Page 38 of A Duke's Lustful Portrait
There is only so much debauchery one man can take.
“So how have you been?” Pembry asked.
“Oh, you know,” Sebastian said, brushing off the question. “Much the same as always. And yourself? Tell me what adventures you’ve been up to of late.”
He found he rather enjoyed talking to Pembry. The conversation flowed a lot easier than it ever did with Sinclair, and Pembry was rather loose-lipped, his boasting somehow more important than his secrecy.
“Boring stuff with the wife and daughter,” he replied with a disdainful tone. “Duties one must uphold. You know how it is.”
“Alas, life cannot all be fun and games, Pembry.”
“A true and sad fact of life,” Pembry agreed. “Though I did get to havesomefun. The founding members met for dinner at the Duke of Ramsbury’s place—he has quite the cook, you know, and all his maids are pretty young things. A feast for the eyes as well as the mouth if you catch my drift.”
Sebastian chuckled. “You dirty old dog, Pembry.”
Pembry tutted. “As if you wouldn’t be looking in exactly the same place. That’s what we do here, after all, is it not?”
The conversation slipped into silence as they sipped their wine. That evening, there were far more gentlemen guests than women, and the dance floor remained empty as the men drank and talked. He wondered what they spoke of, what secrets were whispered across tables and between drinks. If only he could know them all, he could ensure his mother’s death was avenged and, with a little luck, put an end to this disgusting society once and for all.
But as his eyes skimmed across the guests, he knew deep down that he was searching out one particular face.Lady Arabella.Try as he might, he could not rid himself of her—not the smell of her, nor the warmth of her, nor the image of her as she submitted to the pleasure he provided her with.
Even as he told himself to forget her and the silly promise he had made to her, he couldn’t. Her presence lingered beneath every other thought in his head, a foundation for his very being.
And there she was, sitting in the corner of the room, a small easel on a tabletop. Her face was rich with concentration, her tongue poking out of the side of her mouth as she painted.
The candlelight hit her face at an angle, lighting up the curve of her cheeks and the fullness of her lips. At that moment, she looked to him to be the most beautiful creature ever to have existed. At that moment, he thought perhaps he finally understood what love meant.
No!
Irritated at his weakness, he turned to Pembry, forcing all his concentration on the older man even as he was very aware of her presence just across the room from him.
“Do you often meet together? The founders, I mean.”
Pembry shrugged. “From time to time, yes. It’s important we discuss what will happen in our society, after all. There is no successful group without a head.”
And you do so adore being at the head,Sebastian thought bitterly.
“Indeed. I must defer to you and Sinclair for that, as you have done a wonderful job so far.”
Pembry grinned, his arms raised to encompass the whole room. “Just look at it, Ravenswood. Look at what we’ve done together. It’s lasted twenty long years so far, and it will go on another twenty.”
“Or even longer,” Sebastian said without meaning it. “After all, no matter what progress we make in terms of industry or government, the desires of men shall never change.”
“I’ll drink to that.” Pembry raised his glass as if in a toast. When he’d finished drinking, he said, “We always meet a little more often at this time of year. Many members come to us with their problems, Ravenswood, and we do everything in our power to help them fix it. That’s one of the reasons our members are so loyal.”
That, or they’ve been blackmailed into remaining quiet.
“What sort of problems?” Sebastian asked, hoping to gain more information.
“You know the sort of thing—crippling debt, illicit affair gone wrong, stubborn business partners who don’t agree with decisions. Normal everyday stuff.”
Sebastian thought it anything but normal. “Stubborn business partners?” he asked. “Do you mean to say that you help change people’s minds in certain situations?”
“Sometimes, yes.” Pembry nodded.
“Through force or reward?” Sebastian’s heart rang out in his chest. The more he discovered about the Lord’s Society, the more hateful he felt towards it.
Pembry sniggered. “That depends entirely on the situation, my boy. You don’t need to change someone’s mind about something, do you? The way you’re asking, anyone would think you’re having issues of your own.”
