Simply Wicked (2 page)

“I don’t want the title. You know that.”

“Easy for you to say when it’s yours, regardless.”

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Kate Pearce

“Do you want it?”

“No! It’s just . . .” Anthony sighed in frustration.

A muscle twitched in Val’s cheek. “Go on.”

“I’ve worked hard for you and I’ve enjoyed every minute.

Unlike many of my aristocratic friends, I still have my fortune intact, my health and my wits.”

“I’m not sure about your wits.”

Unease gnawed at Anthony’s gut. “What?”

Valentin held his gaze. “You are late because you spend too much time whoring at Madame’s pleasure house.”

“And you never did that? Strange, I heard your reputation was legendary.”

“I like to fuck, yes, but not like you do.”

Anthony straightened. “And how do you know how I like to fuck?”

“I met Lord Minshom last night. In fact, he deliberately put himself in my way so that I had no choice but to speak to him.”

“So?”

“He told me how much he enjoyed ‘having’ you last night.”

“So?”

Val moved in close. “Dammit, Anthony, that man is a sexual predator of the worst kind. He likes to hurt, to punish and to humiliate.”

“Perhaps he was lying.”

“He wasn’t. This isn’t the first rumor that has reached me about your sexual tastes.”

Anthony found he was trembling, a bone-deep tremor that he couldn’t control. “Did Peter tell you what he saw me doing while you were ‘having’ him?”

Valentin’s face tightened and his hand shot out. Anthony found himself flattened against the wall, Val’s fingers at his throat.

Every bruise on his body screamed a protest.

“Peter didn’t tell me anything. And my relationship with him is my own business. This discussion is about you.”

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“I am perfectly capable of doing this job.”

Val didn’t release his punishing grip. “Really? Well you have the rest of this month to prove that to me and Peter before we ask you to leave.”

He stepped back and rearranged the sleeve of his navy coat.

“I have no wish to tell you how to live your life, but I cannot allow you to ruin my business.”

Anthony cleared his throat. “Nice to see you have your priorities in order, Valentin. Business first, family second. You sound just like our father.”

Valentin’s mouth quirked up in the corner. “For our father, family
is
business.” He let out his breath. “I have no right to tell you what to do. I can only offer you the benefit of my own experience.”

Anthony stepped away from the wall and resumed his position at his desk. His fingers shook so badly he didn’t dare pick up the pen knife in case he cut himself. He risked a smile at his brother.

“Please don’t, Val. I’ve already had Madame Helene to deal with this morning, and no doubt I’ll be hearing from Peter soon. I’m quite capable of resolving my own mistakes; in fact, I’d already decided to do so.”

Valentin barked a laugh and turned to the door. “That’s what I told myself, and look what a disaster that turned out to be.”

“You have Sara, and a firstborn son. Doesn’t that make you a lucky man?”

Val turned slowly around to stare at Anthony, his fine features for once softer and unguarded. “Yes it does, but I wasted many years denying my true self and what had been done to me.”

“Then if you are at peace with your past, why can’t you believe I will achieve that too?”

Anthony tensed at Valentin’s suddenly shuttered expression.

“I hope you do, brother. I truly hope you do. But allowing a 10 /
Kate Pearce

man like Lord Minshom to own you, body and soul, scarcely seems the right way to achieve your aim.”

“He does not own me.”

Valentin’s eyebrows rose. “Perhaps you should tell him that.

He sounded remarkably proprietorial.”

Anthony set his jaw and held his brother’s gaze. “Damn you,
he does not own me.
”

Val bowed and headed for the door. “Then I wish you luck with your new path and hope you do not get led astray again.”

“Thanks, Val. You have nothing to worry about, truly. I’ll be a reformed man.”

His brother’s laugh echoed down the hall as he shut the door.

Anthony barely restrained himself from running after him and planting him a facer. How dare his brother have so little faith in his ability to change? How dare he laugh?

Anthony took a deep breath and let it out. He’d prove everyone wrong. He’d become a model citizen, a business man of renown and a noted ladies’ man—as soon as he’d found out what the Delornay twins wanted with him at dinner tonight. A thread of excitement wormed its way through his gloom.

