Two Sinful Secrets by Laurel McKee Read Free Book Online Page B

and she was that headstrong girl again,
     swept away by her first taste of passion. She had the most powerful urge to run to
     him, to touch him to see if he was real. Yet she also wanted to run away, to vanish
     as she once had after he kissed her.
    Instead she stood still, frozen, and watched him. He looked around the room, a half-smile
     on his lips, his expression unreadable as he looked at the people around him. He was
     said to be one of the finest actors in England, and Sophia could see why. He was so
     good at hiding his thoughts as he stood there, as still and quiet as if he was making
     a stage entrance, but she fancied she could see a flash of some cynicism in his eyes.
     He seemed very remote from all that was going on around him.
    Yet as she watched him she still couldn’t help but remember that long-ago night when
     he had kissed her, touched her, in that dark room. She had never felt like that before
     or since. Did he remember, too? Surely he hadn’t known who she was—at least she hoped
     he did not. But did he ever think of her, the woman in the mask?
    Or was she merely one of dozens of women who blurred together in his memory?
    She thought of poor Mary Huntington, of her helpless desire for a man who couldn’t
     care for her the same way, who wounded and betrayed her. Mary had drowned in her unhappiness,
     and when Sophia read her words she vowed never to do that to herself. Never to depend
     on anyone for anything. She did desire Dominic St. Claire, of course—he was so terribly
     handsome and, as she remembered, so very good at kissing. But that was all.
    It was all it could be.
    Dominic’s brilliant green gaze suddenly turned—and landed on her. She could feel the
     heat of it even across the room. It felt as if he physically touched her skin, ran
     his hand over her bare body, and a chill ran up her spine.
    Then his smile widened, but not with humor. It looked like the smile of a wolf spying
     a helpless rabbit just before he snatched it up. And she wanted desperately to be
     the prey he sought.
    Oh
, she thought with a flash of raw panic.
I am really in trouble now…
    It was her again. He had found her.
    When Dominic first stepped into the crowded club and caught a glimpse of the woman’s
     back, something that had felt long-frozen flickered to life within him. That glossy,
     black hair pinned in shining, heavy coils atop an elegant head, reminded him of the
     mystery woman he had once kissed—and who had run away from him. She had been the only
     woman he ever wanted who eluded him, and the thought that she was within his grasp
     again awakened the primitive hunter in him.
    He had come to La Reine d’Argent as a respite fromworking at the theater, from getting the new play ready to open and playing go-between
     in quarrels between the other actors. He wanted to play some cards, have some fun,
     and maybe learn something he could take back to the Devil’s Fancy when they returned
     to London. Camille Martine was a very fine hostess, as they had learned at her dinner
     at the Café Anglais, and he was sure her club would be a grand one.
    He hadn’t expected to find the woman in black as well.
    Dominic smiled and smoothed the velvet cuffs of his coat as he watched her. She was
     not very tall, but was slender and delicate-looking in her black satin gown. She talked
     to a group gathered around her, her lace-gloved hands fluttering in an exuberant gesture.
     Her head tilted back in laughter, and everyone around her watched her intently, as
     if caught in an enchanted spell.
    Then she turned—and froze when their eyes met and she saw him watching her. The smile
     on her rosebud lips faded, and her already fair cheeks turned pale. And Dominic saw
     that it really was his mystery woman. Even though she had once worn a mask, he could
     see that the shape of her face, the delicate nose and slightly pointed chin, were
     the same.
    “She is beautiful,” he heard his brother James say. “They say