"It will not happen," Lucinda warned him. "You are wasting your time if you think you can change me, sir. I have always been thought self-centered, and I probably am. Where are we going?"
"To my house," he said, leading her back through his orchard and gardens to the ivy-covered brick structure.
"Where is this place?" she asked him.
"All I will tell you is that you are in Oxfordshire," he replied. "The nearest village is seven miles away, and I have no near neighbors. When I am not going about my duties for the Devil"s Disciples, I raise and train racing horses." He opened a small door, ushering her into the house. Then he led her into a hallway and up a flight of stairs. "I believe you will find your quarters far more comfortable here than the ones you had last night."
"Where are your servants?" she asked him.
"I have few, and before you query me further, they are used to my ways. Indeed, they often a.s.sist me in my endeavours."
"Will you continue to wear your mask, sir?"
"I will. Afterward we might meet in polite society. I should not like you to be embarra.s.sed, Lucinda, by such a meeting, nor your husband either." He opened another door, and they entered into a large bedroom.
The walls of the room were paneled. The large bowed window opened out onto the gardens. The cas.e.m.e.nts were lead-paned. There was, to Lucinda"s relief, a big fireplace on the wall facing the great oaken bedstead with its red velvet tapestried bed hangings. There was a standing chest on another wall and an upholstered chair by the hearth.
"Where is Polly to sleep?" Lucinda demanded.
"There is a little chamber next to this room that Polly may call her own. She will spend many nights, I expect, in other beds," he said.
"Yours?" she replied scathingly.
The Master laughed. "Nay, my pet. I shall be spending my nights in your bed, teaching you how to be a good and obedient woman."
"I want a bath," Lucinda said. "I am sticky with your sweat and your juices, sir."
"Of course," he said pleasantly. "I shall have my servants arrange it, and they will help you as Polly is otherwise occupied. I must go back to the amphitheater to make certain the la.s.ses from the village have arrived and all is as it should be." He bowed, and then was gone from the bedchamber, leaving Lucinda standing naked, and not just a little angry.
She gazed about her, shivering, for the evening was growing cool. The door to her bedchamber opened. She looked desperately about her for something with which to cover herself. She did not find it. A bare-chested, liveried footman in a white wig hurried into the room, going immediately to the fireplace to light the fire already laid there. He then rose and, turning, smiled at Lucinda, who was attempting to strategically hide behind the bed"s draperies. The footman bowed.
"The bath is being brought, m"lady. Is there a particular fragrance that you prefer?"
"Lavender," Lucinda managed to say.
"Very good, m"lady," he said. "My name is John. My companions and I will be servicing you. Ahh, here is the bathtub. It"s probably a bit old-fashioned to a London lady, but we can bathe you quite nicely in it," John a.s.sured her.
"I am quite capable of bathing myself," Lucinda said haughtily.
"We have our orders, m"lady," John said quietly.
She stood silent as the round oak tub was filled by two other footmen. John disappeared from the chamber for a brief few moments, returning with a vial he poured into the tub. Immediately the scent of lavender filled the room. With a smile he held out his hand to Lucinda as the two other footmen fussed about, laying towels across a towel rack they placed be-fore the fire. Taking the footman"s hand, she allowed him to settle her in the tub. What else was she to do?
John pinned her thick hair up, then took up a large sponge. After rubbing a cake of hard soap across it, he began to wash her back. The sponge swept down the length of her back several times. It was followed by warm water laved over her skin until it was soap free. One of the other footmen placed a small goblet of cordial in her hand. "The Master has ordered it, m"lady," John said. "Please do drink it down while I continue to bathe you."
Lucinda sipped at the liquid. It had the flavor of ripe strawberries and was absolutely delicious. She drank it down as John washed her arms and neck. Now, as his hands moved to her b.r.e.a.s.t.s, Lucinda wondered why she wasn"t distressed, but she wasn"t. The sponge moved quite impersonally about the full mounds of flesh, brushing the nipples carelessly. He smiled at her as they thrust forward. Then his hands moved beneath the water to sponge her more private parts. Lucinda stiffened, but his actions while intimate seemed harmless enough.
"Please stand," he said, and when she had been helped up, he continued his careful bathing of her b.u.t.tocks, pushing the sponge between her twin moons to cleanse there also.