2

Even at this early hour, the public rooms at the pleasure house were busy. At least forty people were gathered in the large salon, chattering and laughing, anticipating the delights Madame Helene had surely arranged for them. Anthony wondered how many of them frequented the top floor, the place where pain and pleasure blended and all pretenses were stripped away.

With a sense of wary anticipation, he spotted Christian at the buffet table and moved toward him.

“Good evening, Mr. Delornay.”

“Good evening, my lord.” Christian bowed and stepped back. “May I introduce my sister, Lisette?”

Anthony took the proffered hand and kissed it. Lisette Delornay was almost as tall as her brother, her fair hair not quite as blond, her eyes hazel. If the rumors were true, and Anthony had excellent sources, she looked more like her father, Lord Philip Knowles, than her twin did.

Despite her age, her smile was as sensual as her mother’s, and Anthony couldn’t help smiling back.

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Kate Pearce

“It is a pleasure to meet you, my lord.” Lisette gestured at the buffet. “If it pleases you, we will withdraw to our suite and eat privately.”

He tucked her hand into the crook of his arm and patted it.

“I’m happy to oblige, Miss Delornay. Please lead the way.”

With Christian following along behind, Anthony soon found himself lost in the labyrinth of the big house as Lisette took him through to the more private areas.

“Here we are, my lord.”

Anthony stepped through a doorway into a lavish suite of rooms decorated in pale silver and cream. A table stood in front of the fire laid for three, and an elderly woman rose from the couch to curtsey.

“Good evening, my lord. I’m Mrs. Smith-Porterhouse, Lisette’s chaperone; I’ll be in my room if anyone needs me.”

Not an assignation then if Lisette’s chaperone was nearby.

Anthony wasn’t sure if he was relieved or disappointed. Despite their age, the sexual antics of the Delornay twins were already legendary. Had he hoped to find an escape from Lord Minshom with them? He doubted they’d be able to stand up to the force of his lover’s acerbic personality, but they were Helene’s children after all.

“Lord Anthony?”

He bowed, aware that he’d been staring at Mrs. Smith-Porterhouse for far too long.

“My apologies, ma’am, I was woolgathering. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“And you too, sir.” Mrs. Smith-Porterhouse nodded at Lisette.

“I’ll be back in a while to check on you, my dear.”

Lisette looked resigned but not surprised. Anthony reckoned she still had a remarkable amount of freedom for an unmarried woman, but she wasn’t exactly a young lady of the
ton
.

As far as he understood it, her social position was far more am-biguous.

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“Please, sit.” Lisette headed for the table and Anthony moved to hold a chair out for her. “Thank you.”

He waited until Christian sat too and then took his place between them. To his surprise, he was actually hungry, so he settled down to enjoy his dinner before entertaining any thoughts about what the twins wanted from him and what he was going to do about it. The Delornays were surprisingly cultured and amusing compared to his younger siblings, and he found himself enjoying their wicked gossip and banter.

By the time the remnants of the second course were removed and he nursed a large glass of brandy in his hands, he was feeling quite benign toward them. He waited until the last servant withdrew and fixed his gaze on Christian.

“Thank you for an excellent dinner. Now what exactly did you want to discuss with me?”

Christian exchanged a quick glance with Lisette. “We wish you to give us your word that anything we talk about goes no further, regardless of the outcome.”

Anthony raised his eyebrows. “I’m not known as a tattle-tale. Of course, I’ll keep your secrets.”

“Good, then we wish you to help our sister, Marguerite.”

Anthony put his glass down. “Your sister? I didn’t even know you had a sister.”

Lisette smiled. “She doesn’t live with us and, in truth, she is only our half sister. She had a different father.”

Were they referring to Lord Knowles’s legitimate children?

“An Englishman?”

“
Non
, we assume he was French. Marguerite is older than us. She is twenty-three.”

“But your mother seems scarcely old enough to have given birth to you two, let alone another child.”

Both of the twins glared at him, and he held up his hands. “I apologize. That is none of my business—I hold your mother in the highest regard.”

