Rhys shook his head. “I haven’t seen him in years and I cannot recognize him for all these costumes. I will have to wait until Madeline or Etienne introduces us—or Michael recognizes me.”
“Doesn’t Monsieur Deveraux owe you a debt also?”
Rhys did not want to worry Kenna unnecessarily, but his memories of Michael Deveraux did not point to a man who believed he owed anyone anything. “Perhaps he thinks he does,” he said. “I’ll know better once I’ve spoken to him.” There was a lull in the music and Rhys was going to ask Kenna if she wanted some refreshment when he felt someone tapping him on the shoulder. He did not have to turn to know who it was. The amusement in Kenna’s eyes told him everything. He gave Kenna over to the only person he could watch her dance with and not feel the smallest twinge of jealousy. “Do not tread on her toes, Captain Danty.”
Kenna’s laughter covered Alexis’s deeper tones as the music began again. “You are a rogue, Captain Danty,” Kenna said, falling in step.
Alexis’s amber eyes sparkled. “The charade is soon at an end, I think. I find that I want to dance with my husband. Even Cloud draws the line at partnering me while most of the guests think I’m a man.”
“I can see his point.”
“Would you mind if I took off this mask and bandana while I’m dancing with you? If you can laugh at yourself for dancing with another woman, then I think the others will also.”
“Of course you can take it off.”
“Good,” she sighed, then added quickly, “At the end of this waltz.” The ballroom floor had become more crowded as guests continued to arrive. Laughter and music mingled pleasantly, as if giving sound to the bright array of colors the dancers wore. “I had a word in passing with Cloud. He told me you know the Lescauts.”
Kenna nodded and briefly explained their relationship. “It was quite a shock to see them here tonight. A pleasant one though.”
“It is odd to think that if Rhys had not helped the Lescauts leave France, Cloud and I would never have had the opportunity to know them. I would—Kenna? What is it? You’re pale!” Alexis’s steps faltered as her eyes darkened with concern. “Do you want to stop?”
“No!” she said hurriedly. “No. Please, keep dancing.” Her gaze was fastened on a point beyond Alexis’s shoulder. “Who is the man speaking to my husband?”
Alexis turned Kenna so she could see Rhys. “The devil?”
Kenna nodded. “Yes, the devil. Do you know him?”
“That is the Lescauts’ friend, Michael Deveraux. Haven’t you met him?”
“No. That is, I haven’t met him tonight.” She smiled weakly, fighting for composure. Her heart was pounding rapidly. “There is something vaguely familiar about him.”
“He frightened you,” Alexis observed shrewdly.
Kenna shook her head in denial. “The costume…it startled me.” Deveraux wore a close fitting crimson leotard and carried a trident which he leaned on while talking to Rhys. A blood red satin cape covered his broad shoulders and fell in an elegant line to his knees. The upper part of his face and his entire head was hidden beneath a hood. Kenna could only make out the shape of his mouth and chin but the familiarity of those features tugged at her memory in an unsettling fashion. “I’ve seen one like it before. Years ago,” she added on a mere thread of sound. “Please, is there some place I could go to rest a moment? I’m not feeling quite the thing.”
“Certainly.” Alexis quickly escorted Kenna off the floor and took her upstairs to a guest bedchamber. She discarded her mask and bandana, tossing it on a chair, while Kenna lay back on the bed. “Is there something I can get you? Tea? Brandy?”
“No, nothing, thank you. I’ll be fine in a moment.”
Looking at Kenna’s pale face and trembling hands, Alexis doubted it. “I’ll send Rhys here.”
“Please. Don’t mention anything to him until he is alone.”
Alexis’s brows drew together. “Kenna, is it the costume that has made you uneasy or the man?”
“I don’t know,” she said truthfully. Now that she was away from Michael Deveraux she could not remember his features clearly. It must have been what he wore that troubled her. “See to your guests, Alexis, and please don’t put on that mask again. I fear Captain Danty’s ruined my reputation by accompanying me to a bedchamber.”
Alexis laughed because she knew it was expected of her. When she shut the bedchamber door, however, her smile was bleak. She wished she had Kenna’s confidence so that she might somehow set what was bothering her friend right again.
As minutes passed Kenna began to feel like the veriest fool for taking to the bedchamber. She was made of sterner stuff, she told herself staunchly. Hadn’t she climbed a rigging in gale force winds? Hadn’t she overcome an addiction? What was it about that devil that made him so difficult to face? What did she know that she did not want to remember?
She was sitting up, holding her fingers to her throbbing temples, when the door opened again and Rhys entered the room. He crossed the floor quickly and sat beside her.
“Alexis says you are not feeling well. What is it?”
“A headache, nothing more.”
“An odd sort of headache that begins when you see a man looking like Satan himself.”
