Unmasking Juliet Read Online Free PDF Page B

his arms.
    He dipped his head and whispered against the slender column of her neck, “I want to see your face.”
    His lips found the curve right above her collarbone, and she melted into him once more.
    “Please,” he murmured, sounding far more desperate than he cared to.
    She lifted her chin and fixed her gaze with his. Green eyes framed with lush black lashes peeked out at him from behind her bejeweled mask. Ever so slightly, she nodded.
    Leo cradled her face in his hands, slipped his thumbs beneath the ribbons on either side of the mask and lifted it free. His breath caught in his throat as he waited for the first glimpse of her face. She bowed her head as he untangled the ribbons from her hair, and when she looked up his heart stopped.
    “Lovely,” he whispered.
    It was perhaps the biggest understatement of his life. She was gorgeous, with large, luminous eyes, high cheekbones and pink, bow-shaped lips.
    She shook her head. “I really shouldn’t be here.”
    Leo couldn’t think of a single place she belonged more.
    “Don’t go.” There was that note of desperation in his voice again. What was happening to him?
    “I’m afraid I must.” She took a step backward and cast a panicked look toward the house.
    Before Leo could say another word, she dashed past him, the skirt of her elegant gown swishing in the darkness. He reached for her and managed to catch her wrist right before she slipped away for good. “Wait. At least tell me your name.”
    She shook her head. “I can’t.”
    He couldn’t just let her leave. Not now, before he even knew who she was. “Please. After all, what’s in a name?”
    “I’m sorry,” she whispered. Then she pulled away, and her wrist slid through his fingertips.
    In his other hand, Leo still held her mask. Its crystals glittered in the night, like stars in the Napa Valley sky. He started after her to return it, but she’d already disappeared through the tall stalks of the sunflowers.
    She was gone.
    And the bewitching spell that had been spun among the grapevines was broken.
    * * *
    Temporary insanity.
    To Juliet, it seemed the only explanation. She’d suffered some sort of breakdown. Why else would she have wandered around the Mezzanotte ball, throwing herself at the first random man who crossed her path?
    It hadn’t felt random, though. Quite the contrary. Their meeting had somehow felt predestined, orchestrated by the hands of fate.
    Fate? Destiny?
    Really?
    Now she knew for a fact that she’d lost her mind. She didn’t believe in such things. She believed in free will. Life was a product of the choices one made, day in and day out. She’d never been one to believe in la forza del destino— the force of destiny. That was superstition, like the Malocchio, the Evil Eye. Or her mother’s bizarre belief that wearing red panties on New Year’s Day would bring good luck. It was crazy.
    Odd, she didn’t feel crazy. She felt fantastic. Invigorated. Her skin tingled all over. If this was what a breakdown felt like, then sanity was highly overrated.
    That kiss had been a work of art. An all-consuming masterpiece. She’d forgotten anything and everything the moment his lips had touched hers. Had her mystery man not removed her mask, who knew how far things would have gone?
    The exposure of her face had served as a powerful reminder of exactly who she was. An Arabella.
    She couldn’t jeopardize everything she’d worked so hard for by ridiculing the family name and making a spectacle of herself at the Mezzanottes’ party. Wouldn’t any member of that family be delighted to find out what she’d been doing only a handful of minutes after the heir to the Royal Gourmet dynasty had proposed to her? Her secret would be exposed. George would no doubt put an end to his association with Arabella Chocolate Boutique, not that Juliet would blame him. They would be right back where they started—struggling to make it with their tiny shop while Mezzanotte candy bars flew off