Mace repeated his question several different ways, but now that Lucien had worked out his answers, he was able to reply more easily. At length Mace leaned back and regarded him through half-closed eyes. "Congratulations, Strathmore, you've just passed the Hellion test. No one can be initiated into the group without undergoing trial by nitrous oxide, for it seems to make men unusually candid."
Grateful to be able to lower his guard, Lucien asked, "Does anyone ever fail?"
"Not usually, but you might have. I wondered why you wanted to join us—complicated men make me wary. But I can understand being bored with too much sobriety. We will cure that. For men of wealth and breeding like us, pleasure is a duty." Mace inhaled deeply from a fresh bladder of gas, and his bloodshot eyes glowed with inner fire. "Simple animal satisfactions are available to all, but refinements of ecstasy require talent and imagination. You will learn, Strathmore, you will learn."
Mace rose and signaled to a footman to bring them two fresh gas bags. To Lucien he said, "Since you will be one of us, I can show you something special."
Dizziness swept through Lucien when he stood. He caught the back of his chair. After his head steadied, he followed Mace from the room. He felt nothing when his thigh struck the sharp corner of a table. In fact, he could not feel his body at all. He was not so much numb as disconnected. Very strange.
Halfway up the staircase, he turned and looked down at the foyer floor. If he fell down the steps and smashed into the marble squares, he wouldn't feel that, either.
"C'mon," Mace said, his impatient voice faintly slurred. "You're one of the few who can fully appreciate these."
Lucien obediently continued up a second flight of stairs and along a corridor that led to the back of the house. There Mace unlocked a door that opened into a room with a worktable in the center and glass cases lining the walls.
As Mace lit a lamp, Lucien said rather unnecessarily, "You keep your collection of mechanicals here." He looked into a case and saw a group of three figures, one of which appeared to be in the process of chopping off the head of another. "Bavarian?"
Mace nodded. "John the Baptist being beheaded. Very rare. But it's nothing compared to the ones I design myself." Using a small key that doubled as a watch fob, he opened the one cabinet that had opaque doors. Then he brought out a mechanical device and set it on the table. After a lengthy key winding, he stepped back so that his guest could see the device clearly.
It consisted of two exquisitely sculpted figures, a naked woman and an equally naked man lying between her legs. With a metallic rasp of gears, they began fornicating.
Lucien stared at the bare, pumping male buttocks and the female arms that flailed in mock ecstasy. The sight triggered an inner coldness so profound that even the euphoria generated by the gas could not dispel it. Mace's prized "toy" was a caricature of sexuality, a symbol of the mindless, mechanical copulation that Lucien loathed in real life. In his present uninhibited state, he wanted nothing more than to sweep the ugly thing to the floor and smash it to pieces.
The impulse was so strong that his arm trembled with the effort of holding it still. In a voice of careful neutrality, he said, "I've never seen anything like it. Excellent craftsmanship. You have an... ingenious mind."
"There cannot be another collection on earth like this. I design the devices and build the mechanisms, and a metalsmith makes the figures." Mace brought out another specimen. This one showed a woman with two men, each of them behaving in a most imaginative fashion. "I find the work... exciting."
Lucien inhaled from the new bladder of gas, but it could not completely eliminate his distaste. Fortunately, Mace didn't look at his guest; he was too absorbed in admiring his little monstrosities. All Lucien had to do was make appropriately admiring remarks about the craftsmanship, with an occasional questions about unusual technical aspects.
When all of the devices were set on the table, they represented a gallery of sexual variations. Mace said in a roughened voice, "Help me wind them so all will operate at once."
Reluctantly Lucien complied, starting with a woman and a stallion. He hated touching the devices, but by ignoring what the figures represented, he managed his share of winding.
After the two men had worked their way from one end of the table to the other, there was perhaps ten seconds when all of the devices were working, filling the room with a chorus of mechanical buzzing. One of the figures—Lucien wasn't sure which—contained a small horn that crudely simulated bleats of rapture.
Mace stared at his prizes until the last one wound down. "I'm going to get one of the women downstairs," he said thickly. "Care to join me?"
Lucien bit back an honest reply. "No, thank you. I'm still dizzy from the gas."
Mace ushered his guest outside. "Dizziness passes quickly," he said as he locked the door. "If you need to lie down, the room across the hall is for guests."
Craving solitude, Lucien accepted the suggestion. The guest room was blessed quiet and dark. He found a chair by tripping over it and sat down. By the time he finished the last of the nitrous oxide, he was serene again. His mind drifted, afloat in a sea of unearned pleasure.
A rattle at the window roused him from lassitude. He glanced over and saw a lean black figure silhouetted against the glass like a human spider. An improbable sight; perhaps the gas was causing hallucinations.
