The Accidental Courtesan (16 page)

And heaven help him if the chit actually could learn everything there was to know about courtesans and seduction in one afternoon and then used those skills to tease him further. His life would be pure hell.

“Lady Seymour, you do try a man's patience,” Gavin grumbled. He dropped in the nearest chair, stretched out his legs, and settled his chin in his upturned palm. Exactly how much information could she could glean from a group of courtesans in a few hours? The idea of Noelle speaking to a gaggle of soiled birds about how to satisfy a man in bed roused his slumbering erection. Again.

The courtesans knew about men; that much was true. Nevertheless, their teaching would be limited to explanations, and Noelle would be limited by having no actual experience. His cock twitched. He should call Noelle back and give her a real lesson in how to please a man, as a good courtesan should.

 

B
liss screwed up her beautiful face. “Of course a courtesan allows a lover certain liberties in public, in the right setting.” The girl shot Noelle an odd look. “But never on the street. His wife might pass by and witness the act. A courtesan is always kept separate from his family.”

Noelle plucked at the thread on her sampler and tried to appear bored. She didn't want to appear too eager for information. That could arouse suspicion as to the reason for her desire to know about courtesan behavior. The two women, Bliss and the russet-haired Edolie, knew her as Miss Noelle, a friend of Miss Eva's. They hadn't an inkling that she was a Lady. Eva preferred it that way, and Noelle agreed. In fact, Eva wore a spinster disguise when she was teaching classes. Very few people, outside of Sophie and Noelle, knew this secret side of her life.

Though Noelle wasn't disguised, she wore simple clothing and told the ladies she was a widow with charitable intentions and a desire to help abused courtesans. The women accepted her presence in that capacity.

They were fleeing a life of sexual servitude. All they wanted were husbands and families. Noelle was of little interest to the women. They had their own worries.

“Interesting.” Noelle wished she could put pen to paper and write everything down. To her surprise, there were a dizzying number of rules a good courtesan had to follow. It tore apart her notion that all the women did all day was lie abed, awaiting their lover's pleasure. “And the clothing?”

“It depends on the man,” Edolie said. She had possessed three lovers in her twenty-four years, and the third actually wanted to wed her. Unfortunately, the elderly baron had died during their last visit, in the midst of a particularly enthusiastic romp. The trauma had been enough to finally convince Edolie to give up her profession for a husband and children.

“I thought all courtesans dressed scandalously,” Noelle interjected. It was interesting how little she knew about courtesans. Everyone knew about them in a general way, as most husbands, fathers, and brothers had one. To spend time with them up close was a lesson in the depths of her ignorance. “Bright colors, low necklines, overflowing corsets ?”

Edolie nodded. “Sometimes yes, sometimes no. While a few men do prefer that their lover dresses modestly in public and scantily in private, other men find it pleasing to have her forgo a corset and wet the front of her dress so her nipples show.”

The courtesan paused and frowned. “I heard of one particularly naughty earl who took his courtesan to a ball where she wore only a long cloak, stockings, and slippers. Of course, it is an unconfirmed rumor.”

Heat crept up Noelle's neck. She tried to imagine any woman engaging in such appalling behavior. Yet she knew that in the world of trading sex for money and security, anything could happen. Debauchery and abuse were what sometimes led courtesans to this town house's door.

“It is rumored that a duke took his mistress to a party where clothing wasn't required,” Bliss added. “The party guests spent the entire weekend naked.” She leaned in. “And the men were whispered to have swapped their lovers.”

Dozens of outrageous questions popped into Noelle's head, but she kept them to herself. She'd retain some sort of propriety. If her questions got back to Sophie and, through her, to Eva, her sister would not be pleased. She'd want to know why Noelle was suddenly interested in courtesans.

“Shocking,” Noelle said simply, wondering if Gavin would ever take a mistress to a ball sans clothing, or wander around all day without a stitch on. Worse, she wondered what kind of proclivities he enjoyed in bed, and why she really wanted to know.

“There have been several of those parties,” Edolie added with a brisk nod. “The last was at Huntworth Manor. The earl lost his wife two years ago and has turned his home into a house of sin.” She screwed up her face. “I cannot believe anyone would want to see the earl in that state. He is quite robust in his midsection.”

Noelle gaped at that news. She had visited Huntworth with her mother and sister, once, many years ago. The countess had been a lovely woman, albeit a bit shy. The earl had been loud and red-faced with a barrel chest and a dark red beard. She tried not to imagine the man strolling about his grounds with a doxie on each arm and not a stitch of clothing between them. Unfortunately, the image planted itself in her imagination and refused to dissipate. She'd never again look at the earl without that disgusting thought popping into her head.

There was an entire world of debauchery she'd not been privy to. Faces she'd seen at balls and parties. Who knew what sorts of vile acts were committed in the privacy of some of the homes she'd visited as an innocent child?

A world she wanted to visit under the guise of finding out who was stalking Gavin and, indirectly, her. Could she pull off the charade with Gavin, knowing she was about to expose herself to who knows what?

