I stood quietly, waiting for them to leave. She walked away. He didn’t. I waited. And waited. And finally, I decided I didn’t care. I didn’t care if he saw me or knew I’d seen him. We had one date. One date, and it hadn’t been life-changing. He didn’t even remember we’d had sex before and that had definitely changed me in a way, so no, he didn’t deserve me obsessing over him or what he did. His face turned as I walked toward him. He nodded slightly, in greeting, and I continued walking. The beauty of the costume was that he had no way of knowing it was me.
I walked between the cottages to take a short cut, and felt someone grab my arm and pull me back. I yelped, turning around to face them. My eyes grew wide when I realized it was Elias. He didn’t know it was me. Did he just grab at random women? My scowl deepened. He probably did. I yanked my arm from his grasp. He let me go. I could barely see his eyes in the darkness and his mask was covering half of his face anyway.
“I’ve been looking for you,” he said.
“How do you know it’s me?”
“I know your cottage.” He leaned closer. I backed away and hit the side of the cottage beside me. “I know your hair and your walk. Your mouth. I’ve been trying to locate you since the night of our date.”
“Stop.” My words were shaky. “It was one date. Nothing more, nothing less.”
“It wasn’t nothing,” he said, his face closer still. He brought a hand up to my neck, pressing it against the side as if to check my pulse. “Even in a room full of people, I can’t seem to take my mind off you.”
“You didn’t seem to have me on your mind when you were in her room.”
“Who says you weren’t on my mind?” he ran his hand higher, to my jaw, his thumb just over my bottom lip. “Who says you weren’t the reason I stopped anything from happening?”
“Did you?” I swallowed.
He licked his lips. “Would it matter to you?”
“Yes. No. I don’t know,” I whispered. “It shouldn’t.”
“Tell me, Adeline.” He ran the tip of his nose along my cheek until he reached my ear. I forgot how to breathe. “Why do I want you this much? Why would I leave my own party and go into town just to find you? Why would one date with you, one we didn’t even fuck in, make me think about you every waking moment of my life?”
“Is any of that true?”
“Would you kiss me if it was?” He pulled back and his eyes searched mine. “Would you let me touch you underneath that dress?”
“Maybe.” I licked my lips, tilting my face higher, hoping he’d press his lips against mine.
“Maybe?” The side of his mouth pulled up. He brought his other hand over the valleys of my breasts and stroked with his long fingers, over the hump of my right, dipping in between them and pulling it out slowly, and over the hump of my left. “Would you let me pull down your bodice and put my mouth on you?”
“Are you going to do it or just stand here and talk about it?” I was panting, needy, as I pushed myself onto him.
“What good would it be?” He leaned back in, pressing his lips against my neck. “To start something we don’t have time to finish?”
“Is that what you told the Princess of Austria when you went back to her cottage with her?” I pushed him away and ducked to the side. “We can’t do this.” I shook my head as I tried to catch the breath he stole from me. “We had our date. We can’t do this again.”
This time, when I turned around and walked away, he didn’t follow.
Chapter 16
Because of everything I’d heard about this royal family, I always assumed the queen would be uptight. I hadn’t expected her warm, radiant smile, or the way she shook my hand while holding my arm with the other as if to almost hug me as I stood from my curtsy.
“You’ve outdone yourself,” she said. “This is exactly what I picture when I think of the Versailles in eighteenth-century France.”
“Minus the toilet problem,” I said.
“Minus the toilet problem.” She laughed and glanced over at Joss, who was standing beside her. “Why haven’t you brought her over for Sunday dinner?” She looked back at me. “You must come to Sunday dinner. It’s friends and family and we love welcoming new faces.”
“Yes! I agree with Mother.” The excited voice was Princess Pilar’s. She pranced over with a wide smile on her face, looking a lot better than she did when I left her. “You must come to Sunday dinner.”