Page 32 of The Seduction of Viscount Vice

“Is everyone seated yet?”

Vice turned his head from the growing crowd and smiled at his wife. His wife. Christ, no words had ever sounded better together than Lady Mairi Vissen. Apart from “Right there, yes!” and “They’re watching. Harder!” of course.

“Nearly. How does your costume feel?”

Mairi twirled slowly in the small anteroom, giving him a complete view of her slender curves. “How does it look?”

“It is just as well you have a perfect body, my queen, because it looks like those breeches and that shirt have been painted on.”

“That’s because they have!” she replied with a wicked laugh. “The guests aren’t going to believe their eyes when they see my lady pirate crew tonight. Nothing but body paint! The scandal sheets will be printing fivefold tomorrow and hartshorn sales will soar. I’m so glad I sent Helena an invitation to see this.”

“What?!”

“Oh, calm yourself. It was a joke, husband mine. Helena is safely in her chaste bed at the Brimley Finishing Academy. But your face…”

Vice scowled. “No jokes about my baby sister and Fallen, thank you.”

“Baby? Good grief, she is eighteen years old. Nearly as old as I was when I had you over and over beside the creek—”

He put his hands over his ears. “La, la, la, I cannae hear ye.”

Laughing, Mairi danced over to him, rested her hands on either side of his waist, and tickled him. His arms dropped like falling logs to stop her, and she went up on her toes to whisper in his ear, “Helena could have a different lover for each day of the week.”

“Hoyden,” he groaned. “I’ll silence that wicked mouth of yours later. Now make sure at least one of your ladies makes her speech directly in front of Prinny. Never hurts to stay on good terms with the future king.”

Mairi reached up and cupped his cheek, the warmth of her hand a contrast to the coolness of her wedding ring, the sapphire-set gold band that had waited over a decade to grace her finger. “Aye, aye, pirate captain. Painted nipples and pussy for the prince, it is.”

“You look so damned delectable,” Vice groaned. “I wish I could fuck you right now.”

“I think not, my lord. You’ll ruin my paint and your costume. Besides, I am very much looking forward to tearing those garments from you later, when the ladies win the high seas battle and claim their booty. We will not be merciful, I promise you that. I know some of the girls are positively itching for this opportunity to be the victors and wield the crops and cuffs.”

He laughed. “Skullduggery and seduction. The story of our lives.”

“How else to tame Viscount Vice?” she replied with a saucy wink.

“Don’t be blaming me. This is definitely the twisting and turning tale of two untamable souls. Well, er, partially tamed at least.”

“How very Scottish.”

Fuck, he loved this woman. But before he could say another word, the loud clang of a bell sounded.

“My lords, ladies, and gentlemen,” bellowed a footman as he walked around the ballroom. “Please take your seats; proceedings will begin in just a few minutes.”

“That is our cue,” said Mairi. “I will see you out there shortly. I hope your tongue and fingers are limber and eager to perform.”

“Minx.”

“Such an appropriate stage name for me, don’t you think? Vice and Minx, ruling the Fallen floor with iron fists, honeyed words, and wicked deeds.”

Vice shifted on the spot. Hell, if she kept this up, he’d be having her against the ballroom wall, paint and costumes be damned. “Go, woman.”

Blowing him a kiss, Mairi hurried out the discreet side door and down a small hallway. At the end was another door which led straight out onto the pirate ship main deck. From there, she would make her grand entrance.

With one last glance in the small looking glass in the corner of the antechamber, Vice swiftly adjusted the heavy jeweled rings on his fingers, smoothed the folds of his open shirt, and placed a tricorn hat on his head. Then he strode out onto the lower pirate ship deck, bowing low when cheers and applause threatened to lift the roof of Fallen.

Damnation, he enjoyed his work.

“’Tis a splendid evening,” he announced. “Perfect weather for sailing and wenching, and I hear we will soon be upon an island fair bursting with the most comely maids one could hope to see.”