Ridiculous to be nervous.
He had faced down enemy soldiers, furious husbands, drunken friends, even a wild boar on one unfortunate occasion. He had no reason to feel uneasy riding toward the home of his dearest friend.
And yet his pulse was racing.
All the words he had rehearsed over the past several days scattered the closer he came.
I was wrong. But was he? About everything?
I should have trusted you.
True, but inadequate.
I have missed you to the point of madness.
Possibly.
At the front of the house, footmen were moving beneath the glow of lanterns, assisting guests from carriages and directing horses toward the stables. Music drifted faintly from inside, along with laughter and the warm hum of general merriment.
Gideon dismounted.
One of the footmen took the reins, then looked up and broke into a smile of recognition.
“Lord Hawkins. We did not think you were coming, my lord.”
“Nor did I,” Gideon murmured.
The footman blinked.
Gideon summoned a more appropriate smile. “Quite the celebration, eh?”
“Yes, my lord. His Grace will be pleased you are joining them.”
No doubt.
Dash would likely embrace him, mock him for arriving late, and demand to know why he had not sent word. But would he be so happy to hear what Gideon needed to confess?
And more importantly, would Dash’s sister be happy?
The true source of his nerves.
Still, he turned toward the open doors and gathered himself for whatever came next.
But what he saw caused his heart to skip a beat.
Guests were entering beneath the portico… in masks.
Velvet. Satin. Feathers. Painted silk. Black dominos and silver half-masks. A lady in green laughed as a gentleman adjusted a fox’s mask over his face. Another man, taller, wore something dark and horned.
Gideon’s blood went cold.
A masquerade.
How the devil had he not known this was a masquerade?
Beatrice had still not told Dash.
Dash did not know what masks meant to her. Ambrosia likely did not either. No one here understood that this charming summer entertainment might feel, to Beatrice, like stepping back into the worst night of her life.
