“Oh yes, Lady Theale, I’ve been here since the beginning.”
Diana sipped at her tea and assumed her most interested expression. She’d gone down to the kitchen to steal a bite of supper, and ended up enjoying a long conversation about the intricacies of a life in servitude with the butler.
“I didn’t realize you had been here so long, Mr. Maddon. You hardly look old enough.”
“Oh, I wasn’t the butler back in those days, my lady. I started at the Pelly house as hall boy.”
“The Pellys?” A bead of excitement burned brightly in Diana’s chest.
“Yes, that’s correct. They had a rented house in London, but their country estate was in Cornwall, right on the coast. It was a forlorn, ramshackle place, much loved by Miss Faith, but not by the rest of her family.”
“Why was that?”
“Because it was falling into the sea and would’ve required thousands of guineas to set it to rights, which the family didn’t have.”
“Is it still there?”
“No, my lady. There was a terrible storm a year or so ago, and half the cliff gave way, taking most of the house with it. Miss Faith was very upset.”
“She didn’t have it repaired when she married the earl?”
“It wasn’t hers to fix, my lady. It belonged to her father, and then, as he had no sons, it passed to her cousin, who didn’t have the funds to repair it either.”
“How sad.” Diana took another sip of her tea. “So you came to London with the countess when she married?”
“I did, my lady, and I became second footman here, before working my way up to the position of butler.”
“What a remarkable achievement, Mr. Maddon. Your family must be very proud of you.”
“I’m sure they would be, my lady, but my father and brother passed away in a mine cave-in many years ago, and my mother didn’t survive long after that.”
A silence fell as Diana contemplated the all-too-common tale and the small tragedies of an everyday life. Unlike most of her new class, she had more than a passing acquaintance with the constant battle simply to survive.
“Then I suppose you had no reason to keep in touch with the staff at Pelly house after you moved on, or to go back to Cornwall to visit.”
“There wasn’t much need, my lady. Soon after Miss Faith’s wedding, the rest of the Pelly family moved to London.” He lowered his voice. “I suspect they wanted to be close to the earl, who is a wealthy man in his own right.”
“Oh.” Diana accepted his confidence and nodded wisely. “Was the earl inclined to help them out?”
“I believe he did his best, my lady.” Maddon chuckled. “I suspect the earl felt an obligation. When he originally visited the family, he came at the invitation of Miss Faith’s younger sister, Miss Margaret. She was a beautiful girl, that one. We all thought he might marry her, but he took one look at Miss Faith, and we could all see the way the wind was blowing.”
“How romantic,” Diana murmured. “And did the beautiful Miss Margaret Pelly marry well herself?”
“Ah, well.” Mr. Maddon wiped his mouth with his handkerchief. “That one was never satisfied. I don’t think she ever got over Miss Faith stealing the earl right from under her nose. She certainly made sure that everyone in the family knew her feelings on the subject.”
“Oh dear. Did the sisters fall out over the earl?”
“If they did, I don’t think it lasted more than a day or two, my lady. They were always very close.” He sighed. “Miss Margaret died a long time ago, God rest her soul. I know Miss Faith misses her every day.”
“I’m sure she does,” Diana murmured.
“They were very different, but close despite everything.” He rose to his feet. “There is a portrait of the two of them in the countess’s office. Have you not seen it?”
Diana waited as Mr. Maddon lit a candle and led her through the back hallways to Lady Westbrook’s pleasant office. The main rooms of the club were busy, but up on the second floor where the real work of the establishment was undertaken, all was quiet.
“Here you are, my lady.”
The picture in question was very small, no more than six inches square, and sat on the countess’s desk.
“The Pelly family didn’t have the financial resources to afford a large portrait. I believe Miss Faith said this was the only one of her sister that existed.” He set the candle down beside the portrait and Diana leaned in close to view it.
“They are very different, indeed.”
“Yes, Miss Margaret was the one who had all the looks and was determined to marry well.”
