My Dangerous Rogue by Paula Wong (e reader .txt) 📖

the more she meets this man the more she is drawn to him. Who is he? Why is every time she had caught sight of him, she was always in some sort of peril?
Why is he the one who always come to her rescue?
That is a question she wants to seek the answer to.
“You have no proof,” Frinchester squirmed, though he was smiling.
“Her confession is enough, along with my witness,” he replied coldly.
“Like the woman’s parents would care. They don’t give a damn about her. All they care about is finding someone to take their daughter away so they can make room for more,” he looked over at Loretta, smiling. “Yes that is right girl. Your parents want you gone so they can create their own family. Not someone who was picked up in the streets,”
She stiffened a cry and dug her nails in the tree trunk. Yes, he was indeed right. She was picked up in the streets when she was a child. The Chase family happily welcomed her in their home. Of all the reasons, this is the one that she dreaded the most.
Her family wanted her gone because they want to have a family of their own blood. They don’t want a child who was abandoned in the streets.
“By the position you are in you scum I suggest you do not say anything,” the man said, tightening his grip which only made Frinchester scream.
“Let go of me, you insolent whelp. I am the Earl of Frinchester, you have no right to keep me in this position,”
“Look who’s talking you old, good for nothing sick man. I am not the one who tried to hit a lady. Give me a reason why I shouldn’t kill you here and now,”
“Kill me?” Frinchester let out a laugh which only echoed through the night sky. “You are crazy young boy. Show respect to your elders. Your mother should have taught you better,”
“Considering you tried to hit a woman, I should say that to you. I don’t give a damn who you are,”
Finally after a couple of breaths, Loretta finally found her voice. “Let go of him,” she said firmly, voice never wavering. Completely opposite of what she is really feeling inside. From truth, she feels hurt and betrayed. Hurt that her family wanted her gone and betrayed that she had to here this from Frinchester.
The masked man looked at her, his eyes blue-green eyes glowing in the darkness making her stomach quench. “I beg your pardon?”
She let out a breath and with all her strength, lifted herself off the tree thankful that her white satin gown had covered her trembling legs, though not from the cold. “I had said, please let go of him. This is not his doing, I was the one to blame. I had said some things that angered him. I should be the one to admit,”
“You don’t have to tell me anything woman. I was here the entire time,” he looked at Frinchester his expression unreadable through the mask.
Somehow, that accusation made her heart rise. Did he hear everything? She felt her face turn red, thankful that the mask was the barrier to hide it. “You were here, so you must have heard that I was the one who had started this whole mess. Now please, let go.”
He didn’t argue any further and did as he was told.
Frinchester let out a content sigh and cradled his wrist. From the looks of it, it was broken. How can one man be able to break one’s wrist? He was strong and much more powerful than Frinchester. “There, get out of here before I take a gun and shoot it between your eyes,”
“Is that a threat?” Frinchester grinned and stood up. “I can tell the ton about this. Who are you I demand your name,”
“My name?” the masked man chuckled putting his hands behind his back. “Well once you know of my identity, I am afraid it will be forever imbedded in your mind, and you will regret that you had ever encountered me,”
“You will pay for this, whoever you are. I will make you sorry,”
The masked man took Loretta’s hand and pulled her along, she didn’t say a word deciding to let him guide her. Normally, she would object but right now, her mind was nowhere in sight. It was all jumbled up together, trying to find a way to figure out what will happen to her.
Only when they stopped, she was able to process where they were at. They weren’t inside the mansion but were still outside the garden. “I thought we would go back in?” she whispered, feeling the urge to run back in her room and cry, Cry all night, without stopping.
“Chances are,” he leaned against the tree, his arms crossed. “He would probably be in there, creating a lie about what had happened to you and him to dismiss the facts of what had happened, to make it seem that I was somehow the one who had done something wrong,”
“Then why can’t we go in there and tell everybody what had really happened?”
He shook his head. “No, both of us in there telling the same story would likely prove that what he would say was the truth,”
“I do not think I understand,”
“Of course you don’t,” he said a matter-of-factly. “The both of us telling the same scenario would mean that something did happen between you and me that can result of what had happened. It would present me as the enemy. Not him,”
“So you are saying that he can create lies that would present you as the bad person in all of this?”
“Exactly,”
A silence followed. Actually, the fact is that she doesn’t know what to say. He had said that he was in the garden the entire time. So does that mean he was spying on them? No, if he was then he would never have interfered like that. People who spy, no matter what happens, don’t usually interrupt. Even if that person gets murdered.
Somehow, he knew that he will win. He knew that he would have more power against Frinchester. Without thinking, she leaned against the tree, to the opposite side of him, looking up at the dark sky. “What were you doing in the garden?”
“I was merely strolling around the garden when I had caught sight of you two. The inside ballroom was getting a little crowded for me to walk around, freely in,”
“So you weren’t spying on us?”
He let out a laugh, a laugh that was all too familiar. “I have no reason to spy on you two,”
Thank goodness it was dark enough so that he won’t recognize that she was the woman in the ballroom who almost slipped and fell. And that she was the woman who claimed to be Loretta Chase’s cousin.
“Who are you?” she whispered looking up at him.
“Someone you do not need to know,” he replied looking up at the sky.
Loretta glared over at him, though she knew that he can’t see it. “I was just asking,” she reasoned looking at the ground, kicking a pile of snow.
She bit back her lip as the threat of tears prepared to escape her eyes. Her family doesn’t want her anymore. It is understandable, but just hard to believe.
The secret hasn’t been known only to her father, mother, Frinchester, Loretta and now this masked stranger. “You know,” she whispered. “The only reason why I agreed to do everything mother and father said, is because I wanted for them to see me as their real daughter. To be able to look me in the eye and say that I am their family. I wanted them to accept me for who I am. Not some child left in the streets,”
Finally, at the last word she let the tears escape, though even with the mask, she can still see him. He can’t see her though, can’t see her crying, can’t see her sorrow and pain. Loretta bit her lip so she won’t make a noise…just let the tears come.
Before she knew it, the man came toward her. Her eyes widened as he reached for the mask. She closed her eyes, not wanting to argue or fight. For once, she wants someone to see her for who she is. For someone who doesn’t want to control her, to tell her what to do.


