Michael had described the scandalous parties, but she would have never expected them to be as open as this! Couples lay together on the couches, their hands - and lips! - exploring each other’s bodies in a way that should have been reserved for the privacy of one’s bedchambers.
On one couch, a woman lay with her head tilted back, a man with long hair kissing her neck while another couple watched on in fascination.
Another man stood watching from across the room as he massaged the breast of the woman in front of him, and she was leaning against his chest, her eyes half closed as she gave short gasps of pleasure.
It took every ounce of Emma’s being to keep from closing her eyes in shock. She was there as a mistress and therefore should not be surprised by what she saw, but it was not easy to not react in some way.
“Ah, Bracken,” a man with silver at his temples said as he approached them, “I heard a rumor you were attending this evening.”
“Is that so, Wallace?” Michael replied. “And what did the rumor say exactly?”
Wallace looked at Emma, beginning at her face and finishing on her bosom without so much as an attempt to hide his ogling. “That Lord Whisken is about to be generous with you,” he replied without taking his eyes from her breasts. “More so than he has with any other man. It appears you have somehow earned his favor.”
“And have you seen Whisken?” Michael asked.
A woman with dark hair and a deep green gown joined Wallace, and though Emma had never made her acquaintance, the woman curled her lips sinisterly.
Wallace placed an arm around the woman’s waist, but then his hand trailed down to pinch her on the bottom. The man did not even take his eyes off Emma. “He is in a game of parlay at the moment,” he replied. He glanced around and took a step closer to Michael. “The men are new to the area, of good families with much wealth. I believe one is a marquess who is rumored to be as evil as Whisken himself.”
Emma moved in closer to Michael. He had warned her of the dangers and what she would witness, but nothing could have prepared her for what was happening around her. Evil abounded everywhere, so why should the inclusion of one more terrify her?
“And you?” Michael asked, “Are you not playing tonight?”
“I have already played,” Wallace replied, straightening his back proudly. “And my reward was great. Is that not true, Anne?” He nuzzled the woman’s neck and made her giggle, and Emma wondered if the woman had been the prize he had won. Perhaps the contemptuous look had not been for Emma after all.
That notion was dashed as soon as the woman spoke. “It is true, my lord,” she said in a light playful tone as she placed a hand on his chest. “And we will see your reward paid to you in your bed this night, and many nights to come.”
As the couple walked away, Emma looked up at Michael. “You did not lie,” she said and then swallowed hard. “Great vileness exists here.”
Michael nodded. “But do not worry, they are looking at us with suspicion, for a lady of great innocence is among them.”
Glancing around her, Emma noticed that, indeed, most eyes were upon them. Granted, some couples had taken no notice of their entrance, and that was not a surprise - their attention was quite taken with one another, after all.
Not wanting to create more suspicion, she moved onto her tiptoes and kissed Michael. Even where they were amongst the debauchery and immorality, his kiss sent her heart soaring. When he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her tight, she knew that she wanted him to hold her forever.
When the kiss broke, she took a quick glance around. The others seemed satisfied. They no longer watched Emma and Michael and had resumed their private conversations.
A woman’s laugh came to her ears, and Emma frowned. She recognized that laugh and was shocked when her eyes fell on a woman in the arms of a man across the room.
“Is that not Sally, your chaperon?” Michael asked in shock that matched Emma’s. Emma could only nod. “What is she doing here?”
Emma shook her head. “I do not know.” And was that Robert the Rogue with her? She gaped at them as they stood and walked toward her and Michael. This was it! She was caught. Yet, had they not also been caught? Sally had said she would be away, but Emma never suspected this was where she would be.
“What are you doing here?” Emma asked in a hushed whisper when the pair came to stand before her and Michael.
Sally giggled, but that mirth did not reach her eyes. “I thought you might come,” she replied in that same low tone. “So, when my friend, the Marquess of Chesterton, invited me, I readily agreed.” It was strange to see the woman nip at Robert’s ear, who looked quite different in his tailored suit. She was more accustomed to seeing him in a simple shirt and breeches, not embellished as he was now.
Despite her surprise, Emma could not have been more pleased. “Thank you!” she said as she embraced the woman. “I feel so much better knowing you two are here.” She took a quick step back. “Does Constance know?”
“No,” Sally replied, “but we will discuss all that later. We have a party to attend.”
Emma kissed Robert’s cheek. “Thank you, too,” she whispered. “I’m glad to see you.”
“Well, when Sally came to me and told me what you planned to do, I had no choice. You’re lucky I didn’t try to put a stop to it as soon as she told me.”
Then Emma remembered Michael, who stood watching them with confusion on his face. “Oh, I’m so sorry! Michael, you know Sally. And this is our friend, Robert.”
“The Marquess of Chesterton, at your service,” Robert said as he shook Michael’s hand.
Michael raised his brows. “Are you among the friends who taught Emma what she knows?”
Robert smiled. “I am.”
Emma placed a hand on his arm. “I know I have more to explain, and I promise I will when this has all ended.”
Michael pursed his lips. “So, you do not trust me?”
