Read Simply Carnal Online

Authors: Kate Pearce

Simply Carnal (25 page)

BOOK: Simply Carnal
10.78Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads
“The lady went down to the right. I saw her. You go on. I’ll follow whoever else was here.”
Christian didn’t need a second urging; his mind filled with images of Elizabeth being stabbed, of her dying somewhere he couldn’t reach her. He heard the sound of a hackney cab and headed in that direction. By the time he reached the corner of the square, the cab was already moving away and he had no chance of catching it.
He paused and cursed out loud, his chest heaving, his gaze roving the square. A burst of laughter caught his attention. Diagonally across the garden in the center of the square, a group of men was walking toward the house on the opposite corner. Christian took off after them and prayed that he was right.
 
It seemed to take forever for the hackney cab to reach the coaching inn. At times, Elizabeth wondered if they had gotten lost, but the driver was whistling cheerfully and she had no choice but to believe that he knew where he was going. She’d chosen the inn after talking to many of the tradesmen who frequented the kitchens of the pleasure house. She’d wanted a place that was decent but not too high in the instep, as she would be appearing there without luggage and in the middle of the night.
By the time they reached the coaching inn, Elizabeth was barely able to keep her eyes open. She accepted the driver’s help to get down and, after she gave him the whole crown, his escort into the taproom. The landlord came to greet her, his careful gaze taking note of both her solitary state and her lack of baggage.
Before she could speak, the driver nodded at the landlord. “Lady’s carriage broke an axle. Left her maid in hysterics and her luggage all over the London Road. Thought she’d be better off here than standing in the street waiting for her carriage to be fixed.”
Elizabeth stared at her unlikely hero and he winked.
The landlord bowed. “Indeed, ma’am. Should we be expecting your husband as well?”
“No, sir, I’m a widow.” Elizabeth drew back her veil and gave the landlord the benefit of her most bewitching smile. “I just need somewhere to lay my head for the remainder of the night so that I can forget my horrible ordeal.” If the hackney driver could manufacture a tale, the least she could do was go along with it.
“Yes, ma’am. We have a suitable bedchamber for you at the back of the house so you won’t hear all the comings and goings. I’ll take you up.”
Elizabeth turned to the hackney cab driver. “Thank you, sir.”
He winked at her again. “Pleasure to help a pretty lady. Now keep safe, you hear me?”
“I will.”
She followed the landlord up the narrow staircase and to the end of the timbered hallway. He opened a door and she followed him in. He bent to light the fire and then some of the candles.
“I’ll send someone up with some hot water. Do you require any refreshments?”
“No, I thank you.” Elizabeth sank into the chair closest to the fire and held out her hands to the blaze. “I’m just glad to get in from the cold.”
“Indeed, ma’am.”
“Thank you.” She smiled at him again, and his face softened. Christian was right. Beauty did give her some advantages, and on this occasion she was quite happy to exploit them.
He left her in the warm glow of the fire, and she took off her soaked boots and stockings and put them close to the fire to dry. A knock at the door revealed a maid with the promised hot water, a glass of warm milk, and a nightgown. Elizabeth gratefully accepted everything and asked to be woken before dawn.
After washing her hands, she sat in the chair, tucked her feet up under her, and slowly sipped at the milk. There was a hint of honey and chamomile, which she assumed were to help her sleep. When she finished the milk, she took her time unpinning her hair. Her head was aching and the bed looked more comfortable every time she thought about it.
The stable clock struck one, and she finally crawled into bed. The sheets were well starched and fresh, the pillow rather hard, but by this time, she didn’t care at all.
 
It hardly seemed more than five minutes before the maid was shaking her awake and offering to help her dress. Elizabeth hurried through her morning preparations, drinking scalding coffee and munching on soft white bread and butter as the maid laced up her corset and helped her with her hair.
A cockerel was crowing as she left the inn, which somehow seemed fitting, and the sun still hadn’t risen. She made her way to the ticket office for the mail coaches and managed to purchase an inside ticket for the next transport, which was due within the hour. She spent the remaining time in the communal taproom, the veil on her bonnet down, her reticule clasped firmly in her hands.
When the coach arrived with all its usual hustle and bustle, she got to her feet and went outside into the cold bright morning to join the busy throng around the vehicle. She ignored the shouting and jostling as best she could, part of her still disbelieving that she was actually going to leave England for good. She didn’t expect to return. If her plan failed, Armand would find a way to dispose of her. She shuddered at the thought that he might give her to Gaston.
Just as she was about to board the coach, a hand closed tightly on her elbow. She turned her head and found Christian at her side, his smile firmly in place, his expression concerned.
“Madame, I am so glad I found you before you boarded the coach. You are needed back at home.”
She tried to pull out of his grasp, but his hold was inexorable. Voices behind her started to grumble, and she felt the pressure of the other bodies eager to get on the coach shoving against her.
“Excuse me, madame.” Christian yanked on her arm and pulled her out of the throng. “Perhaps you’d care to discuss this matter with me in the inn.”
“Let me go.”
She didn’t bother to lower her voice, but it hardly mattered. In this melee, no one cared whether she was being held against her will. All they cared about was getting on the coach and sending it on its way.
“Do you have any luggage, ma’am?” Christian inquired, his voice far more civilized than his grip on her arm.
“No.” She glared at him through her veil, but he didn’t seem to notice. “Let go of me, Mr. Delornay, or I will cause a scene.”
“No one will hear you in this racket, and if you try it, I’ll simply put you over my shoulder, carry you into the inn, and say you’ve fainted.”
“You wouldn’t dare,” she hissed.
“Try me.” His smile was feral. “I’m tired of being lied to. It’s past time for you to tell me the truth.”
 
