Hell and damnation!

John hurried his steps down the hallway, wanting to reach the safety of their private chambers as quickly as possible. Could this trip get any worse? Not only had he been forced to kiss Mary, but now Dash was in attendance. What should have been a fairly simple mission, arrive at the estate, find the missing young lady, look into Hayes' dealings with the radicals, and return home, had turned into a tangled mess.

Reaching their room, he ushered Mary inside before closing the door behind them and leaning against it. He closed his eyes and cursed silently. Nothing about this mission was easy. Lady Jane was nowhere to be found. No documents regarding any involvement with the wrong people had been discovered. And Lady Mary... His body responded as the memory of her soft and pliant body against his surfaced in his mind. Kissing her had been... He groaned inwardly.

Kissing Mary had been a terrible mistake.

Glancing over to where she stood quietly on the other side of the room, he wondered what went through her mind. He had stolen her first kiss. It should have been a romantic affair with the man she intended to marry. Not being manhandled in a room of strangers. He could never give her the experience of her first kiss back. It was forever his.

Her eyes met his from across the room, and like a coward, he looked away. Because he did not want her to see the truth. He should regret that kiss. Should feel guilty.

But he didn't.

That kiss had broken him. Sent a shock through his entire being. Had they not had an audience, he wasn't sure he would have stopped. His hands still itched to pull her close again. He could still taste the slight hint of strawberries on her lips.

"John?" The soft utterance of his name made him look up, but before she could say anything further, the door behind him reverberated with a knock.

Mary readjusted her mask and nodded before he turned around and opened the door. His stomach dropped as he was met with the grinning face of their friend.

"Holy hell, Osborne! It is you!" Dash let out a delighted laugh. "I thought I recognised your sorry arse downstairs."

Leaning out to ensure there was no one in the hallway listening, John pulled the other man inside and closed the door behind them.

Dash pulled off his mask and ran a hand through his dark hair. "I'll be honest. Never thought I'd see you at a party like this."

Taking off his own mask, John crossed his arms over his chest, relieved that their friend had not paid too much attention to Mary yet. She had retreated to the far side of the room, hovering in a corner where the light from the fireplace didn't quite reach. Clever girl. Turning his attention back to Dash, he sighed. "How did you recognise me?"

"I'm not as inattentive as people seem to believe." Dash huffed. "You're a friend I've known for years. Of course I recognise you, mask or not."

"I never realised you attended these parties. Does your brother know?" John asked. Dash's older brother, the duke, was a former code breaker and still worked with the War Office occasionally. He was also part-owner of the Rose Agency. John had worked with him a few times and also met him through the duke's wife, who was a friend.

"No. Winterbourne need not know everything I'm up to." Dash smiled wryly. "It's probably better that way."

"Probably. Are you here alone? Isn't there a rule about bringing a partner?" They had fled downstairs so quickly, he'd not had time to look around to see if Dash had company.

"Why?" Dash smirked. "Worried I brought Olivia?"

John cursed. "Does everyone bloody know? Am I truly that obvious?"

"No." His friend laughed. "You told me when deep in your cups at Rain and Winterbourne's wedding. Why? Who else knows? Nick, I reckon."

"Nick always gets everyone to spill their secrets," John muttered.

"Anyway, no, I'm not here with Olivia. I brought an actress friend." Dash shrugged. "She enjoys these types of things and neither of us feels particularly strongly about the other, so there's no jealousy." His eyes narrowed. "I'm more curious about you. What are you doing here? I can't believe a straight-laced fellow like you would show their face at a place like this."

John scowled. "Why does everyone think I'm dull?"

"Not dull." Dash grinned. "Just... proper."

"Not that proper," he muttered, as heat travelled up his neck at the memory of Mary's soft lips yielding to his own.

A thud from the other side of the room made Dash spin around. Mary picked up the book she'd dropped with a sheepish smile. Her timing could not have been much worse. At least she still wore her mask, and with the fireplace the only light source, her eyes remained shaded by the silken piece.

"Well..." A slow grin spread over Dash's face as he watched Mary put the book down on a bedside table. "I guess you're right. This doesn't seem very proper at all." He glanced back at John. "Aren't you going to introduce me?"

"No."

"Why not? The whole spirit of this party is to get to know others more... intimately." Dash chuckled at his own humour, but John wasn't in the mood. He was tired from not sleeping well when sharing a bed with someone else, and he was still reeling after that kiss. The last thing he needed was a nosy friend.

"The party is also meant to be anonymous," he pointed out. "So why don't you bugger off and we can pretend we don't know each other for the remainder of our stay."

"Tsk tsk. That is no way to speak to a friend." Dash shook his head with an overly dramatic pout. "I am more than willing to introduce you to my actress friend. She's very agile."

With ears burning, John shook his head. "No, thank you."

"How is it that even at a party like this, you remain proper? We are not here to be proper. Some might say we're here for the exact opposite." Dash motioned to Mary. "Now, don't be rude and introduce me to your friend. I promise I won't seduce her. Honestly, I'm only curious since I never realised you had a mistress or as much as an affair."

"Be curious somewhere else," John bit off.

Dash's eyebrows rose. "What is it you don't want me to see?" He glanced over at Mary. "Who did you bring? It's not Olivia, is it?"

The question surprised John enough to snap him out of his foul mood. "Why? It shouldn't matter to you."

"I have no romantic interest in her," Dash agreed, "but that does not mean I would approve of you taking an innocent to a place like this."

"You joked about it yourself not a minute ago!"

