Page 36 of Tender Blackguard

“I’m breathless with anticipation, Your Grace,” Alastair replied.

The old man laughed as he gestured for Alastair to precede him into the concealed antechamber.

Clenching his back teeth in frustration at being rushed past the entry, he barely managed to keep an appropriately anticipatory expression as he acquiesced.

When he’d first read his sire’s notes describing the types of entertainments in which the brotherhood indulged, he’d imagined them taking place in dank, dark dungeons. Such settings would certainly have been more in line with what his mother had detailed in the unsent letters to her family. However, as he’d discovered when he and Hale retrieved Lady Katherine from Shelbourne’s clutches, the brotherhood seemed to have a penchant for the over-gilded and the theatrical.

The setting for tonight’s gathering was a large but intimate gentlemen’s sitting room decorated in a scheme of black, white, and gold. Pristine marble floors, black-brocade-covered walls, gold-painted molding, and gleaming gold sconces. Even the furniture was upholstered in gold silk. Additionally, the room contained three felt-covered card tables, a roulette wheel, and a table for dice. Two liveried footmen with appropriately blank expressions stood along the opposite wall holding trays of champagne.

And scattered about the room—in various positions and poses designed to seduce and entice—were an array of gorgeous women. They were all dressed in costumes of the prior century with wide, layered skirts, corsets that cinched waists, and stiff brocade bodices that shoved bosoms to overflowing. The gowns were of every color, and the ladies were in possession of figures to please any taste. The dramatic looks were accented by heavily kohled eyes, darkly rouged lips, and beauty patches, along with elaborate powdered wigs fashioned into fantastical designs depicting such impossible things as topiary, a trellis of roses, birds in flight, and even a three-masted ship.

Alastair was relieved to see the ladies all appeared to be present willingly. High-end prostitutes and courtesans, most likely.

Chesterfield gave another nudge with his cane as he came up beside Alastair to leer at the occupants of the room. “Didn’t I tell you?”

He didn’t reply. He didn’t need to as the duke sauntered toward a woman reclining elegantly on a gilded chaise, a champagne flute held lightly in her slim fingers.

“Your Grace,” she greeted silkily, “such a pleasure to see you again.”

“It will be.”

By the woman’s words, Alastair gathered that she at least, and possibly others present, had attended similar events in the past. Tonight was not likely to be one of the cursed nights like that which his mother had endured. Knowing that, he tried to relax, to sink into the atmosphere of the evening in order to prove to those observing that he would be open to more deviant experiences. So, when a lady in a striking blue gown and a towering coiffure approached him with an easy smile, he met her flashing silver eyes with a suggestion of interest in his gaze.

“Good evening, my lord.” She flicked a glance toward the glass in his hand. “It appears you’re in need of another drink.” Her eyes tilted suggestively. “Shall I fetch it for you?”

Lowering his voice to a slow drawl, Alastair replied, “You can do whatever you’d like, love.”

Her smile widened, flashing even white teeth as she slipped her hand through his arm. “Ahhh,” she breathed huskily, “I do believe we’re going to get along famously. Please, call me Lady Sapphire.” She tipped her head toward one of the footmen who started toward them. “Is champagne to your liking?”

“It is.”

The lady smiled coyly at the footman, who stopped at her side. Alastair could have sworn she snuck the servant a saucy wink, but it was too quick to be sure. Lady Sapphire was a bold one. And quite stunning with her pouty mouth and sparkling eyes.

But Alastair was disconcerted to acknowledge that he felt very little beyond general appreciation for her undeniable beauty. Apparently, his taste ran more toward blondes with a deceptively staid demeanor and stormy rather than silver eyes.

Just the thought of his housekeeper caused a fierce tightening through his core.

Lady Sapphire leaned close to him, tipping her chin up to show off the slim length of her throat and daring decolletage. “Something amiss, my lord?”

Alastair smoothed the scowl from his brow and cast a quick glance about the room. The other gentlemen guests were settling down to cards or had chosen their own sparkling companion. Lord Marlowe, in fact, already had his hand shoved up the skirts of one laughing lady who perched on his lap.

Though his back teeth clenched tight, he had to play the part.

“Not at all, love,” he replied before sipping from his champagne.

Lady Sapphire gave a seductive lift of one shoulder. “I get the sense you’re not interested in gambling. Shall we find a nice place to sit and chat?”

A game of cards would be a far better option considering it would give him a proper excuse to avoid a similar display to that of Marlowe and now Hazelton, who was pressing a woman in an emerald gown against the wall behind the fall of a black velvet curtain.

Though the female giggled encouragingly, it still infuriated Alastair how careless and callous the men were proving to be. There was no seduction. These men clearly believed the women were theirs for the taking. They might have paid for the pleasure, but their behavior was crude and tawdry.

“Come, my lord,” Lady Sapphire whispered in her husky voice as she linked her arm securely through his to lead him to a cushioned bench positioned in a darkened alcove he hadn’t previously noticed.

Once seated, the lady angled herself toward him and pressed her shoulder intimately to his as she took his hand and rested it atop hers in her lap. Smiling at him, she fluttered her thick lashes seductively. “No need to be so tense, Lord Warfield. I swear I won’t do anything you don’t want me to.”

The amusement in her tone had Alastair raising a brow. Then he realized she’d called him by name, which had not been given. Before he could shift his expression or consider questioning how she knew who he was, she gave a wink and leaned forward to whisper in his ear.

“We have a shared interest, my lord. And a shared friend.”

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