Sarah wondered if the man had a mistress. If not, she thought of asking if he wanted one. Perhaps he would put her up in a cottage, or, if he was really as rich as his purse seemed to indicate, a townhouse in Wolverhampton. Before she had a chance to offer herself, though, the dandy turned in her direction. “You have such a round …” He motioned with his hands to indicate her hips. “Rump,” he finally added, a teasing smile displaying his perfect white teeth. “I do believe you’re a better lay than the mistresses I keep in London,” he commented before donning his gold embroidered waistcoat.
Mistresses? As in, more than one? It took all the acting skill Sarah had to continue smiling. “Isn’t London an awfully long way to go for … a tumble?” she wondered, drawing one of the bed linens over her backside. Round rump or not, she suddenly felt very exposed given the man was nearly dressed.
Gabriel sat down on the edge of the mattress, lifting one bare foot to rest on his other knee so he could pull on a stocking. “It is, indeed,” Gabriel answered, his brows furrowing when the stocking didn’t go onto his foot as easily as when his valet did it. “But that is why I sought you out,” he said, his attention still on this foot. “Damn it, how does this work?” he complained sotto voce.
The tavern wench reached over and positioned the stocking so it would slide on easier. “Does that mean you will seek me out again?” she asked hopefully, one finger moving from his foot to the mound that was silhouetted in the satin breeches.
Jerking reflexively, Gabriel gave her a huge smile. “I would, but I will be leaving for London soon,” he said, careful not to tell her it was to search for a wife. He had a few young debutantes in mind, but he still wasn’t quite sure what he should be looking for in a wife. Beauty? A dowry? He was as rich as Croesus, so money wasn’t an issue. A good tumble? And how would he discover a girl’s ability between the sheets if he couldn’t try her out in advance of the betrothal?
“Ah, headed to the Marriage Mart, no doubt,” the bar maid guessed as she rolled her eyes.
Gabriel struggled to maintain an impassive expression. Was it that obvious? “That and … well, let’s just say I have some reconnaissance to do before I settle in Mayfair.”
The wench sat up, pulling the bed linens to cover her generous bosom. “Reconnaissance?” Sarah repeated, her interest piqued. “Are you a spy?” She asked this with such excitement in her eyes that Gabriel nearly admitted to being one. He shook his head instead.
“More like, political research, I suppose,” he countered. “I am of the opinion that certain older members of Parliament should be stripped of their powers.”
Leaning her head away from Gabriel as he moved to pull on his other stocking, the bar maid eyed him with suspicion. “If you are successful in stripping them of their powers, who would then have the power?” she wondered, returning her hand to the bulge beneath the satin breeches.
Gabriel mirrored her posture, leaning away so her finger could no longer reach his hardening cock. Was she a spy? The very last thing he expected from a tavern wench was this level of perception. “Better educated lords. Younger lords.” Me, he almost added. “I just have to figure out how.”
A slow smile spread over the bar maid’s face. He’s a lord, she realized. No wonder he had tossed a sovereign on the bed when he had first followed her into the room. He could probably afford a crown or more. His mistresses were no doubt set up with their own townhouses and modistes and private boxes at the theatre.
“What are you thinking?” Gabriel wondered as he watched her expression change.
Sarah straightened as she considered how to respond. Who could undermine a respected member of the House of Lords? Who wielded the most power? Who controlled the
lives of the aristocrats? Who hosted the balls and musicales and every event where political decisions were discussed and debated and decided outside of chambers?
Why, the women behind those lords, of course. The mothers, the wives, the … “Marry the daughter of the most powerful lord,” the wench blurted suddenly. “The daughter of your most political opposite.”
Gabriel Wellingham stared at the woman, stunned at her perfect solution. He swallowed. He blinked. He shook his head. “That’s genius,” he breathed, his appreciative gaze making the bar maid sit up a bit straighter. The bed linen didn’t follow, however, and the tops of Sarah’s breasts were suddenly on display. “As are those,” he added with an arched brow. Reaching into his topcoat pocket, Gabriel withdrew his purse. “And worth at least another sovereign,” he added as he fished a coin out of the velvet pouch and tossed it in her direction.
Sarah caught it and gave the earl a gracious nod, deciding not to explain just then that the plan might not work. Probably wouldn’t work.
The daughters of the aristocracy were powerful in their own right, after all.
Chapter 2
A Viscount and His Mistress
January 1815
Josephine Wentworth was reading the latest treatise on the failures of the monarchy in France when her butler cleared his throat. She looked up to find him standing in the doorway of her parlor, his hands clasped behind his back. “Yes, Frederick?” she spoke, a bit startled at his sudden appearance and wondering just how long he had stood there attempting to get her attention. The treatise was interesting and well written, after all.
“Mr. Bennett-Jones is calling. Should I tell him you are not receiving visitors today?” he wondered, knowing full well she would tell him to admit the man. She always accepted George Bennett-Jones’ visits.
As the man’s mistress, she was expected to do so.
“He seems … distraught,” the butler added, his hesitance apparent. He knew it wasn’t his place to comment on the state of mind of Josephine’s visitor, but for reasons not yet apparent to her, Frederick thought it was best to do so in this instance.
