She sat back and retrieved an unwrapped package from the table. It appeared to be a small silk bag. Marie-Claude held it out to Elizabeth.
“Open it.”
Elizabeth loosened the silk ties around the mouth of the bag and tipped the contents out onto her palm. Three metal balls emerged and chimed softly as they rolled together.
“What exactly are they?” Elizabeth asked.
“According to Mr. Fan, they are called ‘the celestial globes of passion.’ ”
“They don’t appear to be very passionate, and they look too big to be swallowed. What am I supposed to do with them?”
“You put them inside yourself,” Marie-Claude said serenely.
“All of them?”
“All of them. They are supposed to stimulate you and make you more able to climax.”
“Why?”
Marie-Claude shrugged. “I have no idea, but I have heard that they work. The other thing you might consider is having Mr. Delornay touch you and make love to you more frequently.”
Elizabeth thought about that and shivered not unpleasantly. “I suppose that makes sense. Familiarity might make me worry less about climaxing.”
Marie-Claude patted her hand. “Try the celestial globes first and let me know how you find them. Some women cannot get used to the sensation. Others find the stimulation quite exquisite. See if you can make yourself climax if you don’t wish to bother Mr. Delornay.”
Elizabeth put the chiming globes back into their bag and hid them in the pocket of her skirt. “Thank you, Marie-Claude.”
“Thank me if they work. I will think of some other ways to satisfy you as well.” She moved back across the crate. “Now come and help me finish the unpacking.”
Christian glanced up at the clock in his office and groaned. He was still behind in his work, but he had promised to visit his mother before she left on a visit to Philip’s country seat. She would be most displeased if he didn’t show up, and he needed all her good will at the moment.
A tap on the door drew his attention, and he got up from his desk to open the door. Marie-Claude stood there, her smile bright.
“Are you going out, sir?”
“I have to be at my mother’s house within the next half hour, but I can always spare a moment for you. Is anything wrong?”
Marie-Claude stepped into the room and closed the door firmly behind her.
“Nothing is wrong, but I wanted to offer you some advice about Mrs. Smith.”
Christian frowned. “Does she know you are telling tales on her?”
“In this case, she will be glad that I did. Now let me explain what you need to do ...”
By the time Christian arrived at his parents’ town house, he was still mulling over Marie-Claude’s explicit instructions about how he should deal with Elizabeth. The thoughts she had inspired in his mind made it difficult for him to contemplate a sedate half hour sitting with his parents. All he wanted to do was turn around, go back to the pleasure house, and strip Mrs. Smith naked.
He forced that salacious image away and managed to smile at Philip’s butler.
“Good afternoon, Sutton. Are they home?”
“Her ladyship is upstairs packing, and his lordship is in his study.” Sutton let Christian through the door. “I will let her ladyship know that you have arrived.”
“Thank you. I’ll take myself to the study.”
As Christian approached Philip’s study, he heard the rising murmur of angry voices, a sound that he remembered very well from his own more brattish, wilder days. For a second, he contemplated being the better son and retreating to the drawing room to wait for his mother, but he’d never been that well behaved.
He barely bothered to knock and kept on walking straight into the study where Philip stood confronting Richard over his desk.
“Good afternoon, Philip, Mr. Ross.”
Richard answered him without taking his gaze from their father. “You may call me Richard. We
are
family, as my father has just been reminding me.”
“Christian,” Philip said tightly. “Perhaps you might care to join your mother until Richard and I have finished our conversation.”
“And miss this?” Christian took a seat by the fire and glanced expectantly at his father. “It reminds me of the old days.”
Richard raised his eyebrows. “You fought with my father too?”
“He abandoned me, my sisters, and my mother for eighteen years. Of course I fought with him.”
Richard frowned. “He didn’t exactly abandon you. As far as I understand it, he didn’t know you existed.”
Christian crossed one leg over the other. “He didn’t want to know. Any man who beds a woman must surely realize the risks.”
“Christian, this is not helpful,” Philip snapped.
“I didn’t intend it to be. I’m just sharing a few truths with my newly returned half brother. How can you object to that? I can’t imagine what he has to argue with you about, though.”
“Surely that is none of your concern?” Richard asked.
Christian met his gaze. “Didn’t you just say that we were family, Richard? Don’t families share their problems?”
“Very well, then. Our esteemed father has been telling me what an excellent son you are. His intention, of course, is to make me ashamed of my lack of filial duty.”
“That is not the case. I—” Philip said.
Richard continued speaking. “I am sick and tired of hearing what a paragon you are, Mr. Delornay.”
“Me? You are sadly mistaken.” Christian started to laugh. “I almost drove Philip into an early grave when he first married my mother.”
“And yet you took on the challenge of the pleasure house and have settled down.”
“Have I?” Christian glanced at Philip, who was standing quite still, his expression grim. “Perhaps you should talk to my mother about that before you make such pronouncements, Philip.”
He rose and nodded to both men. “And now I really must go and make my bow to my mother. Perhaps you and Father will join us when you are ready?”
He sauntered back out into the hall, his smile disappearing as he headed toward the drawing room. How ironic that Philip was holding him up as an example to Richard when he’d always known that Richard had his father’s heart.
His mother was already dressed for traveling in a dark green pelisse and sat by the fire deep in thought. Christian went over to kiss her hand.
