To Disappear (18 page)

Lydia lifted her gaze to the strings of Chinese lanterns. The thin paper burned with a multitude of shapes and colors, shedding light onto the couples meandering along the flagstone paths. She was pleased to see several people pausing to admire the picturesque flowerbeds, which she had taken great care in arranging and planting and nurturing.

A woman wearing a nineteen-twenties flapper costume paused next to another woman dressed as a Spanish queen. The flapper whispered something in the queen’s ear, causing them both to giggle. Then, to Lydia’s surprise, the queen turned and cupped the other woman’s face in her hands and their lips met in a kiss both gentle and passionate, colorful light filtering over their pale skin.

Lydia swallowed hard as her excitement sparked to life again. She hadn’t kissed another female since her experience with Cassie, but the sight of the two women together evoked countless memories that reminded her how lovely it had been to touch the softness of another female.

She tore her gaze from the two and went back into the house, scanning the room for Gabriel. The strangeness of the costumed guests, the tightness and weight of her costume, the disquiet of Preston’s callous treatment of her, the dancing, even the wine flowing in her blood – all were beginning to make her feel more than a little light-headed. She wanted to compose herself in Gabriel’s quiet presence, but she was unable to find him.

She paused in the dining room, where silver platters and dishes of food had been laid out. A man and woman were whispering to each other at one end of the room, before he began plucking bits of food from his plate and feeding them to her with his fingers. The woman made an erotic display of eating, her tongue swirling around her companion’s fingers as she sucked them into her mouth. The man watched her hungrily and before long their lips were locked together. He began pulling up her hoop skirt, his fingers rummaging between her legs, and returning the favor, she started massaging the swelling in his trousers.

Lydia watched them in shock, wondering how far they intended to take their evident attraction. They appeared entirely oblivious to the other people in the room, and for that matter, the other guests took little if any notice of them in return.

As she continued through the rooms, Lydia realized that a distinctly libidinous atmosphere was beginning to pervade the party. The guests were shedding the more excessive accoutrements of their costumes, revealing provocative expanses of flesh. Several other men and women were engaging in blatant kissing and groping, and the women seemed not the slightest bit concerned about having their naked breasts mauled in full view of everyone else.

‘Ah, there you are, my dear girl,’ crooned a voice Lydia instantly recognized, and she turned to find the elderly Wallace close beside her once again. His mask was slightly askew, his cravat removed and collar open, and he had taken off his coat to reveal the unappealing swell of his portly belly. Lydia stepped away, disliking the predatory look in his eyes.

‘I’ve been looking for you all evening.’ Wallace moved in front of her, backing her up against a wall.

‘I’m sorry, I have to leave,’ Lydia hastily blurted, putting up her hands to prevent him from coming any closer, but he moved with surprising speed to grasp her wrists.

‘Come, come, my dear,’ he leered. ‘You haven’t been very friendly to me this evening, have you?’

‘I don’t want to be friendly to you,’ she said tightly, straining to pull herself from his grip. ‘Let go of me.’

His belly pushed her against the wall as his wet lips swooped onto hers, and she froze with shock and revulsion when his tongue squirmed into her mouth, forcing her to taste the vinegar flavor of his breath. She managed to yank one of her arms from his grasp, snatching it upwards to slap his face.

But to her further shock the slap only served to elicit a deeper flash of excitement in his beady eyes, and his lips curved into a lascivious smile.

‘So, you’re a little wildcat, are you?’ he breathed heatedly. ‘That’s just what I like in a girl.’

Lydia twisted her face away from him, panic rising in her as she realized that no one was likely to pay much attention to them, and then she cringed as Wallace’s bony fingers began shoving up the folds of her skirt and panniers.

‘Get away from me!’ she snapped, pushing hard at his chest with a renewed flood of anger. She brought her knee up at the same time, making firm contact with his groin, and to her relief the lecherous old man yelped in pain and doubled over, enabling her to break away from him, and she hurried off without sparing him another glance.

