Page 16 of The Seduction of Viscount Vice

Shaking her head, Mairi sighed and looked away from Olivier. “No reason. I just have a lot on my mind with the club opening.”

The Frenchman snorted. “I am sure. You know, my lady, you could choose love. Madame Yvette does not deserve such service and loyalty as you give—”

“Be quiet,” she hissed. “What if she had walked past Ramsey and me that day in Calais? I would have no one. He is my only family, and, because of Yvette, is alive and well. I owe her the greatest debt possible.”

“All right, all right.” Olivier held up his hands in a gesture of surrender.

“What is going on here?” said a gruff voice behind her.

Mairi took a deep breath before turning on her heel and answering. “Nothing, Ramsey. I’m just tired and a bit hungry.”

Her manservant’s lips tightened. “Why don’t you step outside and get some air, my lady? There is a tea shop two doors down. I saw it on the way in. Go and get a pasty or scone.”

“Good idea,” added Olivier. “Before you start chewing on cock rings and we are forced to buy even more.”

Despite herself, Mairi smiled. “Very well. I’ll be back soon.”

After the slight gloom of the warehouse, it took a moment for her eyes to adjust to the bright afternoon sunlight, but she hurried along the footpath to the tea shop. Soon she was seated with both a steaming cup of tea and a buttered raisin scone, allowing herself several blissful minutes for rest and refreshment before making her way back outside.

“Lady Mairi! Well, hello there! How are you?”

Mairi froze as two vaguely familiar women stepped in her path and smiled warmly at her. Both were enviably petite and voluptuous, one a stunningly beautiful blonde in a topaz-colored gown, the other a striking redhead in sapphire blue. “Er…good afternoon.”

The redhead laughed. “Sorry! Did we startle you? Why the frown? You are Lady Mairi MacNair, are you not? I’ve heard you described in such detail I practically have a portrait in my head.”

Detail? Damnation. Her mind was mud. “I…yes. My apologies, this heat and a lack of sleep have me quite at a loss.”

“Or perhaps you are still recovering from an afternoon of Vice,” said the blonde, grinning mischievously.

Recognition dawned, and she almost gasped in horror. The redhead was Lady Eliza Deveraux, wife of Fallen’s Devil, and the blonde Lady Grace St. John, wife of Sin. Bloody hell, they’d almost caught her returning to the sexual accessories warehouse! “I’m not sure what you mean,” she lied clumsily.

“Oh pooh,” said Eliza. “Don’t think for a moment we are judging you. Our virtue cards are moldy from disuse. Good grief, the two of us are here to be fitted for pirate costumes that barely cover our backsides. Our wonderful modiste, Madame Alice, is just across the street.”

“And then,” added Grace with a wink, “we are going to buy some pleasure toys. Eliza wants to invest in a proper flogger, and I’m always lured to the dildo displays. My husband tells me I have an addiction, but strangely enough, he is always on hand to admire new samples when they arrive.”

Laughter bubbled, until Eliza fixed her with a sharp, intelligent gaze.

“So, what brings you to Blackfriars, my lady? You may as well tell us. We are going to be great, great friends, and such confidences should be shared from the outset.”

Mairi looked away, her stomach twisting and turning into horrid knots. She’d never had a close female friend, and the thought of not one but two ladies who were humorous and bold and thoroughly open-minded when it came to sexual matters was almost irresistible. Yet Worldly opening would impact them, and their husbands, too. They would hate and shun her if they knew what was she was really doing, not stop for friendly gossip. “I…I was also compelled to visit the warehouse that sells the toys.”

“Ha!” said Grace. “Isn’t it splendidly entertaining? What items did you like best?”

“The peacock feathers were pretty. And the satin with paste jewels. Imagine strutting around on a candlelit stage wearing nothing but a single feather or a few glittering bows. Being watched and wanted by a whole audience,” she said dreamily.

There was a long silence, and Mairi swallowed hard, wanting to kick herself for the foolishly unguarded comment. She had to keep her wits about her.

“Well, well.” Eliza’s lips twitched. “A match made in heaven, then. Do say you’ll come to supper. I know our husbands are both eager to meet you.”

“Oh, yes!” said Grace. “Tonight!”

Pure craving had her biting her lip. A chance to see Iain at home, relaxed, in a social situation with his friends. Sublime food and drink. Interesting and deliciously scandalous conversation with men and women her own age. To pretend just for a few hours to be Lady Mairi MacNair again, a wellborn equal, not a poor seamstress.

“I can’t.”

“Nonsense,” said Eliza. “We’ll send a carriage at seven for supper at eight sharp. Vice could take you on a tour of Fallen. Show you our costume chambers. And the pirate ship, the stage for our very best shows.”

Damnation. It seemed the devil wasn’t Eliza’s husband, but Eliza herself, dangling such a wicked temptation in front of her. And Yvette would strangle her if she refused this gilt-edged opportunity for further information gathering sans breeches. “Very well, then. Seven o’clock.”