Page 10 of Duke with a Lie (Wicked Dukes Society #4)

H e was an absolute lunatic, Aubrey thought as he ushered Rhiannon into the observation room. And if Whit ever found out what was about to happen, his friend would want to bloody well kill him.

As it happened, Aubrey wouldn’t blame Whit. It would serve him right. Only a madman fit for the asylum would dream of bringing his friend’s innocent sister to an observation room to watch another couple fuck.

“This is certainly an oddly narrow room,” Rhiannon observed cheerfully as she looked around. “Whatever is its purpose?”

The chamber had been created by the erection of a wall that had cut off a portion of the original bedroom.

Viewing holes, cleverly hidden beneath gilt covers, were strategically placed before comfortable chairs.

In this way, lovers who enjoyed being watched could indulge their desires before an audience if they chose to do so.

Aubrey knew the erotic whims of each guest. It hadn’t taken long to find a couple willing to be watched during their amorous play.

Arranging for Rhiannon’s debauchery had taken less than half an hour. The poor lamb didn’t know what was about to unfold before her virginal eyes.

“You shall soon find out, minx,” he told her, feeling grim.

He had good intentions, he reminded himself sternly. He wanted to shock her. To show her that she was a na?ve babe compared to the jaded souls who came to Wingfield Hall in search of pleasure, regardless of how depraved.

He fully intended to send her running back to London once and for all and of her own volition. The stubborn chit had made it more than apparent that no amount of coercion on his part would make her go.

Yes, that was why he’d brought her here.

To horrify her. To disgust her. To pull back the velvet curtain and show her what truly happened at these Wicked Dukes Society fêtes.

It was no place for a wayward hoyden who had been cosseted and kept ignorant to the lascivious vices of the world around her.

He didn’t give a damn how many books she’d read.

None of them could possibly compare to what happened within these walls.

A noble cause from the blackhearted, soulless Duke of Richford. He might have laughed were he not preoccupied with making certain she took the seat that would give her the best vantage point after the festivities began.

“This one,” he ordered her, pointing at the chair before the viewing portal that was directly in front of the bed.

“I’m to sit?” she asked, looking around. “Why?”

“You’ll see. Just do as I tell you.”

She didn’t like that. Her back stiffened and her shoulders drew back, and damn her, she was glorious when she was angry and spitting fire at him.

He had never wanted to bed a woman more than he wanted this one.

But he hadn’t come here for that. And he could bloody well have his choice of women later when she’d run back to her mama where she belonged.

“You cannot order me about, Richford,” she snapped. “What if I don’t want to sit?”

“Then stand there,” he bit out, willing his thickening cock to wilt like a cut flower too long in the sun.

Her scent wrapped around him, and her lips were beyond deliciously tempting beneath the silk of her half mask. When she pouted like that, he wanted to kiss her breathless.

She sat.

Of course she did.

He seated himself at her side and reached for the gilt covering on his viewing hole, sliding it to the left to determine if the couple within was ready.

He hoped to hell they were, because he wasn’t certain how much more torture he could withstand.

Being so near to Rhiannon was enough to bring a saint to his knees, and Christ knew Aubrey was far from being a saint.

Within, Lord and Lady Elmont were already kissing.

One of few married couples who attended club parties together, they were also quite adventurous in their bed sport.

They often preferred a third to join them, usually another woman, but he hadn’t wanted to give Rhiannon quite that much of an education.

He had requested they keep their games to the two of them for the lewd bit of theater he had arranged.

“What are you looking at?” Rhiannon demanded, curious.

“Hush, brat,” he told her quietly. “You wanted an education in pleasure, an adventure, did you not? This is it, but you must be patient and no bellowing.”

Her brows drew together in a frown. “I don’t bellow.”

“These are observation windows,” he said, nodding to the gilt coverings. “There is a glass pane within to keep sound from carrying, but you must be quiet or run the risk of ruining it.”

“Ruining what?”

He slid the cover all the way open. Lord and Lady Elmont were divesting each other’s garments, hands moving feverishly.

“Open your window and have a look,” he encouraged.

