Duchess of Sin (2 page)

“Well, what of Grant Dunmore then? He is young and so very handsome. All the young ladies are in love with him, yet he wanted
to dance only with you at Lady Overton’s ball last week. He would not be so bad.”

Yes, there was Sir Grant Dunmore. Not so very old at all, and the most handsome man in Dublin, or so everyone said. Surely
if she had to marry someone, he would make a fine enough choice.

“He’s all right,” she said neutrally.

“Oh, A.! Is there no one in all of Dublin who catches your eye?”

Anna frowned. Yes, once there had been a man who caught her eye. It felt like a hundred years ago, though in fact it had not
even been two. When she closed her eyes she could still see him there. The carved lines of his dark, harshly elegant face,
and the glow of his green eyes. The way his rough, powerful hands felt as he reached for her in that stable…

The Duke of Adair. Yes, she did still think of him, dreamed of him at night, even though they had not met since those fearsome
days of the Uprising. She was on the run with her family, and he was intent on his own unknown, dangerous mission. He would
not want to see
her
again, not after what she had done to him.

She shook her head hard, trying to dislodge him from her memories—to shake free any memories at all. The past was gone. She
had to keep reminding herself of that. “No, there is no one. I’ve never met anyone who appealed to me as your Gianni does
to you.”

“We shall just have to change that then,” Jane said. “Oh, look, here we are!”

Desperately glad of the distraction, Anna peered out the window to find a nondescript building. It could have been any other
house on Fish Street, a square, harsh, classical structure of white stone. The only glimmer of light came from a leaded, fan-shaped
window over the dark blue door. All the other windows were tightly shrouded with dark drapes.

Anna smoothed her black silk gloves over her elbows, taking in a deep, steadying breath as a footman opened the carriage door.

“Are you quite sure this is the place?” she said. “It doesn’t look scandalous at all.”

“I told you it might be disappointing,” Jane answered, stepping down to the pavement. “But then again, the most delicious
forbidden places are adept at disguise.”

Just like herself? Anna had found she, like this house, was very good at putting up façades and pretending to be what she
was not. Or maybe trying on different masks to see which was really her, to hide the terrible hollowness inside. But that
would require far too much introspection, and that she did not have time for.

She followed Jane up the front steps, waiting just behind as her friend gave the unsmiling butler her invitation.

“Follow me, if you please, madame,” he said, letting them in after examining them carefully. As two masked footmen stepped
forward to take their cloaks, the door swung shut with an ominous, echoing clang. Now that they were really in that strange,
cold, silent house, Anna wondered if Jane was right—maybe they should not be there.

She caught a glimpse of herself in a mirror as the butler led them up the winding marble staircase, and she scarcely recognized
the woman who stared back. In that sophisticated red gown, with her face covered by a black satin mask and a beaded black
lace net over her blond hair, she looked older than her eighteen years.

That was good. Sometimes she did not want to be herself at all, didn’t want to be Anna Blacknall, with all those duties and
expectations and memories.

And she didn’t want anyone else to recognize her,
either. If anyone discovered she was here, she would be quite ruined. She would disappoint her mother and family yet again,
in the worst way. But on nights like this, it was as if a terrible compulsion, almost an illness, came over her, and she had
to run away.

They turned on the landing at the top of the stairs, making their way down a long, silent corridor. Medieval-looking torches
set in metal sconces flickered, casting bronze-red shadows over the bare walls. At first, the only sound was the click of
their shoes on the flagstone floor. But as they hurried farther along, a soft humming noise expanded and grew, becoming a
roar.

The butler threw open a pair of tall double doors at the end of the corridor, and Anna stepped into a wild fantasy.

It was a ballroom, of course, but quite unlike any other she had ever seen. The floor-to-ceiling windows were draped in black
velvet; streamers of red and black satin fell from the high ceiling, where a fresco of cavorting Olympian gods at an Underworld
banquet stared down at them. More gods, stone and marble, stood in naked splendor against the silk-papered walls. The air
was heavy with the scent of wax candles and exotic orchids and lilies, tumbling over the statues in drifts of purple and black
and creamy white.