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Kate Pearce

Christian cleared his throat. “Anyway, Marguerite needs help, and we think you are the right man to provide it.”

“Me?” Anthony laughed. “I doubt it. What exactly does she need? And please don’t tell me she is looking for a husband.”

“Marguerite is a widow. I doubt she’d want to marry you.

That’s why we want you to help her.”

Intellectually, Anthony understood that no sane woman would want him in his present state, but it pained him to hear it spoken out loud. He struggled to keep his tone even. “I don’t understand.”

Christian smiled. “
She
doesn’t want anything. She stays in her house and doesn’t go out in case anyone starts gossiping about her.”

“And what am I expected to do about that?”

Lisette sat forward, her hands clasped together on the table top. “We want you to squire her around town, take her to balls, picnics and concerts, and make her smile again.”

Anthony stared at them. “Excuse my bluntness, but why in God’s name would you think I’d do any of that? I’m not exactly known as a ladies’ man.”

“We know—why do you think we’re asking for your help?”

“Now I’m completely at a loss.”

“I overheard some of your conversation with my mother this morning,” Christian said carefully. “You said that you wanted to change.”

Anthony’s smile disappeared. “I don’t appreciate being spied on.”

“I apologize, but it was unintentional. I wasn’t expecting anyone except my mother or her lover to be in her boudoir at that time in the morning.” Christian hesitated. “If you truly want to change, helping Marguerite might be beneficial to you.

At least it might give you an opportunity to step away from a lifestyle which has obviously become abhorrent to you.”

Anthony fought the temptation to smash his fist into Chris-SIMPLY WICKED / 15

tian’s calm face. But it was past time to face the truth, and Christian was repeating only what Anthony had realized for himself. However, it still stung to be judged by a mere youth.

“Your mother would not consider me a fit partner for Marguerite. I’m not sure that I do myself.” He held Christian’s gaze.

“You know what I’m like; you know I’m usually involved with men.”

“That’s exactly why we think you’ll be perfect for Marguerite.

She’s not ready to have a real sexual relationship with anyone.

She’s still ‘in love’ with her dead husband, but she does need to gain some experience with a man, and you will be perfect.”

“But your mother will still object.”

Lisette smiled. “Then we don’t tell her.”

“She knows everything that goes on here. I hardly think my gallivanting around with her daughter will escape her notice.”

“But you won’t be here, will you? You’ll be escorting Marguerite to a different kind of place entirely. And don’t you want to keep away from here, anyway?”

Anthony studied Lisette’s face. Was it possible to change his life that easily?

“Excuse me for asking this, but if you two are not considered socially acceptable, how will your sister get away with it?”

Christian looked amused. “We
are
respectable. We just don’t choose to embrace that particular environment. Marguerite has no choice. She married an English lord; therefore she is entitled and expected to enjoy the benefits of high society.”

“Your sister is a titled lady?”

“
Oui
, Lady Justin Lockwood.”

Anthony paused. “Wasn’t there some scandal connected with her husband a few years ago?”

“He was involved in a duel with his best friend, Sir Harry Jones, and was fatally wounded.”

“That’s right. I remember it now. Weren’t they both supposed to be in love with the same woman?”

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Kate Pearce

Lisette glanced at Christian. “Something like that.”

“Ah, that was your sister, Marguerite. Is that why she chooses to live in solitude?”

“Apparently so, although it seems ridiculous to me.”

Anthony managed a smile. “Perhaps you have a stronger constitution than your sister.”

Lisette met his gaze, and it was like looking straight into her mother’s eyes. “That is possible. I’m hardly a shrinking violet.”

“Hardly.” Christian laughed and Lisette scowled at him.

“Marguerite lives with a chaperone in a small house owned by the Lockwood family on Maddox Street. The Lockwoods don’t particularly care for her, but they haven’t dared to disassociate themselves because of her powerful supporters.”

“I thought you said she had no family apart from you and her mother in England.”

“She doesn’t, but she has Viscount Harcourt DeVere and the Duke of Diable Delamere as godparents.”

“Powerful allies indeed.” Anthony studied his folded hands on the stained white damask tablecloth before looking up.