Diana studied the oval face, blue eyes, and blond curls of the younger Pelly sister. She had an arrogant expression that indicated that she knew her worth and would be hard to please.
A footman appeared at the door and Diana looked up.
“Mr. Maddon, Mr. Fisher is looking for you.”
She smiled at the two men. “You go ahead, Mr. Maddon. I’ll be on my way to bed.”
“Yes, my lady.”
Maddon bowed and followed the footman out of the room, leaving Diana alone with the picture. She touched the two young faces with the tip of her finger. They were both so sure of themselves in their own ways, but Faith Pelly had succeeded in marrying the man of her dreams, and apparently her sister had not.
It was hard not to linger over the picture on the countess’s desk and retreat to the peace and quiet of her bedroom. What had happened between the sisters that their lives had diverged so dramatically? If the earl had married the younger sister, the Sinners Club wouldn’t exist. Would that be a blessing or a curse?
Diana carefully blew out the candle and carried it out into the hall. She didn’t want the countess to know that anyone had been in her office at night. Although, if she asked, Maddon would surely tell her what had transpired. Would Diana’s interest in the Pelly family rouse Lady Westbrook’s suspicions? If it did, Diana might have to face a far harder interrogation than she had anticipated.
She reached her door and unlocked it. After the unfortunate end of her affair with Alistair Maclean, she’d been struggling to concentrate. But seeing the portrait of the Pelly sisters had at least given her something else to think about . . .
“Lady Theale.”
She gasped and pressed her hand to her bosom as Alistair Maclean rose from his seat by the fire and bowed to her.
“How did you get in here?”
He held up a key. “I hold keys to all the rooms on the premises in case of emergencies.”
“This hardly qualifies as an emergency.” She held out her hand. “Give me the key.” To her surprise he handed it over to her without a murmur. “Now go away.”
“I wished to speak to you about something.”
“I don’t think there’s anything I want to hear from you at this precise moment. I’m tired and I want to go to bed.” She rubbed her forehead where the beginnings of a headache were stirring. “Please make an appointment and meet me in my office tomorrow.”
“Diana—”
She held up one finger. “I don’t believe I gave you permission to use my first name, and I’ve asked you to leave. If you intend to impress me with a new plea of devotion and submission, then this is not the best way to go about it.”
He went slowly onto his knees and looked down. She had a terrible urge to kick him and then start crying until he gathered her into his arms and held her close. But that would never do.
“I . . . wish to try again. You were wrong about your inability to master me.” He took a quick breath. “It’s not that at all.”
“Go on.”
“It’s that I’m
afraid
.”
“Of me?”
“Of myself. I want to give you everything you desire, but the thought of doing that, of making myself vulnerable to you, to a
woman
is terrifying. And when you get too close to me, when I want to give in to your every whim, I fight against myself.”
“I understand.”
“You do?” He risked a glance up at her. “Then, will you take me back? I swear to God that I won’t fight you over anything anymore. Even if you send twenty men to fondle and fuck me, I’ll do what I am told.”
Diana took out some of her hairpins and massaged her aching temple. “It is perfectly acceptable for you to have
limits,
Mr. Maclean. We have already discussed this.”
“I know, but I should trust
you
to discover those limits, to test them, and to maybe make me accept what I thought was unacceptable.” His breathing hitched. “I cannot set a limit until I have experienced it, can I? I can’t dictate what I want if I am truly to be yours.”
She sat down on the side of the bed and considered him. “You are saying all the right things, Mr. Maclean, but I still doubt you mean them. The moment you lose control of a situation you start to panic and question me.”
“I don’t want to do that anymore. I want to try again. I can’t stop thinking about you, about what I’ve given up, about how you make me feel.” He lowered his head and kissed her slippers.
“Please.”
She kept her gaze on his auburn hair and allowed her thoughts to run free. Was he worth saving? She had a suspicion that he might be, but how to test out his new avowal of complete surrender to her wishes?