She allowed him to draw her away from the posting inn and toward the much-quieter environs of the church graveyard. He let her pull out of his grasp and walk ahead of him. Frost still shone on the grass, and the dark foliage gave everything a crisp and otherworldly feel. Christian studied the squat Norman church tower and then dropped his gaze to the slender woman in front of him.
His hunch that the jolly revelers in the square must have given their hackney cab to Elizabeth had paid off. Even in their drunken state, they’d heard her destination quite clearly and had been happy to share it with him. He hoped to God it wasn’t the only piece of luck he would have. He was damned if he was going to allow Elizabeth to disappear until she had heard from her own family and from him.
“Tell me the truth, Elizabeth.”
His quiet command made her stop walking and stare down at the frozen ground. “You know that I like to lie, Mr. Delornay.”
“Yes, I know that. You lied when you told me you intended to go back to France with Armand. You also lied when you tried to pretend that the children meant nothing to you.” He moved closer. “Why bother to run away if you’d already decided to return with Armand?”
She shivered as the wisps of his frozen breath trailed over her shoulder and he continued talking. “I thought about it for a long time last night, and I realized that your aim must be to get to the children without Armand’s knowledge while he is stuck here.”
She didn’t reply but he saw her stiffen and decided he had nothing left to lose. “I wish to make a bargain with you.”
She slowly turned around. “A bargain?”
“Lift your veil. I want to see your face.” He nodded as she obliged him. “It concerns a trade. If you do something for me, I will help you recover your children from Armand.”
“What kind of trade?”
Ah, at least she hadn’t turned him down flat. “Paul has become deeply involved with the Demon Club. I need your help to extract him from their claws.”
“Paul is an adult. Isn’t he entitled to take his sexual pleasures where he wants?”
Christian grimaced. “Let us just say that he wasn’t invited into the club on his own merits. Certain interested parties used him to lure me back. I’m afraid they intend to hurt him quite badly.”
“And if you go to his aid, aren’t you doing exactly what they want?”
He met her wary gaze. “Not if you are with me. I think that if we work together, we can all survive this mess and walk away unscathed.” She bit her lip and he kept talking. “If you help me, I’ll do everything in my power to ensure that Armand doesn’t keep those children from you.”
“There is nothing you can do.”
“At least let me try. And if we can’t come to a legal solution on Monday, I swear I’ll accompany you to France and help you steal the brats.”
She stared at him, her face pale. “Why?”
“Because”—he paused—“I wish someone had helped my mother keep her children.”
God, where had that come from?
“Perhaps I wish you to have the choices my mother was denied.”
She stayed silent for so long that he thought she’d turned to stone like the grave markers behind her.
“I accept your terms, Mr. Delornay.”
He realized he was smiling. “Just like that?”
She shrugged. “I’ve missed my seat on the stage to Dover, and the ship will sail without me. And I doubt you were going to let me go anyway.”
He regarded her seriously. “I have no intention of letting you go.”
Ever,
his mind added, but he wasn’t stupid enough to voice that wish quite yet. Much depended on what happened over the next few days.
He held out his hand. “Shall we return home, then? I’ve already rented a carriage to take us back to Mayfair.”
She sighed and walked across to take his arm. “Perhaps we can discuss how you intend to extricate Paul from his predicament on the journey home.”
“Indeed we can. I have several ideas.” He glanced down at her. “You might even end up enjoying yourself.”
22
L
ater that night, Elizabeth considered the gown Christian had asked her to wear. It was a transparent white muslin that clung to her shape as if it had been dampened down. He’d also told her not to wear any petticoats underneath, which hardly helped. A pink satin sash did nothing but emphasize the scanty nature of the bodice and the revealing expanse of her bosom.
“It’s perfect.”
Elizabeth swung around to find Christian regarding her complacently.
“This gown? It is quite indecent.”
He came closer and his all-too-familiar clean, laundered scent washed over her. “It is perfect for our purposes. You look like a debutante.”
“A debutante who is eager to bed every man in sight, perhaps.”
“Which is a fantasy much beloved by the kind of gentlemen who frequent the Demon Club.” He paused to tuck an errant curl behind her ear. “I want them to think that you are young and vulnerable.” She shivered as his fingers trailed along her jawbone. “Are you afraid?”
“A little,” she admitted.
“Good, you should be. These people are not pleasant or civilized. When they enter the Demon Club, they become animals and that certainly doesn’t involve respecting other people’s sexual choices.” He hesitated and then kissed her gently on the mouth. “I won’t let anyone hurt you. If my plan goes awry, I’ll leave Paul to his own devices and make sure you are safe.”
“Thank you for that, at least.” She pulled away from him before she gave in to the temptation to kiss him back. “Shall we go?”
 
