Page 48 of Heart's Masquerade

Jaz was impressed with the young woman. So they weren’t all bad.

“Honestly, darling, do you even know what we do here each year?” the older woman answered.

“No,” the daughter shot back, “I’ve been away at school, and I think maybe I need to go back.”

Jaz choked on a sip of champagne in her amusement and moved along. The pompous statements continued in the crowd, and the entreaties to give more were sent out over the microphone. After Torrian’s initial greeting, he stood to the side up there and said nothing. Rather, he watched the crowd. Jaz kept herself hidden until the giving portion of the night ended. Surprise washed over her when the music changed and heightened. Couples took the center of the floor and began to dance. First something way before Jaz’s time, and then the young people seemed to have hijacked the music and the floor. She chuckled when someone convinced the live band to play the “Monster Mash.”

A collective murmur washed through the crowd. Jaz knew without looking Torrian had left the stage. She tried seeing over heads, but even with his height, she couldn’t glimpse him. Being from the rougher side of town, she elbowed her way past a few folk, and then she saw him. Beautiful women crowded around him, all shapes, sizes, ages, even ethnicities from the look of it. They teased him with their false lashes behind masks, half-naked breasts, and possibly their money since a couple raised their voices to inform him of their names as if he should recognize them.

Torrian unbent enough to dance with the young woman who had told her mother she wouldn’t marry him for his money. A stab of possessiveness stirred in Jaz’s belly. Shouldn’t she just leave? “Darling” was from his world. She fit right in, and even if she protested, the girl couldn’t miss Torrian’s sexiness.

No, freaking way. I took a taxi all the way over here. The least I can do is take a chance.

She decided to show herself, but before she could get past another clamoring woman, the music changed. A biddy must have wrestled control back for her generation. Smooth tones washed over Jaz, a slow, sensual beat. Anyone dancing with Torrian this time had a good chance of having him hold her closer.

There were still too many of them. Time to break through. She drew in a deep breath and blew it out then took a step forward. Unfortunately, she managed to step on the end of one woman’s dress. The woman seemed to have shifted at the same time, and when she did, Jaz felt the unmistakable vibration of a tear.

With dramatic flare, the woman screamed. “You clod! You did that on purpose.”

Jaz stepped back and opened her mouth to apologize, but she couldn’t help looking over the woman’s shoulder to Torrian. To her shock, he had noticed her.

“Do you hear me?” the angry woman said. “What are you looking at?” She spun and fell silent as Torrian brushed aside each person in his path between Jaz, the woman, and himself. The woman’s countenance transformed. She gathered the ends of her ugly dress. Practically simpering now, she parted pink, glossy lips. “Torrian, I’ve been hoping to dance with you. How do you like my dress? I had it specially made for this evening’s event.”

“It’s nice,” Torrian said when he reached them, but his gaze didn’t leave Jaz’s face. He extended his hand to her, and the woman squealed in alarm as did a collective gasp rose all over the area.

Jaz laid her hand in Torrian’s palm, and he closed his fingers over hers. He drew her close until her breasts brushed his chest. His hand came around to her back and flattened on her bare skin. A shiver raced up her spine as Torrian began moving to the melody.

Maybe he thought she was someone else.

“Jazara,” he whispered, reading her mind.

“Who the hell is she?” someone growled close by.

“I don’t know, but I’m going to find out,” another said.

Jaz laid her head on Torrian’s shoulder and shut her eyes. She trusted him to lead while her mind whirled, and her senses careened out of control. They danced and danced. She wasn’t sure if the music played for them, or if it had shifted to something wholly out of beat. All she knew was Torrian and his touch. Oh yes, Lord, and his scent! She breathed him in and felt his strength beneath her fingertips.

Maybe the music stopped or Torrian just decided to quit moving. He kept her before him and captured her face between his palms. Then he raised the mask to hook toward the back of her head on its elastic. He stared into her eyes and lowered his head to kiss her. Jaz didn’t think about it. Her head tilted back, and her lips parted. He kissed her deeply, consuming her, setting her body on fire. When he raised his head again, she thought she cried out no in her head, but he smiled, leading her to think she’d blurted it aloud.

“Come on.” He led her to a door, opened it, and allowed her to walk ahead of him to an outside verandah. Jaz wrapped her arms around herself as soon as she stepped through the doorway, and Torrian whipped off his jacket to lie over her shoulders. A waiter appeared out of nowhere, and Torrian whispered something to him. When Torrian focused on her again, she couldn’t think of a single thing to say, but her ex-lover had no such issues. “I missed you, and I’m glad you’re here.”

Her eyebrows rose. “You knew I was coming?”

“No, but I can guess how it happened. Niles?”

“Yes, and he’s your driver?”

“He’s always been outspoken and does what he wants. I don’t have a lot of genuine people around me, so I don’t chastise him much for it.”

“I saw,” she said, referring to the partygoers inside. “They’re all so catty. I mean not that it’s just the rich that are like that, but it still threw me for a loop. I didn’t know if I should stay and try to talk to you or not.”

They had been strolling along the veranda hand in hand, but when she spoke, he stopped walking and turned her to face him. His hands on her cheeks warmed her, and he kissed her again.

“If you had come and gone without me seeing you, it would have killed me.”

She blinked at him. He’d never been so open about his feelings, and she wasn’t sure how to take it.

“You know I love you, don’t you, Jazara?”

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