The Viscount's Pleasure House (Irresistible Aristocrats Book 1)

by Suzi Love

  “And Gillian will be ecstatic,” Chrissie quietly replied to Justin. “With her newly acquired knowledge, Edward will never again leave her bed. It’s obvious that Gillian knew who Edward was from the start, despite their disguises, so your plan worked, Justin. Very well indeed. And for that, I’m truly grateful.”

  “It’s not gratitude I need from you, Chrissie.”

  Chrissie rose, dressed, and walked away from Justin, leaving him reclining on the small hillock by himself. He looked skywards and announced, “At least I managed to solve Gillian’s problem.”

  Now he only had to figure out what to do about Chrissie. She’d left him alone. Lonely and confused. Where the hell did they go from here?

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chrissie stumbled across the grass, desperate to escape from Justin’s presence and get her emotions under control before she spoke with any of the group again. Gillian and Anna were bound to read on her face what she thought of Justin, what she felt for him. Her two friends would most likely pity her for being enamored, for the second time, with a man who wasn’t the type to reciprocate her feelings. She heard Thomas arguing with Anna and came to an abrupt halt, concealing herself behind a tree while she debated with herself the wisdom of eavesdropping on her friend’s conversation.

  “No, absolutely not,” Thomas said. “I refuse to let you participate in such things. Not in a tent, nor rolling on the grass for the entire world to observe and report upon. Your reputation would be ripped to shreds.”

  Bart happened to walk past in the middle of their heated debate and Thomas grabbed his arm. “For God’s sake, Bart, tell Miss Anna. Explain to her why she cannot possibly join an orgy.”

  “Stop, my friend! I’m not the right person to convince Anna of something like that. I believe every woman has the right to make her own decisions regarding when, and where, and with whom, she indulges herself in pleasure for the first time. But, Anna, my dear girl, I will say, have a care with your reputation. This place could ruin you in minutes if anyone discovered your identity.”

  “Humph! My reputation no longer matters though, does it, gentlemen? Not if what you’ve told me about my captain is true. If he truly is a cad, I cannot marry him. Yet, what other man will want me?” Thomas opened his mouth to speak but no words came out. Bart groaned and looked heavenward the same way Chrissie had watched Justin do on several occasions. Looking to the sky for inspiration.

  “Thomas, you great slow- witted oaf,” Bart said to his friend, “that’s what is commonly called a leading question. A woman’s way of bringing a man to heel. To get him to voice his approval of her.”

  Chrissie peeked around the tree trunk and watched comprehension slowly seep into Thomas’s brain. Bart waited, a hopeful look on his face. Anna stared at Thomas, her eyes wide with excitement and appeal. Thomas remained silent and Chrissie felt an urge to giggle at the ridiculous situation.

  “Heaven preserve me,” Bart muttered, “I imagine it’s now up to me to save the situation. And to save Miss Anna any further embarrassment.” He turned to Anna and took her hand. “Miss Anna, it would be my great privilege to educate you in any matters you wish to learn, be they mildly sensual or wildly erotic. I’m known to be rather an expert in both. And, as a gentleman, I’ll not press the point. You may call a halt to our little adventure whenever you feel uncomfortable, as I for one, still believe most girls are happier going to their marriage night as a virgin.”

  “Balderdash, Bart,” Thomas exclaimed. “The only reason you leave virgins alone is because you can’t bear the thought of being leg- shackled to one of those young innocent chits who’d bore you to tears in a night.”

  Far from being insulted, Bart grinned like a cheeky schoolboy. “There is that, of course. But if Miss Anna feels she wishes to learn more, or if she feels this is the appropriate place, I shall endeavor to overcome my normal reservations about virgins. I’d be delighted to conduct her experiments.” Bart flung his arms wide and smiled at Anna. “Take me, my dear, my body is yours to do with as you wish.”