“I do trust you,” Emma said, taking his hand. “But believe me when I say it is best explained at another time. There are too many ears to hear.”
“She is right,” Sally interjected. “This is not the place to speak of such things.”
After a moment, Michael finally nodded. “Very well, then. Emma, maybe you should explain our plan to your friends.”
Emma explained everything to Sally and Robert as they sipped wine. From time to time, Sally would nuzzle Robert or Emma would giggle as if Michael had said something witty to keep others from believing their conversation was more than idle.
When Emma was done, Sally nodded. “That is a worthy plan, and I know you mean well, but it is much too risky. I think it would be better if I took your place in the wager.”
“No,” Emma replied. “I cannot allow that.”
“You have no choice,” Sally replied.
With every intention of arguing, Emma went to speak, but Michael forestalled her.
“I believe it is time to begin implementing our plan.” He nodded toward the other end of the room where a man stood, his frame so large he filled the doorway.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” the giant said in a deep, booming voice, “let the games begin.”
“I thought they had already begun,” Emma said as she glanced at the man they had encountered earlier.
Michael seemed to understand her meaning. “He always begins with a select few for private games, but then he invites all his guests to the gaming rooms to either participate or observe. Everyone is required to attend these.” He turned to Emma. “Are you ready?”
As the throng of people moved around them, Emma could no longer see the door they would walk through. She clung to Michael’s arm as they were carried along with the sea of people to an adjoining room. Several tables were set up around the room, and the seats filled quickly.
Emma smiled up at Michael. “Soon, your life will be restored,” she whispered. “We will leave this place never to return.”
Michael returned her smile as h
e patted her hand. “You are right. I’m ready to have this finished.”
Those in the drawing room joined perhaps a dozen others who had apparently been a part of the private pregaming session. One man had a despondent look, as if he had lost everything, and more than likely he had.
Emma understood firsthand how gaming could pull someone into betting everything they owned if he - or she in her case - did not have the strength to know when to quit.
Luckily, she had always recognized when to stop, though she had never played where such steep wagers were allowed. She would have found herself very much in the same situation as Michael if she had not learned restraint. At least she did not have as much to lose as he. She had no authority to put up Sweetspire Estates as collateral as Michael had done with Bracken House.
On the farthest side of the room sat a large table and six chairs upon a dais. At that table was a high wingback chair that looked out over the entire room like a throne. At the tall window behind the table stood a gentleman who gave off such a sense of self-importance that he could not have been anyone but Lord Whisken.
Emma wished he would turn around so she could see his face, for observing a person before playing cards taught as much as what was learned during gameplay.
Wallace joined Michael and Emma. “Do you see the gentleman over there beneath the painting of hunting dogs?” he asked in a whisper. When Michael nodded, the man continued. “He is a marquess and just lost an estate in Cornwall to Whisken. That man has more luck in his little finger than I have in my entire body!” He jutted his chin to the large table. “Those three men are toughs he hired to protect him, all highwaymen with terrible reputations. The rumor is that Whisken sets them on anyone who does not honor their bets.”
The three men of which he spoke, all standing to either side of the dais, hands clasped in front of them and eyes scanning the crowd without a pause, did indeed have a solemn and foreboding look about them. Even from this distance, she imagined she could feel the evil that emanated from them.
Sally shuffled up to them and smiled. Then she leaned in close to Emma. “I’ll take your place when the time comes, when he challenges you to a game of parlay. Robert has brought a goodly amount of money, too, so with the two combined, Whisken’s greed will make him accept the substitution.”
“You would be willing to…?”
“Take your place?” Sally asked. “Isn’t that what I’ve been saying? I’m willing to do whatever needs to be done and at any cost to see you kept safe.”
“Ah, Bracken, you came!” The crowd around them fell silent at once, as if the King himself had spoken. “We had a gentleman’s agreement, did we not?”
For some reason, everyone turned to stare at Michael and Emma. Did they all know why they had attended?
“That is correct,” Michael replied.
“Tell our friends what that agreement was exactly.”
“If Miss Emma Shepherd attended your party with me, my home, all my business holdings, everything I lost to you six years ago, would be returned to me.”
Whispers rose through the crowd, but they quieted once again when Lord Whisken spoke. “George, give Lord Bracken what I promised.”
A large man walked over to Michael with a sheaf of papers tied with a red ribbon and handed the bundle to Michael. Mumbles of disbelief resounded throughout the room as Michael shuffled through the papers.
“Is it all there?” Lord Whisken asked.
“It is,” Michael replied. The smile he wore warmed Emma’s heart and had to be the most beautiful thing she had ever seen.
“And now I will play a game of parlay with Miss Shepherd,” the man said.
“Lord Whisken,” Sally interjected, “I would take Miss Shepherd’s place in this game. I’m willing to place any wager you wish, even myself.”
The laugh that responded sent a bolt of fear through Emma. She could never forget that laugh, and when the man turned, her worst fears were made real. She clutched Michael’s arm in terror.
“Emma?” Michael asked, concern filling his features. “What is it?”
Emma thought her heart would explode, and she could not speak for the fear that threatened to choke the life from her. The man who face her smiled, his silver hair matching the steel in his eyes.
