His Mistress

by Monica Burns

  “What if he learns….he could easily lock me up and keep me from visiting La Maison des Plaisirs Sombres Angélique. I couldn’t bear that. If I lose that freedom…” The idea was so horrifying Jane couldn’t finish her sentence.

  “I understand, ma petite,” her friend murmured. “However, I do not think your need to escape society’s restraints is in jeopardy. After all, your fiancé agreed to your demand that the marriage be in name only. I doubt he will wonder how you spend your evenings. Things will continue as they are, non?”

  Angélique’s practical response made Jane slowly nod her head. Her friend was probably right. Tobias had seemed as reluctant to marry as she was. Still, the thought of him discovering her life behind the closed doors of La Maison des Plaisirs Sombres frightened her.

  The House of Dark Pleasures. For the past eight months, she’d observed Angélique time and again exert her will over her lovers. After each session of play, as Angélique referred to them, they would discuss the various methods the Frenchwoman used to bring herself and her lovers the most intense pleasure possible.

  It had only been in the past few weeks that her friend had deemed Jane ready to venture out on her own to test her skills. She’d engaged in several flirtations since then, and her elusive manner had already earned her a small following. Yet despite the numerous offers of service she’d received, Jane had not attempted to explore her feminine strength in a more intimate exchange.

  Angélique had said it was because Jane was still uncertain of her abilities and would find her way when the time was right. Jane knew differently. She’d simply not met a man who intrigued her enough to test the full power of her feminine strength. Perhaps it was too much to expect, but she longed for something beyond the trivial relationships she saw exist among many of the club members. She wanted a challenge, and she’d yet to find that in any of the men she’d met so far.

  “Where is your head, ma chérie?” Angélique asked with a small laugh. “I asked you the name of your fiancé.”

  “What? Oh. Tobias. Tobias Lynsted.”

  “Tobias Lynsted,” her friend gasped softly.

  “You know him?” An unfamiliar emotion curled in her stomach.

  “Oui, I know him.” Angélique nodded as she met Jane’s gaze.

  “How?” The moment she spoke, Jane wanted to bite her tongue off.

  The one word question held a dozen more wrapped inside it. Jane studied her friend intently. Where had Tobias and Angélique met? It couldn’t have been at La Maison des Plaisirs Sombres. If so, surely she would have seen Tobias there herself. For a fleeting moment, she almost laughed at the idea of her future husband visiting Angélique’s establishment. It was a ludicrous notion. From what little she knew of him, Tobias did not present himself as the type of man to enter Angélique’s establishment.

  An uncomfortable expression crossed her friend’s face, and Jane’s stomach lurched violently. Dear Lord, had Angélique shared Tobias’ bed? A sharp pain in her chest made Jane clench her jaw to avoid crying out. It was happening again. No. It wasn’t. This time her heart wasn’t involved. Whatever Angélique and Tobias had been to each other, it didn’t matter. She wasn’t in love with Tobias Lynsted.

  “Tobias sav…helped me with a problem I had just before you and I met.” A haunted expression swept across the Frenchwoman’s face. “He is a thoughtful, caring man. I would have been lost without his friendship.”

  “Were you intimate with…” Jane faltered and winced as the startled look on Angélique’s face gave way to one of amusement.

  “Non. He is a friend, nothing more.”

  Heat filled Jane’s cheeks, and she turned away in embarrassment. Why should she care who Tobias was friends with? A mocking laugh in the back of her head pushed its way forward. It did matter. Jane swallowed the knot of fear suddenly lodged in her throat.

  “Come, ma petite, tell me what is really troubling you,” Angélique said in a soft voice.

  “I’m simply troubled by the fact that I’m to be married. I should never have told father I admired Tobias.”

  “I think there is much more to it than that.” The Frenchwoman tipped her head to one side. “You like Tobias. Perhaps you are even a little bit in love with him?”

  “Don’t be ridiculous,” Jane snapped. “I barely know the man.”

  “And yet you told your father you admired him.”

