The door led to a balcony. She ran down the steps and toward the entrance to a manicured garden, following a path lit by lanterns.
“Wait!” a voice called. “Sandrine, wait a moment?”
But she only ran faster, thinking to lose him in the hedgerows, wanting only to be alone.
Chapter Sixteen
Be ever vigilant against forbidden carnal cravings.
—Mrs. Oliver’s Rules for Young Ladies
Dane ran after Sandrine, easily overtaking her. He caught hold of her hand. “Sandrine.”
“Don’t. Just leave me alone.”
“That woman tapped you on the shoulder for a reason, Sandrine. She was acting on Madam Avalon’s orders. She knew you were an innocent, and it was for your own protection. I never should have been dancing with you. I didn’t know it, but the Sovereigns she crowned were expected to share a public kiss as part of their final dance. You could have been ruined in public. She never would have picked an innocent to be Queen.”
She stopped attempting to run away and searched his face in the moonlight. “Does that woman have a name? You obviously knew her well.”
“Her name is Carissa. And, yes, I do know her. She’s a courtesan, and she and I had an arrangement many years past.”
“I see.”
“I don’t want to hurt you, Sandrine. Intentionally. Unintentionally. It’s the last thing I want.”
“And yet you somehow manage to do it so well.”
Dane sighed. “I know. Slap me, Sandrine. It might make you feel better.”
“I don’t want to slap you.”
“Seriously, it will do you good. And don’t hold back, really let me have it.” He closed his eyes and offered his cheek.
“I don’t want to slap you,” she repeated. “Because I want to kiss you.”
His eyes flew open. “Don’t do that. No, we can’t have any of that. I’m taking you back inside now.” He clasped her arm.
“Not before you make it up to me.”
She ripped off her mask and threw it to the ground. Then she started taking out hairpins from her wig, one by one, until she freed the hairpiece and set it on a marble bench.
“Sandrine, what are you doing?”
She fluffed her hair around her shoulders and it tumbled lower, covering her mounded breasts. All he could do was watch, entranced, not daring to breathe.
Her eyes glittered like gemstones in the moonlight. “I know you want to kiss me.”
He cleared his throat, preparing to do the right thing and escort her back to her friends and see all four of those hoydens safely back to their carriage with strongly worded instructions to the footmen and outriders to deliver them home forthwith. And not to ever bring them out again.
“I can’t kiss you.”
“And why is that?”
“You know why. Because I’m a—”
“Bad, heartless rake, and I’m a sheltered, innocent young lady.”
“Exactly.”