She considered herself immune to their spell but had to admit to being intrigued by Aiden Trewlove ever since she’d seen him standing at the altar looking nothing at all like his brother, but then only God knew who had sired him, who had given birth to him. However, it had been more than the cut of his bristly shadowed jaw or his patrician nose or those full, sensual lips that had made it near impossible to take her eyes from him.

It was the way he’d seemed amused by the entire affair. Whenever he peered over his shoulder or faced the crowd of people who had packed themselves onto the pews, desperate to watch a lady of such a storied family marrying a man of such a scandalous one, he’d studied them through half-lowered lids, as though taking their measure and not wanting them to see exactly what he thought of them, of how much he found them lacking.

But when Lady Aslyn had glided up the aisle, the warm smile he’d bestowed upon her, expressing his acceptance of her and welcoming her into the family, had marked him as not only kind but immensely approachable.

And Selena was in need of a man harboring both characteristics in order to calm her fraying nerves and ease the guilt threatening her resolve. She was where she should not be, standing with her back pressed against a wall, wearing a gown of deep royal blue, a mask of the same shade, because Aiden Trewlove offered women sin and secrets. Not all the women hid behind masks, not the bold ones or those who had nothing to lose. She imagined the freedom one must feel to stride through the rooms unmasked, to be unafraid, to be liberated. But it was imperative that no one ever learn of her presence in the scandalous environs provided by Aiden Trewlove.

To women, he had opened the heavens where gods plotted and revealed the delicious mysteries within. A club they whispered about among themselves, a place unknown to fathers, brothers, and husbands. A domain in which women ruled and did as they pleased. He’d given them a paradise within the shadows of London that was theirs and theirs alone. He’d known what they wanted, what they needed. And he’d provided it.

A man who created all of this, who understood women so well and knew the entertainments for which they yearned, surely would not sit in judgment and would know how to provide a safe haven where a woman could do what she ought not without fear of her actions being revealed to others.