Three Times the Scandal (6 page)

Lady Darleston, had a pleasantly oval face, but her blush and smile were both painted on, and although her words were pleasant, there was something savage about her eyes.

“
Why are you here?” Darleston towered over his wife. She sat closest to the fireplace—the ruling matriarch.

“
Is it such an inconvenience that I wish to spend time with my husband?” She cast a sly glance at Fortuna as she spoke, and for a moment their eyes met. Fortuna immediately pictured her in the park the following day, wrapped up against the cold in a crested barouche, spreading word of her whereabouts to the other society matrons.

“
If I wanted your company, Lucy, I’d request it.” Darleston dropped his brandy glass into the hands of Dovecote’s servant and swept out of the room.

Lucy responded with a theatrical sigh, and gave a delicate shake of her head. “I see neither of you gentlemen is prepared to defend me. It pleases him to be spiteful. It’s a disgrace that he even attempts to leave me behind like that.”

“
It was hardly leaving you behind,” Giles remarked, staring at the door through which Darleston had departed. “You do live there.”

“
I reside there, Giles.
Live
implies there is something beside boredom to be had within those walls.”

Giles stretched his long legs and crossed to the sideboard. “Please, save your breath, no sob stories. I’m sure the arrival of the new countess has provided you with endless opportunities for entertainment, without you needing to intrude upon ours.”

“
That is where you are mistaken.” Her voice dropped to a breathy sigh. “I’m here because what I want is here. Surely Miss Allenthorpe will not deny me the pleasure of one gentleman’s company when she has three at her disposal?”

Giles hushed Fortuna with the tick of his fingertip before she had a chance to respond. “Come,” he said, and taking her hand, drew her into the hallway. “There is no point in rising to her bait. Best we simply humour her, least she becomes even more spiteful. She has what she wants now.”

Fortuna frowned. “Didn’t she want Lord Darleston?” They’d left Lady Darleston with Neddy.

Giles shook his head. “Pay her no regard. Come, I’ll show you the guest room.” He slipped his hand into hers.

Fortuna’s heart found its way into her throat as he led her upstairs. She’d trodden a similar path with Pennerley to his bedchamber and lost her innocence as a result. She couldn’t lose it twice, but that didn’t quell her nervousness. Nor did it mean she had to make the same mistake twice. She’d given her virginity to Pennerley having conceived of some ninny notion that the attraction between them ran both ways. In truth she’d been no more than a passing diversion for the handsome marquis, who instead of offering for her hand, had abandoned her the moment the deed was done, leaving Sir Hector as her only suitor.

Dovecote paused on the first landing, so she could steady her rattling teacup. He rested his back against the burnt orange walls. “You look as if you’re expecting to be devoured.”

“
Am I?”

Fire flared within his eyes, and he moved swiftly forward. Fortuna squealed in fright and jerked away, causing the teacup to leap from the saucer. It tumbled down the stairs and smashed across the mosaic tiles.

“
Oh! I’m sorry.” She lifted her skirts as if to follow.

Dovecote pried the saucer from her grasp and chucked it after the cup.

Fortuna stared up at him in shock, straight into his jade-green eyes.

“
It’s no use without the cup.” His thumb brushed slowly across her parted lips, moistening them. “Do you want me to, Fortuna, or is it just what you expect?”

Yes, yes, she did, and she didn’t. Her nipples were already two stiff spokes rubbing against the stifling barrier of her stays. She longed to feel his touch, yet feared the rejection that would surely follow. Eyes downcast, she refused to answer.

“
I gave you my protection, so I’ll only do what you ask. So, tell me, what it is you desire?”

She wanted his kisses to rain down upon her face, wanted to feel passion and love. Have him lift her breasts free and press his lips to them, roll her nipples hard between his fingers and thumbs. She wriggled at the thought, unable to suppress the urge to deliver a touch of friction to her quim.

Giles’s pink tongue flicked against his teeth, and suddenly she sobered. He was enjoying this tease, and probably had no intention of delivering upon it. “You’re just like him,” she blurted, roused to sudden anger. What a fool she was to even imagine she was helping herself by coming here.

