Page 9 of How To Seduce A Wife

Louisa tried to picture the rather portly Lord Gilbert Fotherskill cavorting in bed and found herself wanting to giggle. April hugged her. “You see? There is nothing to worry about, just consider yourself lucky and pity other wives whose husbands don’t know their way around a woman’s body and couldn’t care less anyway.” She kissed Louisa’s cheek. “And it is also normal if your husband wishes to make love with you more than once a night and actually spends the whole night in your bed.”

“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 pausedat 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 atall. 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 making sure of 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.”

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