Diana let out her breath. “I need to think about this, Mr. Maclean. When I’ve made a decision, I will make certain that you know it.”
He kissed her shoe again and rose unsteadily to his feet. “Thank you for at least considering my plea.” He bowed. “Good night, my lady.”
10
“N
ico, will you just listen for a moment?” Diana interrupted her stepson. “I’m not asking you to go over the same ground again, I’m asking you to try something different.”
“I still don’t like it, Di.”
“But you’ll do it for me, won’t you? All I need is for you to talk to Mr. Maddon and see if you can find out who else came up to London with him from the Pelly house in Cornwall.”
“I’ll do it, but I’m not sure what you hope to achieve by finding these people.”
“They might be able to fill in some of the missing pieces for me.”
“I suppose that’s true.” He frowned. “Do you know what happened to the Pelly cousin who inherited the estate?”
“I believe he spent all his time in London and never visited the old place. He had a land agent overseeing the farms and the copper mine until the revenues dried up. His older brother was convicted of treason for spying. His death sentence was commuted to transportation to the colonies because of the intervention of the Earl of Westbrook.”
“That was very gracious of him, but as he was about to marry a member of the Pelly family, I assume he did it to avoid involving his new family in a scandal.”
“How cynical you are, Di.” Nico chuckled. “Have you met the earl yet?”
“No, thank goodness.”
“He’ll turn up at the Sinners soon. He always does. So you should be prepared.”
“I’m not afraid of the Earl of Westbrook.”
“Then you should be.” He shook his head. “I still don’t understand why you wanted to work here right under his nose—unless . . .” His dark gaze widened. “You don’t think
he’s
your father, do you?”
Diana merely stared back at him.
“You can’t be serious!”
“Why not? You have to admit it’s a possibility. He wasn’t known as the ‘Savage Rake’ for nothing. He rutted like a stag before he met Faith Pelly.”
“Do you intend to confront him with this ridiculous notion?”
“Not without proof. And the notion is not ridiculous. We know he visited the Pellys at their home in Cornwall.”
“Which is why you want to speak to the surviving servants.” Nico blew out a harried breath. “You might have mentioned this to me before. I assumed you thought one of the original members of the Sinners was your father.”
She smiled at him. “I do. The Earl of Westbrook.”
“He and Faith were the
founders
. I don’t think you are right.”
“Do you care to place a wager on it?”
Nico snorted. “No, I do not. If anyone can pull it off, it will be you. How do you intend to prove this? Did you expect to find a copy of your baptismal certificate tucked away in the records somewhere?”
“I expected to find
something
.” Diana sighed. “If you help me discover the Pelly servants, one of them might have evidence to show that the earl wasn’t entirely wrapped up in courting Faith Pelly.”
“And was bedding someone else?”
She raised her eyebrows. “Why not? Men do it all the time. I learned that at the pleasure house.”
“And if you find evidence to confront the earl, you will do so.”
Diana nodded.
“To what end?” Nico asked. “Do you want him to publicly acknowledge you?”
“Why shouldn’t he?”
“I’m not suggesting he wouldn’t be willing to do so. Despite what you might think, he is an honorable man.” Nico hesitated. “Have you considered the impact that your announcement will make on your employer?”
“Lady Westbrook can scarcely object. It can hardly be the first time this has happened.”
“Oh, I’m fairly certain that due to his reputation the earl has dealt with his fair share of claims, but to my knowledge he has no acknowledged bastards. Only two young sons with his wife who are currently away at school.”
“Then I will be the first.”
“Do you want money from him?”
“That’s—” Diana glared at Nico. “That’s not fair.”
“It’s not like you to be so hard, Di. I’m only trying to understand.”
She rose from her chair and came around to stand in front of him. “I have another appointment at three with Lady Malinda. I need to go and fetch my bonnet. Is there anything else we need to discuss?”
He rose too and stood, looking down at her, his treacle brown gaze troubled. “I’ll do my best to find out the information you need, Di, but I do beg you to reconsider. What good will raking up the past do now?”