Giles quirked an eyebrow. “I hope that by him you don’t mean Sir—.”

“
Pennerley.” She cut him off.

“
Ah!” He took a step back from her, and clasped the banister. “And we are speaking of him because?”

Fortuna blushed furiously, realizing what she’d just admitted. Lord knows what Giles thought of her now. She hardly dared look at him to find out. No doubt he’d thought her chaste and virtuous.

“
Did you enjoy what he did?” His voice was surprisingly gentle. “I know Pennerley is cruel, but rumour has it, delectable too. Although, I confess I’m surprised to hear you speak of him.”

Her heart tumbled into her stomach as the memories of Pennerley’s touch flooded her senses. He’d tossed her like a wild storm, only to cast her aside when his pleasure was done. What little intimacy they’d shared had been brief, and fierce. It had made her feel crazy and alive. She’d burned with it, been consumed with the raw newness of it, but for Pennerley, she suspected it had passed as largely unremarkable. His rejection had hurt. It still hurt. It was like a little pocket of pain she carried around, but had no way of emptying out. Would Dovecote really be the same? After he’d spilled his seed, would the sheen on his knight’s armour seem tarnished?

The next gulp of air she took, stuck like a hard lump in her throat, still she forced the words around it. “I...” She’d enjoyed and hated every minute of it. “Likely, you’ve more experience of him. He’s your friend. I bet you’ve spent numerous evenings in his company watching him engage in all manner of vices.”

Giles smoothed his thumb over her palm in concentric circles, coaxing trust with the caress, and making her traitorous body sigh. Regardless of the rejection she was anticipating, she wasn’t ready to forgo the intimacy that came first. She’d made the decision to run away with him. She’d see it to the end. Despite Giles’s promises, she hoped this tarnished her reputation; perhaps then Sir Hector would frown at the thought of her. After his speech on the purity of female love, she didn’t think he’d consent to owning soiled goods.

“
Actually, despite common opinion, Pennerley isn’t half as promiscuous as many of his peers,” said Giles. The skin between his brows wrinkled in an endearing way that made her want to rub away the furrows. “He doesn’t flaunt his conquests, and I’ve never seen him make love. I wish that I could say the same about Neddy…” he glanced back down the stairs, “whom it is rather difficult to avoid seeing.”

“
And you? What of you?”

Giles smiled. “That, Miss Allenthorpe, you’ll have to learn for yourself. I made you a promise earlier, and your past adventures don’t change that. I won’t do anything unless you ask it of me. You may stay as long as you wish.”

Fortuna bit her lip. “Doesn’t that make you a funny sort of rakehell?”

“
Perhaps,” Giles mused. “But I would never describe myself like that.”

* * * * *

A tester bed with thick red drapes dominated the guestroom. Dark wood wainscoting lined the walls to shoulder height, above which, the walls were painted the maroon of dried blood. It might have been oppressive if the decorations had been less lascivious. Numerous paintings hung from the picture rails and several lewd sculptures graced the surfaces of the furniture.

Fortuna stared at the obscene images, many of which depicted acts that both sent a thrill through her and made her cheeks burn with embarrassment.

“
Good night, Fortuna.”

Curiously deflated, she sat on the bed and swung her legs. He wasn’t supposed to leave. Really, he should have seduced her in the carriage. She understood why that hadn’t happened, but now... She stared at the large empty bed, not wanting to run after him to beg for his attention. Couldn’t he at least offer her a little encouragement?

From the bed, her gaze slid to the paintings, taking in the various poses; ladies sucking upon their lover’s cocks, coitus performed in a myriad of different positions, intriguing scenes involving multiples of lovers, whips, shackles, and feathers, and imperious naked ladies flogging naked male behinds.

Fortuna licked her dry lips. The hall clock chimed an hour after midnight. She knew she ought to snuggle beneath the sheets and sleep, but the paintings made her want to touch herself. They fed her base instincts.