With a questioning glance in his direction, she did as he bade, leaning forward in her chair and sliding the gilt covering to the side. “Oh my,” she murmured. “Is that… Are they…”

His lips twitched. “Yes, it is, and yes, they are. Too much already, minx? We can close the viewing holes, and I’ll find a maid to help you pack your valises.”

“No,” she denied loudly.

Too loudly.

The couple on the other side of the small viewing hole appeared to hear her, ending their kiss as Lady Elmont briefly cast a look in their direction.

“Quiet,” he reminded Rhiannon. “If you’re too loud, this will be over before it’s begun, and I promised you an education.”

The dim light in the observation room emerging from a single low sconce ensured that the players in the room next door couldn’t see who was watching, which was part of the enjoyment for them. Aubrey hadn’t told them which members of the party would be in the observation room.

Rhiannon gave him a mutinous glare before turning her attention back to the viewing window. He didn’t bother to turn his gaze to what was unfolding within the bedchamber. Viewing her reaction was far more intoxicating at the moment.

Her lips were parted, her creamy neck craned as she leaned forward in her seat.

He wondered if her nipples were hard. If her cunny was slick and wet with anticipation.

For a wild moment, he thought about lowering himself before her on the Axminster, lifting her skirts, and burying his face between her legs.

He could pleasure her while she watched, know the delirious joy of her coming on his tongue.

Fuck.

He had to stop thinking about her this way.

Aubrey shifted in his seat, trying to ease the pressure of his trousers on his rampant cockstand. Rhiannon cast a curious look in his direction.

“Are you not going to watch?” she asked softly.

He clenched his jaw to stave off another agonizing rush of lust. “I am watching.”

And that was entirely the problem.

It was impossible not to be moved by the sight of Richford sprawled with casual elegance in his seat, his long legs before him, his forearms resting on the chair in an indolent pose.

Rhiannon was all too aware of his assessing emerald gaze on her.

He was watching, like a predator stalking its prey, waiting for a reaction.

He wasn’t going to get one.

It was more than apparent that he’d brought her to the viewing room so he could shock her into leaving. But if he thought that merely watching a couple ardently kiss was going to send her meekly back to London, he was wrong.

They stared at each other for a heated moment, and then he averted his gaze to the viewing window before him as dispassionately as if he were regarding his dinner plate. It would seem that nothing could move the Duke of Richford, least of all her.

Disappointment sliced through Rhiannon. Why couldn’t he look at her and see that she was a woman, with a woman’s desires? Why did he insist upon treating her as if she were a na?ve girl who had wandered into the dining room at an inopportune time, interrupting the adult conversation?

In the room next door, the couple had progressed beyond kissing.

The gentleman had his coat off and was working at the closures on the woman’s bodice, while her fingers flew over the buttons on his waistcoat.

They managed all this while their mouths remained pressed together in a series of carnal kisses that was equally revealing.

It was almost as if the two intentionally shifted so that the viewing room had a better vantage point as their tongues tangled.

Despite her determination to remain unmoved, Rhiannon slid forward on her seat, holding her breath as she watched the pair slipping out of their clothing.

The man was in shirtsleeves now, and the woman’s bodice was gone, along with her overskirt.

The woman then spun about, presenting her back to the man so that he could untie her corset laces.

A coquettish smile played about her lips as she faced the observation windows.

“Do they know we’re watching?” Rhiannon asked quietly.

“They know someone is watching,” Richford said, his voice a low, pleasant rumble. “But not who.”

In the bedchamber beyond, the woman’s corset slackened, giving more room to her bountiful breasts.

Good heavens, they truly meant to disrobe entirely, didn’t they?

Rhiannon was beginning to feel faint. They were a handsome couple, the man dark-haired with shots of silver at his temples, the woman red-haired and voluptuous.

They kept their masks in place, which Rhiannon found odd.

“Don’t they want to know?” she queried, trying to distract herself.

Anticipation had begun to unfurl within her, hot and potent. A new feeling started in the very center of her, a blossoming ache that wasn’t entirely unfamiliar.

“Not knowing is part of the thrill,” he told her.