Free A Thin Line by Tammy Jo Burns

him.
    “I had hoped to coax you to join me for a ride.   I brought my new stallion.”
    “Oh, Lord Dewhurst, what a lovely idea, but there is the masquerade I have to get ready for.   I have a last fitting for my costume this afternoon,” she twisted the truth, because her costume already hung in her wardrobe.   Kala hoped she put just enough sweetness in her words to convince him otherwise.
    “I see,” he clipped out.
    “Will you be going to the masquerade?” She knew she would regret asking this question, but she wanted him gone.  
    “Indeed I will.   Who will you be disguised as, so that I might ask you for a dance?”
    “Diana.”
    “Very fitting.”
    “Pardon?”
    “Nothing.   I wouldn’t want you to miss your fitting.”
    “Thank you for stopping by,” she gave him her hand and attempted to hide her disgust as his moist lips placed a kiss on her knuckles.   The most hideous smacking sound she had ever heard in her life accompanied the sloppy kiss, making her skin crawl.
    “Until tonight.”
    “Indeed.”   Once the door shut she wiped the back of her hand on her dress and turned to go up the stairs.
    “Halt!”
    Kala stopped mid-stride, cringing when she heard the voice she had been successfully avoiding the last several days.   She spun around pasting a bright smile on her face.  
    “Dru, you just caught me.   I am going upstairs to begin getting ready for this evening.”
    “No you don’t, young lady.   My brother, your father, has entrusted your brother and me with your care while in London.   Since you will not talk to Derek, you bloody well will talk to me.   You are going to sit down and tell me what game you think you’re playing.”
    “Pardon?”
    “Do not play the innocent with me,” Dru grabbed hold of her upper arm, like she would a misbehaving child, and led her into the salon she had just departed.   Her aunt gave her a little shove and slammed the door shut behind them.   “Now, tell me what kind of trouble you have stirred up with that letter.”
    “I cannot.”
    “You can and you will.   What is going on with you?   Ever since you received that letter from your father you have been in a snit.”   Kala walked over to the window and stared out, not seeing the children playing in the square with their nannies, instead seeing only the house of her enemy across the way.   She felt Dru’s comforting arms come around her.   “Kala, you used to tell me everything.   Why can’t you talk to me about this?”
    Kala only shook her head, biting her lip in an attempt to curtail the tears she felt were perilously close to falling.   The kindness in Dru’s voice had begun to unravel the emotions she had been firmly holding in check.   Regardless of what he had done, she had once adored Gabe and had eventually wished for more as she had matured.   This very evening she would reveal information that could prove the man she had once thought herself in love with a traitor.   All of their lives would be forever changed.
    “Kala, you did think through whatever it is you’re involved in, didn’t you?”   Kala merely shrugged, biting her lower lip hard to keep the tears at bay.   “Sweetheart, what have you done?” Dru wrapped her in her arms, not helping Kala’s emotional duress at all.   Kala began doubting her plans for the evening.   What if things were not as they appeared to be?   No! She heard what he had said with her own ears.   She pushed herself away from Dru’s comforting embrace.  
    “I really should begin to get ready for the masquerade.”
    “Kala, you have to talk to me sometime.”
    “No, Dru, I don’t.   Not about this, and if that means I need to leave your house then I will.   Please just give me enough time to make other arrangements.”  
    “Mikala Ann Simmons, I am not kicking you out of my house.   I am just concerned about you.”
    “I know,” she turned and quietly opened the door and left the room, but not before she