Hesitantly, she turned back the bedcovers, only to remember she had no nightdress, and only a half petticoat and stays beneath her gown. In twenty-four years of life, she’d never once slept naked. Perhaps Giles would loan her a shirt.

The splintered remains of her teacup and saucer still lay strewn across the hall tiles. Fortuna crept to the bottom of the stairs. There was no sign of Dovecote or his man to ask for a nightshift, but Lord Darleston stood in silent repose against the wall by the drawing room door. His eyes were closed, while his long hair lay fanned across the shoulders of his dark coat like rich seams of copper.

Fortuna warily approached. She reached past him to open the drawing room door, only for his hand to close on top of hers as she clasped the doorknob.

“
I shouldn’t if I were you.” His whispered words hissed against her cheek, sending a zing of fear and excitement through her insides.

“
Why?” She jerked away from his touch, and rubbed at her hand as if she could remove the impression of his palm.

He was more powerfully built than Dovecote. Taller, his shoulders broader, hips narrower, and his mouth far more sultry. She recalled how he’d crowded her mother, and made her blush. How he’d spun her about the dance floor, his agenda hidden behind a façade of civility.

“
Giles isn’t in there.”

A streak of danger hung about him that piqued her interest in a way that she dared not explore. She couldn’t imagine Darleston offering to protect her in the way Giles had.

He moved ever so slightly, so that his thigh brushed her skirts. “Do you believe in free love, Miss Allenthorpe?”

She blinked up at him uncertainly. “Free love?” It sounded like something a rakehell would enjoy and that she ought to faint over.

“
It’s what you’ll find in this room. So, best be certain of what you’re seeking before you enter.” He tweaked the knob and let the door swing inwards.

In the bronze glow of the hearth, Neddy and Lady Darleston lay entwined. The latter wore only her stockings. The remainder of her clothes lay strewn across the furniture. Neddy, to her shock, was completely naked. The firelight licked pleasing shadows across the broad expanse of his back. His upper arms were thickly corded with the sort of muscles she’d seen on farm labourers and navvies. Not the sort of evidence of work she expected to see on a gentleman. Lower, his legs were equally firmed and covered in thick golden hairs. His bottom was comprised of two firm globes, which in that wild moment, she could imagine digging her nails into so they left red half-moon indents in the flesh.

Fortuna could count on one hand the number of real kisses she’d seen. She’d never seen real people engaged in a sexual act. Her breath became flighty as she watched them arch together. Lucy’s hand lay curled around Neddy’s thick and ruddy staff, while his fingers dipped repeatedly into her slit.

Curiously light-headed, Fortuna took a step back from the doorway.

“
Do they excite you?” Darleston’s words intruded upon her wayward thoughts. His gaze fixed upon her face.

“
Your brother... Your wife...” she gasped. How could he stand by and tolerate the adultery?

His grey eyes seemed to glow, almost as if the sun were peeking from behind a thundercloud. “Is he inside her yet? Describe them for me.”

She realized he wasn’t looking into the room, but at her expression.

“
Why do you want to know?”

“
Sh-h!” he hushed her. “Just describe.” His soft hiss coaxed like a caress. Surely the infidelity hurt. It had to. So why was he so insistent upon her doing this?

“
Please.”

The hint of desperation in his voice sheared away her reserve and once she began, the words spilled out easily. They tumbled over themselves in a stream of colours and invectives as she painted a detailed description of every touch. Even when their bodies joined, she didn’t hesitate. Instead, she watched Lucy straddle Neddy’s hips and sink upon his staff and felt her own cunny clench with anticipation.

Blindly she reached out, imagined the feel of soft skin beneath her fingertips, and pulse of blood racing below the surface. The waft of his perfume enslaved her. All these things she could have begged of Giles, if only she’d had the nerve to ask.

Neddy’s cock was huge. When he rubbed himself repeatedly between Lucy’s parted thighs, Fortuna thought she would go mad from the vision of it. Frustration pooled within her own body. It slicked her thighs with need, and curled her fingers into fists. With an uncomfortable squirm, Fortuna turned away from the lewd pair and stared instead at Darleston poised against the wall.