Simply Voracious (13 page)

He grimaced at his choice of words. He’d been semi-erect ever since he’d seen Lucky tasting his come on her fingers.

“Ah, well, I’ll just let you be then,” Marie-Claude said. “But if there is anything you need, just come and find me,
cheri
.”

Lucky watched Marie-Claude until she walked out of the main salon. “She is very nice.”

“And she is also extremely knowledgeable. If there is anything you want to know about what goes on between men and women, ask Marie-Claude.”

“Does she decide what parts you play, Paul?”

Paul looked down at his masked companion. “Sometimes, if a guest asks for a particular type of lover or a particular look. Usually I make my own choices.” He walked her over to a deserted table and chairs and waited until she sat down. There were very few people in the main salon at this early hour, and he was hopeful of remaining undisturbed for a while.

“What do you like doing the most?” Lucky asked.

“Everything,” Paul answered with a smile. “I’m quite willing to try anything.”

“But what do you like?”

Her simple question made him think rather harder than he usually wanted to. “Do I have to have a preference?”

Her color rose. “I didn’t mean to be rude, I . . .”

He reached for her hand. “I’m sorry, my lady. You have a perfect right to ask me whatever you want. When Gabriel bequeathed me his membership in the club, he told me to experience everything the place had to offer, and I’ve definitely tried to do that.”

“Why do you think Gabriel told you to do that?”

“Because he wanted me well occupied and out of his way while he made love to his wife? So that he didn’t feel guilty about abandoning me?” Paul shrugged. “Who knows? Perhaps he thought bedding a lot of women would make me become more like him.”

“And did it?”

“It taught me that I could fuck a woman,” Paul said flatly. “It didn’t make me like Gabriel. I still prefer men.”

“Then how can you even contemplate marrying me?”

Paul looked up sharply from his inspection of the floorboards into Lucky’s eyes and forced a smile. “Let’s not go over all that again, shall we? I thought we’d already decided that we both have good reasons for wanting to marry.”

Lucky was about to reply when someone came up behind Paul and she quickly looked down.

“Lieutenant St. Clare?”

He turned to find Ambrose standing over him.

Ambrose bowed in Lucky’s direction, “Ma’am, a pleasure.”

Paul rose to his feet. “What is it?”

“Madame told me to remind you not to forget to visit the room of desires with your guest.”

“Madame is here?”

“No, she left a note for you. I forgot about it earlier when we were in the kitchen.”

Paul stared at his old friend. Forgetting anything was most unlike Ambrose and indicative of his earlier disquiet about Miss Ross.

“I’ll certainly show her that room. Thank you for reminding me, Ambrose.” Paul smiled dismissively, but Ambrose refused to budge. “Was there something else?”

“Mr. Carstairs asked me if you were available to join him and his female companion tonight.”

“And I assume you told him no?”

Lucky stood and touched his arm. “If you wish to join them, I’m sure Mr. Ambrose would be able to see me safely home.”

Paul patted her hand. “No, that won’t be necessary.” He turned back to Ambrose. He might as well burn all his bridges at once. “You may tell Mr. Carstairs, and anyone else who asks, that I’m no longer available here ever again.”

He bowed to Ambrose and walked Lucky away from him. He wasn’t quite sure why Ambrose had insisted on forcing the issue of his involvement with the pleasure house right in front of Lucky, but at least she now knew what he’d done.

He kept moving until they reached the last door next to the entrance to the servants’ stairs. Lucky stopped and touched his cheek.

“You didn’t have to do that.”

“I did. If we marry, I don’t expect you to have to listen to obscene gossip about what I get up to without you at the pleasure house. I don’t want you to have to worry about whether the lord and lady you are entertaining for dinner have both been in my bed.”

“That is very noble of you.”

“No, it’s not. As I said, I gain a lot from this marriage as well.” Anxious to change the subject, he took a deep breath and knocked on the door in front of him. “This is the room of desires Ambrose was talking about.”

He opened the door and led her into the lobby. “A guest can come here and ask for a secret sexual fantasy to be organized for him. If possible, we will try to arrange it as quickly as possible. Only a few of us participate in the sexual games in here because, obviously, by choosing this option, most of the guests don’t want others to know they have these particular desires. We keep their wishes to ourselves.”

