Free Beauty in Disguise by Mary Moore Page B

appearance.
    “Miss Mattingly and I concocted the awkward, ageless Miss Montgomery, and it worked. I held two very respectable positions with exactly the same credentials as I had always possessed, but my homeliness made all the difference. So you may scoff and sneer as you like, but I will not apologize for having to outwit Society to survive.”
    “I will grant you your disguise, then, Lady Kathryn, and allow you your reasons.” The tic in his jaw became more noticeable as he growled the rest of this speech. “What I fail to see is why you felt it necessary to continue to lie to me once I had seen the real you on the bridge?”
    “You will grant me...you will allow me? I am indebted to you, I assure you.” Her sarcasm took her from quiet explanation to an angry lioness. But her tempest burned out quickly. “My lord, you know very well why I could not reveal myself to you. And how could I know that after meeting me on one occasion that you would again seek me out? You had no intimate knowledge of me, certainly nothing to warrant such persistence. And quite contrary to what you think, I planned as well as I could to avoid appearing as myself during your stay. I was not successful.”
    “One occasion? We met nine years ago! It could be the only answer as to why I was attracted to you.”
    “And that is why I could not tell you.”
    Oh, she did not wish to cry, she did not wish to cry! She tried to stay angry by telling him her hardships, but none of those had anything to do with him. It seemed her mistake would haunt her for the rest of her life, and trying to explain it to him was impossible when the only thing she wanted him to know was how sorry she was that she had left him.
    * * *
    He was so surprised to find her, much less masquerading as someone else, that he barely took in one of every three words she said. It seemed she was mad at the world, even more so at him, and he could not understand it. His analytical mind failed him. Shouldn’t he be the one who was angry?
    “You continue to speak in riddles! You seem to think I understand your barbs and your mysteries, but I assure you I do not.”
    He realized a sparring match with her, as enticing as that might be, would get him nowhere. He did not know how to respond to her when he did not comprehend her anger. What did she mean, she was shunned? There was obviously much she was not telling him, but he would die before he would ask her. He only looked at her with a raised brow and outstretched hands, waiting. Let her make of it what she would.
    “Then we will stick to the subject of Dinsmore Manor. How could you determine you were attracted to me from knowing me so long ago with a cloak covering my face and in less than an hour’s time?”
    “Are you forgetting the occasions we met while you were Miss Montgomery? You knew who I was then—why not tell me the truth? I would not have given away your disguise once I understood why you were disguised in the first place! At any time you could have trusted me enough to tell me the truth. It would have been the honorable thing to do . ”
    “You are right, it would have been the honorable thing to do. It is only fair that you should be allowed to denigrate me for my actions nine years ago. Unfortunately, I let my heart rule my head when I decided to take this walk tonight.” She pulled her cloak close around her. The moon was very high in the sky. “And I will pay dearly for it.”
    Dalton turned impaling eyes on her. Her heart? Was she going to reveal that she still had feelings for him? Could he possibly believe her?
    Though she continued to speak of things he did not wholly understand, such as her mistake, he had to fight the pride he felt in her at overcoming the obstacles she had faced at every turn. However, he must remind himself how she had duped him purposely, for no apparent reason.
    His resentment returned as he realized she never even considered the hurt she might be causing him. She made it all sound