Midnight Masquerade

by Shirlee Busbee

  Zachary had arrived early, but as he was used to running tame through the Slade cottage, it presented no problem. Handing his tall, curly-brimmed beaver hat to the waiting butler, he wandered into the small salon at the front of the house and was pleased to find his sister sitting on the sofa, a slim book of sonnets in her hand. From her position and dress, a delightful gown of jonquil muslin, it was obvious that she was remaining home this evening, and Zachary teased, "What is this? The most-sought-after young matron in the neighborhood content to sit alone by her own fire? Do my eyes deceive me?"

  Laughing, Melissa put down her book and said, "Oh, Zachary, you dolt! Don't be ridiculous. You make it sound as if I am a gadabout of the worst sort."

  Lowering his elegant length into a nearby chair, Zachary replied with a smile, "Well, you must admit that we have been very gay these past months, even with all the war talk. It seems that since your marriage—and the disbursement of the trust—we have both become very popular. I do not think that I have spent two evenings home this month."

  Her heart swelling with love and pride, she surveyed her brother as he lounged in the chair. He looked very sophisticated this evening, the crisp white cravat intricately folded at his neck, the dark blue silk jacket fitting his broad shoulders admirably and the black kerseymere breeches lying snugly against his muscular thighs. He looked the very picture of a wealthy, indolent young aristocrat, and Melissa found it incredible to think that less than six months ago they had been frantic to keep a roof over their heads.

  She smiled at him and said almost wistfully, "Things are very different for us now, aren't they?"

  Zachary caught the wistful note in her voice, and his own smile faded as he leaned forward, his young face intent. "You don't regret the marriage, do you, Lissa?" His eyes boring into her, he asked, "You are happy? I know that at first things were strained between you and Dominic, but... that is all in the past now, isn't it?"

  His questions surprised Melissa, and for a long moment she hesitated in answering him. Did she regret marrying Dominic? Oh, no! her heart cried; absolutely not. But she did wish most passionately that the circumstances had been different, wished that she could have had a normal courtship, that she could have known that when Dominic asked her to marry him, it had been because he had wanted to and not because he had been compelled by an unpleasant set of incidents. Was she happy? A smile flickered briefly on her full mouth. There were times when she was ecstatically happy. Times when her happiness was almost tangible, so strong and bone-deep that she was certain she could touch it. But then...

  She sighed. Despite the affinity between them, despite all the thrilling glances they had exchanged lately, despite the warm smiles and sweet promises she thought she glimpsed in Dominic's eyes, she could not be certain that she was not deluding herself, that her desire to believe Dominic was not a womanizer and that he had come to care for her was not simply clouding her judgment. As for there being any strain between them, it wasn't in the past and would not be, she thought vehemently, until something was done about Deborah Bowden. For a brief second an alarmingly feral light glinted in the lovely topaz eyes, but with an effort she brought herself back to the present and her brother's waiting silence.

  There had been few secrets between the siblings; they had always been honest with each other, and for those reasons, Melissa answered, "I'm not unhappy, Zach. I just wish..."

  Her lack of words was eloquent in itself. His young face hard, Zachary reached across to grasp one of her slim hands. "Lissa, if there is something, anything I can do that would make things easier for you, you know you have only to ask."

  A lump in her throat, she shook her head. "There is nothing that you or anybody else can do—it is between Dominic and me."

  Her words did not satisfy him and, his fingers tightening on hers, he said softly, "I've wondered often at the suddenness of your marriage—you went from disliking him one day to being his bride the next—and though I said nothing at the time, I was confused and troubled by it."

  The two occupants in the little salon were so intent on each other that neither heard Dominic's steps as he descended the staircase, nor were they aware of his presence as he hesitated outside the doorway, reluctant to interrupt them. They were both so serious and absorbed in their conversation that he was on the point of turning away, of giving them a few moments more of privacy, when Zachary's next question stopped him cold.

  "Lissa, did Josh force you to marry him? Was it because of that damned trust?"

