Chapter 11
They were halfway through dinner when Julian arrived. Olivia, obviously on edge, looked him up and down as he bowed in greeting and set her wineglass on the table with something of a thump. “I suppose it took you two hours to get ready to venture forth after receiving my urgent message.”
Julian glanced at Carenza before he sat down. Then he turned to Olivia and said, “With respect, Mrs. Sheraton, I was dealing with estate matters at my solicitor’s and didn’t receive your note until I returned home.”
Olivia sniffed. “I’ll wager you still took the time to change before you came out again.”
“I could hardly appear before you in my morning clothes. What would people think?” Julian said with an easy smile that Carenza guessed was a deliberate attempt to enrage Olivia.
“People?” Olivia looked around the room. “It’s just us.”
Knowing how her friend could keep an argument going for hours, Carenza hastened to intervene. “Perhaps you might care to explain to Julian why you thought it was so urgent for him to talk with us, Olivia.”
“I’m being blackmailed by Mr. Cox,” Olivia said.
“Ah.” Julian sat back and regarded her. “I wondered whether he would try that.”
“And you didn’t think to mention it to me?”
“You assured me that he was an honest man who would never double-cross you. I chose to believe you and gave him the benefit of the doubt when he approached me with a similar offer.”
“And what should I do?” Olivia asked, her fingers tapping.
“Nothing.”
“That’s hardly helpful.”
Julian offered her a calm stare. “I will deal with Mr. Cox.”
There was a note of steel in Julian’s voice that Carenza had learned to recognize. She’d never seen him lose his temper, but he could be intimidating when he chose, which was why he was feared by a goodly portion of the ton.
“That’s not good enough,” Olivia said.
Carenza sighed. “Olivia …”
“Don’t try to defend him, Carenza,” Olivia snapped. “You are hardly unbiased.”
“I’ve known Julian all my life,” Carenza countered. “I trust him implicitly.”
“And so do I,” Allegra joined in. “If Julian says he will take care of the matter, he will.”
“I suggest you write back to Mr. Cox, tell him you are considering his offer, and leave it at that, Mrs. Sheraton,” Julian said. “I won’t allow him to spread disinformation.”
“The trouble is,” Allegra said slowly, “he’s not lying, is he? Carenza and Olivia truly were at his inn interviewing men for the position of Carenza’s lover.”
Everyone looked at her, and she shrugged. “I’m sorry, but it’s the truth.”
“He was paid to ensure that their identities remain secret,” Julian said. “And he is attempting to renege on that promise, which means action must be taken against him.”
“I didn’t pay him.” Olivia looked at Carenza. “Did you?”
“Well, you paid well over the going rate for the use of his parlor,” Carenza said. “And I gave him a handsome bonus when I left, which, for all intents and purposes, was a bribe.”
Olivia was still staring at Julian. “What I don’t understand, Mr. Laurent, is how you came to be involved in this matter so deeply that Mr. Cox decided to blackmail you as well.
Neither Carenza nor I asked for your help.
In fact, you were dead set against the idea, so why is Mr. Cox asking you for money? ”
“Perhaps because I attempted to protect the reputations of two ladies I am acquainted with.”
Olivia’s eyebrows shot up. “That’s the worst excuse I’ve ever heard.”
Carenza winced as Julian’s expression turned frosty.
“With respect, I will remind you, ma’am, that if it hadn’t been for you publishing such a provocative advertisement in the first place, there would be no scandal to address.”
“There’s no point looking down your nose at me, Mr. Laurent, it won’t work,” Olivia said. “And I’m not interested in what I did but how you became so involved in the matter. Did you speak to Mr. Cox before the event and offer him money to save our reputations?”
“I did not.”
“Then why is he attempting to blackmail you?”
Carenza looked at Julian and said, “You escorted me out of the inn through Mr. Cox’s house.”
“That’s correct.”
“Then one might assume Mr. Cox recognized you, or found out who you were, and decided to blackmail you.”
Olivia blew out a breath. “I suppose that makes sense, but I still don’t like it.”
“The issue at hand isn’t dealing with the press or the scandal sheets,” Julian said. “I can take care of them. My bigger concern is about those in society who have taken an interest in the matter. They are the people who can affect your standing in society.”
“Such as Mr. Calloway,” Carenza said. “Who didn’t appreciate being sent away.”
“I probably didn’t help with that.” Julian grimaced. “I admit to giving Calloway’s name to the press. He featured prominently in their articles about the matter.”
“That would certainly explain his animosity toward all of us, but he is hardly a powerful figure in society,” Olivia countered.
“He might not be, but his father is,” Julian said. “And for some reason, Calloway has suddenly become very good friends with Percival Walcott.”
“Now I understand why you are so willing to help us, Mr. Laurent,” Olivia said. “Self-preservation.”
“If you choose to view it like that, I can’t stop you.” Julian shrugged. “I’d rather see it as a joint endeavor.”
“That saves all our reputations?” Olivia asked.
“Yes,” Julian told her. “Why not?”
Julian stayed after dinner and managed to outlast both Mrs. Sheraton and Allegra so that he could talk with Carenza alone in the drawing room.
He hadn’t enjoyed the confrontation with Mrs. Sheraton.
She was extremely sharp and not averse to asking the most personal of questions.
It was only thanks to Carenza that he’d avoided having to reveal his rather more involved participation in their scheme.
He sat back and sipped the brandy the butler had brought him while Carenza drank her tea.
She wore a cream silk gown with a delicate lace trim around the edge of the bodice that framed her magnificent bosom rather well.