“Emma?”
“It is the man from my nightmares,” she managed to say in a choked whisper. “That is Lord Oswald.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
Lord Whisken was known by many names throughout England, depending on what he needed to accomplish. In the north, some knew him as Lord Ludlow, in the far south he was Lord Patterson. But most, including his good friend Lord Phillip Burk and the man’s stepdaughter Miss Emma Shepherd, knew him by his true name, Lord Aylmer Oswald.
Though it did not matter what name they knew him by, one thing was certain. Aylmer was a man who always got what he wanted. And more than anything, he wanted Miss Emma Shepherd. It was why nearly two years earlier, he had paid Burk a hefty sum for his stepdaughter’s hand in marriage.
When the girl had run away with her sisters, Aylmer was sure he would see her found. He had hired men to search for her. One never returned, and he could only assume the man had been killed or otherwise had met his death.
Aylmer did not mourn, for he only wanted returned to him what was rightfully his. Yet, as time passed and she was still lost, he began to believe he would never see the beautiful young woman again.
It came as a great surprise and joy when a month earlier upon returning to the town of Bottly that he learned that the Shepherd sisters were living in the area.
Aylmer was not the only man who had paid a steep price for the hand of a Shepherd woman. Two of his friends, Lord Arthur Fletcher and Lord Earnest Montgomery, had also paid a hefty amount for the hands of Emma’s sisters, but even after the other two gave up their search for their brides-to-be and married other women, Aylmer had not. Emma’s image had been burned into his mind, and he would have her one way or another.
Now, to not only claim her as his own, but to do so as he watched that waste of a human, Bracken, lose his second woman only made him smile. What was the popular saying? Two birds with one stone? The Greeks knew the way of things.
Bracken’s wife, Caroline, had attended one of his special parties with a female friend. She was innocent and curious once she heard of the gatherings he offered, of which she had only heard as rumors.
It had taken no more than a single glass of wine and whispered promises in her ear to spirit the woman to his bed. After that night of ultimate bliss, she returned, caught between desire and guilt as her husband worked. It was too bad the woman had died before Aylmer got to see the whelp growing inside her. The child was probably not his, and even if it had been, what did it matter to him? It would have been a bastard, anyway.
Always the fool, Bracken had stormed into Aylmer’s home hellbent on avenging his wife’s death, but in the end, he lost more than just his wife. He lost everything, and his humiliation was complete.
Aylmer’s hatred for Bracken began well before he had married Caroline, however. When Aylmer approached the man with a business deal that would make them both richer than they could have imagined, Bracken had refused. His excuse had been a lack of funds, but Aylmer knew the man thought himself better than he.
“Ah, Emma,” Aylmer said, “why do you not greet me with a smile?” He walked around the table, his man George following. Stopping before the woman who haunted his dreams, he grinned down at her. “You have grown into the beautiful woman I always thought you would be.”
Desire filled him as he looked over her, the innocent eyes, the perfect cheekbones, the generous bosom that would be pressed beneath him this very night. It took a great amount of focus to not take her right there in front of everyone.
Not that anyone would object, he thought with a chuckle. Not at one of his parties.
“I do not smile for men the likes of you,” Emma said with lovely defiance that only stirred him furt
her. “I have come to your party and will do what you ask of me.”
“Oh, yes, I know you will,” Aylmer said as he placed the back of his hand against the smooth skin of her cheek. He ran his thumb over her lips and a memory came to mind. “Do you remember when I kissed you? I found it the most enjoyable of kisses.” She did not respond, but he could see in her eyes that she remembered.
“That is enough,” Bracken snapped. “She does not have to engage in the game with you. I did as you asked.”
Aylmer chuckled. “I’m afraid that she does. That was part of the agreement. If you do not want your property returned, just say the word.” He tapped a finger on the sheaf of papers.
“I will play,” Emma said. “I will best you and you will be left alone in a cold bed.”
This made Aylmer laugh, and he turned to walk back to his chair. “My guests hold witness that I have held up my end of the bargain. Now, Miss Shepherd, will you keep yours?”
She glanced at Bracken and they put their heads together to whisper words he could not hear. He did not care what they had to say, for in the end, he would have what he wanted. He always did.
***
The wager Emma was placing would cost her more than at any other time she had ever played the game of parlay. Yet, when she glanced at Michael, she felt no fear, for his eyes conveyed the love he had for her. In that, anything was possible.
“You are brave and honorable,” he whispered. “See that man destroyed.”
“You can’t allow this to happen,” Sally hissed at Michael.
Emma smiled. “I must do this,” she said. “Michael has no choice in the matter. Do not blame him.”
Sally gave Michael another glare as she asked Emma, “Do you believe you can win?”
With a quick nod, Emma turned to face Lord Whisken, the man she knew as Lord Oswald. A man who had haunted her dreams for nearly two years, his thin lips spread in a grin. Yet, she found solace in knowing that she could best this man.
Sally caught Emma by the arm. “Let me speak to him,” she insisted. “You can’t do this!”
Barons Always Win Wagers (Forbidden Kisses Book 3) Page 18
