Lord Savage (35 page)

“But I didn’t suffer, my lady,” I said. After our encounter in the gallery, Lady Carleigh’s
words shouldn’t have surprised me, but they did. “I have few regrets or complaints
where Lord Savage is concerned.”

“Few?” asked Lady Carleigh, pouncing on the single word of doubt.

“None,” I said firmly, correcting myself. My only complaint—if it could be called
that—was of my own doing, not his, forgetting that our week together was meant to
be that time, and no longer. “I have no regrets nor complaints, and if I were to make
the choice again, I would without doubt once more choose Savage.”

The viscountess tipped her head to one side. “This is the truth? You aren’t simply
being polite?”

“I wouldn’t do that, my lady, not about Lord Savage,” I said, more wistfully than
I could have wished. “He is an … an
unforgettable
man.”

“You intrigue me, Mrs. Hart,” Lady Carleigh said, her curiosity apparent. “When we
have more time and are at our leisure, I shall expect you to tell me more of your
experiences with his lordship. Much more.”

“Yes, my lady,” I said. It was the only acceptable answer, even though I knew such
a conversation with the viscountess would never happen. To make idle gossip of what
I’d shared with Savage would be a kind of betrayal that I wouldn’t commit. There were
things that were too private, too special, too rare to confide to anyone else, and
this last week with him was one of them.

“Yes, yes, yes,” said Lady Carleigh, licking her lips with anticipation. “But I must
ask you one more favor tonight, my dear. Please do your best to see that Savage keeps
the peace. The last thing I wish tonight is more violent unpleasantness among the
gentlemen. My nerves—and my furnishings—cannot bear it.”

“I’d no intention of inspiring any violence, my lady,” I said, remembering all too
well the ugly scene with Mr. Henery.

But the viscountess remained skeptical. “In that dress, Mrs. Hart, you could inspire
the entire country of males to riot and go to war. Pray limit yourself to conversing
tonight, and let us all try to survive the night unscathed, yes? Ah, Lord Blackledge,
we were just speaking of you!”

The baron bowed to both of us, but his gaze never wavered from my breasts.

“I trust you haven’t forgotten what I told you, Mrs. Hart,” he said, his smile too
wide. “I
will
be claiming you tonight.”

“Yes, yes, Baron, so you have told us all,” Lady Carleigh said, hooking her arm into
his. “But our lovely Mrs. Hart is not yours yet. You are absolutely forbidden to cause
any mischief over her with Lord Savage, or else I shall have you both tossed out of
my house like the curs that you are. Now come with me, and leave this lady in peace.”

With Lady Carleigh tugging on his arm, Lord Blackledge had no choice but to follow,
and as soon as they left me, several gentlemen immediately joined me in their place.
Clearly, they’d been warned to behave as well, for although they stared at me with
unabashed lust, their conversation was as bland and respectful as if I’d been their
elderly maiden aunt.

And while each was perfectly presentable as gentlemen went, not one of them inspired
an iota of desire in my blood. How could they, when they’d be following a man like
Savage?

I was only half listening when I heard the footsteps coming down the hallway. I knew
whom they belonged to, even without turning to see, and when he took my arm, his touch
was so achingly familiar that I nearly gasped aloud.

“We must talk, Eve,” Savage said, his voice rough and urgent. “Come with me.”

“No, my lord,” I said, pulling my arm free. I took a step apart from the other gentlemen,
not wanting them to overhear whatever Savage might say. I wanted and needed to be
strong. He’d wounded me once already this day, and I wasn’t going to let him do it
again. “You’ve made it clear enough that we’ve nothing left to say.”

“Nothing, Eve?” he asked. “When I’ve barely begun?”

Although he was impeccably dressed for dinner, his jaw shaved and his hair sleeked
back, his expression was ravaged and haunted, his pale eyes as desperate as a wild
animal’s. I hated seeing him like this, and it took all my will not to give in.

“There’s nothing left to say, my lord,” I repeated as firmly as I could. “You made
that clear enough to me earlier.”

