Lords of Passion

by Virginia Henley

  “Really?” Louisa tried to imagine Nicholas sleeping with her all night long, and liked the idea, especially if he held her close.

  The clock struck eleven and Louisa leaped to her feet. “I’m so sorry; I have to go, April. My mother is expecting me.”

  April made a face. “She is always expecting you.”

  Louisa forced a smile. “And I am always willing to indulge her. There aren’t many people here in Town she is comfortable with.”

  “She is a bit of a fish out of water, isn’t she?” April got up, too. “I’m sorry you have to leave, but I do understand. My mother commands all my attention when she comes up to London as well.”

  Louisa put on her bonnet. “I think she’d prefer to go back to Cheshire for good, but unfortunately, my father’s business interests keep him here for the majority of the year. She is too unsure of herself to make friends easily, and is quite terrified of you and Nicholas.”

  “Terrified?”

  “She sees you as ‘Quality’ and thus too far above her to be spoken to, and nothing I say or do can change that.” Louisa sighed. “Sometimes I’m sure she feels the same way about me, as if I’m a stranger to her, with my boarding school education and exacting standards.”

  “I apologize, Louisa,” April murmured. “It was unkind of me to comment about your mother’s need for you in any way. She has always been very polite to me.”

  “Thank you. And thank you for the tea and the advice.” Louisa kissed April’s cheek and pulled on her gloves. Her mother would worry if she was late, and that would make Louisa feel inadequate again. She wasn’t the daughter her mother wanted at all, with her aristocratic husband and her enlightened views. That had been all her father’s doing. He’d wanted the finest cachet that his money could buy his daughter—a title—and he reveled in it.

  Louisa left April’s town house and stepped into the carriage that Nicholas had bought especially for her use. Her mother hadn’t seemed to care about her advancement, had, in fact, spent many hours telling Louisa not to get above herself and to be a meek and obedient wife. She stared out the window. And where had that got her? Into a situation where she’d had to confront her husband about his apparent lack of desire for her and take refuge in a work of fiction.

  With a sigh, Louisa sat back and waited for the carriage to arrive in unfashionable Hans Town, where her mother still preferred to live. Despite her concerns, Louisa couldn’t help wondering what Nicholas planned to do to seduce her. He’d proven most efficient in his courtship of her, and she guessed he would pursue this new challenge just as adroitly. Thinking of Nicholas was a far more pleasurable subject than her mother’s scolding and might help her through yet another dreary afternoon.

  Nicholas paused at the entrance to the grand scarlet and gold salon on the first floor of Madame Helene’s House of Pleasure. A few guests were scattered around the vast space, but most of them appeared to be sleeping off the excesses of the previous night rather than engaging in amorous sexual activity.

  One couple lay entwined in the large silk cushions beside the buffet. Both were naked, and the man was feeding his lover grapes and kissing her between each offering. Nicholas couldn’t help but admire the woman’s pert breasts and rounded arse. He wondered whether he would ever be able to satisfy Louisa until she was as languid and glowing as the woman he’d just passed, to fuck her into satiated exhaustion …

  His cock swelled at the thought of it. He hadn’t even seen her completely naked, hadn’t explored her body with the thoroughness she deserved, hadn’t satisfied her at all. He was truly an appalling husband.

  He’d had no problem being admitted into the pleasure house, so he assumed his credit was still good, but clearing that with the lady proprietor was important. By the far wall he spotted Madame Helene in conversation with her butler. She wore a plain blue muslin dress, and her blond hair was braided away from her face, a direct contrast to the thin silk gowns and floating ringlets she normally displayed in the evenings. In truth, she looked like the businesswoman she obviously was rather than the flirtatious madam he was used to.

  At the age of seventeen, his father had brought him to Madame’s and insisted he experience everything the house had to offer. Luckily for him, Madame Helene had ignored his father’s instructions, offered him excellent advice, and allowed him to find his own pleasures. In a strange way, he had come to consider her a friend.