  A denial hovered on her lips, but she hesitated that split second too long and Zachary pounced on it. "It was because of the trust, wasn't it? What did Josh threaten you with that made you change your mind about marriage?" Zachary inquired sharply, his fine mouth taut.

  Dismay obvious in her face, Melissa sat staring at her brother, trying to decide how much of what had happened that fateful night would be safe to tell him. Berating herself for not distracting him, knowing that he would not let up now until he had the entire truth from her, Melissa muttered, "The trust did have some bearing on the marriage, but it wasn't the only reason that I consented to marry Dominic."

  "Aha! I knew it!" Zachary crowed. "Not that I don't understand why he would make a good husband," he added fairly. "It was just that you'd turned down several other equally wealthy and"—a quick smile curved his lips—"equally handsome young men, and then, out of the blue, you agreed to marry a man you'd known only a few weeks."

  Remembering those early meetings with Dominic, the way his presence could send her pulse racing and her heart pounding, she said dreamily, "Sometimes it happens like that... time doesn't always make any difference to your emotions."

  "That may be," Zachary agreed, but with a cynical ring to his tone. "But you have to admit that there was something suspicious about your sudden engagement and marriage to Slade. I want you to tell me the truth and not try to fob me off with all the little bits and pieces that you think it is safe for me to know."

  Melissa started at his words, her eyes growing very wide. How did he...?

  As if reading her mind, Zachary smiled gently. "Lissa, I know you probably better than anyone in the world and I know how your mind works. You and I have been through much together, and if there is one thing I have learned about you, it is that you have always tried to protect me from the worst." He grimaced ruefully. "I am no longer a child, Lissa. I will always be your younger brother, but I hope that you will not continue to shield me from certain unpleasant things that I should know."

  "Oh, Zack!" she cried, "I never meant to—"

  "I know, sweetheart, but as you've told me often enough, the burden sometimes becomes lighter if it is carried by two instead of one. Now tell me the truth and quit trying to protect me."

  Anxiously her eyes searched his; she wanted to tell the truth to someone but was afraid to do so. Huskily she asked, "If I tell you the truth, do I have your solemn promise that you will do nothing rash? That no matter how ugly or sordid something is, you will not provoke a duel?"

  Zachary drew back, not liking this trend of conversation. A frown between his heavy black brows, he asked warily,"And if I won't promise, you won't tell me what really happened?"

  Her expression worried but determined, Melissa nodded. "Either I have your promise or this conversation stops immediately." Tensely she waited for his answer, knowing that if he agreed to her terms, though he might rant and rave and plead to be given back his promise, he would keep it. But without that promise... She trembled. Without his promise, he would storm out of this room in search of Latimer, murder in his heart.

  Zachary eyed her for a long moment and then with obvious reluctance he nodded his head. "You have my promise."

  Wanting to make certain that he could not maneuver around those simple words, she said clearly, "I have your promise that no matter what I tell you, you will neither take nor plan a revenge and that especially you will challenge no one, no matter how dastardly the deed, to a duel."

  His jaw
clenched and the topaz eyes so like hers glittering angrily, Zachary gritted out, "I promise to everything that you have just said." Resentment getting the better of him, he added in a grumbling tone, "But I think it's damned unfair what you have asked of me."

  In the doorway, Dominic still stood motionless, one part of him appalled at his eavesdropping, the other too riveted by the conversation to move. He waited, torn between dread and eagerness for Melissa's revelations.

  As soon as Zachary had given her the answer she wanted, Melissa went limp with relief. And now that the moment had come, she seemed unable to control her tongue, the words tumbling out as she relived those awful days leading up to the night in Dominic's room. She gave only the barest details, but watching Zachary's face darken, watching the fury grow in his eyes, she was thankful that she had extracted that promise from him.

  "That bloody bastard!" he burst out. "I'd like to get my hands on him!"

  Alarmed, Melissa dug her fingers into his palms. "You promised! You said no matter what!"