He shook his head, his lips pressed tightly together. “The only thing that’s clear
is that you misunderstood me. I went to your rooms, only to have your maid tell me
you hadn’t waited. You left without me, Eve. I never believed you’d do that, not to
me.”

He was looking at me with a mixture of raw longing and despair so palpable that it
shocked me.

“Please, Savage,” I said softly. “I know the rules of the Game, too. I understand
everything ends today. You don’t have to explain them again.”

“You wore the pearls,” he said. “
My
pearls. You remembered. You’re remembering now.”

I blushed. I
was
remembering, one glorious memory of us together crashing into the next, and with
the same intensity of our sex.

“Please don’t, Savage,” I begged. “I’m not a fool. Don’t make me look like one now.”

“You’re never a fool, Eve,” he said, that almost-hoarse voice that could hypnotize
me. “Never.”

No matter what he’d said before, the connection remained between us. I felt it, and
I was sure he did as well. We might have been the only two people in the room instead
of two among twenty.

He reached out and lightly ran his fingertips down the inside of my arm, letting the
back of his hand graze over the side of my breast. My gaze followed his hand, unable
to look away; he was wearing the black onyx links in his cuffs, and the diamond eyes
of the coiled gold snakes seemed to wink at me as his fingers trailed down my arm.
It was the lightest of caresses, yet still I shivered, the familiar desire beginning
to build in my body.

“Not here, Savage,” I begged, yet I didn’t pull away. “Please.”

“Then where, when you wouldn’t wait for me?” he said, his hand dipping in between
my arm and my hip to settle around my waist. “Why not here?”

“Because—because everyone is watching us,” I stammered, leaning closer to him. The
silk of my gown was so light that I felt the warmth of his hand through it, finding
the narrowest part of my waist and holding me there,
there
.

“Do you think I give a damn about these other people?” he asked, demanding. “Do you
think I’d let them keep me away from you?”

I closed my eyes when I shook my head, thinking that that would be enough to shut
him away. But instead of making it easier to ignore him, the image he’d painted for
me became more vivid, and infinitely more difficult to resist.

“I want you badly, Eve,” he continued in a rough whisper meant only for my ears, “so
badly that I want to pull up your skirt and take you here, now, with all of them watching,
an audience to shock. You’d like that, too, wouldn’t you? To put your legs around
my hips and ride my cock as fast and hard as you wanted, your beautiful tits bouncing
and your head thrown back until you came, screaming my name?”

Swept away by his words, I made a broken little cry when he finished, and pressed
my hand across my mouth.

“Mrs. Hart, are you unwell?” asked Lady Carleigh, her face full of concern as she
touched my hand. Beside her stood the tall footman, and beside him was Lord Carleigh,
with the rest of the guests clustered around them.

“Forgive me, my lady,” I said, blushing with confusion as I separated from Savage.
“I am perfectly well. His lordship had just told me something that, ah, startled me.”

The viscountess was not fooled, and her gaze shifted suspiciously to Savage.

“My lord,” she said formally. “I do not wish any further misadventures in my house
tonight, especially not involving you and this lady.”

Savage took a deep breath, dragging his gaze away from me to collect himself. If he
hadn’t, I doubted he could have done it—nor could I.

“You have my word, Laura,” he said at last, sleeking his hair back from his forehead.
“No misadventures. All I wish to do now is take Mrs. Hart in to dinner.”

At that moment, the butler struck the dinner gong. Two by two, the masters and the
mistresses and their Innocents began to walk to the dining room. Savage offered his
arm to me, and I took it gingerly, letting him lead me in to the table with the others.

I didn’t speak, and neither did he, and I could only wonder if he was as confused
as I was myself at that moment. He had made it abundantly clear earlier that this
was good-bye, and yet neither his words nor his actions now were those of a man who
was soon to be free of any attachments.

What could he hope to achieve by playing the last-minute role of a desperate lover?
What was the point of stringing out our farewell over the entire evening, when the
outcome would still be the same?

He led me to my place beside his at the table, waiting as the footman pushed my chair
in for me before he sat as well. In the midst of the general fuss and conversation
as everyone sat and settled, he squeezed my hand beneath the table, his fingers strong
and sure around mine, and leaned close to my ear.

