Free Lady of Sin by Madeline Hunter

was dealt a ten and a nine. Any other man would hold, but Lyndale called for another card. He was dealt a two.
    “Uncanny,” he muttered. “I can try to lose, and still I win.”
    “Good fortune is smiling on you in many ways. It is odd to object.”
    “Oh, I do not mind. However, it lures me to tempt fate. To see how far I can push it.”
    “Not too far, I hope. You would be a fool to risk what you have recently gained.”
    “I would never tempt fate where she is concerned, Knightridge. When you have met the woman you were born to love, you will understand that.”
    The recent memories of his Venus returned right then. He realized that while he needed a woman, he did not want just any woman. He was not even sure that he really wanted Lady M. She was just the first woman he had kissed after making love to a mystery that touched his soul. He had even imagined he was with his Venus while he caressed Charlotte in his sitting room.
    He realized he had wanted Charlotte to be that other woman that day. He had wanted to lose his fury and impotence once more in that unknown woman’s generous softness.
    He had attended Lyndale’s party in a dark mood. Although often invited, he had never availed himself of the sensual opportunities before. That night, however, he had been a different man, one adrift from his moorings and appalled by his failures. Harry Binchley had been convicted two days earlier, and a melancholy had descended on him that only got darker and blacker with each hour.
    He had gone to that party so he could remain alone but not isolated. He had not even seen the party’s joyful games from his dark corner. His eyes were closed while he listened to the music. Then he had opened them, and she was standing there in that white gown and mask, appearing unsure of what to do now that she had arrived.
    She had known. As they sat together on the safety of that chaise longue, separate from the others, together in spirit, he had looked in her eyes and seen that she understood all of his anger and doubts. With clear eyes and a reassuring touch, she had soothed his helplessness in the face of losing that boy’s chance to live. They did not speak of it, not one word, but she had known, just as he had known about her loneliness and fear. Their comprehension had been complete and mostly silent.
    Their passion had been inevitable after that, and indifferent to past or future or surroundings. It had been a night spent thoroughly alive within an incomparable bond.
    No, it was not Lady M. whom he really wanted. His body might desire her but his soul yearned for someone else.
    He called for some whisky for Lyndale and himself and they continued their play.
    “Say, I have been intending to ask you about something,” Nathaniel said. “It has to do with your parties.”
    “There will be no more. A score of men have inquired before you. I think I will take out an advertisement in
The Times
to make it clear.”
    “I assumed there would be no more. I am curious about something, however. The ladies who attended—I assume you know who they were.”
    “Invitations were sent.”
    “So every woman at one of your parties received an invitation?”
    “Usually.”
    “Then you knew who they were.”
    Lyndale took a good swallow of whisky. “There is no good in wearing a mask if the host demands your name. Since my parties would be ridiculous if women did not attend, I never compromised those who did. If they wanted anonymity, so be it.”
    “Then a woman could arrive who had not been invited.”
    “It was known to happen. I had no reason to object, since, as I just explained, the men always showed but one could never count on the women. If some lady decided to attend uninvited, all the better.”
    “That is all very instructive to orgy planning, Lyndale, but not very useful to the matter that interests me. I asked because I need to learn the name of one woman in particular. She attended the last party. She wore a jeweled white mask,