Josephine set aside the booklet and stood up quickly, smoothing her skirts and trying hard to mask her alarm. George was rarely emotional about anything; if Frederick thought he was distraught, then something was wrong. “I’ll see to this. Could you bring tea, please? And maybe the brandy, too,” she added, just in case something was really wrong. George wasn’t one who allowed himself to get upset over anything. He lived a rather calm life. A boring life, one might say. Like clockwork, his twice-weekly visits were always on the same days at the same time. Any changes to that schedule were due to his very occasional trips to his family’s estate in the country or a fencing match at Angelo’s Academy.
Perhaps he had come to end their relationship, Josephine considered. Or he had met someone he wanted to court. He had always said he wouldn’t keep a mistress if he married.
Hurrying to the elegant townhouse’s small vestibule, Josephine found George, hat in hand, his back against the front door, his dark blue eyes closed. Not a particularly handsome man and even less so now that his face was a picture of pain, some would say George appeared haggard, as if his cheeks were about to slide off and take the outer edges of his eyes with them. But when he smiled, Josephine thought George was one of the most handsome men in London. He wore his sable hair cut short and sometimes combed forward; otherwise, the top would be tousled from his having run his fingers through it as he did when he removed his hat. His six-foot frame was that of a fencer, lean but sculpted with muscle, his broad shoulders and chest tapering down to a somewhat narrower waist and hips. The buckskin breeches he favored fit as if Weston himself had sewn them. The navy blue topcoat was made of the highest quality superfine. Bronzed from having spent too much time out of doors, George did not look like a typical aristocrat.
But then, until that morning, he wasn’t one.
As Josephine rushed to meet him, he pushed himself away from the door. He wrapped his arms around his mistress at the very moment she lifted her arms to his shoulders. “Oh, George, what has happened?” she whispered, putting as much sympathy into her voice as she could manage. She felt his face press against her hair,
felt his arms tighten around her so she
could hardly breathe. And when she felt his heart beat against her bosom, she realized its rhythm was much faster than usual.
He held her like that for several seconds before he could say anything. “Uncle has died,” he croaked, his voice so husky Josephine didn’t recognize it. He leaned against the door, the solid surface necessary to hold him up.
Never in her eight years as George’s mistress had Josephine ever seen him so … distraught. She allowed him to continue holding her, the fronts of their bodies pressed against one another. It was not unlike the nights they spent in her bed, holding one another close after frenzied lovemaking, as if they had to hang on to each other for dear life or risk losing themselves in the splintered aftermath.
And then she realized the larger implication of his simple statement. Uncle has died. Joseph Bennett-Jones, Viscount Bostwick. A viscount who was briefly married and left a widower upon his wife’s death during childbirth. Although the son she bore him survived his birth, a fever took the child’s life during his fourth year. The viscount never remarried. For a few Seasons after that, quiet gossip suggested he preferred the company of men. As his only nephew and an orphan since his twelfth year, George had been his uncle’s heir apparent for nearly twenty years.
Lifting her head so that she could look at George’s face, Josephine pushed his shoulders gently and then cupped one cheek with a hand. “I am so very sorry for your loss … my lord,” she whispered, remembering to add his new title at the last moment.
George sucked his next breath through clenched teeth, bristling at her use of the title. “Josie, please, do not call me that,” he murmured, his voice indicating his revulsion. It was one thing to wake up to find you were a viscount. It was quite another to deal with the everyday consequences. He was not yet ready to deal with those, even if one of them was as trivial as the addition of a title to his name.
“Come. Let’s have some tea,” she urged, moving her body away from his and grabbing his hand. She kissed the palm as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders and allowed himself to be led to the parlor. A list of things to do in the event of a peer’s death filled her head. “Do you need assistance with the arrangements?” she asked quietly as she took a seat on a chaise. She expected George to take an adjacent chair; instead he sat between her and the arm of the chaise, keeping one of his arms wrapped around her waist. Josephine considered protesting, but thought better of it when she realized she was holding his body upright. If she moved away, he would simply topple over.
“Peters is seeing to most of it,” George replied, referring to his uncle’s manager. “I’ve asked him to stay on until I can learn whatever it is I need to know. Even then, I may need to keep him on to manage the Sussex properties whilst I’m in town. Given Uncle’s tight-fisted ways, I am sure they are all in need of repair. In the meantime, the townhouse here in Mayfair needs a good deal of work. I’ll hire someone to oversee the remodel as soon as possible.”
Josephine wondered what the ‘learning’ would involve in the case of the Bostwick viscountcy. Estate management, no doubt—George’s uncle held lands in Sussex in which there were several coal mines and a country manor house near Chichester. The townhouse George mentioned was in Park Lane and, indeed, required a remodel.
But what about the politics? George was a viscount now, which meant he was a member of Parliament. He would need to be briefed on the current issues. “So, you’ll be leaving for Sussex then?” she wondered, allowing her head to lean against his shoulder.
“Not for a few months. I … I’ll spend the summer there and be back in London in the fall. For Parliament. The townhouse should be ready to occupy by then.” He paused a moment to kiss the top of her head. “You’ll come with me, of course,” he stated, not making it an invitation.
