Page 67 of The Virgin Who Humbled Lord Haslemere
“We need a room for the night. Just tonight, preferably overlooking the front drive, so I can keep an eye on the gentlemen coming and going. Can you provide us withthat, Madame?”
Madame Célestine inclined her elegant blonde head again. “I can provide you with whatever you wish, Lord Haslemere.”
Oh, there was little doubt of that. Georgiana snorted, and this time there was, alas, no denying itwasindeed a snort.
“Thank you, Madame.” Benedict offered her a polite bow, then turned an impatient look on Georgiana. “You had a chance to return with Brixton, but you chose to come with me instead. I assumed that meant you trusted me to look out for you. If you’ve changed your mind, I’ll send a note to Lady Clifford at once, and have her send a carriageto fetch you.”
Had she changed her mind? Less than a week ago she’d been the sort of sane, rational being who would have changed her mind the moment some arrogant lord escorted her over the threshold of a brothel, but it seemed it took less than a week for Benedict Harcourt to scatter her wits.
Because the truth was, shehadn’tchanged her mind.
She told herself it was because of the building on Mill Street—that she was doing it for her girls and Lady Clifford. That she’d come this far, and wouldn’t let it slip through her fingers now. But somehow, even in her own head, it sounded like a lie.
Still, she raised her chin. Perhaps she hadn’t quite figured out why she’d decided to come with Benedict, but shehaddecided it, and she had no intention of changing her mind now. “No, there’s no need to bother Lady Clifford. I’m perfectly happy to remain where I am,in…a brothel.”
With a rakish, irresistibly handsome earl.What could possibly go wrong?
“Very well.” A small smile played at the corner of Madame Célestine’s lips. “If you’ll be so good as to follow me, I’ll take you to your bedchamberfor the night.”
They followed her to an extravagantly appointed anteroom, which boasted another handful of those salacious paintings. Georgiana promised herself she’d find a chance to get a closer look at them as she followed Madame Célestine up two flights of stairs to a spacious bedchamber tucked into the end of a hallway.
“Here we are. I’ll send hot water up with one of the housemaids.” Madame Célestine stood back and let them pass, then turned and left them alone, closing the door behind her.
The bedchamber was lovely and warm, with a handsome gold embroidered coverlet and matching bed hangings, and dozens of royal blue pillows scattered across the bed. The one enormous bed was placed in the dead center of the bedchamber, as if it were the only piece of furniturethat mattered.
Which, this being a brothel, itwas.
It was on the tip of Georgiana’s tongue to banish Benedict to the floor for the night, but one look at his exhausted face made the words freeze on her lips. She sighed, impatient with herself. She was alone in a sumptuous bedchamber with a massive bed and a wicked rake, andthiswas the moment she’d chosen to indulge her tender feelings?
It seemed so. She strode over to the bed, grabbed an armful of the pillows, and began arranging them down the middle. Once she’d finished the first layer, she added another until there was a wall of colorful silk pillows down the center of the bed.
Benedict watched these proceedings with a bemused expression.“What are you—”
“That’s your side.” Georgiana pointed to the side of the bed farthest from her. “This is mine. You willnot, Lord Haslemere, venture to put so much as a single toe over the barrier. Is that understood?”
Benedict’s lips curved in a wicked grin. “Only my toes are forbidden? Does that mean other parts of me might be welcome?”
Georgiana eyed him. He blinked innocently at her, but that grin of his was…worrying. She couldn’t be certain he was teasing, so she snatched up another handful of pillows and piled them on topof the others.
He raised an eyebrow. “You do realize, princess, that if I’m seized with an uncontrollable urge to venture over the line, a dozen pillowswon’t stop me?”
Georgiana ignored him, finished stacking her pillows, then stepped back to survey her handiwork. It wasn’t a very sturdy barrier, but short of rolling up the carpet and dragging it onto the bed, there wasn’t much else she could do. “Keep your uncontrollable urges to yourself, Lord Haslemere.”
To Georgiana’s surprise, he burst into a laugh. “That’s not nearly as much fun, but it won’t be the first time I’ve done so where you’re concerned, Miss Harley.”
She scowled at him. “I don’t see what’s so amusing about it, but I’ll have your word, Lord Haslemere.”
Benedict choked back his laughter and gave her a mocking salute. “Yes, ma’am. Nota single toe.”
Chapter Sixteen
The next morning Benedict woke to something soft tickling his chin.
He cracked an eye open and a drowsy smile curved his lips. He couldn’t have said what the soft thing was, but it smelled lovely, and it was attached to something warm, the weight of it pleasant against his chest.
It felt like…a woman.
Benedict’s brow furrowed as he considered that possibility. For all the rumors about his insatiability, he’d spent a long, lonely winter in Surrey without a woman tograce his bed.
