Page 32 of Enticed By an Earl
For a moment, neither party reacted. The duke frowned slightly at Dev but did not so much as look at Kitty.
“Your Grace,” Dev finally said to break the tension of the moment. He nodded to the duchess as well.
“Lord Deveraux,” the duke mumbled to Dev in return.
He glanced only briefly at Kitty before turning away and escorting his wife on. Dev did not think that the duchess deigned to look at Kitty at all.
The moment passed as quickly as they’d fallen into it. Kitty survived without so much as a hint of suspicion on the part of either of her parents. They had not recognized her, and Dev suspected that they believed the woman on his arm to be just another mistress and therefore entirely unworthy of their notice.
“You may breathe now, my dear,” Dev said, escorting Kitty on once the duke and duchess had moved far enough ahead of them. “The danger has passed.”
Kitty took a noisy breath then lurched forward, as if forcing herself to go on. “I can hardly believe it,” she whispered.
Dev grinned. “Believe it, my love,” he said. “Have I nottold you how utterly convincing you are? A new and much safer life is yours for the taking now. I believe we have just proved that.”
“I pray you are correct,” Kitty said, pressing a hand to her stomach.
“And now, I believe we should return to the safety and comfort of your hideaway for a victory celebration,” Dev added, waving to his carriage at the end of a long line waiting to fetch their charges. He had more than a few things in mind as ways the two of them could celebrate what was most decidedly a victory.
Eleven
Kit did not know whether he felt elated or terrified through the entire drive home to the mistress apartment. He’d spent the entire evening in the same room as his parents and they had not recognized him.
Of course, a theater auditorium could not quite be considered a room, and there were over a hundred other people crowding around the dim space as well. His parents had remained at a distance for most of the evening. But still, either one of them could have glanced into Dev’s box at any moment and seen him. They’d come face to face in the lobby at the end of the performance as well. Kit was not entirely certain whether either of his parents looked directly at him even then.
The important bit of the harrowing experience was that neither his father nor his mother had seen through his outer trappings to identify him as their son. They had regarded him the way they would any new mistress that Lord Deveraux Ogilvy had on his arm. He had been completely beneath the notice of the two people who should, perhaps, have recognized him more quickly than anyone else.
It was almost a great triumph. The only fly in the ointment was the lingering conflict and uncertainty raging in Kit’s breast. He had felt so very much like Kitty on Dev’s arm or while they were seated in the dark theater, but that single, brief encounter with his parents had him restlessly and awkwardly thinking of himself as Lord Castleton in disguise again.
Never mind what Dev, his parents, and the rest of society thought, would he never truly see and believe himself to be who he truly was?
“I still cannot believe it,” Kit finally found his voice as their carriage wound through the streets of Mayfair. “They were right there, mere feet away. They could have and perhaps should have seen what was right in front of them.”
“And as I have told you, my dear,” Dev said, taking one of Kit’s gloved hands, “you are so thoroughly Miss Dryden that they would have no reason to suspect you were anyone else.”
Kit pressed his lips together and hummed, but he was still not entirely certain. The first person he needed to convince he was Kitty was himself, and some moments it felt harder to do that than others, despite what his soul told him.
Then again, Kitty had been enough at the forefront of his self-perceptions earlier that she had blended in perfectly. There had been others at the theater to whom Dev had introduced her. Not one of the gentlemen of Dev’s acquaintance had looked askance at Kitty or stared too long at the thick ribbon concealing her Adam’s apple. They had all behaved quite nobly toward her, treating her with more respect than needed to be shown to a mistress.
Perhaps there was hope after all. Perhaps Dev was correct and he truly could live out the rest of his days as Kitty and believe without question that doing so was his destiny.
By the time they reached Mrs. Torrance’s building and made their way up to the mistress apartment, Kit’s mind hadspun around and around the matter so much that he felt as dizzy with possibility as he was exhausted by the length of the evening.
“I cannot wait to get out of this gown, take off my wig, and climb into bed,” he sighed, removing his gloves and putting them and the reticule he’d carried on the table near the door. “I feel as though I could sleep for a week after tonight’s excitement.”
“I hope you do not plan to go to sleep just yet,” Dev said, removing his hat and coat and placing them on one of the chairs. “We have not even celebrated our triumph yet.”
Kit had already walked halfway across the room but paused and turned back to Dev, his heart suddenly beating wildly. And with good reason. Dev grinned at him like a wolf who was sizing up his prey and deciding on all the ways he might like to devour him.
A tremor of desire swirled through Kit. Though his experience with the pleasures of the flesh was limited, he was not a virgin. His school days had taken care of that though not, perhaps, in the best of ways. He was not opposed to allowing Dev to make love to him in the most intimate ways either, just…nervous.
Dev chuckled as he came close enough to Kit to take his hand. “You’ve no need to look so frightened,” he said, his voice lowering to a rich bass. “The way you are looking at me now makes me think you believe yourself in dire danger.”
“Am I not?” Kit asked, a slight tremble in his voice, even though he was trying to be coquettish.
“No,” Dev said, raising one hand to cradle the side of Kit’s face. “You are as safe as a babe in its mother’s arms.”
Kit laughed softly. “I am not certain that is the best metaphor to use in this particular circumstance,” he said quietly, gazing up at Dev shyly. “Not when you are studying me with eyes such as that.”
