Page 11 of Keeper of Secrets

Not a girl.

Her thick blonde hair was twisted up in a beautiful style that highlighted the lushness of the locks and the delicate column of her neck.One graceful hand rested on the table.Her entire visage looking very familiar.

His stomach dropped, beginning to churn.

She turned then, her profile coming into view.The high arch of her brow, clear blue of her eye… the fullness of her petal pink lips and… He’d forgotten just how beautiful she was and he knew exactly how sweet those lips tasted.How in the hell could he hide this from his aunt?“Fuck,” he muttered under his breath, but he could have sworn Mildred heard him the way her gaze narrowed.

He looked back over at his new charge, seconds feeling like an eternity until she rose from her chair and turned to fully face him, her gasp filling the silence, her eyes clashing with his.Familiarity sparked in them, as her lips parted in surprise, her brows lifting as her hand came to her throat.

There was no denying who stood before him.It was her.Even more lovely in the morning light, she might have been a radiant goddess crafted from the finest marble having been pulled from Greek mythology.

“Your Grace,” Mildred’s voice echoed about the room as all the color drained from Chloe’s face.“I’d like for you to meet your new charge, Miss Chloe Fairchild.”

His teeth gnashed together, his hands clenching into fists as he tried to process all these events.The woman he’d kissed, the one that had filled his dreams.She was his charge?It was too ridiculous to be true.“You said she was a girl,” he said.

“Did I?”Mildred didn’t sound the least bit concerned.

“She called you a boy,” Chloe whispered, her voice trembling as she gripped her chair for support, her face as white as the linen on his bed.

“Chloe?What’s wrong?”Mildred asked as she quickly stood and stepped around the table.

Chloe wobbled on her feet.With another muttered curse, he stepped closer, wrapping a hand around her back.“Stay with me.”

Her eyes seemed to focus on his face again, widening as she stared at him.“I think that might be my sentiment, not yours.”

“What does she mean?”Mildred demanded, her hand coming to his arm to give it a decidedly hard squeeze.“Ryker?”

But his eyes were fixed on Chloe.The girl who was no girl at all.His charge was a debutante and the most beautiful woman he’d seen in a very long time.Maybe ever.

But the ridiculousness didn’t stop there.She was also the very lady from whom he’d stolen a kiss.And any moment now, his aunt would discover the truth.

“Ryker,” Chloe whispered, her hand coming to his other arm, a far more gentle touch.“Ryker… I think I might faint.”

He pulled her against his chest a moment before she went limp.

CHAPTERFOUR

Chloe woke slowlyas she attempted to get her bearings.Where was she?Why was she so warm and comfortable?

That’s when the rumble of voices filled her ears, individual words and phrases penetrating the fog of her mind…

“I didn’t know.”The deep rumble of a male voice.

“You know now,” Mildred replied, Chloe recognizing the lilting soprano of the other woman’s voice.

“It was innocent.”

“It’s grounds for her to be ruined,” Mildred said, her words sounding more agitated and clipped.Chloe’s eyes fluttered open, the strong line of a man’s jaw coming into view.Was she in his arms?

She blinked several slow blinks as the room, a lavish dining room, came into focus.It was as unfamiliar as the rest of the situation.Where was she and how had she gotten here?Her mind refused to focus as she attempted to puzzle out the circumstances.She was with Mildred…

She looked back at the man who held her in his arms.A few memories tickled the back of her thoughts.Masks and gaslight…

And a lovely kiss.

Suddenly, the entire situation flooded her memories, last night’s kiss with a stranger, meeting that very stranger this morning, the man who kissed her, a duke—and her guardian.

Was that good or bad?The pounding of her heart told her that whatever came next was going to be bad.

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