Elyse noticed that several other young ladies appeared, their costumes as scant as the dancers. Just as quickly, each disappeared, a gentleman’s arm looped through hers.
"As you can see, everyone else is leaving. It seems the entertainment is through for the evening," Elyse insisted as she searched the room for Lucy. She caught sight of her friend and started to make her way across the room.
"Not at all." St. James gently restrained his young companion. "The entertainment has only just begun." He gestured across the room, to where a distinguished gentleman, whom Elyse knew to be the husband of one of her grandmother's acquaintances, disappeared through crimson velvet drapes that led to a stairway. A scantily clad young woman clung to his arm. They paused, the woman leaning forward to press her body against his and whispered something. His laughter could be heard across the room as he climbed the stairs with her.
"Where are they all going?" Elyse kept her voice deliberately low as she watched several other gentlemen disappear with similarly clad young women.
"To be entertained, of course. You are rather young and inexperienced in these things, aren't you?" St. James commented. "I think I know just what's needed in your case."
Before Elyse could turn around to respond, St. James disappeared. She immediately seized the opportunity to find Lucy. Crossing the room, she wound her way through the assorted tables and chairs, now completely deserted. Stepping around a man and his female companion, she caught a glimpse of Lucy moving toward the main entrance with a great deal of urgency, a man beside her, a hand around her arm.
They paused briefly as they reached the entrance, and Elyse stared into the infuriated gaze of Andrew Maitland.
"Come along, 'Lucien'." Andrew's hand tightened on his wife's arm. "We have much to talk about," he added. The expression on his face was one of barely suppressed rage. Throwing a murderous glare in her direction, Andrew escorted Lucy toward the double doors at the entrance.
With her scheme up in smoke, she decided it was probably best if she left as well. But she was stopped by a familiar voice.
Jerrold stood nearby with one of the dancers she'd just watched perform. The woman was pressing her large breasts against the front of his jacket. He laughed at something she said. He glanced briefly over her head, his gaze scanning the room before he pulled her into his embrace. Then he turned, pulling the woman with him up the stairs that led to the second-floor rooms.
He had looked straight at Elyse and not recognized her. She almost wished he had so that she could see the reaction on his face at learning he'd been found out about the night's entertainment.
There was vague disappointment but surprisingly nothing more. Elyse didn't pause to examine the reason.
Several other 'gentlemen' lingered about the enormous room. She started for the door. If her disguise had fooled Jerrold, it was good enough to fool these last few.
"You can't leave now."
She almost collided with St. James. The expression on his face was amused, almost as if...
"As I said," he continued, "you seem rather inexperienced in these matters. Therefore," he pulled the woman who had begun the dance from behind him. "I've arranged for you to enjoy some very special entertainment tonight."
She stared at him, not understanding at first. "Special entertainment?" she asked, keeping to her disguise.
"Exactly so." He smiled graciously. "Fatima will show you to a chamber. She's very accomplished in these matters. I assure you it will be a night to remember."
"You don't mean...?" Her gaze locked with that of the seductive Fatima. The woman seemed to radiate sensuality. A warning whispered in her thoughts.
He couldn't mean... She thought of those she'd seen climbing the stairs including Jerrold. Limited as her experience was in such matters, more the result of rumor and gossip, she had a fairly good idea what happened in those upstairs rooms.
Why wasn't Lucy here when she needed her? Because, she told herself, Lucy's husband had discovered their game and had taken his wife home, leaving Elyse to fend for herself. She glanced at St. James. He seemed to be enjoying all of this a little too much.
"That's most considerate of you, sir, but I couldn't possibly." She turned and would have walked away, determined to find a way out of the club.
"Of course, you can." He seized her by the arm and propelled her toward the stairway.
"I've taken care of everything," he assured her as she turned to protest. "It's the least I can do after winning all those games of Battle." He turned to Fatima, speaking with her briefly.
Elyse hardly had time to think about what that meant as Fatima took her by the arm and led her up the stairs. They stopped before a set of double doors at the end of the hallway.
"You don't understand," Elyse protested. "I really must leave." Any further discussion ended as Elyse was forcefully led into the room.
"You will wait here." The woman told her, then left.
Elyse collapsed back against the door as she took in the room, lushly appointed with crimson velvet and gold satin braid. A single gas lamp cast golden light onto the room, flooding across the large, bed covered in crimson velvet.
White's Exclusive Club for men was nothing than a high-class brothel!
"God's nightgown!" Elyse breathed out. "What am I going to do now?"