He had the sudden urge to sink to his knees beside her chair, bury his face in her cleavage, and simply breathe her in.
“Julian.”
“Yes?”
“How did you know the way out through Mr. Cox’s house?”
Damnation. He should have known Carenza would pick up on that. “I beg your pardon?”
“You heard me. How did you know?” Carenza asked.
“I simply followed you?”
She gave him a severe look. “You practically dragged me out of that private parlor by the hair. I certainly wasn’t leading the way. Were you lying to Olivia when you said you hadn’t met Mr. Cox?”
He frowned. “I didn’t lie. I said I hadn’t met him before your ‘event.’”
“Then when did you meet him?”
“When I worked out that neither you nor Mrs. Sheraton had entered the inn from the front. It seemed obvious that there was another entrance. I found it when I strolled around the corner.”
“You found it.”
“I am quite capable, my dear.” He had no intention of telling her that Simon had provided him with all the necessary information before the event had even started. Instinct told him that she wouldn’t appreciate that level of interference from him at all.
“Then I assume you gave Mr. Cox money to allow you to access the inn from his house?”
“Yes.” That was a truth he was willing to give her.
“Which is the real reason why he is blackmailing you as well as Olivia.” She set her cup back on the tray. “And because you interfered, Calloway and Percival Walcott are now interested in the matter and willing to use it to hurt you.”
He didn’t like her summary, but it was hard to dispute it. “That is the unfortunate case,” he agreed.
“Unfortunate? I wish you’d kept out of it.”
“And let you ruin yourself for a foolish whim?”
There was a pointed silence, and then she raised her chin. “Perhaps you should go.”
“Why? Because I am right?”
“No, because I am not in charity with you, and if you stay any longer and try and charm me when you are most definitely at fault, I might do something I regret.” She rose to her feet. “In fact, I’ll save you the trouble. Good night, Julian. Ask the butler to see you out when you’re ready to leave.”
Courtesy obliged him to stand up as well. “It’s not like you to run away from a fight, Carenza.”
“But you don’t fight fair, do you? You undermine me with your charm and your body, and …” She waved her arms in the air before heading for the door. “After an evening of you and Olivia sniping at each other, I don’t want a fight right now.”
“Then what do you want?” Julian followed her.
“Honesty?” She half turned to stare at him.
“About what in particular?”
“See?” She shook her head. “You can’t help yourself, can you?”
“I want you. Is that honest enough?” He took her hand.
“That’s not what I mean, and you know it.”
“I see. You want honesty on your terms and not on mine.” He lightly kissed her fingers, and she curled them into a fist. “But obviously, I cannot argue with a lady.”
“You are infuriating.”
“As are you. We agreed to a physical relationship, and the only honesty you get to demand from me is for that.” He released her hand and bowed. “Good night, my lady.”
He left her standing in the doorway, her color high and her expression furious.
He wanted to stride back up the stairs, take her in his arms and kiss her until she forgot everything except her need for him, because that was real—that was honest—and if she couldn’t see that, then maybe there was nothing between them at all.
Carenza stomped upstairs to her room, her thoughts in a whirl.
Julian was infuriating. She wished she’d never agreed to let him be her lover, because it complicated everything between them.
She allowed her maid to assist her into bed and then sat there, the candles still burning and a book on her lap.
If she could have her way, Julian would be with her right now, and she’d …
tie him up? Make him beg for mercy? The very thought made her want to smile.
Despite his efforts to convince her that she was in charge of their relationship, she doubted his instincts would allow him to take the more subservient role for long.
He’d already threatened to spank her. What else might he be prepared to do?
And why was she even thinking about him after he’d reprimanded her and left?
He was the one who was at fault. She wanted to shake him so hard that he lost his damnable composure and met her on equal terms. He’d roused something in her that Hector had never appreciated and that she’d quickly learned to hide.
Hector’s preferred method of marital relations had consisted of her lying as quietly as possible on the bed while he “performed” over her.
He’d rebuffed her attempts to reciprocate in kind and made her feel foolish for having physical needs at all.
She’d learned to deal with his gradual lack of interest by shutting down and pretending she was somewhere else until he’d complained that her dullness meant he was justified in seeking sexual excitement outside their marriage.
Looking back, she wished she’d had the courage to stand up to him, but like all women of her class, she’d been taught to put up with a faithless husband by ignoring the inevitable. She wished she’d taken a lover earlier, but Hector had made her feel useless enough not to even try.
And now Julian had brought all the suppressed physicality she’d hidden beneath the surface to sudden, shocking life, and she was somewhat afraid of whom she’d become.
… She wanted him at the most inconvenient times, and a simple touch of his hand fired up her senses in a way she’d never imagined possible.
She even relished fighting, because when he allowed his annoyance to show, she sensed she could provoke him even more.
She sighed so hard she almost blew out the candles. This was not helping her relax. She reached into the drawer beside her bed and retrieved the silk bag Olivia had given her on the first anniversary of Hector’s death.
“Now that you’ve pretended to mourn him, Carenza, it’s time to take care of yourself.”
The bag contained a scandalously carved jade penis, which Carenza had come to appreciate immensely.
She released the silk cords at the neck of the bag and let the dildo slide out onto her palm, where it lay heavy and cold.
Her thumb caressed the intricately carved details of the tip, and she shivered with anticipation.
Her last thought, as she slid her hand beneath the covers and parted her thighs, was that Julian would enjoy watching her pleasure herself. With that picture firmly in mind, she closed her eyes and slid the solid weight home.