  “I do admire him,” Jane said firmly ignoring the taunting laughter in her head. “I don’t see how anyone could not. Every time I sit next to Sir Arthur Hughes at a dinner party, the barrister sings Tobias’ praises. Sir Arthur has said Tobias’ investigative skills have saved a great many of his clients from Newgate or the gallows. But my admiration for Tobias’ work in the East End hardly qualifies as love.”

  “Agreed, but admiration is often the first step,” her friend said with a knowing look.

  Jane glanced away at the assessment she saw in Angélique’s eyes. The Frenchwoman had been her closest friend and confidante for four years. In the past ten months they’d grown even closer with Jane’s introduction into the many forms of pleasure La Maison des Plaisirs Sombres offered its members. But not even that shared secret made Jane comfortable enough to share the conditions Tobias had put on their marital agreement, or how often he visited her in her sleep. Dreams filled with lustful abandon and a heat that made her toss her covers aside to cool her skin.

  Her stomach lurched as she remembered how often she would wake up, her hand between her legs in an effort to ease the ache her dreams had caused. She’d never experienced this type of arousal before. Not with any of the men she’d flirted with at La Maison des Plaisirs Sombres. And certainly never with Barnaby. The past threatened to break free of its confines, but she quickly buried it behind the wall she’d built a long time ago.

  “I have no intention of falling in love with Tobias Lynsted,” she said with a stubborn tilt of her chin. “Falling in love is tantamount to giving him complete control over me, and I have no intention of relinquishing any more control than necessary where he’s concerned.”

  “Oh ma petite, love is not like that.” Angélique exclaimed as she met Jane’s gaze with dismay. Jane shook her head in disagreement.

  “It is like that. Love is about submission. I will not submit to an emotion that leaves one weak and powerless.”

  “You are wrong, Jane,” Angélique said softly. “Love is about trust. Just as one must trust one’s partner in La Maison des Plaisirs Sombres, one must trust one’s heart. Love is a willingness to please someone you cherish and hold most dear.”

  “Where affairs of the heart are concerned, you are a romantic Angélique,” Jane said with a cynical laugh. “You believe in happy endings.”

  “I suppose I do,” the Frenchwoman said as a faraway look crossed her face.

  As she studied Angélique in silence, Jane realized her friend was still in love with the Earl of Mancroft. Jane knew little about Angélique’s relationship with the earl, except that five years had not diminished her friend’s love for the man. Jane understood what it was to yearn for a man she could never have. It was a sensation she had experienced a long time ago and never intended to subject herself to again. She could only hope her friend did not suffer from a broken heart for as long as she had. A surge of protective anger for her friend welled inside Jane.

  “Mancroft isn’t good enough for you,” she said fiercely. Angélique jumped as her gaze met Jane’s. The Frenchwoman offered a slight shrug.

  “Caleb is a wonderful, yet complex, man, ma chérie. There are demons inside him that he must conquer. But I shall not, how do you say it, pine away for him.” Angélique’s fragile look disappeared as she smiled at Jane. “So you see, I might be a romantic at heart, but I am practical as well.”

  “And practicality is all a woman can really afford in a world dominated by men,” Jane bit out, as an image of her father filled her head. “At least at La Maison des Plaisirs Sombres I am not forced to submit to a man’s w
him. They submit to me, and I choose what pleasure to offer them.”

  “You do not need to confine your strength to the club.” Angélique’s eyes narrowed as she studied Jane. “Perhaps you should consider bending Tobias to your will.”

  Jane shook her head as she remembered Tobias facing her in the salon yesterday. He possessed a dark intensity that made it impossible to believe he would ever submit to anyone’s will, especially a woman. The power radiating off of him only reinforced that belief. What had been even more alarming was how he’d set her senses on fire until a stark need had pulsed its way through her.

  Almost as disturbing as her intense physical reaction was the confusion she’d experienced when Tobias had so readily agreed to her demands. He’d not protested either of the stipulations she’d outlined. His casual acceptance of her demands was ill-matched with his inscrutable sensuality and strength.

