Page 9 of Enslaved
Allegra’s face took on the stiff countenance of Dame Lightfoot. “The noises are unmentionable, acknowledged by neither the offender nor the victim.”
Diana had to lift her mask to wipe away her tears of mirth.
As she did so, the Earl of Bath caught a glimpse of violet eyes that nearly took his breath away. He had been stalking his prey with the confidence of a jungle cat. When he was within striking distance, he reached out with powerful hands to encircle Diana’s waist, then lifted her up onto a low platform that stood behind her. “A goddess deserves to stand on a pedestal,” he said lightly.
Diana gasped as the dark stranger laid hands upon her He was so tall she was only slightly elevated above him. She stared down into black eyes that were blatantly assessing her scantily clad charms.
“Introduce us, Allegra,” he ordered.
“Not a chance, you audacious devil. She is not a morsel to be devoured by your voracious appetite.”
“I promise to savor her. Like a fine wine, I shall sip, hold her on my tongue, then taste her again and again, taking all night to slake my thirst.”
Allegra was speechless. She could hardly expose Lady Diana Davenport’s identity to the Earl of Bath.
Diana was anything but speechless. Her anger ignited and blazed forth, loosening her tongue in the process. “You lecherous swine! Slake your thirst elsewhere!” Her foot shot out, kicking him on the top of his shin. Alas, her golden sandals offered no protection when her toes struck solid bone and muscle. “Ouch!” she cried.
The earl deftly took hold of her foot, amused that she had suffered the pain she had intended to inflict upon him. With her foot firmly in his hand, his eyes slowly traveled up the contour of her long leg.
Outraged, she snatched an arrow from its gilt case and jabbed it into the hand holding her foot. When he didn’t let go, she gave him a second jab, which was more savage. This time he loosened his grip, but proceeded to slide his hand all the way up to her thigh before he removed it.
Diana’s face blushed scarlet beneath the mask. Suddenly she was afraid of the powerful male who was handling her body as if she were on display for his personal pleasure. Desperately she looked for Allegra, but that lady was nowhere to be seen. The platform was overcrowded with females in varying costumes. A ballet dancer was pressed up against a shepherdess, who was in turn being elbowed aside by an angel.
Diana looked down into a sea of men’s faces, all laughing, leering, and shouting at the fellow dressed as Cupid. Suddenly she wasn’t so sure she should be here in this provocative costume. It had seemed such a daring escapade earlier, but now she questioned the wisdom of coming to the Pantheon in disguise or otherwise. Perhaps the place was too worldly for an unmarried lady of her tender years.
The Earl of Bath couldn’t take his eyes from the golden-haired girl in front of him. Obviously she was a demirep, but she was so young, she couldn’t have been on the game long. He was usually attracted to older women of experience, but this wonderful vision had a natural beauty whose freshness and vitality were somehow a potent lure tonight. Then and there he made up his mind to have her! He raised his hand several times to Cupid as did the other men all about him.
The angel beside Diana reached over and plucked off her winged mask. “This would be perfect with my costume. Do you mind?”
“Of course I bloody well mind,” Diana said, aghast that someone might recognize her. “Go play your stupid harp on some other cloud!” she said, grabbing back the mask to cover her identity. Then she looked down into jet black eyes as she felt herself being lifted from the platform.
“What the devil are you doing?” she demanded as her feet found the floor.
He grinned down at her. “I’ve just bought you, Diana.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” she gasped in a total panic because he called her by name, then she realized he was using the goddess’s name.
“The auction—Cupid there is auctioning off all the young nymphs on the platform and I just paid the winning bid for you.”
“But that is impossible!” she protested, horrified.
“It’s for charity, my sweet. It’s all for a good cause, I assure you.” Smooth as silk, the Earl of Bath lifted two glasses of champagne from the silver tray of a liveried servant passing by and placed one in her hand. “Let’s both slake our thirsts tonight.”
His deep voice was so dangerously seductive, it affected her in a strange way that shocked her. The suggestive things he said, coupled with the resonant tone, made her body tingle in all its most private places. Close to panic, Diana threw the contents of the champagne glass into his face and fled.
Chapter 4
At the door she saw Allegra had already retrieved her cloak in anticipation of an early escape. Diana covered her costume quickly. “I should never have come.”
“Oh, don’t go all respectable on me, darling; time for that tomorrow in the cold light of day!”
As they made their way toward Grosvenor Square, Diana began to laugh. “Sorry. Actually I was having the time of my life until that loathsome man forced his attentions upon me!”
“That loathsome man was the Earl of Bath,” Allegra drawled.
“Oh lord, and I threw champagne in his face!”
“I daresay that dampened his ardor.”
