The Playful Wanton
Merry Farmer
THE PLAYFUL WANTON
Copyright ©2019 by Merry Farmer
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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Cover design by Erin Dameron-Hill (the miracle-worker)
ASIN: B07W7T1DPP
Paperback ISBN: 9781687478078
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Created with Vellum
For the REAL Playful Wonton
(my friend Julie’s cat ;) )
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Epilogue
About the Author
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1
Shropshire – Summer, 1816
Adolphus Gibbon, Bow Street runner, had a reputation for patience and persistence. He always caught his man in the end. But as he stood by one of the tall windows in one of what seemed like an infinite number of parlors at Hadnall Heath, the country home of Lord Rufus Herrington, staring out at the rain-soaked garden and thick, grey clouds, he bristled with edginess.
His investigation was taking too long. Too long by far. Predominantly because the man he was hunting, a wealthy, young buck by the name of Henry Ward, hadn’t even arrived yet. The ridiculous house party had been going on for more than a week. Rufus had promised Ward would be there. Adolphus had dragged the barmaid, Ivy Percy, out to the countryside from London so that she could identify Ward when the blighter showed up. It was cruel to wrench the woman away from her employment and her family for so long. It was cruel for him to lead the female party guests along by pretending he was there to find a mate. And it was cruel for him to have to idle away countless days doing something as frivolous as pretending to have fun.
“We’ve done everything we can,” Rufus said, entering the room with a jolly smile.
Adolphus turned sharply to him, clasping his hands behind his back. “I beg your pardon?” he asked in his deep, sonorous voice.
Rufus continued to grin as he crossed the room and took up a position at the window beside Adolphus. He let out a dramatic sigh and nodded to the rainy landscape stretching away from the house. “We’ve prayed to Thor, the thunder god. We’ve pleaded with the heavens to stop raining. I’m reasonably certain a few virgins have been sacrificed since the party began.” He paused, his grin turning cheeky. “Well, I’m certain virginity has been sacrificed, at least.”
Heat flooded Adolphus’s face and he snapped to stare out the window once more. The Herrington’s house party was little more than a celebration of debauchery, as far as he was concerned. He supposed the scores of young people who had ventured so far from London to seek mates felt they were out of the eye of the ton, and therefore that they had license for all manner of lascivious behavior. Indeed, one marriage had taken place already, if the shocking behavior and sudden flight of Lord Sullivan Whitlock and Miss Felicity Murdoch to Gretna Green could be considered a marriage. Adolphus had his suspicions about several other couples besides them.
Rufus chuckled as though he could read Adolphus’s thoughts. “Don’t look so priggish, Gibbon,” he said. “House parties are made for indiscretion. That’s how half the marriages of the ton are made.”
“No doubt,” Adolphus muttered.
It wasn’t that he disapproved of amorous adventures. He had been raised on the fringes of the aristocracy in London, not among the prudish middle classes of the countryside. He knew that far more transpired between virile young men and women behind closed doors than was ever spoken about in public. That was part of the problem. It had been close to two years since he’d felt the warmth of a woman’s body tangled with his. Two years since he’d had anything but his trusty right hand to find release. He liked to think of himself as a man of stoic restraint, but if he were honest with himself, being in a country house filled with men and women in a constant state of flirtation and arousal had wreaked havoc on his senses.
In short, he was desperate for it. Him, an upright citizen and respected Bow Street Runner. He wanted it so badly that he was on the verge of taking to wearing unfashionably long coats to hide the evidence. And he owed the entirety of his sorry state to—
A rich peal of laughter preceded Lady Eliza Towers’s appearance in the doorway. She skittered to a stop and her friend, Lady Ophelia Binghamton, careened into her. The two young ladies giggled as they righted themselves, then stepped more sedately into the room.
“Forgive the intrusion,” Lady Eliza said, her expression seeming to take on a sultry quality as she gazed at Adolphus. “We are searching for something. Please continue with your conversation and disregard our presence.”
Rufus laughed and nodded. “Consider yourselves ignored.” He turned back to Adolphus.
Adolphus’s attention refused to leave Lady Eliza. She was everything he’d always desired in a woman. Her blonde hair was a crown of gold atop her head, delicate tendrils curling down to brush her slender neck. Her gown did little to hide her lithe shape. Her legs must have been long under its soft folds. And her breasts…. His heart skipped a beat and blood pumped straight to his cock at the sight of them, straining up against her neckline in their fullness. The way she dashed about the room, whispering to Lady Ophelia as they shifted books aside on the shelves, checked behind the curtains, and handled every ornament on the mantle, showed her form off to perfection.
