Lord Savage (9 page)

“Indeed he is,” Lady Carleigh said, taking my hand. “But I must tell you that there
has been a small bit of, ah, confusion.”

“Confusion, my lady?” I asked, confused myself. “What kind of confusion? Doesn’t Lord
Savage wish to be my Protector?”

“Oh, he does, he does,” Lady Carleigh assured me. “But it seems that another gentleman
has also become determined to possess you.”

“
Two
gentlemen!” I exclaimed with dismay. I’d been so focused on the earl that I hadn’t
even considered that he’d have a rival, nor did I wish him to. “But I thought Lord
Savage was—”

“Yes, yes,” Lady Carleigh said, pulling me forward. “It is rather irritating, is it
not? But I have contrived a solution worthy of Solomon himself. I have asked the two
gentlemen to bid for the opportunity of educating you, with the winning bid to benefit
the local parish charity. There’s no better way to test a gentleman’s ardor than through
his pockets.”

“You’re going to
sell
me, my lady?” I asked, stunned by this new twist.

“I suppose so, yes,” Lady Carleigh said. “It’s rather a brilliant idea, is it not?
The gentlemen believe everything’s been fairly done, charity benefits, and you shall
have the delicious experience of being a prized houri, desired and fought over. Now
come, my dear, and be as tempting as possible.”

The footman opened the door more widely, and Lady Carleigh led me into the room. The
air was thick with the heady scent of more incense, redolent of dark mysteries, while
the musicians continued to softly play their exotic music. It did have all the feel
of some sultan’s palace instead of a country house, a seductive invitation that was
impossible to resist.

My hesitation had made me late, and now I would be the last Innocent to be chosen.
The chairs of the Protectors had been arranged in a close ring around a small bench,
while the Innocents who had already been claimed stood obediently behind their Protectors.

It made for a shocking sight, the Protectors still in their full evening attire, while
the Innocents were half dressed in the same kind of revealing costumes that I myself
wore. Seeing the other women’s thinly veiled breasts was unsettling, but far worse—or
was it far more exciting?—were the male Innocents, gentlemen with whom I had conversed
politely over dinner now with their upper bodies bare and their cocks and balls proudly
displayed through the sheer fabric of their loose trousers.

I had never seen gentlemen—or ordinary men, either—show themselves so freely to me.
Hastily I lowered my gaze, my cheeks burning.

“Climb up, my dear, climb up,” whispered the viscountess, helping me step up onto
the bench. “Do not be shy, but bold, even brazen, the way a true beauty should. Stand
to the front where all can admire you.”

I swallowed, unable to look up as I instinctively shielded my breasts with my hands.

Coward,
I told myself,
coward,
coward! I had wanted excitement in my life, and surely there could be few experiences
more calculated to make my heart quicken than this, to wear the merest scrap of clothing
and stand in a crimson-draped room above the man I longed to have as my lover.

“A smile, my beautiful Innocent,” purred the viscountess beside me, “a winning smile
for your would-be Protectors, to encourage them to bid deeply for the privilege of
educating you.”

I was playing a role. I had to remember that. I was no longer Mrs. Arthur Hart, but
an Innocent, a beautiful, brazen Innocent, desiring to please and be pleased by my
Protector. I breathed deeply of the incense to force myself to relax, and slowly raised
my chin.

And at once I met the gaze of Lord Savage, sitting directly before me.

I caught my breath, startled by the intensity of his pale blue eyes. Because I was
standing on the bench, his face was turned up toward me, yet there was nothing of
the supplicant about his expression, nothing worshipful. True, his full lips were
curled into the merest hint of a smile, the smile of a gentleman agreeably happy with
what he saw.

But his eyes betrayed that genteel smile. Instead of agreeability, his eyes were watching
me with raw hunger and desire so great that I could feel it as surely as if he’d reached
out and caressed me. His eyes flicked down over my body, appraising not only my voluptuous
beauty but the depth of his own need. The intensity of his scrutiny made my heart
beat faster and my skin glow with an unexpected warmth that had little to do with
embarrassment.

His gaze stirred a restlessness in my body, and I fought the unexpected wish to press
my thighs together more tightly, as if that would somehow ease the restlessness. His
eyes promised that he’d explain, and make me understand. I wanted that knowledge from
him; no, I
needed
it, with an urgency that I’d no words to describe.

