Free Caprice: The Masqueraders Series - Book One by Laura Parker

the occasion of my demise.”
    “This is most irregular. Isn’t it most irregular, dear?”
    Clarissa had hoped she would escape unnoticed but her aunt had just made that impossible. “I would not know, my lady,” she said in a husky undertone which she hoped would not carry beyond the confines of the carriage.
    “You have a new companion, Lady Arbuthnott?” Emory asked, his keen young eyes having detected the slender arm of a young woman visible beyond the older woman.
    “I have better than that, Mr. Blackburne,” Heloise answered. “I have with me a young lady who is soon to be launched into the Season.”
    This bit of news made both bachelors stiffen, but it was too late for them to backpedal into obscurity.
    “Even odds she squints,” Emory mumbled under his breath as Heloise turned to her companion.
    “Come, dear, and meet the earl and his brother,” Heloise coaxed and drew an unwilling Clarissa into view at the window. “Gentlemen, you are the very first in London to meet her. Allow me to present my charge. Come, dear, and pay your address to the earl.”
    Thus cornered, there was nothing else Clarissa could do but respond. Eyes lowered to give the appearance of modesty, she said in a soft-voweled voice, “It is a great honor to be in the presence of the earl and his brother.”
    “ ’Pon my oath!” she heard one of the gentleman say faintly. “She’s veiled!”
    In spite of her agitation, Clarissa’s natural sense of humor got the better of her and, smiling, she looked up. She never knew which of the men had spoken for she was suddenly gazing straight into a pair of silvergreen eyes, and nothing after that seemed to matter.
    Trapped by those eyes that seemed to see through her right down to her silk undergarments, Clarissa found it impossible to speak. That gaze! She knew this man. But, no, that was impossible. A coincidence, surely.
    “My lady.” She heard his cultured voice as if from a great distance. And then her gloved hand, which was gripping the window ledge, was lifted and saluted by a pair of masculine lips. “I believe I am the most fortunate man in London this afternoon.”
    The voice, too, was the same. How could she ever forget it? The beard, flowing robes, and turban were missing, but the wicked scar rising from the arch of his left brow was too singular to be coincidence. This was the man who had stolen a kiss from her in Plymouth!
    “My dear earl, you always did possess exquisite manners,” Heloise said in a pleased tone as she observed the earl’s pointed interest in her niece. “You will quite sweep my poor innocent off her feet. Won’t he, dear?” she said encouragingly. When Clarissa did not answer right away, Heloise stepped lightly on her foot to spur a response.
    Startled from her spell, Clarissa said softly, “The earl would seem most accomplished, but we detain the gentlemen. Surely they must have an engagement.” Her tone of dismissal was unmistakable, even before she moved away from the window.
    “Another time, then. Au revoir, gentlemen,” Heloise called gaily, and the driver sprang into action.
    Only after the carriage turned the corner and rolled out of sight did Emory glance over to find Hadrian still gazing thoughtfully in that direction. “What are we to make of that?”
    “I wish to God I knew!” Hadrian answered, feeling slightly stunned by what had just transpired. From the instant the veiled lady had appeared in the window, it was as if he had been transported from Grosvenor Square to an Algerian bazaar. Looking into her sloe-plum eyes had been like stepping into the forbidden world of the odalisque. Then she had spoken. Never in his life had he been so summarily summed up and then dismissed by a woman.
    “Do you suppose the veil is to be the latest fashion for disguising pockmarks, crooked teeth, and hairy moles?”
    “Shut up, Emory,” Hadrian said softly.
    “Yes, well, perhaps I am being a bit harsh. But, dammit all, Hadrian, a man has a