What he couldn’t do to that form! He instantly imagined her draped across the settee that stood between the two of them as she continued her search. He could see one of her long legs hiked over the back of the seat, the other sliding off the front, her glistening cunny exposed. He fantasized about her breasts heaving, her nipples hard, as she panted, open-mouthed, desperate to be fucked. He could practically feel how tight she would be as he pounded into her, balls-deep, and how she would scream his name when he made her come. He would spend himself so hard—
Rufus cleared his throat, dragging Adolphus out of his shameful thoughts and back into the cold, dreary present. The man wore a grin that told Adolphus he knew exactly what had been on his mind.
“You’re in luck,” Rufus said with a devilish grin, lowering his voice. “My wife has a few entertainments in mind that might just get you what you want there.”
“I’m certain I do not know of what you speak,” Adolphus mumbled, glancing out the window with a frown.
“In fact,” Rufus went on, ignoring him, “she should be announcing one of them any moment now.”
Adolphus hummed, the sound matching the patter of the rain. He had to steer the conversation away from matrimonial games and the lust they produced. He had to think of something else than how delicious Lady Eliza’s cunny would taste as he made her come.
“Is Miss Ivy safe?” he as
ked, frowning. Business. That was the only thing that would take his mind off the almost painful urge that gripped him.
Rufus let out a breath and shook his head, slapping Adolphus’s back. “She’s as safe and comfortable as could be expected,” he said. “My staff are taking very good care of her. She’s even offered to help out in the kitchen as a way to repay the kindness being shown to her.”
“I don’t know if I would call it kindness,” Adolphus said, turning to Rufus and risking spotting Lady Eliza out of the corner of his eye as he did. “She is the primary witness to Ward’s crime, but I do not rest easy, knowing I’ve removed her from her life with the sole purpose of providing identification.”
“Plenty of others saw Ward trample that man to death that night,” Rufus said, his expression sobering. “You’ll have half a dozen witnesses and more identifying him once this goes to court. Bob Norris was well-liked. Ward was a blackguard of the highest order for running him down with that vicious horse of his, then leaving the scene of the crime.”
“Miss Ivy served him in the pub,” Adolphus reasoned. “She can not only identify him, she can attest to how much he had imbibed that night and the substance of his argument with Norris.”
“If you say so.” Rufus sent him a reassuring smile. “In the meantime, you’re at a party whose expressed purpose is to make couples. You’re past the age when you should marry, you come from a respectable family, and you’re settled in the world.” He glanced subtly toward Lady Eliza, then leaned closer to whisper, “Take a wife, man. Anyone with eyes can tell that you need one.”
Adolphus stiffened, tilting his chin up in offense. He would have demanded what Rufus meant by a comment like that, but the infuriating man stepped away, winked, then crossed the room to the ladies.
“Lady Ophelia,” he said, looking as though he were about to tell a joke. “I understand you are attempting to solve the mystery of a certain key you discovered in the orangery?”
Lady Ophelia seemed surprised. “I am, my lord.”
“I may have a few suggestions for you,” Rufus said, touching the small of her back and leading her out of the room.
Lady Ophelia glanced anxiously over her shoulder at Lady Eliza as Rufus rushed her from the room. She peeked at Adolphus as well, which seemed to settle in her mind why Rufus was removing her from Lady Eliza. As they turned the corner, she sent Lady Eliza an encouraging look.
Adolphus would have groaned in torment, but he needed all of his powers of concentration at that moment. He was alone in a room with Lady Eliza Towers, and in spite of his most valiant efforts, he could not tame the lust that threatened to undo him.
Eliza couldn’t believe her luck. Stumbling across Adolphus Gibbon while attempting to find whatever Ophelia’s key unlocked was a gift from the gods. She would have to say a special prayer to Aphrodite and Eros that evening before going to bed. And bless Rufus Herrington as well. She couldn’t have arranged a more agreeable meeting if she’d tried.
“This is a treat,” she said, lowering her head slightly so that she could glance up at Adolphus with a coy smile as she stepped slowly closer to him. “Although I’m certain my chaperone, Mrs. Lakes, would have a thing or two to say about a young lady being alone in a room with an eligible bachelor.”
“I’m not—” Adolphus started, but stopped and let out a sharp breath. “We should not risk the impropriety of being caught alone, unchaperoned,” he said shortly. “I dare not risk your reputation in such a way.”
Eliza laughed. He truly was sweet under all that stiffness. And if she wasn’t mistaken, she noted a particular kind of stiffness that left her heart racing and her mouth watering. “I believe the usual rules of propriety have been thoroughly abandoned at this particular party,” she said. “In fact, I would not be surprised if polite society whispers about the horrors and immorality of this party for years to come.”
