She made to go after him when a strong arm grabbed hers and towed her away. Her head snapped to the side, “What? Who are you! W-what are you doing to me?”
“The doorman said you were for the Scarlett Parlor,” the footman remarked, “And that is where I am taking you.”
Panic set into her heart. “No, no, you don’t understand, I must find Lord Rutledge, I- I have to—”
“Youhaveto do as you were contracted,” he murmured. “The guests are waiting for your… expertise.”
“No, stop, please, I need to see Lord Rutledge!” She tried to yank her arm away, but his grip only tightened.
He yanked her down corridor steps and down a narrow passage, and no matter how she struggled, he dragged her down to the bottom where thick incense swirled around the room.
Giggles met her ears, and she saw women clad in gauzy nothings paraded around the room, serving men drinks. In the shadowed nooks, she saw bodies undulating, and fear rammed right into her head.
“Please let me go,” she whispered, fearing the worst. “I—I misspoke, I meant—”
Someone stepped in front of them, a tall someone, his face shrouded in shadow. “She’s coming with me.”
“I have my orders, she is—”
“Coming,withme,” the man muttered, emerging from the gloom. His sharp gray eyes behind his black demi-mask were as lethal as piercing steel; his jaw looked tougher than basalt. “Or would you deny a Duke what he desires? Is not the reason for this room to allow any man the desires he seeks?”
The tight grip around her forearm lessened. “Your Grace, I—”
“I have given you my order. Let her go,” he growled. “She isminefor the night.”
With little say in the matter, the man dropped his hand and bowed. “My apologies, Duke Valhaven.”
When the footman left, she pressed a hand to her chest, relief washing through her like a flood, but her pulse raced again when Duke Valhaven’s eyes landed on hers.
With an unsteady feeling, she watched the play of light and shadow over his chiseled features as he tilted his head. He stared at her the way an auctioneer appraised a strange ornament. The clean structure of his broad cheekbones and square jaw was offset by the tiny scar slanting through his left eyebrow.
“You are a very far way from home,little mouse,” he finally murmured. “Why are you here?”
As grateful as she was to be rescued from an unsavory fate, she could not be distracted, even by a man as devilishly handsome as this. “…I must speak to Lord Rutledge. Please, it is urgent.”
“Why?” His calmness irked her.
Every moment she stayed with him, Rutledge was slipping further and further away. She notched her head up. “He is a dastardly scoundrel who ruined a woman near and dear to my heart. I must have him marry her if she has any possible way of avoiding being cast as a fallen woman and shoved into ignominy.”
His lips twitched. “Your plan was doomed from the inception. You might have a better hope of fetching a hunk of cheese from the moon, mouse, than convincing Rutledge he must marry one of his conquests. A seducer is as liable to change his ways as a leopard is to change his spots.
“They find a woman who poses a challenge, they wheedle and cajole, and spin their web of lies to draw an innocent into their path. When he’s gotten what he wants, he moves on with nary a look over his shoulder.”
Alice’s heart fell to her feet. “No, no… surely there must be a way,” she held back an aggrieved cry. “He must pay.”
“I doubt you will sway him,” his mocking drawl exasperated her. “He’ll laugh in your face.”
“I’ll hold a pistol to his head if I must,” Alice swore. “He must do the right thing.”
“He won’t.”
“Hemust.” She felt flustered and spun around, as if the man in question was behind her and she could tell him her demand… or fall to his feet and beg. “I—I cannot leave here without speaking to him. Where did he go?”
“He is in a place where, if you enter, your innocence will be ripped from you and your delicate sensibilities,” the Duke replied. “I assure you, you do not want to look behind that door.”
Alice felt the need to sit, and the moment the room began to swim, and her knees buckled, a strong hand grasped her and steadied her. “Easy, mouse. You do not want to collapse here.”
She began to fear all her careful planning was now for naught, how she had followed Rutledge’s steps for weeks, how she had cajoled her aunt and her cousin to go and visit their friend in the countryside this very night—while her uncle was away at Oxford on business—just so she could be free to slip out to London.
