Duplicity [Available on Radish]

Chapter 3

The hour was very late when Evelyn realised her fan was missing. It was her favourite piece, gifted by her brother. Where could it be? She retraced her steps. No easy feat. She ducked low to look underfoot, beneath wide skirts, around drunk slumped bodies even as she danced away from wayward hands. Might she have dropped it out in the passageway? She found nothing except for a few over-exerted revellers snoring away.

Just when she was about to give up, a deep, rich voice purred over her shoulders, "Good evening, Lady Evelyn."

Without turning, she instinctively knew who spoke to her. That voice, so erudite and deep, could belong to but one man. She turned to find herself faced with a towering silhouette against a faint orange glow cast from the ballroom. He eased out of the shadow into a beam of moonlight from a nearby window. It was indeed Philip Mallory's dark-haired companion.

From a distance, he was striking. Up close, Evelyn understood the spell he cast over an entire ballroom. He was possibly the most handsome man she had ever seen. With his height and build, he was striking enough, but his looks resembled a painting of some ancient hero. Indominable. Perfect. Somehow, he knew her name. How?

As he drew nearer Evelyn's mouth went dry just as she noticed an odd flutter in her chest. His slow, graceful movements made her think of a predator stalking prey. Her flushed cheeks felt pricked by a thousand pins all over when she realised her ruinous predicament of being alone with this stranger. A stranger of great importance from his carriage and the way this lot fawned over him. What should she do? What could she do? So she did the one thing she knew to do and sank into a deep curtsey. "My lord."

He answered with a curt bow. "Have you lost your way, my lady?"

That lingering pale gaze felt like a caress. He was so close now she could detect a scent of sandalwood, earth and manliness. His presence made her head swim as if she had too much wine. She thought she could hear a ringing in her ears over the faint music, even as her heart thundered in her chest. She tried to recall all the rules dictating proper conduct between a young lady and a man she didn't know - and drew a blank. Should she walk away? Yet, how could she without causing offence? "Were we introduced, my lord?"

He peered down at her with a look of wry amusement in his pale eyes. "You made quite an impression on everyone."

"Not everyone, I'm sure."

"My cousin, Philip, then."

"Mr Mallory?" Yes, she saw the resemblance now. "We've met in passing. What sort of impression could I have made?"

The lingering look he cast upon her made Evelyn flush and lowered her gaze. Her averted eyes allowed Lord Davenport an unfettered look at her.

Silky dark hair. Dewy skin. Those full red lips were made to be kissed often. The pale moonlight in that darkened gallery cast shadows that outlined her features and gave her an innocent glow. No! Not innocent. No young lady in the habit of meeting men in secret can be as pure as she appeared. The fact she hadn't run away from him now was confirmation of her true character. Besides, her expressive eyes were far too bright with intelligence to be some insipid ingenue.

Lord Davenport's languished gaze travelled down the curve of her slender neck, to trace over a shining smooth pendant nestling in the deep valley of her full breasts. How he envied that little pendant, resting between the perfect twin mounds of her decolletage. That nonsense of guarding Philip against this chancer faded from his mind with each rise and fall of her chest. The unspeakable things he wanted to do to her. Would she let him? In his mind, he saw her again with the shadowy man and thought to himself: Perhaps.

He lowered his face to say, "I'm sure you've got a trove of admirers to tell you how delightful you are."

A shiver ran up and down Evelyn's spine to feel his breath on her temple. She smelt burnt wax, and it made her feel lightheaded, intoxicated by the attention of this tall, handsome stranger standing much too close to her. His colourless eyes sparkled in the darkness. "I - I have no admirers."