Lucinda felt her face grow warm. In fact, her entire body was growing warm. The rinse water trickled down her skin and was strangely arousing. She tried to concentrate upon anything else and noted that the three footmen all had thick bulges in the groins of their blue satin knee breeches. John lifted her from the tub. At once the other two young men were wrapping her in warm towels, drying her, their hands moving sensuously over her body. She attempted to move away from them, taking the toweling in her own hands.
"Now, m"lady," John gently chided her, "you must not hinder us in our duties. We have our orders, and we never disobey The Master. We should lose our places if we did, and frankly our employment here is most pleasant. Please allow d.i.c.k and Martin to finish."
Her hands fell away, and the young footmen began to towel her again. When they had finished, they brought her to the bed, indicating she should lie down. "Where is my luggage?" Lucinda asked John. "I should like a night garment."
"The Master forbids it, m"lady," he replied, "but on his instructions, we shall soon have you warm." His hands moved to his breeches, and he released his p.e.n.i.s. His companions did likewise, and the three young men drew her down onto the bed.
"I do not think ..." Lucinda began nervously.
"Nay, you must not think," John said. "You are only to experience the pleasure we will give each other, m"lady." He was a pleasant-looking man of medium height with a stocky build.
"Until tonight," Lucinda said, "I have known only one man."
"That is as it should be, m"lady, but now you are in The Master"s charge. This lesson we will give you while we await his return is a lesson in pleasing. You will learn to give as well as take. Do you believe your husband was a good lover, m"lady? Even virtuous women have an instinct for such knowledge."
"He was tender, and he was kind," Lucinda said. "I believe I grew to love him. I certainly respected him."
"But he was not particularly exciting, was he?" John said. "Here in The Master"s house, m"lady, we will teach you excitement. Then when you choose your next husband, you will be able to enslave him with your skilled erudition. I think you will like that, m"lady."
"Indeed I will," Lucinda agreed, "although the three fools who have arranged for these lessons will not benefit from my new learning." Lucinda suddenly realized as she was speaking with John that her other two companions had arranged themselves on either side of her and had begun to play with her b.r.e.a.s.t.s. Her eyes met John"s mild gaze, and he smiled.
"Is that nice, m"lady?" he asked her. His fingers began to ma.s.sage her thigh.
Lucinda closed her eyes for a moment. The hands on her b.r.e.a.s.t.s and the hand on her thigh were indeed very nice. She stretched slightly, giving a little purr of appreciation. A mouth fastened itself upon her nipple. "Ummmm," she murmured. The second nipple was engaged. Both of her b.r.e.a.s.t.s were being suckled at the same time. It was quite a delicious sensation. One such as she had never before experienced. Fingers kneaded at her. Tongues and teeth teased at her sentient flesh. John"s fingers brushed her dark bush. She let her eyes follow his hand, her thighs opening for him as he cupped her.
"Your mons is sweetly plump," he said. "I like a woman with a pillowy mons." His fingers pushed themselves between her nether lips, and he began to play with her s.e.x. "Do you like that, m"lady?"
"Yes," Lucinda said with a small smile.
"You are getting nicely moist," he told her, his fingers working her harder, pressing into her love sheath, rubbing.
The door to the bedchamber opened, and The Master entered. He smiled at the lascivious scene before him and immediately began to undress himself. "Can you two greedy lads leave the lady"s t.i.tties long enough to take my boots off?" he demanded of d.i.c.k and Martin.
They immediately jumped from the bed and went to his aid. Then he dismissed them, and with a wave to Lucinda they left the room.
The Master joined the two remaining figures upon the bed, saying, "Come, Lucinda, and play with my c.o.c.k like a good girl."
"You didn"t say please," she taunted him. "Ohh, yes, John, that is quite nice."
His eyes narrowed behind his mask. "I see, Lucinda, that you need a first lesson in obedience," he said. "John, turn her so she lays across the bed the other way, her head on the edge. Then you know what to do."
"Yes, m"lord," the footman said, and pulled Lucinda about protesting. Then John mounted the woman beneath him and thrust deep into her love nest. "Master thinks you need a good f.u.c.king, m"lady, and I am most happy to oblige," he said with a grin.