"It was only a jest." Dash's eyes widened. "It is her, isn't it?"

Before John could stop his friend, the other man stalked across the room and pulled Mary into the light by the fire. At a glance, one could easily mistake Mary for Olivia with the mask hiding her face. They both had similar dark sable hair, and were of similar heights and builds. But where Olivia's skin was fair and rosy, Mary's was tanned from the many hours she spent on horseback. And while Olivia had a smaller, heart-shaped mouth, Mary's was wider, with a pronounced Cupid's bow.

Dash appeared to have realised the same as he frowned. "Apologies," he muttered. "I thought you were..." The furrows on his brow deepened. "Mary?"

Hell. This mission was getting worse and worse. Mary looked over at John and he nodded. There was no use denying it now.

She untied her mask and took it off. The revelation seemed to have momentarily stunned Dash, as he did nothing but stand there and stare at her. When his eyes lowered to the deep decolletage on her revealing dress, John had to fight the urge to snap at him to quit gawking.

"I don't..." Dash shook his head as if it would somehow make things clearer. "What is going on here?"

"It's not what it looks like," Mary blurted. "We're not... I mean..." Her words faltered as her cheeks stained red and her eyes darted to John.

They were not lovers. But they had kissed. And he wanted to kiss her again.

Desperately.

Bloody hell.

Flexing his hand in frustration, he tried to decide on the best course of action. Dash didn't work for the Rose Agency, but since his brother was a part owner, he wasn't unaware of its dealings. Would he know whether John was employed or not?

"We're here on a mission from the Rose Agency," he said, bringing their friend's attention back to him.

"I didn't know you were one of their agents." Dash ran a hand through his hair, then shrugged. "But I suppose I don't know them all."

John relaxed. His identity as an agent of the crown was still a secret. "We're looking for Mary's sister," he continued. "Mary is here to help me identify her."

"Right."

"We think she has an affair with Hayes," Mary said, twirling her mask between her fingers. "But so far, we have seen no sign of her. We've been trying to find some correspondence between them that might give us a clue as to where she is. No luck so far. We think they might be in his private chambers."

Dash nodded, taking everything in. "Right. Since this is your first time, Hayes won't trust you yet and would never allow you into his chambers or the inner sanctum where his closest associates gather for private parties for those with more... eclectic tastes."

"There are private parties?" Mary almost dropped the mask she fiddled with. "More intimate than what we've seen downstairs?"

A quiet chuckle escaped Dash. "Yes, my innocent lambs. You've seen nothing yet."

Mary swallowed visibly.

"Not to worry, they will not invite you." Dash met John's gaze. "However, I can get an invitation. Hayes knows me. Let me help. I can try to look for letters from Lady Jane."

That was tempting. They needed an in with Hayes. Neither John nor Mary was likely to get an invitation to his private chambers. While he hated the idea of involving Dash, he didn't see many alternatives.

"Please," he said. "But be careful. And maybe don't let Hayes see you with us too much. I think he's already suspicious."

Dash scoffed. "I'm not surprised. You two don't look like lovers. There's no intimacy between you. No easy touches or secret smiles. And Osborne, your whole appearance is too proper. Maybe unbutton a little. You don't look comfortable. Try to at least appear as if you're enjoying yourselves."

"I'll try," John muttered, not sure he appreciated the tips.

"I will return to the party before anyone misses me." Dash walked to the door. "Tomorrow I suggest you try to join in more if you don't want Hayes to suspect anything." His eyes strayed to Mary, and he smiled wryly. "Though not too much. She's an innocent, and she will have to remain one."

"Nothing here feels innocent." Mary's cheeks were still pink, but she smiled briefly.

"Nothing here is," Dash confirmed with a chuckle. "I'll see you tomorrow."

When the door shut behind him, the room settled into silence as John didn't know what to say and Mary still stood by the fireplace, absently following the edges of her mask with her fingertips.

He shifted from one foot to the other, uncomfortable with her lack of words. Mary was rarely quiet and never kept her opinions to herself. Why was she so silent now?

"About earlier..." he tentatively said, though he wasn't sure what he wanted to say.

She looked away from the fire to meet his gaze, waiting for him to continue.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know it was your first kiss."

The shadow of a smile played across her lips. "How could you? It is not exactly something you and I speak of when we meet in our friend group." She tilted her head to the side. "But I must know... How did you know it was me?"

"Several ways," he admitted. "The scent of strawberries on your breath. A small notch at the waist of your gown."

"Of course." She nodded. "That makes sense. We're lucky no one else had eaten strawberries!"

"A couple of them had."

The most obvious sign it was Mary in his arms had been the smell of her soap when he buried his nose in her hair. He'd recognised it from when she had a bath earlier in the day since it was similar to his own favoured fragrance. Bergamot. But where his had other more masculine notes, hers was mixed with a soft floral scent. He suspected she had it concocted by design. This, however, he did not share. It felt too personal to let her know he had noticed such a private detail.

"Oh." She looked down at the mask in her hands. If she didn't stop fiddling with it soon, it might break. "Well, I'm glad you found me. I worry Hayes would have thrown us out otherwise."

"He's definitely suspicious," he agreed. Deciding to rescue the poor mask from her nervous twiddling, he put his hand over hers and took it from her fingers. Her head snapped up to stare at him, and he found himself spellbound by the flames of the fire reflecting in her green eyes. His hand on hers twitched as he fought the urge to pull her close. To taste her lips one more time.

He shouldn't want this. Shouldn't want her.

But he did.

Damn it all, but he did.

~~~~~~