Page 56 of Duke of Wickedness
“I—good God, Ar—little bird,” he amended hastily, and she was touched by his discretion. “Don’t saythat.”
She wanted to impress upon him her sincerity, but it wasn’t the time or the place, so she just laughed and squeezed his arm. If she let the motion push her breasts up against him the tiniest bit, well, she wasn’t a saint. And she was far from immune to the heady atmosphere of the party.
“Come on,” she said. “Unless this is the most you have to show me?”
David straightened his shoulders and tugged his collar. When he pasted on an offended look this time, he seemed lighter beneath it.
“Certainly not,” he said. “Tell me, my dear, do you feel that you are ready for the full tour? But I must warn you: these outer rooms are the tamest of the lot.”
There was a challenge in his voice. Ariadne was no coward.
“Lead the way, dear sir,” she said pertly.
As they moved further away from the front of the house, the bodies became more plentiful and the clothing became scarcer.
And the activities grew more…creative.
There were people in groups, which, even after seeing those images earlier in the week, was shocking to see in real life. But the part that stuck with Ariadne the most was the people who were usingprops.
There was, for example, a man bent over a settee at the waist. He and his partner might have been some of the tamest of the lot, being only one man and one woman, and both fully clothed, except the lady was paddling the man’s derriere while he enthusiastically egged her on.
There were people with their hands bound, people with their eyes covered. Some ignored Ariadne and David as they walkedthrough the house, too occupied in their specific activities to be distracted by any newcomers, but others looked back at her with the same fascination with which she looked at them.
No one approached. No one even spoke to her. She was, after all, on the arm of their host—and a few peopledidgreet David by name or title, suggesting that, even masked, he was far from unrecognizable.
It was heady. Ariadne felt…
She felt like a queen. She felt like a goddess. She practically preened under their attention.
They kept moving, her head swiveling to take everything in, and maybe that made her look ridiculous, but she was too fascinated to care.
And then she saw them.
There were three of them in the group—two men and a lady, though only one of the men and the lady were making any physical contact. They kissed and caressed one another, groaning as hands roamed and mouths pressed.
And the second man sat,tied to a chair, and watched, a litany of filth and praise falling from his lips.
“Look at her,” he said—speaking, presumably, to the other man. “Isn’t she perfect? Isn’t she gorgeous? Wouldn’t you just die for her?”
The kissing man pulled back long enough to groan out, “Fuck, yes. I’d die happily,” before sucking against the lady’s neck.
The lady said nothing, but she wore a smug, satisfied smile as she accepted this praise as her due.
“Do you like what you see?” David murmured in Ariadne’s ear.
She nodded, too enthralled to even play at bashfulness at being caught.
“Do you want to watch?” he asked.
Shedidlook away at that, glancing, startled, at David.
“We…can do that?” Not averting her eyes as they moved through semi-public spaces was one thing, but the way David saidwatchindicated more than that.
“Oh, sweet bird,” he said, pressing a kiss to the spot behind her ear at the exact moment that the kissing man did the same thing to his partner, albeit from a different angle. “That’s why they’ve left that settee open.” He nodded toward the furniture in question. “They want to be watched.”
“I lookverypretty,” the woman said—her first words since they’d arrived, and Ariadne was shocked to hear herself addressed. “You should watch. You should enjoy.”
“Yes,” encouraged the bound man, though he didn’t look away from the embracing couple. “Let’s show them how lovely you can make her, eh, pet?”