"Ohhhh," Lucinda cried out, and then she gulped as The Master pressed his love lance between her open and surprised lips.
"You can take two, my pet," he told her. "And you will rouse it one way or another!" He caught her hands to prevent her thwarting his desire "Suck, Lucinda! Suck, or I shall punish you."
Her head was spinning with myriad sensations. The man atop her pumping her fiercely. The male organ in her mouth that had entered relatively soft and manageable, but with each tug of her mouth was growing hard and very long. She choked slightly, struggling to contain him between her lips, fighting not to gag because while she and Robert had often discussed this manner of pa.s.sion, they had never had the opportunity to attempt it. She concentrated on relaxing, and sure enough her throat opened to embrace him deeply.
"Ahhhhh, G.o.d!" The Master cried out, genuinely surprised by her compliance. There was no surrender in her actions. She was enjoying it all every bit as much as they were.
John gave a shout, and his juices spilled themselves into her. He rolled away from her almost immediately, panting with his exertions.
"Release me!" The Master"s deep voice grated harshly.
Lucinda opened her mouth and was quite astounded to see the size of his engorged organ. She had practically swallowed him, and yet she had believed she could have taken more. "Ohh," she said as he first mounted and then thrust deep into her with a groan. "Do not come, you devil," she murmured, "until I have had my pleasure of you first!" Then she surprised him by pulling his head to her and kissing him.
Her lips were fragrant; her tongue teased at his. She sucked upon it hungrily. He could taste himself in her mouth, and it excited him even more. He pushed her legs up, gradually pressing them over her head, kneeling as he screwed himself slowly and deeply into her love sheath. Lucinda moaned, the sound a most distinct little noise of pleasure. He withdrew from her as slowly, and then plunged quickly back into the soft, wet heat of her body.
"Ohh, G.o.d, yes!" Lucinda encouraged him intensely.
His member was absolutely throbbing with excitement. "b.i.t.c.h," he growled in her ear, "are you not yet satisfied?"
"A little more, Master, and I will be content," she murmured. "Ah! Ah! Ahhhhhh!" Her body shuddered with its release.
The Master let his climax burst forth in a torrent of hot love juices. He could not, it seemed, stop coming, his big body jerking with the discharge until finally he shivered one last time. After a moment he said, "My dear Lady Lucinda, I do not know when I have had a better f.u.c.k. You are indeed magnificent, my pet!" He rolled off of her and onto his back.
Leaning over, Lucinda whispered in his ear, "Send John away. You and I need to talk, my lord."
"I do not think talking is your strong suit," he replied.
Lucinda laughed. "Why is it that men think with their bodies and not their brains, sir? Send John away. Please."
"You and the lads are dismissed for the night, John," The Master said to the footman. "I will call you in the morning."
John rose from the bed, bowed politely, and left the room.
"Well?" The Master asked Lucinda when the door had shut behind the servant "What are we to talk on, my lady?"
"Revenge, sir. Sweet revenge," Lucinda told him. "You do not appear unintelligent, and I have already ascertained you are a n.o.bleman. You must certainly understand by now that I cannot be brought to heel like some animal you are training."
The Master was silent, and so Lucinda continued.
"I will not under any circ.u.mstances wed any of the three gentlemen who tendered me offers this season. I love none of them. My late husband advised me to marry for love the second time."
"Was it not love the first time?" The Master asked her, curious.
"No," Lucinda answered him frankly, "it was not."
"You married him for his money, then?" How typical of a woman, The Master thought, half-angry.
"No, I did not marry Robert for his money," Lucinda responded.
"Then, why did you wed him?" Now he was truly curious.
"My late father, Lord Worth, of Worthington Manor in Worcester, was a rich man at one time, but not a very rich man. He married for love. Mama brought him a small, but respectable dowry. Then they went and had seven children, all of whom needed to be provided for if they were to make their way in the world. My brothers, William and George, were first- and second-born. They had to be educated at Eton and Oxford. George, as you know, chose the church for a career, but William had always loved playing at soldiers, and so Papa purchased a commission in the King"s Own Royal West Worcester Dragoons. Papa said providing for the boys was straightforward. It was when it came to his girls things grew more complicated."