As she looked around at other guests, Lydia wondered with increasing shock if that was the intention of the party. Were the guests here to enjoy the pleasures of each other in hedonistic abandonment? Was everyone expected to participate?

She took a measure of solace in the idea that surely Gabriel or Kruin would have informed her if she was expected to allow men like Wallace to take advantage of her. Preston probably would enjoy shocking her, but the other men surely weren’t that cruel.

Thinking that she could find solitude in the library, she went along the hall to the closed oak door. She opened it, and then stopped to allow her eyes to adjust to the dim light, and her heart leapt when she heard the unmistakable sounds of copulating emerging from the room. She was just about to turn and leave when she saw the light shining from the desk lamp onto the heaving couple.

Gabriel had Helen bent over the desk, her gauzy skirt raised over her hips to bare her toned bottom. Her legs were spread to reveal her lightly haired sex, into which Gabriel was thrusting his impressive cock. His shirt was partly unbuttoned, his chest damp with sweat as he pleasured both himself and his companion.

A bolt of undiluted jealousy speared through Lydia, so strong that she had to grasp the doorjamb to steady herself, and her heart thudded wildly as she stared at the fornicating couple.

Helen’s back arched as she pushed her white bottom towards Gabriel, moans of pleasure coming from her parted lips with every thrust of his penis. The pert mounds of her buttocks bounced as he increased his pace, his hands clutching the slender curves of Helen’s waist to strengthen the impact of their union.

Lydia pressed a hand against her chest, unable to take her eyes from them. She stared at the slick root pumping so vigorously into Helen’s oiled passage, feeling her own sex moisten with envious desire. Gabriel’s firm sacs rammed with a juicy rhythm against the other woman’s sex lips as she spread her legs even wider. The swollen bud of her pleasure peeked out from between her glistening lips as if to draw attention to the magnitude of her excitement.

Lydia let out a husky sigh and pressed her thighs tightly together. Ah, how she had longed for the joy of Gabriel fucking her! Ever since the night when he had come to her room, she had wanted him to fill her until her body felt completely saturated with him. And their interlude in the stables had only served to intensify her desire.

Yet even her jealousy over Gabriel’s lust for another could not quell her increasing arousal. Her body quivered with it, her sex pulsing with a heady beat that appeared to mimic the rhythm of Gabriel’s thrusts. She wished almost desperately that she was the one spread over the desk in the same posture she had assumed during her first experience with Alex Walker. She imagined Gabriel’s hands gripping her sweat-slicked buttocks, his veined shaft stroking her inner flesh, his fingers seeking the scorching fissure between her legs and massaging the straining knot…

With a soft moan Lydia gathered her skirt and petticoats as she fumbled to reach her sex. She pressed her thumb against the damp crevice, feeling her body quicken with a surge of carnal excitement. Unable to help herself she began rubbing the soft cotton of her petticoat, parting her thighs further to give herself access to her most sensitive areas.

‘Well, well, well, whatever are you doing?’ An amused voice laced with menace cut into Lydia’s haze of desire like a knife through butter. She froze in her incriminating position as Preston appeared in her peripheral vision. He reached out to silently close the library door.

‘For shame,’ he said with a mocking shake of his head. ‘After all we’ve told you and all the pleasure we’ve shown you, you still find it necessary to touch yourself shamelessly. How often have you done that without my knowledge?’

Lydia let her skirts fall back to the floor, protests rising automatically in her throat. ‘I haven’t,’ she blurted. ‘I swear, Preston, I—’

‘Never mind,’ he interrupted smoothly, his blue eyes glimmering with expectancy. ‘I’m sure you’ll learn your lesson before long. Anyway, I’ve been looking for you. Come with me.’

Knowing better than to question him, especially now, Lydia followed him towards the drawing room.

‘Go on in,’ Preston told her, opening the door and urging her to precede him, and the illicit desire stirred by the sight of Gabriel fucking Helen vanished the moment she entered the room.