I forgot the other Protectors and Innocents watching me, forgot Lady Carleigh, forgot
the gaudy surroundings of the Egyptian Room. Every part of my awareness narrowed so
completely that Lord Savage and I might have been standing alone in some vast, empty
space. For me, nothing existed except him.

My lips parted on their own, and my breath quickened, and I could not have dragged
my gaze away from his if my very life had depended upon it.

“Take your hands from your breasts,” he said, startling me not with his request but
with the rough, deep sound of his voice. “Show them to me.”

I slowly dropped my hands to my sides, my earlier shyness forgotten. At once, too,
I felt my nipples tighten against the sheer cloth, exactly as they had when Simpson
had tugged them, except that now it was Lord Savage’s hands that I longed to have
caressing my breasts.

“Excellent,” he said, drawing the syllables out.

It was all the encouragement I needed. I pulled back my shoulders and hollowed my
belly to mimic the effect that my corset usually created. The result was to lift my
breasts higher, as if I was presenting them to Lord Savage, the rosy tips pushing
forward with a brazenness I had never realized I possessed, exactly as Lady Carleigh
had advised me to be.

This time the earl said nothing, nor did his half smile change. But I saw the extra
spark of interest and desire in his eyes, a hunger that was so predatory that an answering
shiver rippled through my body.

“Surely she must be one of the most lovely Innocents ever to grace our party,” Lady
Carleigh said, her voice low and enticing. “How fortunate the gentleman who will be
her Protector! Shall we begin the bidding, my friends?”

“A hundred guineas,” Lord Savage said with such confident assurance that it was almost
a drawl. “That will make for a fair start, yes?”

“Damnation, Savage,” said the man beside him, his voice full of violent anger. “There’s
nothing fair about this devil’s bargain. The bitch
will
be mine, no matter how far you empty your pockets!”

I gasped, my eyes widening. The seductive spell that had existed between me and Lord
Savage had been shattered, and the reality of my situation was now harshly apparent.

Lord Savage was only one of the gentlemen vying for me.

The other was Baron Blackledge.

FOUR

In an instant the mood in the room changed. The sweet air of seduction and amusement
vanished as quickly as the musicians stopped playing, leaving only the leaden anger
of Baron Blackledge. Automatically I shrank back to the edge of the bench, and again
covered my breasts with my hands—not so much to shield myself in modesty but as a
way of protecting myself from the violence of the baron’s outburst.

Slowly Lord Savage turned in his chair to face the other man, his half smile still
in place. I sensed a sudden tension behind his outwardly relaxed features, something
taut and dangerous that the baron would be a fool to ignore.

“I’ll thank you, Blackledge,” he said with deceptive mildness, “not to refer to Mrs.
Hart with such crude vulgarity. She is a lady, and deserves to be treated as such.”

But the baron shook his head, his face flushed and mottled above the stiff white collar
of his dress shirt.

“If I buy her, then I can call her whatever I wish,” he said bluntly. “Those are the
damned rules of the Game, aren’t they?”

“The rules, Baron, say that she is an Innocent,” Lady Carleigh said gently, gliding
forward to stand before me and the two men. “Pray recall, too, that you are bidding
not for ownership of the Innocent’s person, but merely for the right to her education
whilst you are my guest.”

“A welcome reminder, Lady Carleigh,” Lord Savage said, and though his smile widened,
the tension was still apparent in his handsome features. “You are wisdom itself.”

Lady Carleigh feathered her hand before her in acknowledgment.

“You are far too generous, my lord,” she said. “I’d thought I had explained the rules
of our little auction sufficiently, but if Lord Blackledge has misinterpreted them,
then I am the one at fault, for my lack of clarity. Is that not so, Baron?”

But Lord Blackledge was in no humor for reminders, or apologies, either.

“Two hundred,” he said curtly, his gaze riveted to my breasts.

Savage’s smile widened a fraction. “Four hundred.”

“Five,” answered Lord Blackledge.

“Ah, Blackledge,” Savage said. “And here I thought we were doubling. A thousand pounds.”

