Page 21 of Red Masquerade
“It’s okay,” Adam smiled.
I didn’t want to mess this up. I didn’t want my fear of Lucas to push him away, or worse, make him think I was embarrassed of him. To be seen with him.
Any boy I fancied would draw Lucas’ temper, no matter what class. But, I knew, Lucas and Mother cared more for others’ classes than I. Flora and I had made fast friends with many of the children of our families’ servants, and still to this day, I didn’t think they were much different from she or I. We still invited them to our lunches when we could.
Adam was different. Any boy who called on me, with Mother’s permission, of course, would be under close scrutiny. It had only happened once before, but it did not last long, especially once Mother mentioned it in a letter to Lucas. Whatever his response, it compelled Mother to forbid any courting for the time being.
I couldn’t have a repeat with Adam. There was something about him, something in his eyes, a dark sheen, an intensity I hadn’t seen in any other of the boys my age, that drew me in.
He feltreal.
And the way he looked at me now… with those gleaming eyes—there was a hunger there that sparked a flame inside me.
If Mother knew it, she’d drag me to church.
My cheeks were positively red as he offered me his arm again. “Shall we?”
I nodded, and we began down the street again, but not before he glanced over his shoulder toward the house. Maybe my paranoia was rubbing off on him?
“You know, I was looking forward to seeing you again, too,” he said as we walked.
A small laugh came from me. “I’d hope so. I wouldn’t want to be the only one.”
He smiled at me out of the corner of his eye. “You never came to visit me.”
When we ran into each other—when we met—I had said I would. But it was very hard to sneak away from Mother if Flora was not involved. The only way I hadn’t earned her suspicion tonight was because if Flora and I were going out to an early dinner, now would be the time. She thought I was with my best girlfriend, not ayoung man.
And I had never done anything like this before, so why would she suspect otherwise?
I avoided his gaze. “I don’t think your boss would appreciate some girl hanging around.”
“No,” he admitted. “Especially one so distracting.” He grinned at me again. “But that doesn’t mean I didn’t watch out the windows every day.”
My heart fluttered. “You watched for me?”
“Of course,” he said, like it was obvious. “And it seems I had to come retrieve you myself.”
Somehow, the way he said those words, low and teasing and laced with want—the same want I was feeling. The promise of those words, the dangerous lilt. I swallowed, my fingers on his arm tightening.
He did retrieve me himself, in a way. An envelope left for me in the mail, which my mother swore she hadn’t seen when she brought it in, with just my name on the outside in a stilted script. When I opened it in the privacy of my bedroom, I found it was from him. A letter, proposing a date. And without any return address, the only thing left to do was make sure I was ready when the time came.
I just hadn’t expected to see him outside our gate.
We strolled on in silence, a confident smirk pulling at his lips as blocks of houses and other pedestrians passed behind us. He didn’t pay them one mind, but I caught the eye of a few passersby, saw the way their upper lip hitched, the way the spot between their brows wrinkled.
Eventually, we made it to the cafe, and he ordered for the both of us, before we found a table and he pulled the wicker chair out for me. In a few minutes, a waiter was bringing us our drinks, as well as a few flaky pastries I hadn’t expected. A steaming black coffee was placed before Adam, and for me, an amber-hued tea and a few cubes of sugar in a little cup.
My eyes shot to Adam. “Earl Grey?”
“Is it not your favorite?”
“How did you know?”
He just grinned at me, taking a slow sip of his own drink. “You must have told me last time.”
Though I was entirely sure I hadn’t. Maybe it was a lucky guess, or he just knew me that well already.
I dropped a few sugars into the hot tea and stirred.
