by Lucy Wild
“I have heard. Isabella has already recruited me to assist.”
“For a handsome sum, no doubt.”
“I have expensive tastes, what can I say?”
“Do you ever do anything that is not for money?”
“A walk on the beach.”
Eleanor stopped and looked out at the sea. “I wonder if I shall be alive when the sun rises tomorrow. Will I survive the turning of the tide?”
“I hope so,” Martin replied, moving to stand in front of her. “I would miss you terribly.”
Eleanor realised he was looking at her strangely. “What is the matter?” she asked.
“I very much would like to kiss you now but I know not how you feel about me.”
Eleanor blinked in surprise. It was not the answer she had expected. In fact it came as a total shock. “I had no idea you felt this way,” she said.
“I have felt this way from the minute you entered the train. Tell me you feel the same. Kiss me, Eleanor.”
“I cannot,” she replied, reaching into her pocket and feeling for the handle of the knife. “There is something I must do. I am sorry, you must excuse me.”
She turned and walked swiftly away from him. Her anger towards William had flared suddenly, without warning. When Martin spoke of kissing, it reminded her of William, of how she used to feel about him. Then thoughts of the duel entered her head. How could the man she loved be willing to duel despite her pleading with him not to?
She only grew angrier as she marched through the streets. If Vincent had come across her, she would not even have noticed, so intent was she on returning to the club. William had used her for his own pleasure, she reasoned. She had naively accepted the need to rehearse the act, had accepted everything he had made her do and he had taken advantage of that, making her do such an obscene thing to him. She betted he was laughing about her at that very moment and the thought made her all the angrier.
The blue skies mocked her rage and the more she thought about the lust that had risen up in her during the rehearsal, the more anger she felt at being duped by a scoundrel of the highest order.
Her mind went back to play over not just the rehearsals, but further and further. She could see replaying before her how he had tricked her. She had been unable to resist that voice of his when he had commanded her to stand before him. The spanking she had undergone had brought up all the old feelings long buried that she had felt but ignored. She blushed as she thought how wantonly she had opened her legs, wishing he would touch her there. When he had revealed himself she had almost melted, the feel of him climaxing in her mouth had sent her up onto a happy cloud of bliss. But it was the culmination of all the lies he had told that day.
She gripped the knife tightly, vowing to make him pay for what he had done. Bu as she crossed over the main road next to the harbour, a flicker of doubt entered her mind. It asked a question, one that she had been able to ignore in her rage up until that point. It asked, why are you so angry?
Because he lied to me.
Did he?
She frowned and faltered in her marching. It was a whirl of thoughts that slowed her pace and a shocking conclusion entered her mind a moment later. She was furious because Martin had asked to kiss her and William had not.
Not only that but the reason she was so furious was because William had done all those obscene things not out of love or even lust but out of duty. That was why she was having to adjust her position, make it about him. The knife. She held the knife handle tighter. What was it Georgia had told her? It had come from her mother. She could use it for good or evil. She could hate or she could forgive.
I do not know what to do, she thought as she approached the Jet Club. If he had only once told me he loved me, asked me to kiss him, told me he had missed me. But he has not. He has been focussed on doing whatever my sister told him. Damn him and damn her. Damn them both. She blushed all the deeper at thinking such curses but she did not let go of the knife, not even as she entered the club and found William sat on the edge of the stage, staring into the distance.
“You are safe,” he said, smiling as he saw her.
“Yes,” she replied whilst thinking to herself, but are you?
Chapter 16
William had been waiting anxiously for Eleanor to return. He had a horrible feeling when she left that she was never coming back. He knew he had probably gone too far during the rehearsal. In fact, there was no probably about it. No respectable citizen would use an innocent woman in the way he had. Yes, he was supposed to ensure her act was convincing that evening but was that the sole reason he had done what he had done?
He had gone that far because he had wanted to. That was the honest answer. From the moment her posterior was exposed, he had wanted to slide into her and making her take him in her mouth had been the only way to satisfy that hunger. But she had left so suddenly after the second rehearsal that he was sure she was disgusted with him, that she was gone forever, gone to hide away somewhere just as he had done when the going got tough.
But now she was back. Perhaps she was not as disgusted with him as he had thought.
“You are safe,” he said as she marched over to him, her hand shoved deep in her pocket.
“Yes,” she replied. “I am safe.” She brought out the knife and pointed it towards William for the briefest of seconds before letting it fall from her fingers to the floor at her feet. “I cannot do it,” she said.
“Do what? Were you going to stab me?”
“I do not know what I was going to do.” She looked up at him with tears forming in the corners of her eyes. “Why did you never propose to me?” she asked in a quiet voice.
She could not possibly have asked that question. He must have misheard her. “I beg your pardon?”
“If you had proposed to me, the Marquis would have stayed away. You would not have shot him, he would not have rejected me, my aunt and uncle would still be alive. I would not be wearing the most ridiculous outfit under this coat, nor would I be about to appear on stage to be ridiculed in the most obscene way in less than an hour from now.”
