The Mask
Between Us

Penelope Featherington has loved Colin Bridgerton since she was a girl, watching him from behind her feathered masks and whispered secrets. At the annual Bridgerton masquerade, she finally sheds her wallflower skin — and Colin sees her for the first time. He pulls her into a darkened retiring room, his hands shaking as he pins her against the door, breath hot against her throat. 'I've been a fool,' he says, and then he kisses her like a drowning man. When he lifts her skirts and presses inside her, every year of unspoken wanting crashes down. She comes with his name on her lips and tears streaming down her cheeks, knowing that nothing will ever be the same — and that she would burn the whole ton down before she lets him go.