At least fifteen people were lounging around, their clothing in disarray, but their masks still firmly in place. An air of anticipation hung over the room, as if the seated guests had been waiting for her.

Lydia’s heart thudded as she heard the click of the door shutting. She thought Preston might have left, but then she felt his hands settle upon her shoulders. His breath brushed against her neck as he bent to whisper in her ear.

‘Do you remember, dear Lydia, when you slapped my face?’ he murmured, and the memory flooded her mind like an incoming tide. Part of her had hoped he might have forgotten about the incident, but another part knew he would never forget about such a rebellious act.

His teeth nipped her earlobe. ‘Do you remember?’

Lydia nodded, unable to speak.

‘And do you remember when I said that I might choose to administer a punishment for that folly at any time?’ he continued smoothly.

Lydia nodded again as dread rose to fill her heart, and she had no doubt that he planned to humiliate her now in front of all these strangers. She felt the gazes of the guests as if they were burning into her skin.

‘So when do you think I might punish you for being such a disobedient little wench?’ Preston asked.

Lydia swallowed past a growing lump in her throat. ‘Um… now?’ she offered hesitantly.

‘Speak up, darling.’

She cleared her throat and repeated, ‘Now?’

‘Very good.’ Preston smiled and patted her rump. ‘I believe there’s nothing like a public punishment to bring one into line. And heaven knows you still do require regulation. There are several areas of your behavior that are far too… shall we say, unruly?’

Embarrassment engulfed Lydia as she recognized that he was speaking about her lack of ability to control her orgasms, and hoping to find some comfort somewhere, she met the gaze of a woman draped over a settee. The woman gave her a feline smile, her eyes dark with aroused anticipation behind her mask.

‘Now, then,’ Preston stroked Lydia’s shoulders, and down to her breasts, cupping them gently, ‘I imagine this costume is becoming a little uncomfortable, hmm? Perhaps you’d like to show our guests your lovely breasts. I know they’ve been eager to see them.’

To Lydia’s horror, he moved away from her and settled into an empty chair. She might have been able to bear this humiliation if he was the one peeling the clothing from her body, for then she would truly have no control over the situation, but she could not imagine baring her breasts of her own volition.

‘Lydia?’ Preston prompted.

Her hands tightened into fists. She saw Kruin standing in the doorway, his arms crossed over his expansive chest, his dark eyes fixed on her unwaveringly. Lydia had the suspicion that he was not here to participate in her punishment, but merely to observe.

The thought both relieved and unsettled her, for although she dreaded the sting of Kruin’s hand and belt more than anything, she also disliked the knowledge that he would be assessing her. It was as if she were a child being evaluated on her performance.

‘Lydia!’ Preston was beginning to sound impatient.

Her fingers trembled as she lifted them to her bodice, her stomach tightening with nerves. Perhaps it would be easier if she didn’t look at anyone, so she stared down at her cleavage as she pulled the material down, her cheeks reddening as she realized that her nipples were already jutting forth rather lewdly.

‘Now turn around and lift your dress,’ Preston ordered.

Lydia turned, relieved not to have to face the group anymore. She gathered her heavy skirts and petticoats, lifting them to her hips.

‘Who would like to do the honors?’ Preston asked.

‘I will,’ responded a throaty, female voice, and an intense shiver ran through Lydia’s veins as she felt her approach and smooth her hands over her cotton-encased buttocks.

‘Odette, Lydia hasn’t been with another female in quite some time,’ Preston remarked. ‘Expect her to be a little twitchy.’

Lydia blushed as several chuckles reverberated through the room, and Odette leaned forward, flicking her tongue lightly against her ear. Lydia let her eyes drift closed, her skin warming from the mere proximity of another woman. An image of Cassie with her full breasts and athletic body came to mind once again, causing a plume of arousal to spiral through her. Perhaps this punishment wouldn’t be so horrible if dispensed by another female.