Josephine inhaled sharply, a bit surprised by the overture. There had been only one other time when he had expected her to join him on a trip. That had been very early in their relationship. They had been the only ‘family’ in residence at the country estate for an entire fortnight, spending their days riding and walking the lands around the manor house and their nights sharing a bedchamber. She wondered for a long time why he felt it necessary to take that trip, supposing at the time it was merely a whim of George’s. His uncle had been quite strict with him back then, forbidding him to frequent gaming hells or brothels, and limiting his allowance to ensure he complied. He instead encouraged George to learn how to fence and shoot guns, pursuits that didn’t cost a great deal of money. After a few years, Josephine realized why.
Joseph Bennett-Jones was a miser.
His one expenditure with respect to George, beyond the costs of sending his nephew to Eton and then to Cambridge for his education, had been to pay for a mistress.
“Are you … certain?” Josephine wondered, her voice barely a whisper. Besides the time she had been there with George for a fortnight, there were other shorter stays when he had extended the invitation and left it up to her to decide if she wanted to join him. On those occasions, she was free to roam the estate when his uncle wasn’t hosting visitors. She rather enjoyed long walks or a ride on horseback over the rolling hills and next to the forests that surrounded the home. Otherwise, she would be sequestered in a suite of rooms she shared with George in a wing on the second floor, her presence unknown to anyone but George, his uncle and a few members of the household staff.
“I’ll die of boredom if you are not there. Although,” he paused for a moment as if an idea had just formed, “Now that I have access to a good deal of money, I suppose I can finally see to it some things are changed down there. Better housing for the miners, more money for the orphanage, replace the roof on the church. That sort of thing.” He took a deep breath, nodding as he did so. Then his eyebrows cocked up. “And besides, I have to have someone bring me up to snuff on what’s been going on with the government,” he stated, his lips curving a bit to indicate the worst of his mournful thoughts had passed.
Josephine smiled. She followed all the news from Parliament, subscribed to three newspapers, and was always aware of current events and applicable gossip where she could find it. If anyone could educate George on the current situation in Parliament, it was she.
George quickly sobered again, though. “Marry me, Josie,” he spoke as he squeezed one of her hands between both of his. “Please.”
Her back straightening with the familiar request, Josephine turned to look him in the eyes. “George. You know I cannot. I am your mistress. And five years your senior. You must marry a woman who can give you an heir,” she explained patiently.
She had given him the same excuses the other four times he had asked her to marry him over the years. There had been only one of those times when she was tempted to accept his offer, and then only because she thought she carried his child. Although she was merely late with her monthly courses, the situation had made her realize many things. George’s insistence on keeping her for so many years made her believe she was his first and only lover. But her life as a mistress had convinced her she did not want to give up the freedom she enjoyed while being his mistress, and she did not want a child with him. She had other plans for her future, a future that involved a different man. If that man from her past still wanted her as his wife, as he claimed in every missive she received from him over the years, then she would agree to a marriage once she was sure the man had made his way in the world.
“Must I?” George countered, his hang-dog expression returning.
Josephine gave him a wan smile as she nodded. “When we get to the country, we have some work to do,” she murmured, her smoky green eyes turning quite serious. At his cocked eyebrow and quizzical expression, she added, “To get you ready for the Little Season, and for courting a lady of the ton.” She did not immediately clarify what her intentions were, but his change in status meant many things, including a change to the way he interacted with the eligible females of the ton. G
iven his age and his need to start his nursery soon, he would need to find a wife—the sooner, the better. After so many years with the same mistress, George had become somewhat lax in his attitude toward women, not taking the time to learn much about the few already in his life—their lives, their families, their hopes, their dreams. He needed to learn a bit more about members of the opposite sex if he had any hope of landing a wife suitable to his new station in life.
And it meant Josephine needed to teach him how to please a woman in bed—and out of it—to ensure he wasn’t cuckolded by his new wife. He was adequate in bed, she had to admit, but there were subtleties he lacked in the way he used his eyes, the way he used his voice to flirt. He was sometimes impatient with his foreplay. And the pressure of his touch against feminine skin was perhaps a bit too bold when he was aroused.
Swallowing hard, George finally nodded. “Promise me something, then, Josie,” he whispered, moving one hand to rest on the back of her waist. At her wary nod, he said, “You’ll remain my best friend until the day I die.”
Josephine Wentworth regarded her lover for several moments before leaning over to kiss his cheek. Such a simple request, and so easy to grant. “Until the day I die,” she agreed, a grin appearing before she kissed him again.
Chapter 3
An Earl Meets a Lady
June 1815
Lady Elizabeth Carlington met the Earl of Trenton at the last ball of the Season. Upon seeing her descend the stairs into the elegant ballroom, Gabriel Wellingham, Earl of Trenton, walked very quickly to stand directly in her path, bowed over her hand (which he had to reach out to retrieve from her side because she was caught by surprise and hadn’t yet offered it), and kissed it. Before Elizabeth could curtsy in return, a maneuver made almost impossible given she was still standing on the last step and there was no room to do so, Gabriel asked if he might reserve a dance.
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