  “Madame?”

  She turned and whisked a pair of spectacles from the end of her nose. “Good morning, Lord Stortford.”

  “If you have time, ma’am, I’d love to have a word.”

  Nicholas bowed as she handed a sheaf of notes over to her butler and then gave him her full attention. Her piercing blue eyes scanned him with quiet interest. “Of course. Would you like to come down to my office?”

  He nodded his assent and followed her out of the salon. The naked couple on the silk pillows had finished eating and returned to lovemaking. The man moved over the woman with lazy ease, her heels locked together in the small of his back, her soft cries almost inaudible in the big room.

  A wave of lust shuddered through Nicholas as he breathed in the scent of sex, perfume, and desire that always swirled around the pleasure house. He wanted this again. He needed it, and if the only way to achieve it was to find it with his wife, he was more than willing to try.

  “Please sit down, my lord.”

  Madame Helene waved Nicholas to a chair in front of her desk and sat herself, her hands folded together over a large ledger. “Now, how can I help you?”

  “I was wondering if my membership was still current for your establishment.”

  Madame Helene raised her eyebrows, and her smile died. “If my staff let you in, you are still a member. But I will check for you if you wish.”

  She opened the large leather book in front of her and turned a few pages until she settled on one. “Ah, here you are. It seems you have another month left on this year’s membership.”

  “Thank you, ma’am. I can only hope that will be sufficient.”

  “For what, my lord?”

  At the bite in her words, Nicholas looked up from contemplation of his boots. “Do you think I’m up to no good, ma’am?”

  She raised her chin at him. Helene had never been afraid to speak her mind, and Nicholas suspected she was going to speak it right now. “That is none of my business,

  sir, but I would respectfully remind you that you have been married for less than a year.”

  “And you think I mean to resume my lascivious ways and abandon my wife? I wouldn’t be the first man within your establishment to enjoy another woman. Why are you being so judgmental? It’s not like you.”

  “That’s not the point.” Helene’s eyes narrowed. “May I take this opportunity to inform you that a month is all you have? I don’t intend to offer you another year of membership, but, despite my reservations, I will honor this current one.”

  He grinned at her. “You do think I’m up to no good.”

  “It would appear so, and I confess to some disappointment.” Madame Helene took a deep breath. “I’ve known you for years, and, in truth, I thought better of you.”

  “That is exactly why I wanted to speak to you about. I’m allowed to bring a guest with me, aren’t I?”

  “You are, my lord.” Her blue eyes were frosty now, her posture rigid.

  He sat back and watched her for a long moment, then drew a leather bound book out of his pocket and placed it on her desk. “Then you won’t object if I bring my wife. I believe you might be able to help us with something important.”

  By the time she reached home, Louisa had a terrible headache and a strange reluctance to do anything but crawl into her own bed and pull the bedclothes over her head. She’d braved her husband over the breakfast table, misled his sister into thinking she was filled with marital bliss, and managed to endure a lecture from her mother as to her shortcomings as a daughter and a wife.

  She walked up the
stairs, trailing the ribbons of her bonnet behind her, and went straight to her bedchamber. Polly, her maid, was adding coal to the fire and stood to welcome Louisa back.

  “Good afternoon, my lady. Would you like some tea?”

  Louisa shuddered as she took off her pelisse and tossed her bonnet onto the nearest chair. “I’ve had enough tea to drown in today. Could you bring me a glass of brandy instead?”

  Polly curtsied and deftly removed the pelisse and bonnet from where Louisa had flung them. “I’ll see to that now, my lady, and then I’ll start your bath. Are you dining at home this evening?”

  “I believe so.” Louisa took the chair next to the fire, kicked off her slippers, and curled her cold stockinged feet up on the seat. When Polly returned with her glass of brandy, Louisa took a long sip and felt the spirits burn a fiery path down to her stomach. She shivered and placed the glass on the small table beside her chair. The crystal chinked against her spectacles, and she picked them up and placed them on her nose, her hand delving down the side of the chair for her book.

