Page 24 of Wallflower Gone Wild
“Christopher, Letty’s gone!” Lady Pinerose shouted, running into the study with Miss Hayward behind her.
Mac’s heart plummeted to his abdomen, and suddenly he wished he’d eaten something that day. He felt ill, the room spinning. “Gone? Gone where?” he asked, willing his legs to move.
“Mother, I know where she’s gone. I will go after her, but please calm yourself,” Miss Hayward said, panting from running after her mother.
“Where is she?” Pinerose demanded of his stepdaughter.
“Pleasure House, she’s gone to Pleasure House.”
Bloody Hell.
“I’ll go!” Mac said striding toward the door.
“Take our carriage, Meriweather,” the earl said as he followed Mac down the hall.
Pleasure House, though not a complete den of iniquity, was not a place for an innocent like Letty. Mac ran out of the study without hesitation.
He had to find her and beg for forgiveness.
CHAPTER 9
The ballroom of Pleasure House was slightly less crowded than a typical ton event, but Letty was still surprised by how many members of society were actually in attendance. She’d heard bits and pieces of information from gossip—and Cleo, of course—on the famous establishment owned by Madam Kitty Delcour—a woman of color. Letty had never dared to grace its doors with her presence … until now.
It was the perfect distraction she needed to forget about her parents with their conditional love and Mac with his dubious attempt to ruin her.
It was still difficult for Letty to absorb how terribly wrong she’d been about Mac Meriweather. He wasn’t the honorable and trustworthy man she’d fallen in love with at all, and that realization broke her heart all over again.
Perhaps that man didn’t even exist.
She stood at the entrance of a glittering ballroom completely decorated in red and black. The flickering glow of candlelight giving it a forbidden appeal. Letty held her head high as she plucked a glass of champagne from a passing servant. Taking a sip, she fought against the large birds that had taken flight in her belly, wishing she had the protection of a mask. Perhaps that would have given her more courage—but no, she was done hiding and sulking like a wounded animal.
Most events at Pleasure House were more discreet in nature, but that night, everyone’s identity was revealed.
Gazing at the uncomfortably thin chairs against the wall, Letty ignored the need to flee all the attention she was currently receiving just by standing there.
“What an enticing creature you are,” an extremely tall man with blonde hair said, blocking her path.
“Creature? Really, do most women like being called a creature?” Letty asked, finding it rather difficult to speak with anyone who would label her an animal.
“Bollingbrook, I can’t allow you to keep this one to yourself.” Another man closer to her father’s age joined them, and suddenly Letty realized she was being surrounded by different gentlemen.
“Indeed, he cannot. I wouldn’t mind fancying a taste of you.” A short, stout man, closer to her mother’s age, trailed a fat finger down her exposed arm.
Letty jerked back, unable to hide her shock at his words and the audacity he had touching her.
“Please keep your hands to yourself, sir,” she said glaring at the man, who took her comment as a jest.
His laughter felt like fingernails against her skin. Letty turned to walk away from the growing crowd of gentlemen admirers. Before she could move away from the hungry men, somebody grabbed her arm and hauled her into a hard body.
Drat!
Was this the treatment that was allowed at Pleasure House?
“Gentlemen, please release the lady,” a beautiful woman of African descent commanded as she threaded her way gracefully through the crowd.
“Madam Delcour, we had no idea you were hiding such a treasure,” the stout man who had grabbed Letty said.
“No matter, please do not manhandle my guests unless asked, Lord Ashwood.” The smile on Madam Delcour’s pristine face was friendly enough, but her steely gaze left little doubt that the consequences of disobedience would be dire.