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face in his head. Heard her voice
     in his ear, calling out his name.
    “There’s always time,” he muttered, forcing Anna’s image away as he pressed Sarah back onto the desk and eased into her welcoming
     body.



Chapter Three
    Y
eow!
”
    The piercing shriek split the quiet night on aristocratic Henrietta Street. At its sudden clamor, Anna tripped and crashed
     to the pavement.
    “Blast!” she cried, her knees stinging under the skirts of her borrowed gown. But the pain was nothing to the certainty that
     she had been found out. She was caught sneaking back into the house, and there would be no freedom ever again.
    She knelt there, the wind cold on her bare arms and her heart pounding like thunder in her ears, as she waited for doom to
     fall. Instead there was the soft brush of something fluffy and feathery against her skin.
    “Yeow.” Quieter now, not so much the scream of wrath. A cat’s bright green eyes peered up at her in the dark before it stalked
     off into the night.
    Anna’s breath left her lungs in a great whoosh, and she hung her head to laugh. Just a stray cat. She wasn’t about to be raked
     over the coals after all, although surely she would be if she didn’t get in the house soon.
    But her legs still trembled, too weak to let her stand up just yet. She sat back to assess the damage. Her gloves were torn
     where her hands had hit the pavement. Her palms were scraped, but luckily the dress was intact. She had left behind her beaded
     hair net along with her cloak, and now her hair fell from its pins to straggle down her neck.
    So much for sophisticated elegance. One kiss, and she went dashing home like a coward, turning into a ragamuffin as she went.
     One
fiery
kiss, unlike any she had ever known since…
    Since the last time he kissed her, in that deserted stable. The Duke of Adair—yes, it had to be him. She was sure of it despite
     the mask. Even though they had not met for two years, she remembered every brief second of their encounters. She especially
     remembered the way his touch made her feel so very
alive
, as if she had been asleep all her life and only awakened when he touched her.
    She stripped off her ruined gloves, scowling. She did not know exactly what part Adair played in the ambush on her brother-in-law
     Will’s regiment, but she wasn’t entirely a fool. He was an Irish nobleman, whose estate had been nearly taken away by the
     Penal Laws against Irish Catholics. He had not been strolling away from a tea party when she found him hiding in that stable.
     She was a masochistic fool, swooning for a man like that. It was stupid, dangerous—and horribly alluring.
    “Damn it all,” she muttered, balling up the silk gloves in her fist. She would just have to stay away from him in the future,
     which shouldn’t be too difficult. They hardly moved in the same circles. And she had to hope he had not recognized
her
, although she had the sinking suspicion he had.
    But she couldn’t worry about that now. She had to get into the house before she got caught.
    She grabbed onto the iron railings, hauling herself to her feet even as her knees screamed in protest. Once she had her balance
     again, she dashed down the stone steps to the servants’ entrance below the street level.
    It was usually locked once everyone retired, but she had had a new key made and easily let herself back in. The cool corridors
     were quiet, still smelling faintly of the roast and boiled vegetables from dinner and the smoke from the banked fireplaces.
     All the servants were upstairs in their quarters asleep, but soon enough they would be down here to start the day all over
     again. She had to hurry.
    Not even daring to breathe, Anna ran up the back stairs and down the carpeted hall to her chamber. Her door, along with those
     of her mother and sister, were closed. The house was silent. Success was within her sight!
    But all that triumph collapsed when she slipped into her room, only to find she was not alone