  He gave a bitter laugh. "You have my word, my dear—and even though it would give me great pleasure to rip out his liver, I will not. But how I am to be civil to the bastard is beyond me! Lissa, you little fool! You should have told me."

  "And have you go out and challenge him to a duel? Possibly lose your life? What would that have accomplished?"

  Sending her an impatient look, he muttered, "Will you stop trying to protect me? We could have faced his threats together—at least you wouldn't have been alone." When her expression did not change, he added heavily, "Oh, don't worry, I've given you my promise and I shall not challenge him. Now tell me the rest, although some of it I can guess myself. It was because of Latimer that you offered to sell Folly to Dominic, wasn't it?"

  Melissa nodded and once again picked up her tale, telling of Latimer's note demanding that she meet him at the inn, of her decision to do so and why. It was not an easy story to tell and it became even more difficult when she came to the part of the mistaken room and Dominic's entrance into the scenario. She faltered at the part of waking up and finding herself in bed with Dominic, but then hurried on past the embarrassing moment of being discovered by Royce and Josh. Bleakly she told Zachary of Josh's threats to remove him from her care if she did not agree to the marriage.

  There was a dangerous silence when she finished speaking. Worn out from the telling of her tale, she leaned back against the sofa and wearily closed her eyes. "So now you know how it was that I came to marry Dominic Slade."

  "Good God! Lissa, why didn't you say something? I would have understood. If you had told the truth, I'm positive that Royce and Uncle Josh would have been more understanding about the situation."

  Melissa's eyes opened and she sent him a sardonic glance, saying dryly, "Do you really believe that? It was a ready-made opportunity for Josh to accomplish what he had been trying to do since I turned seventeen. Do you honestly think that Royce or Josh, for that matter, would not have gone in immediate search of Latimer? That one or both wouldn't have demanded the satisfaction of a duel... and possibly died as a result? Do you think I could bear to have that on my conscience?"

  Zachary bristled, his outraged pride evident. "It is our duty to protect our women from vermin like Latimer! It would have been only right if they had challenged him." His anger and his resentment of the promise she had extracted from him chafing him, he said stiffly, "I think it was unfair of you to demand such a promise from me. You must allow me to take care of the fellow!"

  When Melissa shook her head , Zachary bounded to his feet and moved to stand in front of her. "Lissa, you must release me!" His hands clenching at his sides, he pleaded, "You must give me the right to avenge you!"

  "Avenge?" Dominic echoed softly from the doorway, a peculiar expression on his dark features. Walking indolently into the room as if he had just arrived on the scene, he inquired coolly, "What is this talk of vengeance?"

  Chapter 25

  Like two guilty schoolchildren, Zachary and Melissa swung around to face Dominic, both of them babbling the most absurd nonsense in their frantic desire to hide from him not only the subject but the seriousness of their conversation.

  "Vengeance?" Zachary repeated with suspect innocence. "There is no talk of vengeance here—I was just trying to convince Lissa to allow me to, um, make amends for having neglected her of late."

  "Oh, yes!" Melissa broke in , as Dominic's eyebrow slanted skyward with open skepticism. "And I was just telling him that I didn't mind in the least that he has been so busy these past few weeks."

  There was a moment fraught with tension as they waited anxiously for his reaction, and their relief was almost patent when Dominic said, "Your devotion to each other is to be complimented." Glancing across at Zachary, he drawled, "And while I am reluctant to tear you away from your sister, I do believe that it is time for us to be on our way. Don't you agree?"

  "Oh, absolutely!" Zachary said hastily. Dropping a brief kiss on Melissa's cheek, he gave her hand a reassuring squeeze and fairly bolted from the room.

  Sauntering over to where Melissa sat on the sofa, Dominic surveyed her in silence for a long, unnerving moment, an odd smile on his hard mouth. His eyes shuttered, their expression hidden from her as he reached down and picked up one of her limp hands. Pressing a warm kiss on her cold fingers, he muttered in a thickened voice, "I wish that we could be alone this evening, that I did not have other commitments... but perhaps it is just as well—there are things that I must do this night."

