A sudden, reckless urge took hold of her. He didn’t know who she was! Which meant she’d been granted a completely unexpected opportunity to break out of their usual cycle of petty insults and studied avoidance. A flush of hot excitement skittered over her skin. Why not pretend? Just for a few minutes. Pretend she was a woman he’d flirt with. A woman he’d desire.
He was scandalously close behind her. She glanced over her shoulder and caught a brief glimpse of his perfect lips hovering beneath the snarling muzzle of his mask.
“Don’t turn around,” he murmured. “I’m enjoying the view.”
She stilled.
“You’re very beautiful, mademoiselle cat.”
Heloise curled her lips at the irony. No one who saw her face ever claimed that. “How can you tell? For all you know I could be hideously scarred beneath this mask.”
“No,” he mused, quietly confident. “You’re definitely beautiful.”
Heloise closed her eyes as pleasure and pain curled together in her chest. A few years ago she’d have done anything to hear him say those words. She managed a creditable shrug. “What’s that saying? ‘All cats are gray in the dark.’ ”
His breath warmed her shoulder, the curve of her neck. “Let’s just say I have an unerring instinct in such matters.”
She opened her mouth to refute him, but he spoke again.
“So why a cat? Cats are haughty and cruel. Is that a fair reading of your character?”
“Why a dog, sir?” she countered archly. “Are you loyal? Faithful? Devoted?”
He chuckled. “Hardly. But don’t worry—I’m not about to mark my territory against one of these elegant pillars. I’m considered relatively domesticated.”
Heloise repressed an unladylike snort. After the past decade working as a spy alongside her brothers, Raven was about as tame as a jackal. And she shouldn’t be finding such puerile humor amusing. “If you’re hoping I’ll throw you a stick, I’m afraid you’re doomed to disappointment.”
His lips quirked as if at some private joke. “How true. You realize, of course, that as cat and dog we can never be friends. I think the best we can hope for is friendly enemies.”
She made a moue with her mouth. “Thatisdisappointing.”
His lips curved upward. “Ah, but then, I’ve always found enemies extremely…stimulating.”
Her heart thumped at his suggestive tone. The fiend could make even the most innocuous conversation fraught with innuendo. Or maybe it was just her overactive imagination.
“Can I get you a drink?” he asked smoothly before she could form an appropriate response. “A saucer of milk?” His voice held the ghost of a laugh. “Or perhaps you’d prefer champagne?” A servant appeared at his elbow and he took two glasses of the sparkling liquid. “Drink up,” he urged gently.
“I really shouldn’t.” She wasn’t used to drinking spirits. Almack’s only served tea and lemonade. And she’d already had one glass.
He curled his fingers around hers and raised the glass to her lips. “You really should.”
The champagne burned down her throat, blissfully cool. No doubt the vintage was hideously expensive; money was no object for Raven. Her fingers burned where he touched her and she sucked in a relieved breath when he released her hand. His nearness was having the most unsettling effect on her nerves. She glanced around the room, trying to appear no more than innocently curious. “I wish I knew which of these people was our host.”
She waited for him to take the cue and reveal himself.
“You mean Ravenwood?”
Heloise raised her brows under her mask. Apparentlyhewanted to remain incognito, too. Interesting. “Yes, I’d like to congratulate him. He’s certainly achieved what was promised on the invitation—an evening of heaven and hell.”
Raven’s shoulder brushed hers as he moved to stand beside her, and she risked another sideways glance at him. His coat was exquisite, perfectly molded to his body as if someone had poured liquid silk over him and simply waited for it to dry. It was a miracle it didn’t rip when he moved. The stark contrast of black and white enhanced the lean perfection of his features. Heloise took another long sip of champagne.
He glanced around, a slight, cynical smile on his lips. “Yes, someone should tell Ravenwood this is an excellent party. The brandy’s contraband, the rooms are so overcrowded one can barely breathe, and I can see at least five—no, six—of the seven deadly sins being committed as we speak.”
That was true. Examples of pride, envy, greed, gluttony, and lust were everywhere she turned. Tables groaned with food, solid silver platters piled high with exotic fruits and cheeses. A rumble of chatter emanated from the card room next door, the chink of glasses mingling with occasional exclamations of delight or groans of despair.
There were other groans, too. Heloise hastily averted her eyes from a couple huddled in a darkened corner. The man’s hand seemed to be disappearing into the scandalously low bodice of his partner’s gown.
“I trust the evening’s sufficiently uninhibited for your taste?” Raven inquired politely.