Unmasked Read Online Free PDF Page B

reach into the fire to
save my symphony from destruction…I never forget a sacrifice.”
    He was so close now. My hands were imprisoned
in his, and he held them against the solid wall of his chest. His
shoulders loomed over my head, and the nearness of his body sparked
a vague warning in me. His face was just inches from mine, and I
could see him clearly now, more so than ever. The jaw, solid and
square, darkened by the promise of tomorrow’s beard…dark sideburns,
like black columns along his head…thick black lashes fringing the
impossibly blue eyes.
    Curious that I did not notice the mask.
    “You’re trembling,” he murmured. His eyes
regarded me intently from the shadows of the mask, and I was forced
to look away. “Why?”
    I pulled my hands free. “I do not know.”
    “Yes, you do. When the pulse races, the
breath quickens, the mind flusters…these are ways that the body
conveys fear.” He lifted my downturned chin. “Or love.”
    Something inside me unclenched. His eyes,
those amazing blue eyes, searched mine. His voice became a
whisper.
    “Do you fear me?”
    Though it would cost me every shred of pride,
the weight of the truth was too much to bear.
    Silently, I shook my head.
    His chest filled with a tortured breath, his
expression a mirror image of mine. Tremulously, he lowered his
head, his lips thirsty for mine. His eyes became silken slits as he
waited for me to finish the journey he had begun. Although a
thousand uncertainties raced through my mind – familiar voices
pummeling me with doubts – of one thing I was certain: I wanted
this kiss more than anything I have ever wanted.
    Slowly, I raised my mouth to his, half
believing he would suddenly disappear and I would find myself back
at Grand-mère’s cottage waking from this exotic dream. But the
moment our lips touched, I felt resplendently awake. All my senses
came alive in that instant, as if I had been living inside a glass
globe that now lay shattered about me. This man – this strange,
hypnotic, alluring man – was breathing life into me, and it rushed
through every vein.
    Our lips parted, and I thought I would perish
for want of him. The nose of his mask brushed against my cheek, his
lips feathering my jaw. The scent of his warm flesh, so musky and
masculine, unleashed something primitive in me. I scrambled to rein
it in.
    “I’m sorry I’m not more like Christine. I’m
not beautiful, or talented, or charming. I’ve none of the things
you prize.”
    Shame dampened his voice. “I allowed myself
to be seduced by her beauty, it’s true. But such beauty cloys, like
a too-sweet perfume. There was very little substance to her beyond
the attractive shell, like cut roses decaying in the very instant
their beauty is being contemplated. You possess something that is
infinitely more valuable to me. Honesty, virtue, compassion. It
took me many years of solitude to learn, but it’s finally become
clear to me.” His finger stroked my cheek. “Kindness, not beauty,
is a woman’s most attractive feature.”
    All my life, I had yearned to hear three
words: You are beautiful . Now Erik, in his own way, had
expressed it to me. Something thrummed within me.
    I glanced at Christine’s image in the poster.
So different, so deformed , was I, that I felt sorry for
Erik. He should have been given that one pleasure in his sad,
neglected life. He should have been allowed the touch of her lithe,
slender body. He didn’t deserve one such as I.
    “You always demand the truth from me, Erik,
so speak it now. Could you really come to care for someone like
me?”
    “Care for you?” he asked, surprised by my
question. “I worship you.”
    His mouth descended, and he placed the
gentlest, most reverent kiss upon my lips. What sweet nectar was
this? That a man could love me in spite of my flaws…could I do as
much for myself?
    I returned the kiss with passion.
     
     
Us
     
    I do not think it possible to describe the
enchantment of the next few weeks.