  His grip on her hand increased and, surprising her, in one powerful movement he jerked her upright and pulled her slim form next to him. His lips lightly brushing her cheek, he growled, "That I have kept my hands off you these past weeks is nothing short of miraculous!"

  Reveling in the pleasure both his words and his touch gave her, Melissa gathered up her courage and asked shyly, "Why have you? I thought..."A charming blush stained her face. "I thought that after... after that night that you would..."

  Embarrassment stopped her from saying more, but Dominic understood precisely which night she was referring to, and a tender expression appeared on his face. "That I would care to repeat the process?" he teased gently. His fingers suddenly tightened around her shoulders and his mouth had a distinctly sensuous curve to it. "Oh, sweetheart, you can't know how much I have longed to have you share my bed again, the nights I have lain awake remembering what it felt like to have you in my arms, but until..." His mouth twisted with distaste. "There are certain... entanglements I must rid myself of before I dare allow myself to give in to temptation as far as you are concerned. When next we lie together, I want there to be no shadows or misunderstandings between us." His gaze intent, he stared into her eyes. "Do you understand what I'm saying?"

  Melissa nodded slowly, all her hopes and longings blazing in her beautiful eyes. "I think so." Her voice was husky as she added, "But please... let it be soon."

  Dominic groaned and his lips caught hers in a deeply passionate kiss, all the hunger and frustration of the past weeks explicit in the way his mouth moved almost savagely against her softly yielding flesh. As quickly as the kiss had begun, it was ended and, his breath coming in short, rapid bursts, he said roughly, "This very moment would not be soon enough for me. I swear, sweetheart, that it will not be much longer." Pressing a brief, hard kiss on her mouth, he spun away and strode from the room.

  With stars in her eyes, Melissa absently touched her fingers to her stinging lips, not quite able to believe the scene that had just passed. Dared she hope? A shiver of delight snaked up her spine, and wrapping her arms around herself, she danced about the small salon, an idiotic smile on her lips.

  The smile on Dominic's mouth was almost as foolish when he joined Zachary on the gallery of the cottage, but as they rode away, his smile faded and his eyes narrowed as he considered his own stupidity. How could he have been so blind? It had all been right there before his very eyes, but he had refused to see it, to believe it. Stubbornly refuse
d, he thought angrily. Stubbornly and pigheadedly refused to trust his instincts. But not any longer, he decided with a grim twist to his mouth. And never again. Melissa was exactly as she appeared—beautiful and brave and gallant and a darling! The idiotic smile spread across his face once more as Dominic stared ahead, visions of the future that could be his dancing enticingly through his brain.

  In the faint moonlight that shone over the countryside, Zachary noticed Dominic's silly grin and decided that it was safe to risk some conversation. "Er, am I to understand that things are well with you and Lissa now?" he asked.

  "Well enough," Dominic returned easily, "but I'm hoping that before much longer they will be even better. Very much better!"

  Encouraged by these words, Zachary chose to probe deeper. Keeping his eyes on the twisting moonlit trail, he asked carefully, "Lady Bowden run her course with you?"

  Dominic shot him a sardonic glance. "Lady Bowden never had a course to run with me—though it may have appeared to the contrary."

  Frowning, Zachary pulled on the reins of his horse, halting the animal. "What the devil d'you mean by that?" he inquired sharply.

  "Precisely what I said. The lady holds no appeal for me whatsoever." A look of comprehension creeping into his face, Dominic added, "Whatever charm she might have held for me ended the instant I first laid eyes on your sister."

  "You mean," Zachary demanded with angry incredulity, "that I have been throwing myself in the path of the brass-faced, light-skirted frigate all for nothing?"

  "My dear Zachary, you unman me!" Dominic said, a thread of amusement in his voice. "Have you been offering yourself as sacrifice?"

  Nettled, Zachary kicked his horse into motion and replied stiffly, "Well, it just seemed to me that you and that forward piece were a mite too thick for my liking, and I thought that I would—"