Christian ignored both the raucous greetings from acquaintances and the naked bodies in the hallways, and ushered Elizabeth toward the largest salon in the Demon Club. He’d told her to keep her cloak on and was glad of it when he realized that the level of excitement was already high and climbing fast.
Kelveston was sitting in state on a dais flanked by his wife and the four other founders of the club. Below them, other members danced and fondled each other in a scene worthy of a Roman orgy. The golden cage by the fire was even more full of unhappy debtors than usual. Christian spotted Paul’s blond hair and disgruntled expression quite easily.
Melinda Kelveston wore the glittering face paint and earrings of a Roman woman and a toga that exposed one of her breasts. Her smile widened when she saw Christian approaching, and she stood up and waved at him.
He walked around the edge of the dancers to the side of the raised dais and bowed. “Good evening, Lady Kelveston, Lord Kelveston, gentlemen.”
Kelveston nodded. “I’m glad you could come, Delornay. We are all hoping to get our revenge on you tonight.” He laughed and glanced at the other men. “At the card table, obviously.”
Christian smiled. “Obviously. May I present my companion, Miss Sylvia? She has recently arrived from France.”
He drew Elizabeth forward and pulled off her cloak. She didn’t protest and stood there as the men and Melinda all stared at her. To her relief, Melinda didn’t seem to connect the lady she had met at the pleasure house with the scantily attired woman at Christian’s side.
“She’s a pretty piece, Delornay. I’ll give you that,” Kelveston said.
“And despite her garb, quite an innocent,” Christian replied. “In truth, she has no idea what is going to happen to her tonight.”
Kelveston licked his lips. “Then she’ll go in the cage—agreed?”
“Indeed. But she’s still mine.” Christian grabbed Elizabeth’s arm. “Come along, my dear.”
Kelveston and his cronies followed as Christian marched Elizabeth toward the golden cage. He waited while one of the footmen unlocked the door.
“What are you doing, sir?” Elizabeth squeaked, and clung on to his arm.
“Putting you in the cage.” He kissed the top of her head. “Now be a good girl and behave yourself. If I’m lucky, I’ll win you back. If not, you’ll be fucked by someone else and you’ll enjoy it.”
“I don’t want to go in a cage! You never said—”
He removed her clinging fingers from his arm and threw her bodily in, nodding to the footman to slam the door shut and lock it behind her. She stayed at the bars, pleading with him, but he ignored her and turned back to Melinda, who was applauding.
“She’ll calm down in a while,” he said airily.
“Oh, I hope not! I love it best when they are terrified.” She looped her arm through his. “Now that you are free again, do you want to find something to drink before we start playing?”
“Indeed, my lady. It would be a pleasure.”
Elizabeth watched Christian stroll away with the predatory Lady Kelveston hanging on his arm and fought the temptation to hiss at them like a cat. Instead, she pretended to be overcome and allowed herself to fall to the floor, moaning as someone neatly caught her. She opened her eyes to see Paul’s grim face over her.
“What in God’s name are you doing here?” he murmured.
Elizabeth allowed him to steady her and draw her close to his chest. “Rescuing you.”
“I don’t need rescuing. I got here all by myself.”
“Apparently not. Mr. Delornay believes there was a conspiracy to get you into the club and this cage to tempt him back.”
“He would think that.”
“And on this occasion I believe his suspicions are correct. They’ll hurt you to enrage him.”
“Damnation!” Paul groaned. “Can’t I do anything right?”
“It’s not your fault. Lady Kelveston wants Christian back in her bed. I also suspect Lord Kelveston and his friends are planning to cheat at cards and get Christian in the cage so that they can ravish you both.”
“Which means I am superfluous, as usual.” He frowned. “But what does this have to do with you?”
She patted his cheek. “I’ll explain that part later. Now here is what Mr. Delornay wants us to do ...”
 
