Page 14 of Submitting to the Widow

Raj favored her with an imperceptible smile. “Mr. Murray needed his rest after that hard knock I gave his head.”

“Not to mention the other hard things you’ve done to his body in the nights since then.”

7

MONDAY, APRIL 24, 1826

CRESCENT TERRACE

Bath, England

Stephen had planned to be blase’ about the repetition of an erotic episode from the wretched journal of his mis-spent adventures at Cambridge, but the minute James ushered him into Lady Trevellyn’s chamber, all of his steadfast resolutions flew south early for the winter.

If he thought one pirate queen, that is Captain El, was unsettling, the vision the baroness presented, still seated whilst her maid fussed with her hair, nearly knocked him flat. The rosy tanned sheen of her skin in the light of the large oil lamp swinging above her vanity table made his mouth water in unseemly anticipation.God. He wondered if society courtesans ever felt this way abouttheirwork. He couldn’t wait to begin to earn more of his pages back.

He should hate and resent the arrogant beauty preening in front of him, but in an odd, unsettling twist, he was beginning to feel things he shouldn’t, things he’d never felt about the endless parade of women he’d pleasured in his youth.

“A farthing for your thoughts, barrister?”

He nearly jumped out of his skin, realizing he’d been gawping like a recently pantsed boy and ignoring what was going on around him.

The woman who’d been working with a hot iron on the curls cascading from Lady Trevellyn’s pirate scarf turned, and he felt a slap of recognition.Raj.

Raj as a man had been forbidding and a bit threatening. Raj as a woman was even worse. What had he and his valet fallen into? They might both disappear, never to be heard from again. The fact that he, along with his currently addled valet, was not overly concerned at the possibility did not bode well for their combined sanities.

Lady Jane turned suddenly and flashed a blinding smile, revealing a distinct resemblance to the fierce Raj. They must be related. How would he survive this latest encounter? Did it matter at all whether or not he did? Contemplating his own possible mortality was liberating. He had no one at home to worry about him; he and his mother had been estranged for years. Oh, his friends might mourn for a while, but they didn’t even know where he was. They might not realize he’d expired for years.

“What?” He’d been wool-gathering again.

“I said, here’s your mask. Even if we’re discovered being naughty, no one will know who we are. I brought the baron’s old carriage that’s never been seen in Bath. All he ever wanted to do was stay at home and shoot pheasant with my father.”

“But weren’t the two of them killed in a carriage accident? How is there still an intact carriage?”

“They were riding in my curricle that day. One of the wheels shattered on a rock in the road, and they were thrown out.”

Her eyes glittered darkly behind her mask, making him wonder if she knew more about the fatal accident than she’d said. The tone of her voice had remained matter-of-fact whilst she’d related the tale.

A tremor of unnamed terror settled low in his stomach, but his cock was undeterred. Damn the possibility this woman might be a murderess. Let the games begin. He was grateful for the cover of the highwayman’s billowing cape that he’d worried about when he’d first tried the cursed thing on.

* * *

Jane smiled inwardly.She’d wanted to unsettle Barrister Forsythe, but she hadn’t counted on him falling to bewattled pieces before they’d even embarked on their latest sensuous adventure.

He’d seemed preoccupied ever since he’d arrived at her townhouse. But she could tell by the telltale bulge in the tightly fitting knee breeches of his costume that he was looking forward to their evening as much as she. Her costume consisted of dark leather stockings held up with bright red garters beneath her nearly sheer overskirt. She’d added a corset under the tightly fitted pirate-like waistcoat. A voluminous shirt billowed from beneath the plunging-neckline waistcoat, completing the look of depraved decadence.

The minute he’d entered her chamber earlier, moisture had begun to pool at the apex of her thighs. Thank God there were a limited number of journal pages left to barter for his love-making. She couldn’t take much more of the intense anticipation she’d suffered the last few days waiting for their latest adventure.

Recalling how their last adventure had ended, she wondered how long she could continue being satisfied with merely being mechanically fulfilled. She wanted to feel him inside her. She wanted to feel the throb of his hot seed filling her. She wanted to know the feeling of lovers simultaneously pleasuring each other. She was terrified of invading his privacy and asking for something so obviously forbidden. Of all his descriptions of his conquests, none had ever ended that way.

She’d suffered through years of rote, rough, and dry fumbling in the dark with her husband. He’d made her wear the elaborate, silken night dresses he’d bought for her whilst he’d methodically pleasured himself. And then all she’d gotten was a warning grunt before he’d precipitously rolled over, pulled up her night dress, and pounded into her at the very end. He’d always risen immediately and left her chamber after each performance of her “obligation.”

During their seven years of marriage, she’d remained a virtual prisoner at Trevellyn House, of no use to anyone, including her father, as anything but a vessel to provide the baron an heir. Toward the end, Trevellyn had berated her for being barren and then had ceased coming for his thrice-weekly conjugal visits to her chamber.

Until both men had died in the accident earlier that year, she’d never been allowed to visit Bath. Now, she was determined to make up for all those years of neglect. She was going to take what she wanted.

After one last judicious look in the mirror, Jane stood suddenly and beckoned to the barrister who had been leaning against the corner in her chamber the whole time. Raj stepped back and gave her mistress’s curls a satisfied look before beginning to tidy up the chamber.

“Are you ready to earn another set of pages?”