She arched one eyebrow alluringly, stepping ever closer, hoping he would feel her invitation to sin. She’d long since stopped worrying about her own reputation, after all. Attending Mrs. Dobson’s School had been a sign to the ton and any person of respectability that she was fallen. Even without that, the rumors that a certain friend of her brother had spread ever since his visit to her family’s home three years ago had damaged any chance she might ever have of being seen as anything other than a wanton. Nothing she could say or do to Adolphus Gibbon could sink her any lower in the ton’s eyes.
Adolphus cleared his throat and shifted uncomfortably. “Yes, well,” he said, seeming as though he didn’t know what to say.
Eliza reached the window where he stood and paused, studying him with a look of frank appraisal. He truly was a handsome man—tall, with broad shoulders, a strong jaw, and eyes that seemed perpetually narrowed in thought. Now that she stood close to him, she could see those eyes were blue. And he smelled lovely as well, like lemons with a hint of musk.
“How does it feel to attend a party that is likely to be seen as notorious?” she asked, smiling.
He cleared his throat again. “I doubt it will affect me, seeing as—” He paused and a strange look flashed into his eyes. He continued with, “Seeing as I do not socialize in the sort of circles that would find a salacious house party any reason for concern.”
Eliza stood a bit straighter, keen interest zipping through her. “What circles do you socialize in?” she asked, genuinely interested in the answer.
“I….” He paused, pressed his lips together, then tried again. “I do not have time for calls or leisure. My employment as a Runner prevents me from engaging in most frivolous activities.”
Eliza blinked. “But surely you must take time to enjoy yourself now and then. Even the most important employment allows a man time to himself. What do you do in your free time?” She inched closer to him, reaching out to touch one of the buttons on his coat.
He flinched and pulled away slightly, but Eliza could have sworn the bulge in his breeches increased.
“I read,” he said in a tight voice. “And I walk.”
“At the same time?” She glanced up at him with a teasing grin.
“No,” he answered without elaborating.
She pushed on with, “And do you have company while walking? Perhaps a particular female friend?” She batted her eyelashes.
“No,” he answered, even curter than before, his face reddening.
She made a tsking sound and resumed playing with the button on his coat. “It’s always better to go walking with amiable company.”
“I am surprised to hear you say so, Lady Eliza.”
Eliza blinked in genuine surprise and swayed back to look at him. “How so?”
“Are you not a noblewoman’s daughter?”
“I fail to see how that informs my belief that handsome men of quality should have female companionship,” she answered.
He turned a deeper shade of red. “While I am flattered by your concern and attention, I am equally baffled by it. I have no position in society and only a modest income. Should you not focus your attentions elsewhere?”
Eliza couldn’t help but laugh, though she prayed he wouldn’t think she was laughing at him. At least not derisively. “My dear Mr. Gibbon, it does not signify what my status in the aristocracy is. No woman of questionable morals is worthy of the company she seeks.” She was surprised at how bitter her words sounded.
She was even more surprised by the softness that came to Adolphus’s eyes. “I fail to see how anyone could accuse you of questionable morality.”
Her lips twitched into a wry grin. “We first met while I was attending Miss Dobson’s School, Mr. Gibbon. You know what sort of an institution that was.”
“It was a reformatory,” he said, his shoulders loosening somewhat.
“And as for showering my attentions on men of status and title….” She shrugged. “I have no need to marry for position, even if I could. My dear uncle settled a considerable fortune on me, to be paid out at the time of my marriage. He did not speci
fy a particular social class for my future groom.”
She delivered the information with a blatantly suggestive grin, hoping Adolphus could see it as the invitation it was.
“I….” he stammered.
“I have admired you since the investigation into the disappearance of the Chandramukhi Diamond,” Eliza rushed on. “The way you took command of that operation and worked so diligently to bring the thieves to justice was….” She finished with a restless, shivering breath, biting her lip.
“Your admiration is appreciated,” he said, sounding uncertain.
“And I was so pleased when I discovered you’d been invited to this party,” she went on. Her blood was racing, her body thrummed with excitement, and if she wasn’t mistaken, the air between her and Adolphus crackled with sexual tension. She found herself wanting to peel his clothes off and ride him until they were both raw and undone. “I have wanted to know you much better for some time now,” she continued, toying with his button until she slipped it through its loop and loosened his coat. “But do you know what I want even more than that?”
“Dare I ask?” His voice was rough with lust.
Eliza grinned in triumph, aching in all the best places. “Do you know what I want from you so intensely I can taste it?” she whispered.
“I could not imagine.” He leaned closer to her. She could feel the heat of his body, smell the salt of his skin.
“I want….” She swayed close, lifting to her toes. “I want….”
“Yes?” he growled.
She brought her mouth to within inches of his. “I want to make you laugh, Mr. Gibbon.”
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