"What happened to your parents?" The Master asked her.
"Mama died when I was twelve. Papa shortly after I married Robert Harrington," Lucinda explained. Then she continued on with her narrative. "Finding husbands and providing dowries for five daughters proved to be more expensive than my father had antic.i.p.ated. Each of my elder sisters went up to London for a season. The first three came back with a duke, a marquess, and an earl. It was when Julia went up to London for her season, the year she was seventeen, that Papa realized the difficulty of his situation.
"My sisters always stayed at Papa"s aunt"s home. She is Lady Dunstan and adored launching my sisters, as she so quaintly put it. But that year after Papa had provided Julia with her wardrobe and the other fripperies she would need, he discovered he had barely enough monies left for a modest dowry for Julia, and that there would be nothing left for me." Lucinda sighed deeply. "It was then," she said, "that my father did a most reckless thing. He took Julia"s dowry and went to White"s to gamble. And at first he won. His luck was incredible that night. Everyone said so, but then his fortunes turned. His friends advised him to take his winnings and leave the tables, but poor Papa foolishly gambled on. Finally he had lost my sister"s dowry, and he was desperate. Julia had already met Lord Rafferty and was madly in love. While our great-aunt, Lady Dunstan, was against poor Rafferty because he was Irish, she and Papa knew he was going to ask for Julia"s hand in marriage. He might be Irish, but he possessed a respectable fortune and was the best my sister would do. There were far too many very wealthy heiresses seeking husbands that season. Papa knew that Rafferty would accept Julia"s modest dowry.
"Julia isn"t like my three oldest sisters. Position means nothing to her, as it does to Laet.i.tia, Charlotte, and George-anne. She was in love. He was in love, and that was good enough for our father. Now he had gone and lost her dowry. While I believe Lord Rafferty would have accepted her without one, it was a matter of honor to poor Papa that he provide his daughter with her portion. So my father did the absolute unthinkable."
"He cheated at the cards," The Master said.
Lucinda nodded. "In one fell swoop he won back Julia"s dower and a bit more. He thought that no one had noticed, and indeed he was congratulated all around for his skill and daring in playing that one last hand. He had even wagered our home as collateral because he had not had enough monies in hand. It was a terrible thing he did, but he was so desperate. As no one seemed to have realized what he had done, he took his winnings and bid his friends good night. The next morning Robert Harrington came to call upon my father."
"Ahh," The Master said. "He saw what your father had done, eh?"
Lucinda nodded. "Father had been playing against him alone. While Robert had more than enough money, and would have publicly exposed anyone else, he was curious as to why my father, a man of impeccable honor, had cheated. He spoke fairly and honestly with Papa. My father, of course, was overcome with shame, not just for the deed done, but thathe had been found out by his opponent. He told Robert the truth of the matter, and Lord Harrington was most sympathetic. Then he made Papa a most unusual offer.
"He told him that he should not expose him, and that Julia should marry Lord Rafferty. In return he said he wanted Papa"s youngest daughter, namely me, for his wife. I was not to have a London season. Instead I would be married to Robert Harrington immediately after my seventeenth birthday. I had just turned sixteen when all this transpired. I was not to be told of this arrangement until three months before my marriage, and I would not meet Lord Harrington until the week before we were to be wed. My father, of course, quickly agreed. He had no other choice."
"And so you saw your sister, Julia, married to her sweetheart, then went home to the country to dream of your own London season," The Master said, smiling up at Lucinda, who was now leaning over him as she spoke.
"Precisely," Lucinda replied. "For over a year I envisioned how I would take London by storm. Then I should outdo my three eldest sisters by marrying not a duke, not a marquess, not an earl, but a prince!" She laughed aloud. "You can only imagine my chagrin when I learned that not only was I not to have my longed-for season, but that I was to marry a man who was forty-two years older than I was! Oh, how I cried, stormed, and pleaded to be released from my father"s promise. He would not tell me the truth of the matter, of course, but George did. And then my churchly brother went on to say it was my Christian duty as a good daughter to obey my surviving parent; to save Papa and the rest of the family from the disgrace exposure of his sins would surely bring."
"And so you cooperated," The Master said.
