Behind the pirates, a large oval table took up the center of the room.There were men crowded all around it, yelling out as the dice rolled.The faces around the table were all tight with emotion—some with anticipation, some with worry.Cigar and pipe smoke filled the air and swirled around above the men’s heads.
Elizabeth tugged Nigel over to the long bar.Almost immediately, two glasses of wine were placed in front of them by a barrel-chested bald man with a very crooked nose.His size and rough features should have made him scary-looking, but instead, his wide smile and cheeky wink charmed her.She couldn’t refrain from smiling back at him.
For a den of iniquity, it was very clean and nicely appointed.Not at all what she had been expecting.In keeping with its name, the walls were painted a lovely sky blue and the curtains framing the windows were dark blue velvet.Across the room, there were two doors that constantly opened and closed as guests wandered through to what looked like a back hallway.What was back there?Nigel sipped his wine next to her.His gaze darted around nervously.Perhaps it had been a bad idea to bring him.He certainly didn’t blend in with the brash, raucous crowd.
“Nigel, stay here and use your observational skills.I’ll be back soon.”
“Wait, should you be wandering around by yourself?”
“I’ll be fine.Look around…there are plenty of ladies here.That’s why we came tonight: the event allows for plenty of mixed company.I am almost ninety-nine percent sure that is Lord and Lady Holloway over there, dressed as Titania and Oberon.”
She patted his arm and then picked up her wineglass and slowly wound her way across the room.It appeared that all the employees were dressed in solid black and wearing identical black masks over their eyes.But she didn’t see any women servers, let alone any with ginger hair.She did spot a man at the end of the room, sitting in a chair that was lifted maybe six feet off the ground.His impassive expression hinted at boredom, if one didn’t notice the way his eyes continually scanned the crowd around the gaming table at the center.Was he there looking for cheaters?Interesting.
A high-pitched peal of laughter rang out.Elizabeth swiveled around.A group of revelers to her right appeared to be entranced by a woman telling a story of some sort.The woman’s hair was piled high on her head and powdered, her lips painted bright red.She looked like a shabbily dressed Marie Antoinette.She even had a gruesome slash of red across her neck to signify the late queen of France’s demise.Elizabeth’s lips twitched in amusement.But then the woman draped herself over the arm of her male companion, and he, in turn, leaned down and nibbled down her throat, making her laugh again.Definitely a prostitute.No lady would allow such affection in public.
Elizabeth continued across the room, making sure to smile and walk with confidence.She noticed a few heads turning her way with appreciative glances and barely refrained from tugging up the bodice of her dress.Perhaps this color was too loud.She wanted to fit in, but she didn’t want men thinking she was a lady of the night.Nobody approached her, though.Most of the players appeared focused on the gaming.
At one of the doors to the corridor beyond, she glanced around to see if anyone would stop her to tell her she wasn’t allowed.The only person who seemed to notice her was a gentleman standing nearby, wearing a blue devil mask.His gaze met hers, and his lips turned up in a smile before his attention slid back to a heavyset gentleman with whom he was conversing.
Elizabeth’s heart unexpectedly sped up.What a handsome devil.His raven hair fell unruly onto his brow, and his broad shoulders filled out his black jacket nicely.She watched him and took a small sip of wine.She could feel that his attention lingered on her, even as he appeared to give it to the man in front of him.A pleasant sizzle of awareness raced beneath her skin.Perhaps it was the red dress.The dress and mask had been loaned to her by her friend Lorelei, borrowed from the dress shop she owned.The bold color and low cut of the bodice made Elizabeth feel womanly in a way she hadn’t felt in years.
She moved to open the door next to her but couldn’t help looking back over her shoulder.The blue devil’s gaze flicked up and met hers again.She brazenly winked at him, then slipped out of the room.Her breath caught as she leaned back against the wall of the corridor.Why had she done that?Taking a deep breath, she rolled her eyes.So, she’d winked at a stranger…it wasn’t a crime.Straightening, she smoothed her hands down her skirts.It was definitely the red dress making her feel so brazen.Besides, she wasn’t likely to bump into him again, given the number of people in the club tonight.
The occasional sconce dimly lit the long hallway.Several people stumbled down the corridor to her right.One of the men grasped a woman’s hand and pulled her laughing into a room.The second man smiled and followed them inside.Curious, Elizabeth turned and strolled in the same direction, hoping she looked like she knew exactly where she was going.Most of the doors were open.The rooms appeared to be for more gaming.She glanced quickly into each one as she passed slowly by.
In one room, there were several tables with four players who played whist.Another larger table of eight were playing a card game she didn’t recognize.She passed by a room where the door was closed, but she could hear a mixture of male and female voices laughing.A girlish squeal of delight rang out.Frowning, she hoped that Mary Beth was not the owner of that squeal.
At the end of the corridor, it intersected with another hallway.She shrugged and turned right.As she rounded the corner, she came up short with a gasp.The man dressed as the blue devil leaned with one shoulder against the wall.
“Would you like to play?”His smile was particularly devilish under a dark mustache with ends that curled up wickedly.A tightly cropped beard covered his strong jaw, adding to the edge of mystery.His deep brown eyes stared at her from behind his mask and ran over the length of her person.A flush warmed her cheeks and spread across her chest.She wished her dress covered more of her decolletage.
“Pardon?”she said.
He gestured down the hallway.“Would you like to play?I noticed you peering into the rooms.”
“Oh, no.I am just curious, I suppose.I don’t really know how to play anything but whist.And even then, I am not very good.”
He straightened.“Well, that won’t do.”He stepped closer, and she tipped her head back to look up at him.“A devil must have vices.If not gambling, what is your vice?”
Vice?She did not have many vices, except maybe her pride or stubbornness.But she didn’t think those were the sort of vice this devil meant.She glanced down at her wine and then raised it to her lips and drained the glass.“I guess perhaps mine is wine,” she lied.
“Well, allow me.”He pulled a bottle from behind his back and refilled her glass.
Where had that come from?“Thank you.”She lifted her glass and took a more measured sip this time.She rarely drank, so she really ought to keep her consumption to just the one glass.“This is my first time at the Blue Angel.I was just wandering around, looking for a good time, but it’s a bit of a maze, isn’t it?”She batted her eyelashes, hoping to appear flirtatious and a bit sloshed.
“Let me show you around.”He gestured down the hallway.“Each of these rooms is dedicated to a certain type of play.Faro, piquet, loo, and the sort.”His hand pressed briefly on the small of her back as they turned the corner.
She could again hear laughter spilling from a room on the right.Seemed as though everybody was having fun tonight.A tiny bit jealous, she peered into the open doorway.A lady dressed as a shepherdess balanced on one foot atop a chair in the center of the room.Then the lady twirled on her toes and executed an arabesque, wobbled, and then fell into the arms of a man standing next to her.
“I told you I could do it!I used to be a ballerina!”
The man chuckled and set her on her feet.“What’s next?”
“What are they doing?”Elizabeth whispered.
The blue devil leaned down to speak next to her ear.“They call this the challenge room.Everyone makes up ridiculous challenges and bets on whether they can execute them.It’s loads of fun, but not for the serious-minded.”
Elizabeth shook her head.That was the daftest thing she had ever heard.“Are people so desperate to waste their money?”