The left-hand casement swung open, admitting a blast of frigid air along with a nimble human form. The burglar landed with a soft thump, then stood still, the labored sound of his breath filling the room.
A rational man would think twice about going after an intruder who might be armed, particularly if it wasn't even his own house. But Lucien was not rational at the moment. He rose and lunged at the burglar. He would have been successful if he hadn't bumped another chair in the darkness. It clattered to the floor, throwing him off-stride and alerting his quarry.
The intruder gave a sharp gasp of alarm, then dived out the window and vanished. Lucien blinked at the black rectangle of night sky and wondered if he had imagined the whole thing. But the window was certainly open. He leaned out and discovered a rope swaying two feet in front of him. Glancing up, he saw the dark shape of the burglar clambering onto the roof.
Driven by the same instinct that had sent him across the room, Lucien caught the rope and swung outdoors. As he climbed swiftly upward, the mental observer registered a bitter wind, but he felt no discomfort. The exhilaration of the drug still pulsed through his body, and he ascended as effortlessly as if he had wings. Even the awkward task of scrambling over the eaves onto the roof was accomplished with ease.
He released the rope and knelt on the flattened edge while he reconnoitered. The roof was shallow enough to walk on if care was used. Where was the burglar? Not to the right, where a broad expanse of slates stretched emptily. The fellow must have gone left, where a thrusting gable offered concealment.
Lucien's guess was confirmed when he realized that a faint slithering sound was the rope being pulled up and to the left. By the time he noticed, the end of the line was out of his reach.
The burglar must be just on the other side of the gable. Lucien swarmed upward, using the angle between the main roof and gable to brace hands and feet and knees. As soon as he lifted his head above the peak of the gable, he was blasted by the full force of the wind. He ducked and steadied himself with a hand on the ridge pole while he looked for his quarry.
Though his black clothing rendered him almost invisible, the burglar was betrayed by his own swift movements. He had crossed Mace's roof and was halfway over the next house as well.
Lucien followed, the hunter instinct singing in his veins with the same exultation that he felt when soaring on horseback over fields and fences. He laughed aloud as he glided over the treacherous slates. Foxes and thieves were only an excuse; what mattered was the pursuit.
The god of the hunt protected him so that he could travel at a speed that swiftly closed the distance between him and his quarry. His mi
nd scarcely connected with his body, he flung himself from gable to chimneys and onto the roof of the next house.
The thief glanced back and spat out an unintelligible oath when he saw that he was still being pursued. Then he launched himself over the gap that separated the second house from the next in the row. On the other side he caught at what appeared to be a rope that he had left earlier. After regaining his footing, he darted across the slates and vanished over another gable, taking the rope with him.
When he reached the edge of the roof, Lucien leaped over the gap without hesitating. But his luck had run out. The roof was pitched more steeply than the previous two, and his feet went out from under him when he landed. He hit hard and rolled, then began sliding down the slates on his belly.
He tried to stop his descent, but there was nothing to cling to. His fingertips skidded over the icy film that covered the slates. With a sense of mild wonder he realized he was plunging inexorably to his death. The drug that clouded his mind bestowed a careless blessing by also blocking fear and pain.
Yet though his mind was indifferent to imminent death, his body reflexively fought for survival, scratching and clawing at the flat, slick stones. On the very edge of the roof, his flailing hand found a small decorative stone rim. It slowed his slide, and he found himself teetering precariously on the edge, his head and shoulders suspended over three and a half stories of dark nothingness as he clung by his fingertips.
Gravity was his enemy, and very soon it would defeat him. It was a damned foolish way to die.
A sharp voice barked, "Catch this!"
Lucien looked up and had a brief impression of something flying toward him from the shadows cast by a cluster of chimneys. Before he could register what it was, a bristly rope end struck him in the face. He lost his tenuous grip on the eaves and plunged headfirst from the roof.
As he fell, by sheer luck he managed to catch the rope with his left hand. The line went taut, and his fall ended with a jerk that tore viciously at the muscles of his arm and shoulder. He ended up swinging one-handed over the void, the wind whistling around him. At first he simply hung there blissfully, entranced by the sheer improbability of his situation.
Reality intruded when he realized that his strained fingers were gradually losing their grip. He caught the rope with his other hand and clambered upward with the same bizarre buoyancy that had gotten him into this fix.
After he hauled himself safely onto the slates, he crouched on his hands and knees and fought for breath. He felt no pain, yet his body insisted on shaking violently.
A low voice cut across the wind, saying, "Thank God!" What a very peculiar burglar. Lucien must meet him.
