Free Unmasked by Michelle Marcos

 
UNMASKED
     
    by
    Michelle Marcos
     
     
    Copyright © 2012 by Michelle
Marcos
     
    All rights
reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any
manner without written permission from the author.
    This is a work
of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products
of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously.
    The author
gratefully acknowledges the work of Gaston Leroux, who created the
character of the Phantom of the Opera on whom this story is
based.
     
    Smashwords Edition, License
Notes
    This ebook is licensed for your personal
enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to
other people. If you would like to share this book with another
person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If
you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not
purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com
and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work
of this author.
     
    Discover other titles by
Michelle Marcos at
    http://www.michellemarcos.com
     
     
    ~~~~~~~
     
     
    "A talented storyteller, Marcos gives a very
human face to all her characters and the moral dilemmas and
situations they face."
    -- Fresh Fiction
     
    "The depth of emotions, realistic characters,
history and sensuality make her novels keepers."
    -- Romantic Times Book Reviews
     
    "When I want a great historical romance, I’ll
reach for anything by Michelle Marcos!"
    -- LISA KLEYPAS, New York Times bestselling author
     
     
    ~~~~~~~
     
Me
     
    No one would ever make love with a
monster.
    Least of all one that looked like me.
    The other villagers made it their duty to be
certain I never forgot this fact. The farrier’s wife, Madame
Bouchard, was especially conscientious in reminding me. “Is that an
earthquake?” she would ask, loud enough for all to hear. “Ah, no,”
she answered herself, “it is only Paulette walking to market.”
    The blacksmith was always quick with a barb.
“I think the whalebone in her corset still has the whale
attached.”
    I tried to ignore their taunts, careful not
to let a misstep betray my humiliation. But I could never hide the
rising color in my face, which inevitably grew hotter as everyone
within earshot laughed. In a town as small as Sescité, where there
is precious little entertainment, people take their sport in
mocking defects in others. Of Gaspard the drunk, Monsieur Petit the
dwarf, and me, I was the preferred target.
    My family had been prosperous when I was a
little girl. Papa was a well known merchant in Paris. He took great
pride in his wealth, and he was anxious that others notice his
circumstance by the grandeur of his home and the size of his wife
and his daughter. Papa used to say that a well fed wife was a joy
to display, and that there were few things more charming than a
child with rounded cheeks at both ends.
    When my parents succumbed to the fever, which
for reasons I had yet to comprehend spared me, I was sent to live
with my maternal grandmother in Sescité. My father’s debts had
dissipated my inheritance, leaving Grand-mère without an allowance
and me without a dowry.
    Not that the dowry would have ever been
claimed, for I had neither suitors nor followers. Grand-mère
watched with growing alarm as I blossomed into womanhood without a
trace of admiration from gentlemen. There was nothing I could do to
arrest the increase in my weight, compelled as I was into the
sedentary position of seamstress, a post to which I had to devote
myself morning and night in order to provide for us both.
Grand-mère was kind, but honest. She thanked God that He had
bestowed upon me a fair complexion, bright green eyes, and
fashionably wavy brown hair. She used to smile at me, her papery
hand cupping my chin. “Such a pretty face. If only…”
    When she passed away, I was bereft.
Friendless and unmarried, my prospects seemed as bleak as winter in
Sescité. I remembered the name of an old friend of Papa’s.