“You would not have met your sister,” William replied. “Nor would I have had chance to spank that delightful behind of yours.”
She glared at him. “Do not make light of this. I love you, William. “I have always loved you. Do you not love me?”
William was shocked to hear those words coming from her mouth. He had yearned to hear them for so long and now he did not know what to say in response.
“Well, say something,” she said, taking a step towards him. “For goodness’ sake, say something.”
“I love you too,” he said quietly. “I have loved you since the day I carried you downstairs past the bodies of your parents. You clung to me in such a way I could not fail to love you and I have loved you ever since.”
“Why did you never propose to me then?”
“Because I am a fool and a dunce and the world’s biggest idiot.”
“Well, I know that.”
“Now, who is making light of things? I did not know you loved me. I thought you saw me as a friend, a brother perhaps, never one you might marry. I could not bear the thought of you rejecting me if I asked for you hand so…”
“So you remained silent and the Marquis gained a bullet wound. Why did you go ahead with the duel?”
“There was only powder in the guns. I made sure of it. The Marquis must have found out and added the shot.”
A voice shouted from the corridor behind Eleanor. “Door’s open, boss.”
People immediately began to shuffle inside as William leapt down from the stage. “Come on,” he said. “Let’s get you ready for your performance.”
They left the main hall of the club and made their way to the first of the dressing rooms. Inside was a table and mirror and Eleanor redid her bunches whilst William stood behind her. “Are we doing the right thing?” he asked. “Your sister has asked you to take all the risk whilst she shoulders none herself
.”
Eleanor turned in her chair and took his hands in hers. “One way or another, it will all be over by the end of the night,” she said, her cheeks pale in the candle light. “That is why I told you. If not now, there may not be another chance. Now, how do I look?”
She stood up and spun round and it was all William could do to resist tearing her dress from her body as lust overwhelmed his senses. “Do you perhaps need another rehearsal?” he asked, squeezing her fingers with his own. “Just to be sure?”
“Well, I have been bad,” she replied, turning away from him and bending over the table, allowing her dress to rise to reveal the tops of her thighs. “So naughty, papa.”
“You wicked girl,” he growled, yanking her knickers down to her ankles. “When will you learn to behave?” He brought his hand down on her posterior a moment later, being sure not to leave a red mark, knowing the audience would be disappointed if her bottom was not pristine for the show. It was still a firm enough blow to make her shriek and as he spanked her again, he looked down to see her legs shuffling apart.
She pushed her hips back towards him and he could not resist touching between her legs. He felt the heat of her core as he ran his fingers over the place he had thought of so often, the centre of her being, the place he ached to fill with his stiff member. She was intoxicating, an exquisite delight that he fought to resist, knowing she was due on stage soon, that the audience would be waiting for her.
He had to feel her just once though, after all, if things did not go to plan, he might never get a chance to speak with her again. The risk of losing her made his need all the stronger and he fumbled with his trousers, undoing them with indecent haste and pulling out his member. He felt her core again, the wetness that had formed there making her folds slick and ready for him. With his shaft in hand, he brushed the tip of himself over her core, finding her entrance before easing his way into her.
She groaned softly as he moved steadily deeper, not stopping until he was all the way inside. It felt even better than he imagined it would, a tight grip that held him in place, telling him this was where he belonged. He pulled slowly backwards and was about to plunge into her for a second time when someone rapped on the dressing room door. “You’re on next,” a voice shouted.
Reluctantly, William slid out of Eleanor, tucking his member away as she stood up and turned to face him. “To be continued I hope,” she said, leaning forwards and kissing him. As her lips brushed his, his heart began to pound. All too soon, she pulled away, sliding her knickers back into place and then taking a last look in the mirror. “This is it,” she said, walking over to the door. “I just hope Isabella was right.”
“Me too,” William said to the empty room after she left. His body yearned for her even as he remembered what was about to happen, the danger they were all in. He shook his head to clear it before leaving the dressing room and making his way to the darkest spot in the wings, ready for if Vincent should show himself. As he leaned against the wall behind the curtain, Eleanor stepped out on stage. Her performance was about to begin.
Chapter 17
Eleanor took a deep breath before stepping out onto the stage. She was nervous for two reasons. Firstly, she would be exposing parts of herself to an audience that she had always vowed would remain hidden until her wedding night. But if she did not act as confident as Isabella, the audience would quickly realise she was an impostor. Her anxiety about what she was about to do was overridden by the fear that Vincent would arrive before Isabella could save her, that she was perhaps about to die.
She told herself not to think about that. Thinking about it would only make it more likely to happen as it would show in her performance. You are a confident and beautiful performer, she told herself as she stepped out onto the stage to a round of applause.
Isabella had told her what she needed to do, William had ensured she was ready. She could do this. She began her act, skipping around the stage in the most innocent fashion before starting to misbehave, sticking her tongue out at the audience, pretending to throw things at them, acting for all the world as if she were a mischievous child.
