Desperately Seeking Suzanna by Elizabeth Michels Read Free Book Online

relaxed around her shoulders in a stretched mess of fabric, Sue looked down at the brooch clasped at her bosom. Running her finger over the dark stone in the center, she savored its solid existence. Her mouth quirked up at the corner. The last piece of Suzanna and of this magical evening was still clinging to her heart.
    “That brooch doesn’t belong to you. Did you take it?”
    “No, I didn’t.” Any other words she would have said were stripped from her along with the brooch.
    “Sue Green, you will return straight away to your cousin’s home. Your father and I will be along shortly. If I find you anywhere but in your bed when I arrive there, you will be sent back home while the rest of the family travels to London. It is what wisdom tells me to do already. Yet I am a forgiving mother, even under such…”—she looked down her superior nose at Sue as if something foul surrounded her on the air—“circumstances. I will have to think on what to do with you. We shall discuss this tomorrow.”
    “Yes, ma’am.” Sue glanced down at her rumpled, plain rose gown and turned to leave. Inside the ballroom, the unmasking had begun. Squeals of laughter rang out as she made her way through the crowd. She pushed past a group of ladies as she tried not to be stepped on in her haste to leave. On her way to the door that led to the carriages outside, she neared the statue where she was to meet Holden. He wasn’t there.
    She paused for a moment, partly to catch a glimpse of him one last time, partly to recapture the joy that had been present in her heart only moments before her mother’s arrival. If she stood in this same place, would her joy find her again as if she’d left it on the polished wood floor?
    “Pardon me, miss.” There was a nudge against her arm and she turned, looking into Holden’s green eyes.
    “Ah, you found champagne.” She smiled up into his unmasked face. She began to raise a hand to accept her glass, but her hand only made it halfway to him. She held her hand there in midair for a heartbeat waiting for him to look at her—really look at her.
    He lifted the glasses higher and well beyond her reach. “Yes, I found a footman with a bottle in the next room. If you’ll excuse me, I can’t chat at the moment. I’m meeting someone here.”
    “Oh.” The word was more of a sound ripped from her heart than a coherent response. He didn’t recognize her. Her hand dropped to her side with her fist clenched to keep it from trembling. She searched his face but his eyes didn’t stay on her. He was now scanning the room, looking for Suzanna. Was she so different? She’d been beautiful in his arms.
    But now…
    She looked away as the room began to swim through her unshed tears. She was only Sue. That was all she would ever be. She needed to leave. She didn’t belong here among the beauty of the masquerade ball. She turned away from Holden, not that he noticed her departure.
    “Sue, what’s happened?” Evangeline asked, her hand snaking around Sue’s elbow.
    “Mother is here. You should leave.” With her warning stated, she threw off Evangeline’s grasp and fled for the main hall. Tears were beginning to burn the backs of her eyes, and in another moment there would be no blinking them away. He hadn’t recognized her. His gaze had been cold as he dismissed her. Taking a breath, she pushed away from the railing of the main stairs and back into the crush of people at the masquerade.
    Her feet were moving toward the door without any thought to who she bumped into or how she now appeared with tears beginning to roll down her raw cheeks to land on her horribly wrinkled gown. They couldn’t see her anyway. After all, Sue Green was invisible.

Three
    Against his better judgment, Holden raised his hand and knocked on the front door of the Fairlyns’ neighboring manor house. It rankled to no end that Suzanna had managed to slip away last evening. He left for one damned minute and the chit was gone. And now