“Damn it, Nico, I helped reconcile you with your own father, how can you say that to me?”
“Because by the time I found him, I realized how much of my life I’d wasted searching for him.”
She patted his cheek. “Oh, Nico, don’t be cross with me. I can’t explain it, but I need to do this. It is important.”
“If you say so.” Taking her hand, he kissed her palm. “Be careful, love.”
“I always am.”
“Well, then be extra careful.”
His smile warmed her. As they turned to the door, it opened to disclose Maddon with a silver salver.
“There’s a letter for you, Lady Theale. The messenger is awaiting your reply in the kitchen.”
Nico winked and slipped past the butler. Diana took the proffered letter and slit open the seal with her knife. The note was short and took her no time to read.
“I’ll reply to this immediately.” She sat down at her desk and wrote quickly before sealing the reply and handing it back to Maddon. “Thank you.”
“You are welcome, my lady. Is there anything else I can do for you?”
“You can ascertain if Mr. Maclean is here.”
“I know he is, my lady. I just spoke to him.”
Diana wrote another note and gave it to Maddon. “Can you give this to Mr. Maclean? I don’t expect a reply.”
“Of course, my lady.”
She sat back and considered the evening ahead. If Mr. Maclean truly wished to show her that he was a changed man who wished to acknowledge her claim over him, tonight he would be able to prove he meant it.
There was another knock on the door, and James the footman came in with a sealed letter.
“From the pleasure house, my lady.”
“Thank you.” She opened the letter, reading quickly, and found it was from Charlotte asking her to meet her when she had a spare evening. “There is no reply necessary, thank you, James.”
Depending upon how her evening with Mr. Maclean went, she might have time to see Charlotte later that night. She hadn’t noticed any sense of urgency in her friend’s request and wondered vaguely what it might concern, her mind too tied up in thoughts of Alistair Maclean being tied up to concentrate too hard.
Alistair pinned his cravat in place for the fourth time and considered his appearance in the hall mirror. Lady Theale had asked him to meet her at six and to wear his evening clothes. That was all she’d written in her note, and it had taken him a few moments of internal struggle not to march around to her office and demand to know more. But those days were behind him now. If he wanted the immensity of the pleasure she brought him, he would have to behave himself.
He checked the clock for the fifteenth time and it finally chimed six times. There was still no sign of his companion. With a silent curse, he fished out his pocket watch and compared his timepiece to the long clock that sat on the marble floor.
“Mr. Maclean?”
He looked up to see Lady Theale at the top of the staircase. She wore a primrose yellow evening gown with silken skirts and gauzy sleeves that made her skin glow.
“My lady.”
“Will you come up here for a moment?”
Mystified, he went up the stairs, and she led him through into the private rooms that were used to entertain the members on certain nights of the week. He knew for a fact that tonight was not one of them.
When she stepped in the small anteroom that led into the main salon, he followed her.
“Shut the door, Mr. Maclean.”
“Yes, my lady.”
She went toward one of the chest of drawers that lined the wall. “Please undo your trousers.”
He stared at her for a full second before his hand fumbled with the buttons. “May I ask a question?”
She looked over her shoulder at him, her gaze calm. “Yes?”
“I thought you said we were going out to dinner.”
“We are.”
There were a thousand questions he wanted to ask next, but he knew she wouldn’t answer him, or worse, tell him to get out for his impertinence. He couldn’t risk that, even though not knowing what was going on unsettled him. But she knew that, didn’t she? This was simply part of her mastering him.
His heart sped up as she approached him with a set of leather cock rings and a short phallus, but he didn’t speak. She shoved his trousers down further and set about oiling the phallus and settling his half-erect cock and balls into the sturdy leather straps.
“You may dress now.”
He struggled to button his trousers over the thick protuberance of his leather-clad cock and balls. His shaft was already straining against the leather, making his arousal obvious to even the most casual of observers.
“Come here.”