Though Bliss and Edolie had given her several valuable pieces of information, she knew nothing, absolutely nothing, about the secret life of a courtesan! She'd never so much as had a man's hand on her unbound breast or bare thigh.

The closest she'd come to any sort of seduction was with Gavin, and even he had been a gentleman. Well, sort of. Kisses certainly hadn't led to nudity, and they certainly hadn't led to her agreeing to gallivant around London, bare beneath a cape.

Aches began in her secret places. Would the heat in his eyes turn to fire if he knew a cape, stockings, and slippers were the entirety of her clothing? Would he reach for the tie at her neck, knowing that with the flick of his wrist, the cape would puddle at her feet and she'd be naked to his unfettered gaze?

“Goodness, look at the time.” Noelle jumped to her feet, upending her sampler so it clattered to the floor. She scooped it up and clutched it to her breast. “I really must go. I have a prior engagement.”

Stumbling over both her words and her feet, Noelle hurried for the door, snatching up her cape and bonnet as she went. She didn't want him. Sex was for procreation and not for sport. Only men seemed to find it such. Women saw it as practical and a duty. A duty she had no interest in pursuing.

Sadly, her body wasn't in agreement.

A light fog rolling across London helped soothe the heat in her face and body as she hurried to retrieve her gig from the small stable behind the town house and climbed onto the seat. Taking up the reins, she snapped them over the back of the horse, thankful she'd chosen to drive herself this morning rather than take a hackney. The fresh air helped to ease the burn in her cheeks.

Beneath the bonnet, she thinned her lips and wondered how many men who had danced with her, laughed with her, all properly behaved, shamelessly enjoyed chasing naked doxies around. How many men who had pursued her in the years after her coming-out were the same men who swapped mistresses at the house party?

How many wives knew of their husband's despicable behavior and could say nothing?

Did Eva or Margaret know such things were happening under their noses whenever they attended a society function? There was no telling what information Eva knew and kept to herself. She'd wandered among courtesans, listened to their gossip, for years.

What had her shy sister Margaret learned from the courtesans during the weeks when she lived among them?

There was a brief time last year when Noelle had insisted Margaret don a courtesan disguise and enter the school in order to get information on the mysterious Eva. Having a third and illegitimate sister could have caused problems had the connection come out publicly. But both Harrington sisters had learned fairly soon that Eva wasn't at all what they'd expected, nor did she want anything from them. They'd quickly grown to love their father's secret daughter.

This courtesan rescuer with a big heart.

A thread of anger crept up her spine. She knew men of circumstance took mistresses, courtesans, but what of their families? Didn't they care that their behavior could shame their wives, their children?

Her father had loved Eva's courtesan mother, Charlotte, and she'd born him a daughter. Noelle and Margaret's mother had lived to make him miserable long before Charlotte had come along, so how could Noelle have resented his happiness?

The conversation with Bliss and Edolie confirmed what she already knew in her heart. Spinsterhood was a far better path for her. She'd never lie awake at night, knowing the man she'd vowed to cherish for her lifetime might be mistress swapping with other husbands. And she'd never risk her heart.

A
few hours later, Noelle called for the maid, Elsie, to help her into her costume. The young maid was easier to dupe than Martha, who never did anything for Noelle without first battering her with questions about who, what, and where she was going, and why. Martha was a mother hen in a maid's serviceable clothing.

If she was to convince Gavin she could go through with her plot, she had to convince him she was taking no chances with her reputation. “No one will recognize you now, My Lady,” Elsie said, and made one last adjustment to the wig. Noelle leaned in for a better look in the mirror.

Beneath a crown of dark brown hair and enough powder and rouge for three women, she hardly recognized herself. A beauty patch had been placed above the corner of her mouth, and Elsie had lined her eyes in black for a dramatic flair. The gown was gold satin and cut low, tight to the waist. The fabric flowed in watery waves to her feet.

Noelle had convinced Elsie she was attending a costume party where the best-costumed guest would win a prize, and she wanted to be well disguised.

In truth, there was only one man she needed to convince that her disguise would fool anyone who knew her. If Gavin didn't recognize her, she'd be satisfied.

“It is perfect,” she said. It
was
perfect. She'd be horribly disappointed if he quickly caught on to her ruse. If he, a man she'd known only a few days, saw through her disguise, then how would she fare with men who'd known her for years?

The maid nodded. “Your own mother wouldn't know you.”

Sliding on her gloves, Noelle spun one last time before the mirror. She quelled a tightening in her stomach and nodded while Elsie drifted off to tidy up the room.

“Let us hope Mister Blackwell doesn't,” Noelle mumbled. If she fooled Gavin enough to make her point, then this evening would be a success. She could attend the courtesan ball without any worry she'd be exposed and ruined. They could publicly trick the thieves into making a mistake and catch them before they could do more harm.

But first she had to fool Gavin.

She walked down the stairs and found her footman waiting. He smiled. “I followed the gentleman from White's. He went to a carnival with two friends, Milady. I have hired a coach to take you there.”

“Thank you, Timothy.”

Noelle nipped nervously on her bottom lip as she left the town house.