  With a frown she tried the other side of the chair. “Polly, did you move my book?”

  “No, my lady. Which one was that?” Polly stood framed in the door to Louisa’s dressing room where she was preparing her bath. “If I’d seen it, I would’ve put it on the table by your chair.”

  “The pirate novel I was telling you about.” Louisa climbed off the seat and upended the cushion, but there was no sign of the book. “I wonder where I put it?”

  “Oh, I hope you find it, my lady. I can’t wait to hear what happens to that dastardly pirate!”

  “Me neither,” murmured Louisa as a truly awful thought occurred to her. Had she merely misplaced it, or had Nicholas found it and decided to read it for himself? The idea made her simultaneously excited and scared. He would think her a feather-headed fool, just as her father did. A lowering thought when she’d tried so hard to convince Nicholas that she had a brain and was capable of discussing anything he wanted, anything at all.

  “Your bath’s ready, my lady.” Polly’s cheerful voice floated out from the dressing room.

  “Thank you.” Louisa got up and headed toward the steam-filled room. Polly helped her out of her damp clothes and then left, promising to be back in time to dress her for dinner.

  Louisa lay back in the rose-scented bathwater and closed her eyes. Why had she ever said anything to Nicholas? If she’d just kept quiet, everything would still be the same and she wouldn’t be feeling so vulnerable, her confidence in her abilities shaken yet again.

  “Good evening, my dear.”

  Louisa opened her eyes and found Nicholas smiling down at her through the perfumed steam. Instinctively she crossed her hands over her breasts and drew her knees together. “Nicholas …”

  He sat on the edge of the bath and tucked a strand of her curling wet hair behind her ear. He’d taken his coat, cravat, and waistcoat off and his shirt had fallen open at the throat. “I didn’t mean to startle you.”

  “You didn’t, I …” His hand lingered on her skin, traced a soapy path from her earlobe down to her throat. She swallowed convulsively. “Was there something you wanted?”

  His gaze followed his fingers, slid to her shoulder and to the swell of her breasts below. She tensed as his fingertips disappeared below the water and followed the curve of her generous bosom.

  “It occurred to me today that I’ve never seen you naked.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Oh, I’m quite sure.” His whole hand vanished beneath the clouded water and he weighed her breast in his palm. “I’m sure I’d remember your breasts.”

  “My breasts?” Goodness, it was hard for her to even say the word. Her mother would be horrified. She hunched her shoulders forward. “I’ve probably tried to keep them hidden. My mother always said they were vulgar.”

  “Vulgar?” She watched in fascination as he leaned closer and kissed the upper part of her breast. “How absurd.” He whispered the words against her skin, the faint brush of his unshaven jaw making her tremble. His thumb moved upward and stroked over her already tight nipple, and she jumped. He did it again and then brought her whole breast higher in the water and settled his mouth over her nipple.

  “Oh!” Louisa gasped and grabbed frantically at the back of his head, her fingers tangling into his thick brown hair and clinging on. “Oh, my goodness.”

  She forgot to say anything else as he cupped her other breast in his hand and played with that nipple, too. When he transferred his mouth from one breast to the other, she moaned his name and hung on to him even tighter. Heat gathered low in her belly, and she pressed her thighs together to assuage the unaccustomed ache. She wanted more, she wanted something … but what exactly was it, and how on earth was she supposed to ask for it?

  When he finally raised his head, his eyes were narrowed, his breathing as erratic as hers. He kissed her mouth then, his tongue delving deep, demanding a response, which she willingly offered him. The rattle of a coal scuttle made him pause and glance behind him. He kissed the top of her head.

  “My valet will be looking for me. I have to go. I’ll see you at dinner.”

