Page 29 of Lady, Behave
“This then?” he asked, the heathen, as he nibbled at that same spot that drove her mad.
“Yes!” She dug her nails into his scalp.
And he licked her, his tongue persistent. He sucked her and kissed her until she stiffened and shattered into a kaleidoscope of colors. She sagged, and he caught her up in his arms as she floated down.
She raised her face to him, and he kissed her. The musky taste of her very self on his lips was an aphrodisiac she wanted yet again.
“Shall we have more of that forever, darling?” he asked her.
But an uproar came from the guests in the salon. People shouted, running toward the hall.
Heath turned as did she, alarmed.
“What’s happening?” Caught in a hazy euphoria, she couldn’t make sense of the noise. But she blinked and came to a frightening memory.
She’d attended a ball once in London where the chandelier fell upon the guests, and the burning candles had set several men and women aflame. Servants rushed for water. Guests rushed to disrobe, removing their shawls or their frock coats. Addy herself had torn at her petticoat and ripped off a good long strip to wrap a lady dressed in scarlet satin, whose glorious black hair was in flames. Anything was proper to end the torment of the afflicted. All were saved from serious injury. Even the woman Addy had helped had survived with good humor and a new haircuta la Grecque. The next day, the lady appeared at Cass’s house in Mayfair with her thanks to Addy and sent bouquets of roses afterward for a week. As a delightful addition, the two had also become fast friends.
“We’ll learn,” Gyles said as he helped her right her skirts and cover her breasts. “But we will talk again afterward!”
The two of them hurried in the direction of the crowd toward the central stairs but stopped when they saw those who led a grand procession down.
Cass, a stern look upon her oval face, her pale blonde coiffure unnaturally mussed, descended arm-in-arm with Imogen on one side and Lex, the Earl of Martindale, on the other. Behind them came Cass’s giant, stark and angry in his regimentals. Next to him strode their host and hostess, Lord and Lady Carlisle. All appeared as if they’d been cast in wax.
Laurel rushed forward in the crowd and reached Addy. “What’s happened?”
“I’ve no idea, but Imogen has Cass’s shawl about her and…”Her bodice is torn!
She and Laurel ran to their sister’s side. As ever, they always stood together in times of terror or loss.
Behind the Carstairs came two of their tall, liveried footmen, one to either side of a fuming Lord Wye. The man cursed, demanding the servants unhand him. But their master shook his head and said, “To the door with him.”
Lord Carstairs watched the three march toward the foyer, then he spun. He stood at rigid attention and announced that the evening, sadly, was at an end. “We’ve had an unfortunate situation, but all is now resolved.”
“Indeed.” Beside him, Lady Carstairs smiled, but her expression was one of shattered glass. “We do have good news. Lady Downs, if you would, please?”
Cass smiled graciously at Martindale and took Imogen’s hand to place in his. “This evening, my young cousin, Miss Imogen Devereaux, accepted the proposal of the Earl of Martindale to be his wife. We shall have the wedding at ten Friday morning. A breakfast to follow at our home in Charles Street. Many of you will attend, I do hope. We will be at home Thursday this week to receive afternoon calls and your congratulations.”
Chapter Eight
The next morning,breakfast talk for the women centered on preparations for Imogen’s wedding. Addy tried to focus on it, but her scintillating interlude with Heath lived in her reverie like a golden dream. Risqué visions of him on his knees inspired hot shivers through her body. Remembered ecstasies of how she’d trembled under his tenderness turned her fierce and needy. No matter how much she wished to push him away for a few minutes at least, he lived, grinning and determined, in her reverie.
He had sealed himself to her and she to him. She could not do without him. Now or ever. She managed as best she could to participate and rejoice for her sister.
All three women managed to revive Imogen’s spirits and propel her to realize that the best solution had come of the event. She’d wed a man she valued, and her groom had diffused a scandalous situation. Cass had described in great detail to Laurel and Addy last night how Imogen had been attacked by that scoundrel Lord Wye.
The triplets knew him well. He’d been so crass as to attempt to seduce Imogen back in Dublin long before Grandpapa passed away. Assaulting her in a garden maze, Wye had vowed to have her. Even wed her. Grandpapa had asked if Imogen agreed, and she’d told him the man was no one she’d ever want. When Wye pressed the matter and threatened Imogen with more scandal, she threatened him with an equal insult to the…well, to be honest…size of his manhood. Wye had withdrawn his offer. Now, they all knew he had retired harboring malice.
But Imogen’s relationship with the Earl of Martindale, brief though it was, had blossomed and Lex had, in front of half of Brighton society, told everyone that Imogen had accepted his proposal of marriage. Whether all of that was as true as the description Cass gave to the two sisters, neither would dispute. Their middle sister was saved marriage to a bounder and a more severe scandal of Wye attacking her a second time. The Earl of Martindale had appeared at the house at nine o’clock this morning to talk with Cass, offer new solicitations to Imogen, and bid them all farewell as he left for London to acquire a marriage license.
Cass had immediately declared the day was meant for shopping for Imogen’s trousseau. “It’s just what you need. We will be seen, and we will be proud to be out among theton.”
Laurel and Imogen had hurried off to dress. Addy had begged off, using the excuse of weariness to buy time for herself alone. But Cass would not hear of it.
“Only if you arrive at Miss Maribel’s Millinery Shop in Rose Lane promptly at eleven. And we leave you with Fifi.”
Not precisely the maid Addy wished to accompany her. But the assignment made her wonder if Fifi had told Cass where they’d gone Sunday morning. And perhaps, even why.
The three women went off to shop as Addy lingered at the breakfast table.
