Page 46 of Her Devil of a Duke
Not wishing to create a mess, Evelyn reached for what had dropped and picked it up from the floor. In the morning light that shone through the curtains, she saw the thing she carried was a mask.
Not just any mask.
“It isthemask,” she mouthed as all her breath escaped her lungs at once.
At first, she didn’t dare believe her eyes. She walked out of the garderobe, holding the mask high in the air, so even more light fell upon it. It was a long dark blue and orange mask, the same elements of silk with the thick border that she had spied the night she stood beside the masked man at the ball, the man she had kissed.
No. This is not possible.
With trembling hands, Evelyn placed the mask on the table and reached for the black gown, not knowing what else to put on. She pulled the gown over her shoulders, struggling into it as she heard stirrings from the bed. Rafe had woken and rolled over.
Evelyn snatched up the mask and held it in the air, turning to look at him, her breathing so labored now that she felt like her nostrils were flaring. Rafe lifted his head from the pillow, his lips falling open as he stared at her.
“Evie…” he whispered her name, pausing for a long time. “It is not what you think.”
“Not what I think?” she repeated in disbelief. “You… you’re…” She put it together in her mind, closing her eyes as she saw that night again.
No wonder Rafe had so strongly reminded her of the masked man she had desperately sought after the ball. Hewasone and the same person.
“You were him. You were the masked man from the ball. The one I –”
“I am. I was.” He sat upright, the sheet laid temptingly across his body, revealing the hint of a sculpted torso. She looked away from his chiseled chest and his beauty, finding it unbearable to even glimpse in that moment.
“No. No,” she repeated, a coil of anger burning in her stomach.
All this time, she had wanted to find him, meanwhile he was always here, right before her eyes. Why not tell her who he was? Why not tell her, unless he never had any intention to?
“Oh, God’s wounds.” She backed up from him and ended up colliding with the table.
“Careful.” Rafe moved to the edge of the bed, about to get out of it, but she held up her hand. Suddenly, she didn’t want him anywhere near her.
“Do not come near me. You lied to me. You lied, Rafe.”
“Strictly speaking, I did not lie.”
“What?”
“You and I never talked about that night.”
“Oh, that makes it all right then, does it?” she spluttered. “Because you wereevasive.I cannot believe this! You knew who I was the moment I stepped through your door, did you not?”
“Of course, I did.” He stepped out of the bed.
She couldn’t look at him. She turned away and hid her face.
“Cover yourself, please.”
“Why? It’s hardly as if you haven’t seen this already.” He circled her and grasped her wrists, clearly trying to look her in the eye. “Yes, I knew who you were.”
“You knew, and yet you didn’t tell me.” She jerked her hands away from him, not wanting him to touch her. “Oh my God. You were just trying to get this, were you not?” She gestured to the bed, thinking of what they had done. “I was like any other woman. I was one of many to you, weren’t I?”
“Evie…” He didn’t deny it.
“That’s it, isn’t it?” Her voice grew increasingly louder. “You just wanted to get me in your chamber. You seduced me. And oh, to my shame, I was seduced all so willingly.”
“Evie, that is not it.”
She took off, needing to be away from him. She put the table between them, but he followed her with a mark of desperation in his voice.