Lucky walked around the small space and peered into one of the empty rooms. “So is this your favorite thing to do here?”

“One of my favorites. I like the intimacy of it, and to be honest, the things that people ask for can be a bit more interesting than the norm.”

She swung around to look at him. “Like what?”

“Are you sure that you want to know?”

“I’ve come this far with you, surely you can trust me with the rest of it?”

He leaned back against the wall. “If you are sure.” At her nod, he continued. “There was one occasion when a widowed woman asked for three men to service her.”

“Three?”

“Indeed. She also demanded that the men be leashed and naked, that they only speak when spoken to, and then only say yes or no, mistress.”

“And what did she want you all to do? Behave like dogs?”

He smiled. “Well, she certainly wanted to hold our leashes and whip us if we misbehaved, but mainly she wanted all three of us pleasuring her at the same time.”

“All three of you,” Lucky said slowly. “How . . . ?”

He decided to be blunt. “One in her mouth, one in her cunt, and one in her arse.”

“Oh.”

“And she wanted us to keep changing position, so that she could experience all of us in every possible way.”

“Oh.” Lucky looked away from him. “And now I can’t stop trying to figure out exactly what such a scenario would look like.”

Paul found himself laughing. “Lucky, you are a delight.” He took her hand. “If you want to see such a thing, all we have to do is go downstairs.”

She squeezed his fingers. “I think I’ve seen quite enough for one night, don’t you?”

“But have I repulsed you?”

She looked into his eyes. “Not at all; I just have a lot to think about.”

He held his breath. “Do you think you will want to come back here with me?”

Her smile was calm. “It seems inevitable somehow, doesn’t it? And I’m sure there is a lot more of you to be seen here.” She sighed. “I suppose I should be shocked, shouldn’t I? Part of me wants to curl up in a ball and refuse to go out in society ever again in case someone tries to touch me. But there is another part of me that refuses to let one man destroy who I am.” She bit down on her lip. “Does that make any sense at all?”

He kissed her fingers. “It makes perfect sense to me, and I’m glad that you’ve chosen to be brave. I admire you enormously for it.”

At that, she blushed and looked away from him, but he was happy to let her, certain that he’d made his point and more than willing to take her back to the safety of Haymore House.

11

L
ucky stared out of her bedroom window and considered everything she had observed at the pleasure house on the previous evening. She’d seen her first fully naked and aroused man and then asked Paul to strip for her so that she could see him too. She rested her hot face against the windowpane. How could she have done that? In the familiar girlish surroundings of her bedchamber it seemed completely out of character.

But she was glad she’d seen him—touched him—even given him pleasure. By offering her a choice, he’d somehow restored some of the confidence she’d lost after Jeremy’s assault on her person. And it had been an assault. The more she thought about how well Paul had treated her, the angrier she became at Jeremy.

But there was more to learn both about Paul and herself. Did she want to see him with another man? Did her curiosity really stretch that far? Apparently it did, or she wouldn’t be dressed up, ready to leave with Paul when he finally appeared at the ducal mansion on another expedition to the pleasure house.

Milly came into the room, her face ablaze with anticipation, and hissed, “He’s here, my lady!”

Lucky smiled at her excited maid. “Thank you, Milly.”

“Should I tell him to hide in the morning room?”

“There is no need. My parents know that he is escorting me this evening. We plan to meet up with them later.” Milly’s face fell, and Lucky hastened to add, “We’re just not going to exactly the place that we told them we were going to.”

“Ooh, my lady,” Milly breathed. “You will be careful now, won’t you?”

Milly didn’t need to know it was far too late to worry about that. “Of course I will.” Lucky picked up her evening cloak and tied the ribbons at her throat. “I’m sure Lieutenant St. Clare will take excellent care of me.”

Milly held the door open, and Lucky slipped past her. She paused to look down on Paul, who stood in the large entrance hall, apparently observing a bust depicting Hades dragging Persephone down into the underworld. He was dressed in his uniform and his blond hair touched the back of his collar. He looked older and uncharacteristically serious. Lucky experienced a pang of doubt. Would he really let her out of the engagement that easily? He was proving remarkably more stubborn than she had expected. In truth, he was proving far more complex all around.