  “No, no!” Thomas blustered in horror. “Absolutely not. We may be friends, Bart, but I’d never trust you with the sensual initiation of someone as sweet and innocent as Miss Anna. If she so desperately needs to experiment with a man tonight, it should be with someone like me.” Anna’s eyes went wide and her mouth pursed. “Someone who cares for her,” Thomas added, warming to his subject. “Yes, I feel I’m the perfect one for Miss Anna. After all, I’ve spent as much time at Justin’s Sultan Palace and our beloved Viscount’s Pleasure House as you have. I may have a trick or two of my own to show Anna.”

  Thomas turned to face Anna with a grave expression, one that Bart was certain belied the rising excitement his friend felt. Even if Thomas wasn’t ready to admit it, he was in love. Head over heels in love with the pretty girl staring at him with adoring calf’s eyes.

  “Miss Anna, I believe I’m the best choice of partner for you here tonight. I vow to protect you from all the vices displayed everywhere. I’ll allow you to ask any questions you may have regarding the relationships between a man and a woman.”

  Chrissie heard Bart’s slap on his friend’s back and sighed with relief. Things were going to come right for Anna after all.

  As Bart walked away, Chrissie heard Anna say, “Oh, Thomas, how big and strong and manly you are tonight in that costume. Why, I do believe the muscles on your arms are larger than any other man’s here tonight. Even large Matthew.”

  Chrissie smiled. Anna had come out of her shell. And sweet Thomas was in good hands.

  Chapter Fifteen

  The next morning, a line-up of carriages pulled around to the front entrance of the estate, ready to convey Chrissie and her friends to their homes and Justin, Bart, and Thomas back to London. Justin had sent the other paying guests on their way the evening before, deprived them of even their last night at the Pleasure House.

  He’d dispatched them without notice after becoming overly sickened by the level of debauchery some of his cruder guests had suggested. Their new ideas for even wilder romps, to include his new members of staff, had proved the final insult. The drunken revelers had finally followed his advice, and his not-so-subtle hints, and driven away in a raucous group to spend a night at the nearest inn where the hostelry benefited from wealthy peers eager to pay for the company of bar maids and stable hands in their beds.

  Free of those responsibilities, he’d encouraged Chrissie and her friends, along with Thomas and Edward and not to mention Bart and his new fancy, Magdalena, to stay another night and enjoy their seclusion. The eight of them had spent a quieter night, breakfasted and then walked through his grounds to the lake, rejoicing in their few last moments of serenity before setting out on their respective journeys.

  Justin took Chrissie’s hand and drew her aside. “Come with me.”

  Without giving her a chance to argue, he led her down the path and away from the other six, who were so engrossed in each other they failed to realize two of their party had slipped away. They walked, hand in hand, around the edge of the old maze and climbed the steps of the white-washed summerhouse. Standing on the edge of a small pond, Justin’s favorite retreat was less than half the size of the lake the others visited, but beautiful nonetheless.

  Justin kept a firm clasp on Chrissie’s hand and when they reached the top and stood in privacy near the ornate fret-work railing, he swung her about and dipped his head to hers. His mouth closed over hers with a hunger that seemed ridiculous considering she’d spent the night in his bed.

  He’d claimed her, over and over. Attempted to show her, with his hands and mouth rather than any of the false-sounding words of flattery she abhorred, how much he enjoyed her body. How aroused he became each time she screamed out her pleasure as he brought her to one peak after another until she’d collapsed, limp and satisfied, in his arms. How his own climaxes had been stronger and far more important to him than any of the hundreds he’d had in recent years.

  He ho
ped she knew. Prayed she’d understood his silent messages. Because with Chrissie none of his usual glib speech was relevant. With her, between them, there needed to be only truths.

  “Oh, bloody hell, I miss you already.”

  He pulled her tightly against his body and thrust one leg between her thighs. Already aroused, he moved against her in a mimicking motion of what he wanted to do to her. What he’d done to her several times in the past twelve hours. Though it still wasn’t enough.

  He wanted her again. Now! Despite knowing he needed to use the information on his family’s whereabouts that Chrissie had provided and set out to bring them back to their former home. He shouldn’t be thinking of anything but restoring them to their rightful place in London.