"Yes," Lucinda replied, "but I was very fortunate, unlike many girls put in similar positions. Robert Harrington was a wonderful man whose only lack was an heir of his loins. His first wife had never been able to successfully conceive and bear him a child. He loved her deeply, and it was a terrible tragedy for them. He had been widowed for a number of years when he decided he must remarry and attempt to father an heir on a young wife. No one really knew how wealthy Robert was, and his family is not of the first rank. He could not manage to contract another alliance with a young woman of his own station. Then when he caught my father cheating, the answer became obvious to him." She ceased her narrative for a moment and, arising from the bed, crossed the chamber to pour herself a goblet of sweet wine. "Would you like one, Master?"
"Yes." He nodded. "Then return, and tell me the rest of your fascinating tale, m"lady Lucinda." He took the goblet she offered him, and she rejoined him to continue her story.
"Robert Harrington was a lovely man. When we first met he at once ascertained my anger and my fears. He attempted to allay them in that week before we were married. It was a simple ceremony, performed in our local church by our ancient vicar. I had no attendants, and my only witnesses were Papa, George, his wife Caroline, and the vicar"s wife and elderly sister. A toast was drunk to us afterward at the house. Papa put an announcement in all the London papers. We returned to Harrington Hall immediately that very day."
"Did your husband force your virginity from you that same night?" The Master asked her, curious.
"Nay," Lucinda said. "It was several months before Robert made me a woman. He wanted me to enjoy the sensual experience. He was very skilled, I believe. He said while I might not ever come to love him, he did want our time together to be pleasureable for us both."
"And was it?" The Master queried.
"Yes, it was," Lucinda answered him frankly. "And to my surprise I did come to love him. Not in a wildly pa.s.sionate way, but in a quiet way. I also respected him for the kind of man he was. Thoughtful.
Kind. Generous. I am very sorry I could not perform the only task he required of me, which was to give him an heir. We had been wed several years when he became ill. I nursed him with as much devotion as I could. When he died, no one was more surprised than I was to learn he had left me his entire fortune! The estate itself was entailed upon the next male heir, who also inherited his t.i.tle."
"Why have you been living with your brother?" The Master"s fingers reached out to wrap a hank of Lucinda"s thick chestnut hair about his big hand. His gaze was direct.
"There was no dower house at the hall. Robert"s nephew, Percy, is a child. His mama, Lady Blythe, was very angry the lad received none of his uncle"s monies. She had been counting upon it heavily as she is a widow and, being p.r.o.ne to extravagance, always in debt. Had she allowed me to remain, I would have happily borne the expenses of the estate. In her disappointment she accused me of cajoling her brother into disinheriting her son, and she said it to any who would listen. The lies she told were dreadful. I had used my body in lewd ways to influence Robert. I had stalked him until he had wed me. There are always those willing to listen to such nonsense, of course. I was glad to leave the hall. The b.i.t.c.h even searched my luggage before I went to make certain that nothing belonging to the estate was secreted among my possessions. She is really quite an awful woman. Robert disliked both her and her odious brat intensely, but he could not save Harrington Hall for me unless I had a child of his body, and I did not."
"So you came to London to find another husband, eh?"
"I came to London to buy a house of my own," Lucinda said bluntly. "I was forced by convention to live with George and Caro. They dragged every eligible bachelor in the county into my presence; but I am not yet of a mind to remarry, and they refuse to understand it. After I had refused everyone they could think of, Caroline suggested we come to London for the season. I agreed not because I wanted a man, but because I wanted my own home. I have just purchased a delightful little place on Traleigh Square."
He was fascinated by her recital. This was not at all what he had expected to hear from her. She was not in the market for a man. He had been given to understand that Lady Lucinda Harrington was a proper little c.o.c.k tease, deserving of a lesson in manners, who must be brought to heel. And when she had been, she would be compelled to choose from among her three worthy suitors. But she didn"t want to choose.
"You have offended three important gentlemen," he began, "who seek to compromise you so that you must take one of them in marriage. I do not know who they are, for that is not usually important to me. I am employed to do what I do for the Devil"s Disciples, and nothing else is of interest to me in these matters. However, they have never put a lady in my charge as you know. The story you tell me is vastly different from what I was led to believe. Who do I trust in this matter, madame?"