He turned as she came down the stairs and smiled at her. “Good evening, Lucky. You look beautiful. Are you ready for another adventure?”

“Indeed I am.” She placed her hand in his, and he brought it to his lips. “I told my mother we would meet them at the Lakeland ball by midnight.”

“Then I shall endeavor to ensure that you are taken there safely and don’t turn into a pumpkin.”

She chuckled as he led her toward the door. He was the only person who could make her laugh even at the worst of times. She would hate to lose his friendship. That unsettling thought made her glance up at him as he helped her into the hired coach.

He slammed the door and took the seat next to her. “What’s wrong, Lucky? Do you not want to go? We can attend that dreadful musicale evening your parents suggested instead, if you prefer.”

In the gloom of the single carriage lamp, Lucky studied his familiar, and now
not
so familiar, features. “If I don’t choose to marry you, will we still be friends?”

He reclaimed her hand. “I don’t see why not.”

“Won’t you think of me differently?”

He studied her carefully. “I’ve already begun to think of you differently, but I quite like it.”

“Because I touched you?”

“There is that, and because you have displayed the most remarkable common sense throughout all this madness.” He bent forward and brushed his mouth over hers. “But mainly because you made me hard and made me come.”

“I did nothing of the sort,” she whispered almost against his lips.

His tongue flicked out and traced the line of her lower lip. “Yes, you did. You touched me, you held my shaft in your hand, and you stroked me until I had no choice but to climax.”

“Yes, I suppose I did,” she breathed and opened her mouth to his questing tongue.

She’d always enjoyed the kissing part, and Paul was obviously a master at it. Unlike Jeremy, he didn’t seem in a rush to end the kiss either. She’d always thought Jeremy saw kissing as a token that had to be paid in order to venture on to more visceral and uncomfortable pursuits. Paul took his time learning her mouth, what she liked and what made her inch closer and closer to his body until he was supporting most of her weight.

When he eventually pulled away, Lucky realized the carriage was no longer moving, and that the outline of a footman was visible through the mercifully grimy window. She touched her mouth and the kidskin of her glove felt rough against her now swollen lips. Paul’s gaze dropped to her questing fingers and he groaned.

“Now all I will be thinking about for the rest of the evening is the sweet taste of your mouth.” He hesitated. “Did I scare you?”

“No,” she replied. “Not at all.”

“Good.” He held out his hand. “Then shall we go in?”

She drew her hood over her head and allowed him to help her down from the carriage and into the back entrance of the pleasure house. To her surprise, he led her through into a large, homely kitchen, where the dark-skinned man he’d called Ambrose sat reading a newspaper at the table.

“Evening, Ambrose,” Paul said cheerfully.

Ambrose lowered the paper and studied them. “You should use the proper entrance, Lieutenant. You no longer work here, remember?”

Lucky pulled at Paul’s hand, but he kept advancing.

“Oh, for goodness’ sake, Ambrose. Stop being such a scold. I’m trying to keep my intended’s identity a secret. I’m sure Christian won’t mind.”

“I’m sure he’ll give you his opinion on that in his own good time. He’s upstairs with Marie-Claude and Madame Elizabeth.”

“I know.”

Ambrose put the paper down completely. “You do?”

“I asked him to meet me there.” Paul grinned at Ambrose and clapped him on the shoulder. “I just need a mask for my lady, and we’ll be off.”

A few minutes later, Lucky found herself being escorted up the narrow servants’ stairs and out into a deserted hallway.

“Where are we?” she whispered.

“At the room of desires.” Paul unlocked the door and held it open. There was already light seeping under one of the closed doors and a banked fire in the grate. “I thought you might be more comfortable in a more private environment.”

“More comfortable doing what?”

He smiled down at her. “Watching me.”

She could think of nothing to say to that, but was acutely aware of a thrill of anticipation shooting through her. Who would’ve thought she had such a wicked streak? Maybe she was more like Paul’s side of the family than she realized.