Richard lifted it off her face, placing it on top of her head. “Stop your crying,” he said softly, taking her into his arms. He can understand what she is going through. Because once, he was in her place. He wanted to impress his family so that he can be better than Michael. It didn’t work. Every time, Michael is always better.
But at least his family loved him. Even though he can’t do anything that is better, his family supported him.
She on the other hand had no one.
“Crying will not do you any good,” he whispered in her ear. “But it helps ease the pain,” he argued back burying her face in his shoulder. God, her scent filled his nose yet again, the smell of fresh apples in the winter spring.
Her shoulders trembled as cried.
“Do not believe of what that old, ignorant man had said. He does not know what he is saying,”
Through tears, she mumbled in his shoulder. “No, he is indeed right. He is right about everything. My parents does not love me because I came from the streets. They want me away because they want their own family,”
Richard didn’t intended to interrupt their little conversation earlier. He didn’t know what happened. When he saw that old bastard raised his hands to hit her, his body just moved. He wanted to kill that bastard. He couldn’t even hold himself back when he pulled her by the hair.
“Thank you,” she whispered looking up at him. “For saving me, twice now.”
“Twice?” he looked down at her green eyes, it was so vivid and clear.
“Yes, I am the same woman who you had saved in the ballroom. I tripped and you saved me,”
No wonder why she looked familiar. And yet she created an alias to disguise herself. It is called for. After all, it is a masquerade ball.
“I see,” he murmured in her ear. “So what happens now, surely you have to face your parents sooner or later,”
She nodded and hiccupped. “I know,” she whispered. “I guess I am free to do whatever I want,”
Richard raised a brow. “Which is?”
“This,” she raised through her tip toes and placed a kiss on his lips.
He didn’t move as he watched her. She wrapped her arms around his neck and forced his head to tilt down. Her lips pressed against his, demanding for him to cooperate. Damn, her lips tasted like Chiffori Cake that was being served. Without meaning to, his mouth opened accepting her invitation.
His tongue entered her lips, tracing every curve and every section. He smiled as he heard her gasp. He knew she didn’t want to go this far, she only wanted to kiss him. Though, he remembered her confessing to him, her feelings that were false. Richard understand perfectly why she had did it, but one thing she had made a mistake on is that she had picked the wrong man to confess to. He will give her something to confess to.
He’ll make her say those words, but this time with meaning.


Loretta placed both of