Tammy Falkner - [Faerie 02] by The Magic of "I Do"

relationship with that woman?” Claire asked. She hated herself as soon as the words left her mouth. But she couldn’t keep from asking.
    “Define ‘relationship,’” he said with an unrepentant grin.
    “You’ve bedded her.” Claire’s heart thumped hard within her breast. She didn’t like the thought of him with the modiste at all. Not one bit. In fact, she had an uncommon urge to stomp back into the shop and jerk the woman’s hair from her head.
    “That was a very long time ago.” He looked a little uncomfortable as he handed her into the carriage.
    “Not long enough for her.” Claire harrumphed, falling back heavily against the squabs. “To what party was she referring?”
    “Just a gathering.” He looked out the carriage window.
    “Do you plan to attend?”
    He shrugged. “Perhaps.”
    “Why?” Her heart stuttered as she waited for his response.
    “I need some information that can only be obtained at this soiree.”
    “So, you do plan to attend.”
    “Only if I can find someone to accompany me.”
    “I would be happy to attend with you.”
    “It’s not that kind of soiree,” he said with a harsh glance in her direction. “It’s not for ladies. It’s for people like Colette.”
    “And like you.”
    “And like me,” he agreed. “And not for ladies like you.”
    Didn’t he know that she could be anyone she wanted to be? She spent her life in disguise. She could be anyone she wanted and make everyone believe it. “I’m not innocent, you know.” She said the words softly. And he suddenly turned to look at her. His gaze was hot enough to set fire to the carriage.
    “I was there when you lost your innocence, Claire. You need not remind me.”
    “But you just said I couldn’t attend with you because I’m not the right kind of lady.”
    “You’re still not the right kind of lady.”
    “I beg to differ.”
    “It’s a masked ball. With all sorts of debauchery. Courtesans and mistresses. And a few paid ladies.”
    “You mean whores?”
    Finn sputtered into his closed fist. “Where did you learn such a word?”
    Claire rolled her eyes at him. “You’ve been inside me, for goodness sakes. I’m no better than any of those ladies. Let me attend with you. Just for the sport of it. You can get your information and then we can leave.”
    “Don’t say things like that,” he ground out. His voice sounded like it had been dragged down a gravel road before it left his lips.
    “That I’m no better than those ladies?”
    “That too.” He looked decidedly uncomfortable. “And that I’ve been inside you.”
    Claire’s breath caught in her throat.
    “I happen to remember it in vivid detail,” he went on to say. His gaze was locked on hers. “You needn’t comment on it.”
    “You remember…?” Her voice was a quiet whisper, but he still heard her.
    His fists clenched at his sides. He inhaled deeply, steeling himself before he said, “I remember everything. The taste of your skin. The smell of your neck. The feel of your thighs wrapped around me. The little breathy sounds as you cried out. I remember it all. I remember it in great detail. So, you would do well not to speak of it again.”
    “Or what?” she taunted.
    The carriage rolled to a stop, and a footman opened the door and lowered the step. “Or you might find yourself in a similar situation.”
    “Take me with you tomorrow?” she insisted. She didn’t want him going to a den of iniquity alone. Or with any other woman.
    “No.”
    She would just have to change his mind.

Twelve
    Finn dressed with great care the next night, making sure his cravat was folded to perfection, and the pin that winked from the center of it matched his eyes perfectly. He let Simmons apply scented shaving soap when he shaved off his evening stubble. He looked presentable, he assumed. He tugged at the length of his jacket. Despite the debauchery that would be present, he knew this would be a formal ball.
    Simmons bent and wiped an imaginary