Resisting the urge to shield himself from her gaze, he walked over to the floor-length mirror. She made him stand in front of it as she considered both him and his reflection. He shivered as she rubbed her thumb over the contours of his trapped cock and the prominent curve of his balls.
“Very nice, Mr. Maclean.” She smiled at him in the mirror. “You may help me put on my cloak and then you may put on your own.”
“Thank you, my lady.”
He would’ve done it if she’d asked, but he wasn’t sure how he would have felt parading through the Sinners trussed up for all to see. He followed her down the stairs and out into the street where a covered carriage awaited them.
“Lady Theale.” The liveried coachman opened the door with a flourish and handed his companion inside, leaving Alistair with little to do but to climb in after her and offer his thanks.
“Sit beside me.”
He changed direction and sat beside her, careful not to crease her dress.
“Spread your legs.”
He obeyed, his hands fisting at his side and she rested her gloved hand over his cock and balls and then started stroking him. His cock responded immediately, and his breath hissed out as the leather tightened around his heated flesh.
“Do you wish . . . everyone at the dinner party to see me aroused like this?” he murmured.
“Naturally. I want them all to see how big you are and envy me.”
His hips bucked forward as she increased the pace of her fingers.
“Do you want me to come?”
She considered his cock. “It is rather tempting to arrive with you in that state, but I don’t wish you to come until I order you to do so.”
He set his teeth as she eased off a little, but never enough to make him comfortable or for him to gain any sense that he was in control.
“Ah, we’re here.”
The same coachman opened the door and helped Lady Theale alight. Alistair followed her more slowly, his breathing short and his heart thumping as he contemplated the grand Mayfair mansion they were entering. Was she really expecting him to walk in there in this state? The thought of that many pairs of eyes on him was disorienting.
In the hallway, the butler helped her out of her cloak and then turned to Alistair.
“Sir?”
“Let him take your cloak, Mr. Maclean.”
He felt naked and couldn’t even bear to look down at his arousal.
“You will wait here until someone comes to collect you.” She touched his cheek. “You will continue to do as you are ordered, and will not disgrace me.”
“Yes, my lady.”
With all the composure he could muster, he turned his back on the two footmen stationed by the door and gave his attention to a family portrait that dominated the largest wall. It looked fairly recent and showed a dark-haired man and his wife with three children grouped around them. Alistair moved closer. The girls appeared to be identical twins and had their father’s black hair.
“Mr. Maclean?”
Alistair looked over his shoulder to see a dark-haired man who looked remarkably like the person in the portrait approaching.
“Yes, sir.”
“Come with me.”
The man’s voice held all the arrogance of an aristocrat and something else that made Alistair reluctant to meet his gaze. He wasn’t young, and he exuded a quiet confidence that made Alistair feel already naked.
“In here.”
Alistair braced himself, but there was no one in the study but him and the man, who smiled at him.
“Did you think to find yourself at the center of an admiring crowd, Maclean? Would you have enjoyed that? Being touched and fondled by strangers?”
“No, sir.”
“Well, that’s a shame, because I’m going to touch you anyway, although by the end of our time together, we are not going to be strangers, I can assure you of that.” His voice changed. “Lace your fingers and put your hands behind your head. Do not speak unless I ask you a direct question.”
Alistair did as he was told and stared unblinkingly at the wall of books in front of him.
“Lower your gaze to the floor, Maclean.”
He jumped as the man reached forward, cupped his trapped cock and balls, and squeezed hard enough to make Alistair pay attention.
“Lady Theale has told me all about you.” He undid the top button of Alistair’s trousers. “You don’t like being fondled or fucked by men, do you?”
“I—will do whatever my lady commands, sir.”
“Ah, she said that was your other problem, your refusal to state your limits or tell her when you were uncomfortable about a particular situation she wished to put you in.”
“I . . . told her that I would do whatever she ordered me to do, sir.”
Two more buttons and the man was pushing aside Alistair’s shirt to examine the leather bindings around his cock, balls, and arse.