  “Yes.” That was all she could manage before he smiled and walked away from her, leaving her in a state of anticipation—for what? For more of his kisses? She touched her breasts and shuddered at her sensitive nipples. He’d kissed her there and made her feel beautiful. She got out of the bath and wrapped herself in a big drying cloth. Apparently her mother was wrong about something else as well. It seemed some men did like large breasts after all.

  Chapter Four

  Nicholas watched Louisa through the candelabra placed on the table between them. Her skin was flushed, her color high, and there was a dreamy look in her eyes that made him confident that his foray into the dressing room hadn’t shocked her too badly after all. His cock swelled at the thought of her nipples in his mouth, how she’d gasped for him, how much he’d wanted to slide his mouth and fingers lower and taste her core. Were her nipples still hard from his mouth, and was she wet for him? He wanted to pull her onto his lap and find out.

  “Did you have a good day, my lord?” Her hesitant question made him blink, and he hastily refocused his attention on her face. “Yes, my dear, I had an excellent day. How about you?”

  She made a face. “I saw my mother, of course, and your sister.”

  “And how were they? Both as charming as ever?”

  She sighed. “Well your sister was charming. My mother was … her usual self.”

  “Perhaps you shouldn’t visit her quite so frequently.” He said it gently. The last thing he wanted was to find himself at odds with her over her blasted mother. “She depends on you rather too much I fear.”

  “You’re right, but what am I to do?”

  “Tell her you’re busy.”

  “She’s my mother, my lord.”

  He reached across the table and took her hand. “And I’m your husband, and I want you at home more. Tell your mother that. She won’t argue.”

  Louisa’s smile was hopeful. “She’d certainly understand if you started issuing commands to me like my father does—and she’d tell me to obey you.”

  “Exactly.” He squeezed her fingers and stood up. “Now come to bed.”

  Louisa glanced over her shoulder at the lone footman stationed by the door. Her attitude to the servants still surprised him. Having grown up in large, sometimes well-staffed houses, he tended not to give his servants much thought. Louisa still struggled to forget that they were constantly surrounded by people and thus rarely alone.

  He tugged at her hand. “Come on. It’s our house, we can go to bed whenever we like, and I think it’s time to begin your seduction, don’t you? We’ve wasted quite enough of our marriage already.”

  He led her upstairs, and rather than bidding her his usual punctilious good night at her door, followed her in. She glanced back at him, her brown eyes wide, and a wary question in their depths. Nicholas n
odded at Polly, who had risen from her seat by the fire and dropped her piece of mending.

  “Good evening, Polly.”

  Polly curtsied and awkwardly scooped up the lace-edged petticoat that had fluttered to the floor. “Good evening, my lord. Shall I come back later, my lady?”

  Nicholas answered her. “That won’t be necessary. You can retire for the night.”

  He watched her leave and then turned back to his wife who was staring at him, one hand gripping the chair by her dressing table. What did she think he was going to do? Ravish her? Well he was, but not quite yet…

  “Don’t worry, I’ll help you out of your gown.” Nicholas smiled encouragingly at his silent wife. “I’m quite competent.”

  “I’m sure you are.”

  Her quiet words made him want to kick himself. Alluding to his expertise at coaxing other women out of their clothes was hardly going to endear him to his wife. “I meant that when I was younger I used to help April dress.”

  “You did?”

  He shrugged. “Sometimes my father forgot to pay the bills, and we were left without many servants. We learned to make do for ourselves.”

  Louisa sat down on the small couch at the bottom of her bed; her expression arrested and fixed on his face. “I never thought of you as being without every comfort a man could dream of.”

  “Having a title doesn’t necessarily mean a family has wealth. My father preferred to piss away his inheritance on gambling, horses, and women.” He took the seat beside her. “As long as he could keep up appearances, he didn’t care if we were penniless or as near to it as possible. It was a good thing that he died when he did, or else we would’ve really been in the suds.”