Christian kissed Melinda as slowly and lasciviously as he could. He’d decided to treat her as if she was a guest at the pleasure house, meeting her demands as impersonally as he met all his guests’ needs. It made him think of Elizabeth and all the men she had endured. Would she be able to do what he’d asked of her tonight? She suddenly seemed fragile, and he suspected he was responsible for at least some of that.
Melinda stunk of wine and stale perfume, and the acrid taste of her made him want to puke.
“Did you see who else was in the cage, my darling?” Melinda inquired.
“I can’t say I really looked, my lady.”
Melinda giggled. “Your friend Paul St. Clare is in there.”
“He’s hardly my friend,” Christian replied. “He’s someone I fuck occasionally at the pleasure house.”
“Oh, I think he is much more than that,” she cooed. “He has connections to your brother-in-law and some of the most exulted members of the
ton
. It would be a shame if his particular sexual predilections were exposed here for all to see and gossip about.”
Christian barely managed to smile. “He’ll survive.”
She dug her fingernails into his coat sleeve. “I’m not so sure about that. My dear Kelveston is very keen to fuck him, and his mood is very dark tonight.” She was watching him closely and not quite as drunk as she appeared.
He laughed and kissed her cheek. “Then Paul is indeed a lucky man.”
Hoping he had convinced Melinda that Paul meant nothing to him, he led her back to the main salon where the card tables were being set up and to her seat on the dais. Kelveston was conversing with some of his friends, but he paused when he saw his wife and Christian.
“Delornay, you will join me at my table.”
“If you insist, my lord.” Christian paused. “Although it might be entertaining if we made this into more of a competition.”
“Go on,” Kelveston said, his brow furrowing.
“We play until the pool narrows and the stakes rise until only the best are left.”
“I like the sound of that.” Kelveston beckoned to the oldest of the club founders. “Boris, do we have rankings for everyone who is playing tonight? Would it be possible to divide them up into two pools and match the weaker players against the stronger?”
Boris withdrew a long sheet of paper from his pocket and put on his spectacles. “I don’t see why not, Kelveston. I’ll separate out the players, and while I’m doing that, you can tell the butler to rearrange the tables.”
Christian spared a single glance for the occupants of the cage and discovered that Elizabeth was as far away from Paul as she could possibly get. He hadn’t
quite
told her she’d be put in a cage, so her indignation hadn’t been entirely feigned. He’d win her back, though; he was quite certain of that.
It took quite a while to organize the drunken masses into some semblance of order, and even longer for Kelveston to explain the change in the rules. Each win meant a player got to pick one debtor from the cage to sexually service him or her. The favor could be taken immediately in front of the others or postponed until the player was out of the game.
Christian took a seat at the first table and nodded at his companions. Two of them were so drunk they could barely hold their cards, and the third was a nonentity. If the cards hadn’t been tampered with, he would win quickly and easily. The only other ponderables were who would Kelveston and Melinda choose from the cage? It was highly possible that they’d choose Elizabeth or Paul just to enrage him.
But they didn’t know his lovers as well as he did. Neither Paul nor Elizabeth would shatter if they were compelled to fuck someone else. At least he hoped they wouldn’t. He dealt the cards as quickly as he could and inspected his hand as he realized something still mired his calm. He didn’t want anyone else fucking Elizabeth. Pushing that concern down, he concentrated on the game. At this point, he really had no other alternative.
Elizabeth narrowed her gaze and stared across at the gaming tables. Christian might have told her that she was going to be thrust into a cage! Some of the inmates were openly weeping or lamenting their fate, and it wasn’t just the women. Whispers circulated as to what terrible sexual fate might await them all, especially if they were unlucky enough to be won by Kelveston or Delornay.
She tried to ignore the panicked whispers, but it was difficult. For the first time in a long while, she was worried that she would be forced to perform sexual acts with strangers. It seemed that learning to trust Christian had stripped her of her usual defenses. A shout went up from one of the tables, and her throat dried as the footman approached the cage with his set of keys.
To her dismay, it wasn’t Christian who appeared behind him but the unpleasant Lady Kelveston, whose gaze skimmed the contents of the cage like a starving wolf. She stared at Elizabeth for a long moment, and then her gaze moved on and she pointed an imperious finger at Paul.
“Him, the blond with the brown eyes.”
Paul winked as he strolled past Elizabeth, but she found she couldn’t smile back. Lady Kelveston walked across to the nearest chair, sat down, and flipped up her toga to reveal her perfectly bare sex.
“Lick me.”
Paul got down on his knees and lowered his head between Lady Kelveston’s bare thighs. She shoved her hand into his thick hair and pulled hard until he flinched.
BOOK: Simply Carnal
10.78Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

Other books

One True Theory of Love by Laura Fitzgerald
Touch of Power by Maria V. Snyder
Just A Little Taste by Selena Blake
Experiencing God Day By Day by Richard Blackaby
All I Ever Need Is You by Andre, Bella
Crush It! by Gary Vaynerchuk