“You are incomparable, Eve,” he said, his breath warm upon my ear. “Remember that.
To me, no other woman can ever come close to you.”

I turned my face toward his, and he kissed me, fast and hard, and yet with a subtle,
unexpected sweetness, too. Afterward he held my gaze for a long moment, then turned
away to answer the footman who was offering him wine.

I stared down at the damask napkin in my lap, surprised by the quick sting of tears
that his kiss had brought. It could well have been our final kiss, a possibility that
was suddenly unbearable to me. But I would not cry—I could not—and with a great effort
I composed my lips into a smile, and raised my face to look around the table.

As Savage had predicted, they were a much less exuberant company this evening than
when they’d assembled that first night. Only one or two of the Innocents still wore
their costumes, which, after a week’s wear, were looking decidedly bedraggled. No
one seemed particularly interested in sex now, either, and there wasn’t any groping
or fondling or diving beneath the table.

To my eye, my fellow guests instead seemed as if all they desired was a good night’s
sleep in their own beds, and I remembered how Savage had predicted there wouldn’t
be a stiff cock among the lot. I’d have to agree.

Except, of course, for Savage and me. Having him beside me was the most exquisite
torment, as if my body could still sense and react to his by proximity alone. I could
not put from my mind what he’d said to me in the library, and in my thoughts I kept
playing the erotic scenario that he’d described, over and over. If he shoved back
his chair now and seized me and fucked me there on the dining table, I would have
been as eager for it as he claimed to be himself.

I forced myself to dip my spoon into the soup plate of vichyssoise before me, raise
it to my lips, and swallow.
Yes,
I thought,
that’s what I must do. Concentrate on the dinner, and try to forget the man beside
me.
Through course after course I persevered, and though Savage would occasionally smile
at me or brush his hand against mine, he didn’t speak directly to me, nor did I to
him. Twice, Barry appeared to whisper in Savage’s ear, which seemed to please him,
but he did not share his news, and I didn’t ask for it.

At last Lady Carleigh rose, tapping her spoon against her water goblet for order as
she smiled around the table at her guests.

“I must ask your attention, my dears, if you please,” she began. “As you know, this
is our last time as a party together, and it’s the final act of the Game for the Protectors
to describe how their Innocents have fared under their tutelage. From that, we shall
decide if the Innocent is ready to progress to become a master or mistress, or must
return to our next gathering for further education with a different Protector.”

She turned to Lord Carleigh, seated beside her. “Please be first, Carleigh. I know
you’ve much to say about your Innocent.”

“Indeed.” The bleary-eyed viscount dragged himself to his feet. He was one of the
more worn-looking Protectors, and the perkiness of his Innocent, the Honorable Mrs.
Bilton, popping to her feet beside him, only accentuated his exhaustion.

“I present my Innocent, whom I call Blossom,” he said, putting his arm around her
shoulders. “She has much to recommend her. She has become highly skilled in sucking
cock, and will take a stiff cock wherever it is presented. She has a special talent
for ass fucking, too, and has no shyness for sharing her master with another.”

While those around the table applauded, the Honorable Mrs. Bilton beamed, as if this
were the greatest compliment a woman could receive. I was silently horrified: not
that I cared one bit for what was said of Mrs. Bilton, but I cared very much for what
Savage was going to say about me.

Lord Carleigh held his hand up to silence the applause. “Yet, as estimable as this
Innocent’s accomplishments are, I recommend that she receive further training with
another master. Do you agree?”

The loud chorus of “ayes” left no doubt. Clearly, this was part of the Game, and Mrs.
Bilton looked so pleased by the decision that I was sure she’d been consulted.

Unable to keep quiet any longer, I leaned close to Savage. “Did you know this would
happen? That it’s decided who must remain an Innocent?”

“Oh, yes,” he answered, nonchalant. His earlier agitation seemed to have passed and
his mood had grown calm, or maybe he’d simply drunk enough wine that he’d become resigned.
“It’s always the same.”

“But you haven’t asked me which I preferred,” I whispered.

He shrugged, and smiled. “I didn’t feel it was necessary. I already have a good idea
of what you would wish.”