"Meet me at the huge archway, the one that leads to the halls near the ladies retiring room."

She made an inarticulate sound in the back of her throat, but reluctantly agreed.

Because deep down, she wanted to remember tonight as one of the best nights of her life, she wanted to replay the memory years from now...long after Morgan had forgotten she existed.

***

They separated shortly before entering the gardens —a silent acknowledgment of the unspoken rule that you can never be seen together, alone, outside.

Allegra knew if anyone saw them come through those doors together, they'd assume what both Allegra and Morgan knew to be true.

Ladies never traveled alone at balls either always clung to the side of a chaperone, family member or the like, but she slipped through the door, hoping to be inconspicuous. For Morgan's sake, for Louisa's sake, for anyone's sake whom may have been seen in her presence. She needn't make life more difficult for others by defying their ridiculous rules while in their company.

She couldn't resist the grin on her lips, the warm rush of contentment that swept over her, even if it would be a bitter sweet memory.

When Allegra walked in, she was greeted with the same scene she'd left behind; the swarm of gentile society, pawns on a chess board in their black and white ensembles, dancing the quadrille to a mix of muffled conversation, laughter, and the high-pitched swell of the orchestra.

She took a deep breath, feeling her shoulders drop. She hadn't realized she'd been tense, folding into herself.

Tentatively, she made her way to the archway, spying Morgan. She couldn't resist the foolish grin that grew on her lips, the wave of heat that flooded through her at the memory of their recent encounter. It seemed, neither could he, his lip quirked, his eyes drawn to her with an invisible wire.