  The power emanating off him had been more potent than anything she’d ever experienced with any man. Even more surprising was that she hadn’t felt threatened or powerless in his presence. Any other man would have used his strength to suppress her rebellious attitude, but Tobias had shown no desire to control her.

  At least, not until he’d added that earth-shattering addendum to their agreement. Her reaction had been immediate and visceral, and the sheer strength of it had terrified her. The dark, sensual sound of his voice echoed in her head again as she remembered how politely he’d agreed to her conditions provided she consented to his. Her clothing had been an easy accommodation to make, but the other requirement…one night in his bed.

  The provision had created a firestorm of emotion inside her as her body and mind warred for control. In the end, desire won the battle. Jane’s stomach fluttered as she remembered the excitement that had streaked through her the moment she’d agreed to share his bed for one night. What had he meant by saying she would have command of her own pleasure? No doubt her idea of dominance and Tobias’ were vastly different. She discarded the thought as she remembered the strength and power that flowed out of her future husband. The idea of him surrendering to her will was preposterous.

  “Tobias Lynsted is not the type of man to submit to any woman’s dictates.”

  “Do not be so sure, ma petite,” Angélique said with a small smile. “There are many men who like a strong woman in their bed. A woman they are happy to submit to when it comes to pleasure.”

  “This marriage is not about pleasure. It’s about my father disposing of me,” Jane said with a jerk of her head. “Worse, my future husband is well within his legal rights to say where I go and what I do.”

  “I know Tobias well enough to reassure you that he will abide by the terms of his agreement with you. He is an honorable man. And as I said, Tobias might enjoy having a wife with skills such as yours,” Angélique said softly.

  Her friend’s words sent a frisson skimming across her skin. Did Angélique know something about Tobias that Jane didn’t? Her mouth went dry as a dark fascination held her in its grip. Almost as quickly as her fantasy emerged she pushed the images out of her mind. Tobias might not be of the nobility, but his grave demeanor left her with the distinct impression that he would be no less disapproving of her activities than any member of the peerage.

  She wasn’t about to fool herself into thinking Tobias would understand how others found pleasure and satisfaction in the sexual experience of domination and submission. As a man, he had a freedom few women enjoyed. How could he possibly understand what it was like to have no control over his life or living within the constraints society demanded of a woman?

  Inside the walls of La Maison des Plaisirs Sombres she’d found a sanctuary that gave her the freedom to express her inner strength and wield her feminine power when and if she chose to do so. For months now, that knowledge had freed her from her father’s oppressive authority in a way she’d never dreamed possible.

  Not even his successful effort to auction her off to Tobias had completely stripped her of her freedom. Deep inside she knew that had her father selected someone other than Tobias for her husband, she would have objected fiercely. Her father would never have thrown Jane out onto the street. Had he done so, it would have cast him in an unfavorable light with his peers, and her father would never jeopardize his image of the benevolent father.

  It was her lack of resistance to marrying Tobias that alarmed her. Jane quickly buried the thought as she considered Angélique’s suggestion. The idea that Tobias might want a wife who was far from submissive was an outlandish one. With a wry twist of her lips, Jane met her friend’s gaze and shook her head.

  “Not only are you a romantic, you’re an optimist.”

  “And you are far too cynical,” Angélique said as she rolled her eyes. “I sometimes wonder if I erred in introducing you to the way I take my pleasure.”

  “I don’t recall giving you much choice.”

  “If I’d not been so half-witted, I might have managed to explain away Lord Brocklehurst’s and Lord Rochester’s inappropriate conversation about me and La Maison des Plaisirs Sombres.”

  “See. You’ve just confirmed you’re an optimist,” Jane said with a laugh. “Especially when you know full well, I would have pestered you incessantly until you explained what Brocklehurst meant by calling you the most seductive Lady of the night he’d ever served.”

  “They should never have had that conversation outside of La Maison des Plaisirs Sombres,” the Frenchwoman bit out in a fierce tone. Anger furrowed her beautiful brow. “And I reinforced that message the following night.”

