Four Dukes and a Devil by Jeaniene Frost, Cathy Maxwell, Tracy Anne Warren, Sophia Nash, Elaine Fox Page A

stripped naked, went swimming, and got bitten by a shark.”
    Gray laughed, almost wishing that had been the outcome. “All but the last bit.”
    Rachel gasped. “No way. You? You got naked. In public.”
    “It wasn’t exactly public. There was no one around. But yes, I went swimming. Skinny-dipping.”
    There was a pause. Then, “All right, who are you really and what have you done with Gray?”
    Gray laughed again. Leave it to Rachel to cheer her up even on the heels of her biggest mortification. “Very funny.”
    “So, how was it, acting like me? Rewarding? Or did something bad happen?” Rachel’s voice was wry.
    “It was very rewarding,” Gray said, realizing she’d gone about this story the wrong way. “At first it was positively divine, and I could see why you follow your impulses, why physical freedom is so exhilarating. But then…” She felt breathless anew at the embarrassing memory, flushing hot again. “Oh Rachel, you won’t believe this, but a dog stole my clothes!”
    “A—what?”
    “As I was swimming, I saw this beautiful white dog running up the beach. I’d seen the dog before, actually. In fact, I saw it just yesterday on the beach, with a guy in a long, heavy coat. I remember because I thought it was strange that the guy was wearing a winter coat in June. Anyway, before I could do anything, this dog picked up my sundress and ran off. Just… ran off. I couldn’t believe it. I started whistling for it. Calling it. But it disappeared up the beach without a backward look.”
    “Oh my God.” Rachel paused, and was obviously having a hard time restraining laughter. “What about the guy in the coat? Was he around?”
    “I didn’t see him, but I did wait for him for quite a while. ’Til my fingers got pruney, and I thought I’d freeze to death. Then I ran out of the water, grabbed my underpants—thank goodness he didn’t take those too—and pedaled home as fast as I could.”
    Rachel was openly laughing now. “Did anyone see you?”
    “No! At least I don’t think so. I didn’t see a soul, thank God. Not that I was looking.”
    Rachel hooted. “And you had to go through town, didn’t you? What other way is there?”
    “I don’t know! I went through town. It was mortifying. Imagine it.”
    “Oh I am,” Rachel said through guffaws, adding, after Gray moaned, “Come on. It’s funny. And nothing bad happened, did it? I mean besides being embarrassed.”
    “No, I just kept my eyes on the road and my feet on the pedals.” Gray hesitated, struck by the idea that being embarrassed didn’t really qualify as something “bad” happening. “I guess I was only embarrassed.”
    “And seen by no one, as far as you know.”
    “As far as I know,” she repeated ominously.
    “Gray, I promise you, if anyone saw you, they were struck dumb by your beauty. It’s not like you know anyone anyway.” She chuckled again. “Besides, you were probably pedaling so fast you were invisible.”
    Despite herself, Gray laughed. “It was the fastest I’ve ever ridden.”
    “The fact is, I should try to be more like you,” Rachel said. “This is exactly the kind of thing that would happen to me, except the town would have been throwing a parade, and everyone would have seen me.”
    Gray scoffed. “You don’t want to be like me. I’m sick to death of who I am. Uptight and cautious and—well, my students call me the Gray Ghost. That should tell you something.”
    “It tells me they remember the time you caught them drinking beer in the woods.”
    “No, it means I’m practically invisible. I’ve spent a lifetime actually striving to be invisible. God forbid I ever made a show of myself, as my mother used to say. And now look at me. I’m scared of my own shadow.”
    “You are not.”
    “Trust me, I am. Coming up here was the gutsiest thing I’ve done in years, and right off the bat I do something stupid.”
    “What you did, Gray, was—was make a show of yourself! And wasn’t it kind