She turned towards the back of the stage just as William stepped out. Her body tingled at the memory of him sliding into her. Surely he wasn’t about to do the same in front of the audience.
“Over here, Isabella,” William boomed and she automatically obeyed him, unable to ignore that commanding voice. “You have been naughty in front of all these people, haven’t you?”
She shook her head frantically ,shuffling on the spot in fear, knowing what was coming.
“Bend over that chair, this instant.”
She did as he commanded, facing away from the audience as her dress rode up her thighs. She could feel their eyes on her knickers, like they were all touching her. It was the most intense feeling she’d ever known. When William yanked down her knickers, the feeling grew and her anxiety fell away, replaced by a desire to give them all what they wanted. She did not move a muscle, waiting for what she knew was about to happen.
“You have to be punished,” William said, pacing back and forth behind her. “So that you might learn how to behave.”
“Yes, papa,” she muttered barely loud enough for anyone to hear.
“You are a naughty girl,” he continued, his hand slapping down onto her buttocks at the same moment, making her shriek at the stinging sensation that passed through her. A heat began to grow in her posterior as he spanked her again and again. “A most incorrigible brat,” he said, spanking her harder.
Eleanor could think of nothing but his hand, yearning for his touch and yet hating each blow for the pain it brought her. “I am sorry, papa,” she said quietly.
“You will be sorry for I am about to show you what happens to bad girls.”
She did not look back, knowing what he was about to do. He was going to finish what he had begun in the changing room, no sliding into her mouth this time like in the rehearsals. He was going to enter her on stage in front of all these people. It was madness but she brushed that aside in her urgent need to feel him in her. “Please don’t,” she muttered out loud whilst screaming in her head for him to slam all the way into her. She could feel her insides tingling, her core widening ready for him, feeling emptier than it ever had, needing to be filled.
But he did not slide into her core. He used her wetness to coat his shaft instead, teasing her by running the tip of his member over the most sensitive part of her before moving it back to the edge of her. With a push of his hands, her hips shifted and then he was gliding between her buttocks, the feel of his heat making her gasp with delight. He wasn’t going to…was he?
She felt the bulbous head of him brush over her hidden hole, findings its way between her buttocks and nudging forwards, making her wince as he kept pushing until she suddenly widened enough for him to enter her naughtiest place. She had no idea something could feel so good and so bad, so right and so wrong, all at once. All she knew was she wanted him to stop and to keep going forever. He remained still for a moment, saying something she did not even hear, lost as she was in her own head.
He moved a moment later, sliding into her bottom whilst spanking her at the same time. It was the most wonderful pain, a dense feeling of fullness and an ache as her nerves grew used to his dominating her in such a way. He took his time sliding into her as she fought for breath but then he suddenly seemed to change, becoming heated with lust as he growled behind her. She was slammed against the chair as he thrust back and forth faster and faster, telling her all the while what a bad girl she was, how good girls did not take it in the way she was taking it. Was this what Isabella’s act was like? Or was this his way of doing something he knew she might never allow otherwise?
She felt her nub beginning to throb and her hand found its way there, stroking herself frantically as he thrust ever harder into her posterior. As his breathing changed, she began to tense up, her toes curling and her breath failing her. He was clearly on the edge for he su
ddenly buried himself in her and let out a loud groan. His member twitched within her and she felt his hot wetness gushing into her hole as she rubbed her clit ever harder until she too reached a momentous climax.
She barely knew what was happening until an eternity later when he slid out of her, leaving her on wobbly legs. She collapsed, panting, onto the chair. She had time to glance up at him for the briefest of moments just as someone screamed at the back of the club.
Chapter 18
William heard the scream too. He had barely dressed himself when a figure emerged from the corridor. It was a man with a look of the most malevolent intent in his eyes. He stood with a knife in his hand and one of the girls held before him. She was bleeding from the cheek where he’d cut her on the way in and the audience scattered before the sight of them both.
He let the girl go. “Thank you for waiving the admission charge,” he said in an icy cold voice. Glancing round the room, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a pistol, waving it in the air. “Anyone not called William or Isabella might want to leave now.”
There was a surge of movement for the door, people pushing and shoving to get past each other, all of them trying to remain as far away from the man in the black coat as possible. William moved in front of Eleanor, motioning for her to leave the stage.
“I wouldn’t,” the man said. “Have a look.”
In the wings, more people appeared. The Jones brothers and their associates stood watching closely, ready to pounce at a moment’s notice.
“Now that we are away from the great unwashed, I feel perhaps it is time for a chat,” the man continued. “Don’t you?”
“What do you want?” William asked. The man replied by raising his gun and pulling the trigger. William had no time to react. His right side felt as if it had been hit by a raging bull. He spun sideways, his arm instantly numb and a second later he fell, slumping downwards and looking at his shoulder, watching a dark red patch appear.