  She drew back to smile at him, reached up, and touched his face. “How could you miss me? I’ve been with you.”

  “Oh, yes, silly me. How could I forget?” Justin declared with heavy sarcasm. “We breakfasted together. Just you and I. With Edward and Gillian acting as if they married just yesterday. Thomas grinning from ear to ear and ready to kiss Anna’s feet each time she moved or spoke. Bart leering like a fool down Magdalena’s neckline with every movement she made. Not to mention the three footmen who served us breakfast, plus the butler and various maids.”

  When she laughed, he frowned. “You, my dear, have a very strange sense of humor. I didn’t find it in the least amusing.”

  “Oh, but it was funny. If you could have seen your face when Bart decided he wanted Magdalena to join us in the breakfast room. And then she felt too embarrassed to come and sit with us there, unless all the others …”

  “Yes, yes. Unless the other thirty people I employed for last night’s performance were also invited to join us. Good Lord. The bloody room was busier than the Stock Exchange when a new share package is released.”

  She giggled, a girlish sound that sent renewed desire straight to his loins. Although everything she did, or said, seemed to have a similar effect and excited him to fever pitch. The terrifying part was not knowing if she shared his intensity of feelings. He’d dragged her out here because he dreaded spending the days until he next saw her tormented by insecurities and doubts. He needed some indication of her thoughts, her feelings.

  “You loved every minute of it,” she said, waving an admonishing finger, “so don’t pretend you didn’t. You love your friends dearly, and you’d do anything for them.”

  “True. Without Bart and Thomas, I wouldn’t have survived the agony of following up lead after lead while trying to locate my family. So many dead ends. So many loose threads that unraveled whenever I came close to solving the mystery.”

  Her face crinkled and she bit down on her lip, expressions of sympathy that earned her another quick kiss. And then another flick of his tongue across the reddened patch on her lip to soothe it.

  “I really did miss you,” he murmured as he nibbled the lobe of her tempting ear, “for those three agonizing hours this morning when I was forced to play lord of the realm for the staff.”

  She swished her skirts against his legs, shimmied closer, and pressed against his groin, stirring him instantly to semi arousal. “Chrissie,” he murmured in a raspy tone, “if you continue doing that you’ll be tossed to your back on the grass, and in two shakes I’ll lift your skirts and—” He broke off and took a step backwards without letting go of her forearms.

  “Are you wearing petticoats this time?” She nodded, a small smile of amusement dimpling her cheeks. Once again, he abandoned his questions and kissed each little dent in her face, nuzzled each tiny hollow. “Drawers?”

  In a slow, teasing motion, she shook her head from side to side. He moaned, grasped two handfuls of skirts, and lifted them to her waist. He extended his hand downwards to trail a finger through her soft curls, and kissed her again, deeper. His tongue thrust into her mouth, over and over, until she trembled and shuddered. He eased her onto the wide ledge around the viewing window, lifted her a little so she could sit securely there and lean back against a post.

  “I don’t want you to fall,” he murmured, before he dipped beneath her petticoats. Using his thumbs, he separated her folds and sighed. He popped his head back up high enough to look her in the eyes. “You’re so beautiful there. So pink and wet, and glistening in the sunlight. Do you know what I’m about to do to you?”

  Her eyes went wide and she swallowed and shook her head.

  “I’m going to taste you. Lick up your love juices, savor them, and swallow them down so that for the next few days when I can’t see you, I’ll remember what you look and taste like. How sweet and salty and delicious you are down here.”

  He swiped his tongue over her from bottom to top, held still her thighs when she squirmed under his invasion. This may be new to Chrissie but the wriggles of her plump white bottom, plus the extra moisture that ran from her crevice and dribbled down her thigh told him how much she liked it. As he applied himself to her sweet little nub, now swollen and risen to meet his tongue’s invasion, her breathing became small rapid pants. She pushed up with her hips, a silent demand for him to continue.

