She lifted a sheer crepe toga with a golden rope belt from the package. “I hope there is more to this.” She pulled out two gold metal circles and frowned. “Do you think these are for the shoulder?” She clipped one to the material.
He swallowed at what she was expected to wear, the tension in his lower abdomen already affecting him. Leighhall obviously knew exactly what would make his guests excited. The gold medallions were meant to clip to her nipples, the sheer material showing every other part of her body. Almost afraid to know, he still asked, “Is there anything else?”
“I don’t think so.” She shook out the paper, and a gold chain fell to the floor. She lifted it, showing it had a small white piece of silk attached to part of it. “Is this for my head?”
Gritting his teeth, he took the chain from her and held it out with two hands. “This material is to cover the front of your pelvis.”
She frowned. “But for that to be, the chain in the middle would have to go between—Oh.” Her skin flushed. “That seems uncomfortable. And why cover so little there when everything else is visible? It doesn’t make sense.”
Sometimes he wished she wasn’t so analytical. “The gold pieces go on your breasts, not the material.”
She picked up one and held it in front of her. “If it’s not clipped to the toga, then it would be clipped to my nipple?” Her chest rose suddenly, as if the thought stimulated her.
He simply nodded.
She laid out the sheer toga on the settee and added the metal undergarments beneath it. “I might wear this in here, but I refuse to wear it before anyone else.”
“I wouldn’t allow you to.”
Her gaze snapped to his. “Wouldn’tallowme? That is not your place.”
It wasn’t difficult to see her dander was up. Instead of arguing the fact that he was responsible for her, he held up his own toga against himself. It would barely cover his private parts, and that only if he didn’t get an erection. It also draped from one shoulder down to his hip, leaving half his torso exposed. “Would you allow me to go below before everyone like this?”
She opened her mouth to answer then snapped it shut. Instead, she shook her head, folded up her costume, and laid it on the settee. “I can’t believe he thinks we would wear these.”
He handed her his toga, quite sure that Leighhall expected all his rules to be obeyed, which meant he had to get Lissa off the property before tomorrow evening. “I suggest we get some rest before dinner. We will have a long night.”
Chapter Fifteen
Lissa followed Anthonyas he led the way down the dark corridor toward the ballroom. They’d had to wait until after five in the morning before Pemberton and Alice had said goodnight to Leighhall. The sun would be up in less than an hour, so they needed to find something quickly.
She almost wished they could stay for the bacchanal now that she’d discovered all the women were spending the morning hours in the parlor making changes to their costumes. Delilah said that Leighhall always sent revealing costumes for the last night, and they always modified them. Maybe if Anthony found something, she could convince him to stay.
At the first set of doors to the ballroom, he stopped and slowly opened one so they could slip inside with no noise at all. Thankful she’d worn her maroon evening dress for its lack of decoration and dark color, she stood in the dark, cavernous room as he closed the door behind them. How could he see in the almost-complete darkness? Luckily, there was a muted light coming in from the terrace doors, no doubt from the moon through the clouds, a sign a storm was rolling in.
Anthony took her hand and led the way to the gentlemen’s room then suddenly stopped.
She froze. Had he heard something?
He reached out to what looked like a column, but she’d didn’t remember one being there.
He swore under his breath, which made her look closer. The column was opposite another, which was across from another and another. It was clearly set up for the event later that evening. Each column had rope nailed into it halfway up, with the rest lying on the ground. In the middle of the four columns was what looked like a sideboard that had been covered in a tablecloth. As the purpose for the setup became clear, she shivered.
The carnal sacrifice. Did Leighhall really believe one of them would allow themselves to be tied onto that sideboard?
The answer came swiftly. He did.
Anthony tugged her forward, and soon they were before the gun case. She could only tell because her hand touched the glass. Anthony handed her the lamp he carried and went about finding the hidden latch. The click was the only sound as the case moved across the floor.
She felt his hand reach for hers, and she grasped it as he pulled her forward into absolute darkness.
He closed the door before using flint and tinder to light the lantern she held. Once there was light, they moved toward the desk.
He lit the larger lantern. “I want to see the rest of the room before reviewing these papers. Can you get into the locked drawers?”
She grinned and pulled a hairpin from her hair. “I can.”
He leaned forward and kissed her briefly, then turned and moved along the wall, studying the weapons.
