Page 19 of Lady Mariel’s Scandalous Love

Chapter Eight

“Selina, hand me some books – I prefer to block the door, in case it closes on me. I don’t want to be trapped.”

Selina did as asked, and once the books were in place, Mariel led them into the room. Alex glanced about, then turned to Mariel, shaking his head in wonderment.

“I thought that I knew every nook and cranny of this house! I spent so much time exploring it as a child, I never imagined that there might be something still hidden from me. But… what is in here, that someone, my grandfather, I suspect, felt the need to hide so thoroughly?”

Mariel silently pulled open the drawer full of carved replicas of male members, and waved Alex forward. Selina stepped up beside him.

“Oh my! So many! And so perfectly carved.”

“Every single thing in this room has erotic purpose, so far as I can tell.”

Alex met Mariel’s eyes.

“Everything?”

“I believe so… although… there are items that I do not, exactly, know the intended use of – but I can imagine some possibilities…”

Alex laughed at her expression, which she knew was compounded of annoyance and fascination.

“I am sure that you can! After all, you have been working on that book for Dash. But… how did you find this?”

“I had been through almost every part of this library, except the narrow space which leads to this room. So I came in here one day, to the wall we just came through, and when I tried to reach up to the top shelves out there, I lost balance. I saved my lantern with one hand, and grabbed desperately at the wall and shelves with the other, trying to stop myself from falling. My hand must have landed on the exact spot required to open the door, for it opened, and I tumbled to the floor in the doorway, barely saving the lantern in the process. I did wonder whether you knew of this. For some time, I hesitated to ask you, in case you did, and had not told me of it for some particular reason. But then, I considered the depth of the dust in here, and decided that I should ask you.”

Alex made a show of looking offended.

“Mariel! How could you believe that I would have kept such a thing from you?”

“Perhaps because every other gentleman I know most definitely would have?”

“That is true. I can’t blame you, I suppose.”

“Now that you know about it – what do you want to do? I thought that, perhaps, Dash would be interested in seeing this collection?”

“I am sure that he would – and we should tell him about it. As far as what do I want to do? I think that I want to absolutely never let my mother know that this exists. And I want to explore what is here, in great detail, and maybe…” Alex cast a sidelong glance at Selina, “…experiment with some of the items this room contains.”

Selina blushed, and Mariel found herself both amused, and completely envious again.

~~~~~

Dash brushed the dust from his hands, and attempted to brush it from his clothing. Del Monte was beginning to despair of ever seeing Dash in dustless clothes again. Another crate was empty – the last in this room. It was time to move on to the third and final room which had been full of crates for so long. But before he began that, he really should attend to the day’s correspondence.

He brushed at his dusty attire again, gave up, and left the East Wing, closing and locking the door after himself. In his study, a pile of letters awaited him, neatly stacked on his desk by Chalmers. Dash frowned at them. There were more than he would normally expect to receive. He shrugged, went to the sideboard, and poured himself a brandy, then settled at the desk to deal with what was most likely a dull collection of bills, and missives from his parents, no doubt suggesting that he visit them at Cockleigh Great Hall as soon as possible.

The first few letters on the pile proved to be exactly that. He set the bills to one side, to be addressed by his man of business, and after a quick glance at it, left his mother’s letter to read that evening. But, after those first few letters, he discovered three in a row which were unexpected, and rather disturbing.

There was only one conclusion he could draw from them – Lord Manderforce had been gossiping.

For the letters were each from well-known gentlemen of the ton, men he had met but once or twice in his life, before he had gone off to Italy, enquiring, in a somewhat circumspect manner, about the possibility of arranging a private viewing of his collection. There was no mention of where they had heard about it – but Manderforce was the only possibility. They skirted around the topic, just referring to it as his collection of artefacts, but still, the implications were obvious.

He leant back, sipping at his brandy, considering. This meant that he had no choice but get a building in London arranged as fast as possible, and the collection moved there. Even if that was done rapidly, this could bring problems – what if his father heard of it, through the men’s clubs, before Dash had the chance to tell him, himself?

He was quite certain that his father was going to disapprove of the family being associated with such a scandalous collection, even whilst, like all of these other men, almost certainly wanting to see it for himself. He finished opening letters, then wrote a quick note to his man of business, asking that the acquisition of a London building be carried out without delay. He would need to reply to the gentlemen who had enquired, but that could wait a few days, whilst he considered what best to actually say to them.

With everything disposed as it should be, he gathered up his mother’s letter, tucked it into his pocket, and returned to uncrating the collection – speed was now of the essence.

~~~~~