  He felt more than happy to oblige and knew he’d be happy to oblige her every whim sexually for the next fifty or sixty odd years. Leaving his fingers to do the work where his mouth had been, he shifted up toward her mouth once more. He let her taste her own essence on his lips, their two flavors mingling. The same way he wanted them to mix and blend for a long time to come. “Come for me, my sweet,” he murmured close to her ear. “Let me see it once more before you leave.”

  When the peak of pleasure hit her, she grabbed at him and held his shoulders while she rode it out. He nuzzled, kissed, and held her, and it felt so good, so right.

  After a few minutes, he raised his head and looked her in the eye. “Chrissie, I realize this probably isn’t the time or place to ask this, but I need to know. You still haven’t told me everything about why you came to me, why you did this.”

  She dropped her gaze and hid her face. When she finally spoke, her words shocked him. Never in his wildest dreams had he expected this.

  “You didn’t remember me and I didn’t expect you to, though I knew you as I was a friend of your sisters. That’s why, when I heard what had happened to them, that your mother had taken the girls away before your father passed on to protect them, I was concerned. Worried.” She shrugged. “I don’t know why, but some instinct told me I needed to find them. I’d been asking questions around the village for some time before I knew about you.”

  He raised an eyebrow. “Hmm. And how did you come to hear about me? I’ve been wondering that.”

  She gave him a small smile. “That was a stroke of luck. Your prowess was spoken about, even in our small corner of the country, by women who came to visit from the city. You have many admirers.”

  “Hell! I had no idea.”

  She gave another shrug. “Women confined to country entertainments for weeks at a time tend to discuss anything and everything. It helps pass the time and avoid total ennui.”

  “I remembered we were neighbors, but little else.”

  “Distant neighbors, yes. While you were away at school, I often stayed with your sisters but only occasionally when you were home after term finished.”

  His eyes went wide. “My God. You’re Tiny Tina, the one who used to follow me around like a puppy.”

  A red flush spread up her neck and onto her face. “I’ve tried to forget that time in my life. I was a typical silly girl who had a large crush on an older boy.”

  “But then you were there when I was older too. When I was at university.”

  “I hoped you’d have forgotten about that too. I used to watch you, you know, when you went to visit the innkeeper ‘s daughter in the village. You waited until her father was busy serving and the two of you would sneak around the corner of the barn. You kissed her. There was also the widow down road you paid regular visits to.”

  He closed his eyes with an embarrassed groan. “
I’m not sure I need to hear anymore. I feel a fool. I’d no idea you knew. Did my sisters also know all this?”

  “Of course. How else could I sneak away from your mother? We planned it together, all our little adventures. The side window on Widow Jensen’s house still hasn’t been repaired and men still climb in her window at night.”

  “Good God! She was a mature woman even then.” He grinned and gave her a quick pecking kiss. “But very, very experienced. A wonderful teacher for a green young man trying to prove his sexual worth before his friends. How the hell does she still manage to entice men to her bed now?”

  “Ah, well, rumor has it that Widow Jensen used to be a highly paid London courtesan before she married her husband. So the young men of the district still rely upon her expertise to teach them before they venture up to town for their first bachelor season.”

  “I’m afraid, Chrissie, I cannot remember trying to steal a kiss from you. Did I?”

  “Oh, goodness, yes. You tried with every girl for miles around. But after that one memorable kiss, you ignored me.”

  “Not entirely. I did watch you sneak down to the pond one day to swim nude with my sisters. Gave me all sorts of ideas about what girls’ bodies looked like, and all the delectable things I might do with them. Unfortunately, my father discovered my spy hole in the hedge. Made sure I understood dallying with any of my sisters’ friends would be the quickest way to end up married, long before I’d enjoyed bachelorhood. I left home straight after that.”

  “Yes, you did. No one was allowed to discuss the real reason you left but everyone knew of your father ‘s cruelty, so it took little to put the pieces of the puzzle together. To be truthful, for many years I indulged myself with the fantasy that you became my lover, instead of Widow Jensen’s.”

  “And now we have become lovers.”