A hidden orchestra played a wild Austrian waltz, a sound strange and almost discordant to Anna’s ears after the staid minuets
and country dances of Society balls, but also gorgeous and stirring. Masked couples swirled around the dance floor, a kaleidoscope
of whites, reds, blacks, and greens. It was a primal scene, bizarre and full of such raw energy.

That nervous feeling faded, replaced by a deeper stirring of excitement. Yes, this Dionysian place was exactly what she needed
tonight.

Jane took two glasses of champagne from the proffered tray of another masked footman, handing one to Anna. “Cheers, A.,” she
said, clicking their glasses together. “Is this more like what you expected?”

Anna sipped at the sharp, bubbling liquid, studying the dancers over the golden rim. “Indeed so.”

“Well, then, enjoy, my friend. The card room is over there, dining room that way. They have the most delectable lobster tarts.
I think I will just find myself a dance partner.”

“Have fun,” Anna said. As Jane disappeared into the crowd, Anna finished her champagne and took another glass, making her
way around the edge of the room. It was decidedly
not
a place her mother would approve of. It was too strange, too dark—the dancing much too close. One man leaned over his partner,
kissing her neck as she laughed. Anna turned away from them, peeking into the card room where roulette and faro went on along
with more intimate card games. There seemed to be a great deal of money, as well as piles of credit notes, on the tables.

No, the Olympian Club was assuredly not Dublin Castle, the seat of the British government, and not some stuffy Society drawing
room, either. And that was what she wanted. There was no forgetfulness in staid reels and penny-ante whist.

She took another glass of champagne. The golden froth of it along with the rich scent of the flowers was a heady combination.
For a moment, the room swayed before her,
a gilded mélange of red and black and laughing couples, and she laughed too.

“You shouldn’t be here,
beag peata
,” a deep voice said behind her, rough and rich, touched at the edges by a musical Irish accent. Though the words were low,
they seemed to rise above the cacophony of the party like an oracle’s pronouncement.

Anna shivered at the sound, the twirling room slowing around her as if in a dream. Her gloved fingers tightened on the glass
as she glanced over her shoulder. And, for the first time since she stepped into the alternate world of the club, she felt
a cold frisson of fear trickle down her spine.

The man stood far enough away that it would be easy for her to run and melt into the crowd. Yet something in his eyes, a fathomless,
burning dark green behind the plain white mask, held her frozen in place as his captive.

He was tall and strongly built, with his broad shoulders and muscled chest barely contained in stark black and white evening
clothes. And he was so dark—bronzed, almost shimmering skin set off by close-cropped raven-colored hair and a shadow of beard
along his sharp jaw. Dark and hard, a Hades in his Underworld realm, yet his lips seemed strangely sensual and soft.

They curved in a wry smile, as if he read her fascinated thoughts.

“You don’t belong here,” he said again.

Something in that gravelly voice—the amusement or maybe the hint of tension—made Anna prickle with irritated anger. He did
not even know her; how dare he presume to know where she belonged. Especially when she did not even know that herself.

She stiffened her shoulders, tilting back her head to stare up and up into his eyes. He really was cursed tall! She felt delicate
and small beside him when she wanted to feel like a powerful goddess.

“On the contrary,” she said. “I find this all remarkably amusing.”

“Amusing?” His gaze swept over the room before landing on her again, pinning her as if she were some helpless butterfly. “You
have strange taste in amusement,
beag peata
.”

“You should not call me that. I am not
that
small.”

One dark brow arched over his mask. “You know Gaelic?”

“Not a great deal. But enough to know when I am insulted.”

He laughed, a harsh, rusty sound, as if he did not use it very often. “It is hardly an insult. Merely the truth—little one.”

Before Anna could tell what he was doing, he grabbed her wrist, holding it between his strong, callused fingers. Though his
touch was light, she sensed she could not easily break away. That eerie fascination, that hypnosis he seemed to cast around
her, tightened like a glittering web.

