Page 35 of The Heiress in Disguise
The memory was overwhelming. Nobody had touched her like that, with kindness, in such a long time. She jerked away from him, turned, and ran up the stairwell, knowing—hoping—that he wouldn’t follow her that far into the servants’ quarters, hoping that she might be rid of him at last.
Every moment that she had spent in his company had been intoxicating, but they had also been confusing, and at times they had been painful. She didn’t want to see him again.
She took a back staircase down to the part of the house where the bedrooms were and burst into her own room, half wondering whether there would be another gift from her Fairy Godmother. There wasn’t, of course.
She should have known that nothing would be delivered to her during the ball. Too many people were coming and going—nobody could do anything around here without being seen. Well, nobody apart from the mysterious gentleman, that was. He seemed to have no trouble moving in shadows.
She sat down on her bed and buried her face in her hands.
Whowashe? How had he found her, and how had he figured out who she really was? And the biggest question of all—what difference did it make to him? Why did he care?
Was it a trick, somehow? Was he hoping to make her reveal her identity so that he could tell her aunt and uncle that she’d disobeyed their orders?
But what could he possibly have to gain from doing something like that? It didn’t make any sense.
None of this made any sense, and she didn’t know what she was going to do about it. Even if she avoided him for the rest of the night, the mystery would be unsolved, and she knew that it would haunt her for the rest of her days.
Chapter 15
Antoine felt rather alarmed at his own daring as he returned to the party. He hadn’t planned what had just happened. He hadn’t thought he would be bold enough to tell Angelique that he knew who she was, and now that he had, it felt like it might have been a mistake to do so. What if her knowing that led to disaster?
He wasn’t sure exactly how it could, but the whole situation felt so precarious. It was easy to imagine that one misstep might bring everything crashing down. And he couldn’t afford to take chances—it was her freedom he was gambling with. He had to help her. He had to save her.
And yet, the look on her face when she had heard her real name made it difficult for him to doubt himself. Surely, he had done the right thing, if it could give her that expression of pure relief. It was obvious to him that using a false identity caused her no small amount of pain.
It would hurt anyone to do that, especially given the fact that she had lost her parents and that her true name was one of the only things she had from them. BecomingEllamust have feltlike distancing herself from them. Of course she would wish to be Angelique.
But she had been too frightened to allow him to say the name in public. It told him a great deal—there would be consequences for her if anyone realized that he had discovered who she was.
She’d said that Lord and Lady Leicester would be angry about it—they must be going out of their way to oppress her, to keep her hidden under this false identity they had concocted. It only made sense that they would do so if they wished to take away what was hers—to disinherit her, perhaps. He would have to play his cards very carefully now.
And that meant he couldn’t allow himself to be sidetracked, either, by the attraction he was beginning to feel toward her. He had longed, just now, to take her in his arms, to hold her and tell her that she was safe and that he intended to get her away from here. But that would certainly have been a mistake. The way he felt toward her would prevent him from being clear-headed, and that wasn’t something he could permit.
He heard the sound of voices coming from a side room and peered in. Several gentlemen were grouped around a table, engaged in a game of cards. Antoine recognized one of them as the Earl of Leicester. The earl had apparently chosen not to wear a mask tonight, which Antoine interpreted as a desire to show off.
He probably wanted to make sure that everyone knew this was his party, and that they gave him full credit and respect for it. Antoine tried not to let his disdain show on his face. Once again, he was grateful for his own mask, which concealed not only his identity but some of his expressions.
“Ah,” the earl said, noticing him in the doorway. “I see we have another who wishes to join our game. Will you sit and play with us, sir?”
“I’d be happy to join.” Antoine wanted to spend more time around the earl—perhaps by doing so, he would be able to gain a better understanding of Angelique’s situation. He took one of the empty seats around the table.
The earl dealt him some cards. “I’m afraid it’s a rather expensive game,” he said.
“How much is the ante?”
The earl named a sum. It certainly was high for a game such as this, but Antoine felt it was more than a fair price for the opportunity he was seeking.
“That’s all right,” he agreed, and pulled out his coin purse. He fished out the proper amount for an opening bid and placed it on the table.
The gentlemen all examined their cards, and the bidding began. Antoine bid along with them, wanting to stay in the game even as one gentleman after another folded. Finally, only he and the earl remained.
Antoine’s hand was a good one, and he felt confident in it. He also felt confident that the earl was bluffing—the man had a fairly obvious tell, if one knew what to look for. Perhaps the other players didn’t realize that when someone refused to look you in the eye for more than a few seconds at a time, it was likely that they were being dishonest. Antoine was sure he could win the hand if he wanted to.
But he wasn’t here to earn money. He was here to find out how he might help Angelique, and he would get farther if the earl was in a good mood.
“You’ve bested me,” he said, putting his cards down on the table.
The earl eyed them beadily, and for a moment Antoine thought he might reach for them, trying to see what hand Antoine had held. In the end, he simply took the money that had accumulated in the pot and began to stack the coins in front of him.
