“Since you already seem very well versed in everything you mention, I hardly see why it matters.”
“In these things, yes, but not in others!I’ve seen enough of the intimations in the scandal sheets to know that.I understand some men like spanking—”
“Miss Salisbury, please.No one here is getting spanked.”
“You’re supposed to be a rake!”she repeated, frustrated beyond belief.
“Iama rake,” he spat back.“I have been with hundreds of women.”
“How many of those women did you bed in that manner and that manner only?”
He was silent.And this silence gave Beatrice an extremely ominous feeling.
“How many, Lord Leith?”
She looked at him.His eyes were glowing in the candlelight.Strangely, he wore an expression not unlike the possessive, jealous one he had worn earlier that night in the carriage.
When he had been jesting.
Relief coursed through her.
It was just another jape!
She laughed, although she was annoyed he would play with her in such a way, when it was a matter of deadly seriousness to her.
“You are an intolerable man.To jest with me about this matter.”
But he did not smile as he had earlier in the evening.
With a sinking feeling, she realized that she had been wrong once more.
“I amnotjesting, Miss Salisbury.I am extremely serious,” he said, his eyes now burning into her.The handsome lines of his face had lost all trace of the coxcomb.For Lord Leith, she thought with a scoff, this was probably as wild as he got.
“You will be my mistress for the next two weeks.We will bed in the manner thatIprefer, becauseIam payingyou.I do not care if you think my education in the bedchamber is not the right one.Iam an aristocratic gentleman, who has been with countless courtesans, and I have never had a word of complaint.I cannot help it if you have previously participated in depraved conduct with others.”
“Depraved?You, my lord, are the depraved one!A man that people consider a rake only willing to bed courtesans fully clothed and in one position!”
“There are many men in the aristocracy who are just like myself, I assure you.”
“You are mad.You belong in Bedlam.”
“I am not mad—” he was hissing now “—I am a peer of the fucking realm.And who are you, Miss Salisbury?”
“Oh, I am just a whore, am I?”she said, aware that her voice was well raised now.She prayed they weren’t waking up Sally or any of the other servants.“You’ll have to do better than that, my lord.I have been called a whore plenty of times.”
“No,” he spat, “I wasn’t going to call you a whore.You see, Ilikewhores.You’re just a desperate madwoman who I have been cornered into helping.”
Beatrice reeled back.She wanted to slap the man, but she wasn’t given to violence.Her childhood had made such recourse impossible to her.
“I could have any number of beautiful women as my mistress, Miss Salisbury, and they would doexactlywhat I wanted.Let that be yourfirstlesson as a courtesan.Do what the rich gentleman wants.”
She shook her head.She had dealt with many unreasonable, delusional men in her existence, but this one might be the worst.And not only did she dislike him personally, and find his style of bedding reprehensible, but he was trying to waste her time.He was attempting to destroy the plan that she had carefully constructed to save herself and her family from ruin.
“I am not going to sit here for two weeks and learn nothing that will be of use to me, Lord Leith.You’ve already fulfilled your function.The men of London know of me.I am sure Lord Stratton or Mr.Pennington would do just fine.I will leave this place tomorrow.I need nothing else from you.You are released from the obligation that my request to Lord Montaigne put you under.”
“You will do no such thing, Miss Salisbury.You will not leave this house before our two weeks are finished.”
He looked very angry now.He took a step towards her.She wondered if he would reach for her.But he didn’t.