Unable to breathe or to think, she watched as he unfastened the tiny black pearl buttons at her wrist, peeling back the silk.
A sliver of her pale skin was revealed, her pulse pounding just along the fragile bone.

“You see,” he said quietly. “You
are
small and delicate, trembling like a bird.”

He lifted her wrist to his lips, pressing a soft kiss to that thrumming pulse. Anna gasped at the heat of that kiss, at
the touch of his tongue to her skin, hot and damp. She tried to snatch her hand away, but his fingers tightened, holding her
fast.

“You should not be here among the hawks,” he muttered, his gaze meeting hers in a steady burn.

There was something about those eyes.…

Anna had a sudden flash of memory. A man on a windswept hill, his long, black hair wild. A man who held her close in a dark,
deserted stable, who kissed her in the midst of danger and uncertain fates. A man all tangled up in her blood-soaked memories.

A man with dark green eyes.

“Is—is it you?” she whispered without thinking.

His eyes narrowed, a muscle in his jaw clenching. “I told you,
beag peata
. You should not be here.”

“I go where I please,” she said, an attempt at defiance even as her head spun.

“Then you are a fool. Everyone should be most careful these days. You never know who is your friend and who your foe.”

“Insults again?” Angry and confused and, she feared, aroused by him, she tried again to twist away.

He would not let her go. Instead, he drew her closer, his other arm coming around her waist and pulling her up against him.
His body pressed against hers, warm and hard through the slippery satin of her gown.

“Since you insist on staying then,” he said, “you should have a dance.”

Before she could protest or even draw a breath, he lifted her up, carrying her into the whirling press of the dance floor.

She stared up into his eyes, mesmerized as he slowly
slid her back down to her feet. He twirled her about, her hand held over her head in an arch.

“I don’t know the steps,” she gasped.

“We’re not at a castle assembly,” he said roughly, dipping her back in his arms. “No one cares about the steps here.”

As he spun her around again, Anna stared into a dizzy haze. He was quite right—everyone seemed to use the dance merely as
an excuse to be close to each other.
Very
close. The couples around them were pressed together as they twirled in wild circles, bodies entwined.

She looked back into his eyes, those green eyes that saw so very much. He seemed to see everything she tried so hard to keep
hidden—all her fear and guilt. That mesmerizing light in his eyes reeled her closer and closer.…

She suddenly laughed, feeling reckless and giddy with the champagne, the music, and being so close to him, to the heat and
light of him. Well, she had come here to forget, had she not? To leave herself behind and drown in the night. She might as
well throw all caution to the wind and go down spectacularly.

Anna looped her arms around his neck, leaning into the hard, lean strength of his muscled body. “Show me how
you
dance then,” she said.

His jaw tightened, and his eyes never wavered from hers. “You should go home now.”

“The night is young. And you said I should dance.”

In answer, he dragged her tight against him, his hands unclasping hers from around his neck as he led her deeper into the
shifting patterns of the dance. Even as the crowd closed around them, pressing in on her, she could see no
one but him. The rest of the vast room faded to a golden blur; only he was thrown into sharp relief. He held her safe in his
arms, spinning and spinning until she threw back her head, laughing as she closed her eyes.

It was like flying! Surely any danger was worth this. For one instant, she could forget and soar free.

But then he lifted her from her feet again, twirling her through an open door and into sudden silence and darkness. She opened
her eyes to see they were in a conservatory, an exotic space of towering potted palms and arching windows that let in the
cold, moonlit night. The air smelled of damp earth, of rich flowers, and of the clean salt of his warm skin.

There were a few whispers from unseen trysts behind the palms and the ghostly echo of music. But mostly she heard his breath,
harsh in her ear. She felt the warm rush of it against the bare skin of her throat. Her heart pounded, an erratic drumbeat
that clouded all her thoughts and obscured any glimmer of sense.

For the first time since they started dancing, she felt truly afraid. She was afraid of herself, of the wild creature inside
that clamored to be free. Afraid of him, of his raw strength and strange magnetism that would not let her go, and of who she
suspected he was. Afraid he would vanish again.