behind her eyes as reality set in.
She hadn't expected this to be so painful. She thought herself to be well past the feelings of betrayal and disillusionment that had consumed her when she had been young and first married. Her daring little escapade tonight had succeeded beyond her expectations. In case she had harbored any doubt, she now had undeniable proof her husband was as wickedly adulterous as the stories had always claimed. She’d also learned she was not nearly as strong as she thought.
“I didn't think I could still be so foolish and naïve,” she whispered with a shaky little laugh as she lifted her hands to untie the ribbons of her mask.
“What the hell are you…?” Jude started, but as she lowered the mask from her face, his question trailed off and his glowering expression deepened.
She wondered what he was thinking as he stared at her then. Mostly, he looked annoyed and frustrated and still passionately aroused. Anna returned his stare, her chin lifted high, her eyes direct and challenging. She blinked away her threatening tears and recalled all the reasons she had to hate him.
“What's the matter, Jude?” she asked finally, pleased to find her voice steady and confident. “Nothing to say?”
“You know me?” he asked stiffly.
“That depends upon your definition of knowing , my lord,” Anna replied with a harsh twist of her lips.
Jude narrowed his gaze and his voice took on an almost menacing tone. “I am not a man to find enjoyment in dark pranks or willful subterfuge. It would be best if you disclose your identity and your purpose.”
“You really haven’t figured it out yet?” Anna asked then, surprised he hadn’t put it all together. “You said earlier that it wouldn’t matter if I were married.” She paused, but he remained silent and waited for her to continue. “What about your wife, my lord? Does she matter?”
Jude’s expression blackened. “I have no wife.”
Anna laughed then, a rough and raw sound. “I beg to differ, my lord husband.”
Jude was stunned as her words filtered through the lust still gripping his senses to the fine receptors of his consciousness.
She had called him husband.
Impossible.
He took an involuntary step back. His lust-drugged mind struggled to correlate the sensual, voluptuous vixen before him with the young woman he had stood beside all those years ago when he had recited those blasphemous marriage vows. That girl had been an awkward, skinny woman-child with dark eyes too furtive and unfathomable for one her age. It simply wasn't possible such an ugly little thing could turn out to possess the luscious heat of the woman whose amorous fire had almost consumed him just moments ago.
When he finally found mental purchase in the flood of uncomfortable memories loosed within him, he realized that the woman claiming to be his wife had slipped from the room. She left behind only her feathered mask on the floor at his feet and the faint essence of her dark and tantalizing scent.
Jude remained frozen in place for several more minutes, shocked, angry, confused and still highly aroused.
“Bloody everlasting hell,” he muttered viciously.
Chapter Four
Helena Sinclair, Dowager Countess of Blackbourne, was used to getting her way, either by charming female persuasion or subtle, and sometimes not so subtle, manipulation.
She had been the daughter of a poor baronet when she first met Jude’s father, the Earl of Blackbourne. The young and ambitious Helena had decided within five minutes she would be his countess and even his family’s strong disapproval of the match did not keep the marriage from taking place.
Jude knew that his mother’s humble and struggling origins had a lot to do with her current social attitudes. She was a complete and terrible snob. For that reason, she had also been extremely vocal against and at times even violently opposed to Jude’s marriage to the young Miss Anna Locke, a second daughter with no title, no
She hadn't expected this to be so painful. She thought herself to be well past the feelings of betrayal and disillusionment that had consumed her when she had been young and first married. Her daring little escapade tonight had succeeded beyond her expectations. In case she had harbored any doubt, she now had undeniable proof her husband was as wickedly adulterous as the stories had always claimed. She’d also learned she was not nearly as strong as she thought.
“I didn't think I could still be so foolish and naïve,” she whispered with a shaky little laugh as she lifted her hands to untie the ribbons of her mask.
“What the hell are you…?” Jude started, but as she lowered the mask from her face, his question trailed off and his glowering expression deepened.
She wondered what he was thinking as he stared at her then. Mostly, he looked annoyed and frustrated and still passionately aroused. Anna returned his stare, her chin lifted high, her eyes direct and challenging. She blinked away her threatening tears and recalled all the reasons she had to hate him.
“What's the matter, Jude?” she asked finally, pleased to find her voice steady and confident. “Nothing to say?”
“You know me?” he asked stiffly.
“That depends upon your definition of knowing , my lord,” Anna replied with a harsh twist of her lips.
Jude narrowed his gaze and his voice took on an almost menacing tone. “I am not a man to find enjoyment in dark pranks or willful subterfuge. It would be best if you disclose your identity and your purpose.”
“You really haven’t figured it out yet?” Anna asked then, surprised he hadn’t put it all together. “You said earlier that it wouldn’t matter if I were married.” She paused, but he remained silent and waited for her to continue. “What about your wife, my lord? Does she matter?”
Jude’s expression blackened. “I have no wife.”
Anna laughed then, a rough and raw sound. “I beg to differ, my lord husband.”
Jude was stunned as her words filtered through the lust still gripping his senses to the fine receptors of his consciousness.
She had called him husband.
Impossible.
He took an involuntary step back. His lust-drugged mind struggled to correlate the sensual, voluptuous vixen before him with the young woman he had stood beside all those years ago when he had recited those blasphemous marriage vows. That girl had been an awkward, skinny woman-child with dark eyes too furtive and unfathomable for one her age. It simply wasn't possible such an ugly little thing could turn out to possess the luscious heat of the woman whose amorous fire had almost consumed him just moments ago.
When he finally found mental purchase in the flood of uncomfortable memories loosed within him, he realized that the woman claiming to be his wife had slipped from the room. She left behind only her feathered mask on the floor at his feet and the faint essence of her dark and tantalizing scent.
Jude remained frozen in place for several more minutes, shocked, angry, confused and still highly aroused.
“Bloody everlasting hell,” he muttered viciously.
Chapter Four
Helena Sinclair, Dowager Countess of Blackbourne, was used to getting her way, either by charming female persuasion or subtle, and sometimes not so subtle, manipulation.
She had been the daughter of a poor baronet when she first met Jude’s father, the Earl of Blackbourne. The young and ambitious Helena had decided within five minutes she would be his countess and even his family’s strong disapproval of the match did not keep the marriage from taking place.
Jude knew that his mother’s humble and struggling origins had a lot to do with her current social attitudes. She was a complete and terrible snob. For that reason, she had also been extremely vocal against and at times even violently opposed to Jude’s marriage to the young Miss Anna Locke, a second daughter with no title, no
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