Free Awakened by a Kiss by Lila DiPasqua

house in error. It was meant for our neighbor, the Comte de Quantin.”
    “You know Quantin? You lived on Place Royale in Paris?” It was relatively new, an elegant stretch of homes for the privileged.
    “Yes. Once. The town house is long gone now.” There was sadness in her tone.
    “Thanks to your late husband?”
    She nodded. “He lost it in a game of Basset .”
    “You used Quantin’s invitation, then.”
    “No. I made an exact copy before I had one of the servants deliver it to the Comte.”
    “Why the strong desire to attend?”
    Tears shone in her eyes, but she didn’t shed them. “I was desperate. Why else would I go to the trouble of forging an invitation and sneaking out of my home?” She rubbed her arms, as though she were cold. “My family had made its fortune collecting taxes for the Crown. Father was determined to elevate our family into nobility through marriage. I was the sacrificial lamb. To that end, he chose the Comte de Villecourt as my husband.” A rueful smile formed on her lips. “I wish I could have mustered some affection for him. I wanted to like him. Perhaps it sounds hopelessly romantic, but I truly wanted to fall in love with him. I held out hope, until I met him.”
    “What was he like?” he asked quietly.
    She swallowed hard. Clearly, she was battling her emotions, trying to maintain her composure. He’d never known any female to hold back her tears. It was yet another reason why she stood out from the masses.
    “He was . . . angry,” she said.
    Adrien’s stomach tightened. “Did he ever . . . hurt you?”
    “He never struck me, if that is what you mean. He tried to hurt me with words, but over time, I became numb to them. It was then he found different ways to torment me.”
    “Why would he wish to?”
    She clutched her bodice to her bosom. “Villecourt was very much against marrying me to begin with. A bourgeois was far beneath him—a fact he never let me forget. He hated it that he’d had to accept me as a wife simply to replenish his family’s coffers. We saw each other three times during our betrothal. He made no attempt to hide his disdain. He told me that if he had to suffer me as a wife, he’d make sure I was equally miserable. I begged Father to cancel the marriage contract. To reconsider and look for another. He refused. I knew I would live in sheer misery if I married Villecourt. It all felt so hopeless . . . and then the invitation arrived. I took it as a sign. A chance to escape my horrible fate.”
    The pain in her golden eyes wrapped itself around Adrien’s heart even when he didn’t want it to. “So, you decided to attend the masquerade to—”
    “Purposely render myself unmarriageable. I’m sorry, Adrien, for what I did to you. I’m sorry for whatever distress I caused you. If it’s any consolation, my plan failed horribly and caused me further suffering in the end. It didn’t break my betrothal, as I’d hoped. A larger dowry than originally promised mollified Villecourt’s debt-ridden family’s objections to my sullied state. As for Villecourt, it only fueled his resentment and made him more spiteful toward me.”
    Adrien was amazed. He had considered this scenario a possibility, and dismissed it. A maidenhead was a commodity. Of great value to a woman’s future. Though there had been females who’d surrendered their innocence outside of marriage for a multitude of reasons, he’d never known a woman to go to such lengths to purposely discard it.
    “Foolishly, I thought it was the perfect plan,” she continued. “No one knew of my presence at the masquerade, and with a mask, I maintained my anonymity.”
    “Except I removed your mask in bed,” he reminded her.
    “It didn’t matter. You didn’t know me. You never asked my name. And I purposely didn’t ask for yours, so that it couldn’t be coerced from me by my father later on. I didn’t want to involve you in my situation any more than I had to.”
    Adrien arched a brow.