A thousand pounds.
I was trembling, my heart drumming in my breast. A thousand pounds was nearly five
thousand dollars, an enormous sum for a frivolous party game.

Because that was what it was, wasn’t it? A game, and no more?

But what would I do if the baron outbid Lord Savage? I didn’t like Lord Blackledge,
and worse, I didn’t trust him. Why did I sense that this had become a game I couldn’t
quit?

“Damn you, Savage,” said Lord Blackledge. He was sweating now, the coppery little
hairs at his temples curling damply. “Two thousand pounds!”

“You needn’t take this course, Baron,” Lady Carleigh said, coaxing. “There is another
Innocent in need of instruction, a rare beauty I invited especially at your request.”

For the first time I noticed the other young woman who was waiting to one side without
a Protector. She hadn’t been at dinner, and I guessed she must be one of the servants
willing to participate, as Simpson had described. She was indeed a rare beauty, with
luminous large eyes, pale gold hair, and heavy, full breasts beneath her transparent
gown, but she looked disappointed, even petulant, at being ignored, like the last
wallflower at a ball. Despite my uneasiness, I felt sorry for her.

“It’s quite rude of you to ignore the other, ah, Innocent, Baron,” I said. “Especially
if you requested that she—”

“Silence!” ordered Lord Blackledge curtly, his eyes flashing. “No Innocent has the
right to address a Protector without permission. You deserve punishment for that,
and when you are mine, I’ll make sure that you never dare open your mouth except to—”

“But she won’t be yours, Blackledge,” Savage said beside him. “Ten thousand.”

“Ten thousand!” the baron exclaimed, his face florid and mottled with anger. “Damn
you, Savage. Ten thousand for—”

“For this Innocent.” Savage’s voice was deceptively mild. “A round sum, yes?”

“You will counter, Baron?” asked Lady Carleigh hopefully. “Recall the wagers are for
a charitable—”

“Blast the charity, and blast the wagers with it.” The baron stood abruptly, his hands
clenched into tight fists at his side. “You take her, Savage, and to the devil with
you both.”

He turned and crossed the room to the young woman he’d ignored, and seized her by
the wrist.

“Come,” he said, pulling her along to the door. “I’ve had enough of this company.”

The girl followed him, stumbling a bit over the hem of her flowing gown. He swore,
and jerked her arm to make her keep up.

Yet, despite this treatment, her smile was sly and knowing in a way that puzzled me.
Perhaps the girl had done this before. Perhaps she was already familiar with the baron’s
temper and knew how to manage it to her benefit. Certainly she seemed unconcerned
with the rough way Lord Blackledge was treating her, and with a little shiver, I thought
how grateful I was not to be in the girl’s place.

“Well now, I suppose that’s done,” the viscountess said, smiling at Savage as the
other guests, Protectors and Innocents alike, began to leave the room to begin their
own, more private, amusements. “While I thank you for your generosity,” Lady Carleigh
continued, “I must also accept your bid of five thousand as final, since Lord Blackledge
did not raise his offer beyond that.”

Savage rose and bowed slightly. “I offered ten thousand, Lady Carleigh, and ten thousand
it will be. Your little parish will undoubtedly spend it in a more Christian manner
than would I. I’ll have a bank draft sent to your attention.”

Lady Carleigh chuckled, running her fingers lightly up and down her long strands of
pearls. She was a Protector herself, and as she conversed with Lord Savage, a powerfully
built and mostly naked young man came to stand respectfully beside her. Without looking
at him, the viscountess idly began stroking the young man’s bare chest, her jeweled
fingers toying with his dark, curling hair and pinching his small, puckered nipples.

I knew I shouldn’t be shocked, but I was; nor was the sight of Lord Carleigh escorting
a giggling young woman from the room, with his hand firmly on her bottom, any less
unsettling.

“My church wardens wouldn’t dare accept that draft, my lord,” Lady Carleigh continued
with languid bemusement, “if they knew the half of how you spent your … money.”

“Then you’d best not tell them,” Lord Savage said, turning away from her to me, still
standing on the bench. He offered me his hand, and I took it, hopping lightly down
to the carpeted floor.

“I must thank you, too, my lord,” I said warmly, still holding his hand as I gazed
up at him. “That was most generous of you, and on my behalf, too. Ten thousand pounds!”