  “I now understand the need for discretion, but you can hardly blame me for my curiosity. They spoke your name with such reverence.”

  “They were suitably repentant afterward.” Angélique’s anger ebbed away as a half-smile curved her mouth.

  “Well, I’m glad for their indiscretion.”

  “And I am grateful you were the only one to overhear their conversation. If anyone else had been privy to their words, things would have been much worse.” The Frenchwoman’s voice held a strong note of relief.

  “I have no doubt you would have easily weathered any talk,” Jane said with confidence. “After all, you managed to keep your secret from me for almost three years, which simply proves that you are quite discreet.”

  It was true. Her friend was the soul of propriety in the society they moved in. There was never a hint of scandal surrounding her. Even the women who were jealous of her could find nothing to fault Angélique with, except her French blood. A fact society was willing to overlook since her friend was a descendant of an aristocratic family that had barely escaped the guillotine little more than a century ago.

  Despite all of this, Angélique had always possessed an air of mystery about her. Women were jealous of her friend’s alluring presence and the way men flocked to the Frenchwoman’s side. The forceful aura of control Angélique exuded over the men who courted her favor was something Jane had never comprehended fully until her first visit to La Maison des Plaisirs Sombres.

  While she now shared the same secret with her friend, Jane still envied the Frenchwoman’s ability to charm any man introduced to her. It had only been in the last nine months that Jane had understood the intense hunger in the eyes of her friend’s companions. It was a hunger she wanted to see in Tobias’ eyes when he looked at her. The unexpected thought made her go rigid with dismay, and she quickly crushed the idea.

  “I am discreet because it is necessary,” Angélique said fiercely as her mouth tightened in a thin line of anger. “One word in the wrong circle can lead to social ruin and, God forbid, criminal charges.”

  “You say that as if someone else has been indiscreet.” Jane studied her friend in puzzlement.

  “It is something far worse. Someone has deliberately betrayed the identity of a La Maison des Plaisirs Sombres member.”

  “Dear Lord,” Jane gasped as a shiver streaked down her spine. “Are you certain? I’ve not heard of any scandal.”

>   Every time someone passed through the doors of Angélique’s establishment the club’s code of secrecy was emphasized. To expose a club member was a dangerous thing to do. The traitor seldom managed to escape detection and when caught, their punishment was severe. When she’d visited the club for the first time, Angélique had explained the reason for secrecy. And while her friend had no control over things outside the club, the Frenchwoman had said it wasn’t unheard of for traitors to meet with an untimely death.

  “I only learned of this last night, and the treachery cannot go unanswered.”

  “Then you know the name of the individual who’s done this.”

  “Non, I only have the name of the injured party. But when I do learn the name of this traitor, I will ensure they pay dearly.”

  The almost murderous expression on Angélique’s face made Jane grow cold. This was a side of her friend she’d never seen before, and it alarmed her. As if suddenly aware of Jane’s shocked reaction, Angélique winced.

  “I must sound quite blood-thirsty.”

  “I confess I’ve never seen you so…angry.”

  “I am far from angry, Jane. I am furious,” Angélique said as she stood up and crossed the room to stare out the window at the traffic in the street. “Every member of La Maison des Plaisirs Sombres is in danger of being exposed if I fail to find this traitor. Whoever it is poses an even greater threat to me. Like you, I value my independence and freedom. The membership fees for La Maison des Plaisirs Sombres ensure I have a roof over my head, and I’ll not allow anyone to take that from me.”

  Despite the ferocity of Angélique’s words, there was a note of fear in her voice as well. Jane quickly crossed the floor to reach her friend’s side. She wrapped her arm around Angélique’s shoulders and gave the Frenchwoman a slight hug.

  “It will be all right, Angélique. We’ll find the traitor whoever they are.”

  “Oui,” the Frenchwoman said with a sharp nod, “And when I do, I shall make the bastard pay for putting my life and that of my—my clients in jeopardy.”