“Are you all ready for your trip? Is Philip excited about showing Richard his new inheritance?”
Helene sighed. “Richard insists that he doesn’t wish to accompany us, and Philip is not very happy with him.”
Christian sat beside his mother. “I gathered that. They appear to be having a frank exchange of views in the study.”
“Oh, dear,” Helene said. “I hoped Philip would allow Richard more time to adjust himself to London life and to his family, not start lecturing him about his new responsibilities within a few days of his arrival.”
“Apparently Philip is telling Richard he should be more like me, which is quite amusing.”
Helene raised her eyebrows. “Why is it amusing? You have proved your worth a thousand times over.”
“That is very kind of you,
Maman,
but I have no choice but to earn a living. Richard, on the other hand, has a perfect right to swan around society and live off the sweat and rents of his father’s tenants.”
“Philip doesn’t want that.”
“Why not?”
“You’ll have to ask him.”
Christian grimaced; sometimes his mother’s loyalty to Philip still annoyed him. He heard Richard’s voice in the hallway and nodded at the doorway. “It seems as if they have finished arguing—for now at least.”
He smiled as Philip came through the door. “Ah, there you are, Father. Are you looking forward to the peace of the countryside ?”
Philip glared at him. “Actually I am. Sometimes my children still have the capacity to disappoint me.”
“Are you talking about Richard or me?”
Philip sat down opposite Helene. “I believe I’m referring to both of you.”
“I thought I was a paragon.”
“Hardly that.” Philip gestured at Richard. “Ring the bell and then take a seat. You might as well join in the conversation.”
Richard complied. “I intend to. I’m finding this whole family togetherness quite fascinating.”
“We do tend to be a little frank,” Christian noted. “We find it clears the air.”
“I’d noticed that.”
Richard sat back as the butler brought in a tea tray and a selection of cakes and placed them on a small table between them. Without asking for their preferences, Helene began to dispense tea. Christian would have preferred a brandy, but the look on his mother’s face was enough to dissuade him from making that mistake.
Richard accepted his tea with far better grace than Christian and sipped at it without even a grimace. Eventually he turned to Christian.
“It has been quite a while since I have visited London. Perhaps I might ask your advice as to the latest pleasures to be found here.”
“What kind of pleasures do you have in mind?” Christian inquired, all too aware that Philip was struggling to keep his temper. “There are so many.”
“As I have already offered to show you around town, Richard,” Philip said shortly, “I’m not quite sure why you are asking Christian.”
Helene patted his hand. “Christian and Richard are of a similar age, and their interests may well be more compatible.”
“Christian’s interests are hardly likely to attract Richard,” Philip snapped.
Christian felt himself bristle. “How do you know? We are both your sons. We might share more than you think.”
Richard met his gaze and nodded. For one moment it seemed that they were united against a common enemy—their poor father.
“That is true.”
Christian put down his cup. “If you like, we can go to my club and discuss the matter further.” He kissed his mother on the cheek and bowed to Philip. “Have a good trip. I’ll keep Richard entertained.”
“I’m sure you will.” Philip didn’t look any happier. “We’ll see you in a week.”
“I’ll try not to ruin either the business or my brother’s reputation before I see you again.” Christian winked at his mother, who didn’t smile.
He nodded at Richard, who had also risen and was busy kissing Helene’s hand. “If you don’t mind the cold, we can walk to my club from here.”
It took less than half an hour for Christian to find himself sitting opposite Richard in the quiet confines of his club. There were very few people about, but those who saw them tended to look quite hard at his half brother, as if trying to make the connection between them. Some even stopped to make conversation or ask for an introduction, which Christian was quite happy to give them.
As yet another acquaintance wandered off, Richard caught his eye.
“Are we creating gossip?”
Christian shrugged. “I’m used to it. My family has been a source of constant excitement to the
ton
for years.”
“Which is why I went abroad in the first place.” Richard grimaced.
“Because of us?”
“Partly, but even before that scandal emerged, there were some unpleasant rumors flying around about my father’s treatment of my mother.”
“I must confess that I know very little about your mother. It is not a subject that comes up very often.”
“Of course not. That’s because my father is probably too ashamed of his behavior to speak of it.”
Christian frowned. “If you are suggesting that my mother had anything to do with your mother’s unhappiness, I’ll not take it well. As far as I understand it, your mother was dead before my parents met again, and
that
was purely a matter of chance.”
Richard studied him over the rim of his glass. “I’m not suggesting your mother seduced him away from mine.”
“I’m glad to hear it.”
“But you have to understand that I grew up with a mother who seemed permanently unhappy and unwell.” Richard paused. “And it wasn’t difficult to see why she was like that. Whenever my father was near her, she became far worse.”
“So you believe the rumors that he perhaps caused her death?”
“Believe them? My mother told me herself that he was killing her.”
Christian stared at Richard. “And you believed her?”
“I ... used to but then as I grew older, I realized I had never really asked my father for his side of the story and that perhaps I had been unjust to him.”
“What brought that about?”
“My change of heart?” Richard’s smile was just like Philip’s at his most sardonic. “I started corresponding with Emily, and even though she is younger than I am, she reminded me that our father was not always the villain I had painted him.”