He scrambled up the roof to the chimneys, supported by the rope. By the time he reached his destination, the thief was retreating, but still close enough for Lucien to grab the back of the man's jacket. "Not so fast, my larcenous friend. I must thank you for saving my life."
The thief tried to tear himself free, but he lost his footing on the icy slates and crashed back onto Lucien. Together they fell into the safe angle between chimney and roof, Lucien on the bottom, his quarry sprawled full-length on top of him.
After Lucien caught his breath, he realized that there was something very familiar about the lithe shape of the thief. And also about the elusive, spicy fragrance of carnations, which was not at all what one would expect of a housebreaker.
He had recently met someone else who wore the scent of carnations. With a feeling of inevitability, he yanked off the black scarf that concealed the burglar's features. The pale oval face was instantly recognizable even in the dark.
Lucien grinned as he settled the long, delightfully feminine length of her against him. "So we meet again, Lady Jane. Or whatever you're calling yourself tonight. It's beginning to seem that we are fated to be together."
"This is farce, not fate," Jane snapped.
She punctuated her remark with an elbow in Lucien's belly as she tried to break free. It would have hurt if his body and mind were properly connected. "You must have a passion to be transported to New South Wales," he remarked as he used a firm embrace to immobilize her arms, "or you wouldn't have broken into a house where a party was in progress."
"I thought Lord Mace must be away because most of the windows were dark." Deprived of her arms, she tried to knee him in the groin.
Fortunately, he was holding her close enough so that she didn't have the leverage to do any damage. "You're very strong for a woman," he said rather breathlessly. "Of course if you weren't, you wouldn't be swinging over the rooftops of London like a demented monkey."
"You should talk! You were taking insane chances. It's amazing you didn't fall sooner." The heels of her hands and her elbows ground into him as she tried to slither from his arms. "Let me go, you big oaf!"
"But I don't want to let you go," he said with breathtaking simplicity. "And at the moment I'm doing only what I want."
"I should have let you fall off the roof!"
"Very likely," he agreed. "But since you didn't, I have a better idea."
He kissed her.
Chapter 9
Infuriatingly, Kit found herself responding to Strathmore's kiss. It was madness when they were sprawled on an icy roof and she had just committed a capital crime, yet the man's humor and sensuality were irresistible. His arms were a warm haven against the cruel night, his mouth and teasing tongue an invitation to erotic pleasures.
As her body softened, he released his steely grip and began caressing her. Even with layers of winter clothing between them, her skin tingled wherever he touched her. One large hand glided over her hip and under her coat, then began stroking the small of her back with a gentle rhythm that eased her tense muscles. Inch by inch, lips and hands and torso, she yielded, instinctively molding her body to his.
She didn't realize that he had tugged her shirt loose from her breeches until his bare hand touched her naked back. It would have been one more sweet delight if his fingers hadn't been ice cold. Mood shattered, she gave a squeak of shock and broke away. "This is absurd," she said crossly, as if she hadn't been an enthusiastic participant. "You can stay here if you like, but I'm getting off this roof before I freeze to death."
He raised his hand and brushed her cheek with gossamer tenderness. "I'll keep you warm."
As he tried to draw her face down for another kiss, she hastily pushed herself upright and sat back on her heels against the chimney. He was different tonight, moving and speaking with a lazy deliberation unlike the focused intensity of earlier occasions. Guessing the reason why, she said tartly, "You're drunk. No wonder you're behaving like an idiot."
He ran his fingers through his tousled hair. "Not... not drunk," he said with precision. "Nitrous oxide."
That explained why she hadn't tasted alcohol when they kissed. "Degenerate," she muttered. "Though what else could one expect of a Hellion?"
"It's interesting stuff," he protested. "Makes one very frank. And frankly, my little felon, I want you." He sat up and reached for her again. "I've never kissed a criminal before."
She didn't know whether to laugh or push him down the slates. She settled for batting his hand away. "I'm not little—I'm as tall as many men. Now I'm going to take the rope and get down before whoever lives in this house hears us scampering overhead and sends for the watch."
He laughed. "The watch has too much sense to be out on a night like this."
"Then we should show equal sense," she retorted. "Are you capable of climbing down without breaking your neck?"
He considered carefully. "I think so."
It was not a reassuring statement, but his strength and instinct for self-preservation and athletic skill had saved him before. Since climbing down the back of the house would put them in a walled garden, she took one end of the rope, checked that it was still securely tied to the chimney, then crawled to the side of the house that overlooked the alley.
No one was in sight and the windows were dark, so she wrapped the
rope around her waist and prepared to descend. "When I reach the ground, I'll tug on the rope twice," she said to Strathmore, who had followed her. "Then you come down, and for heaven's sake, be careful."
After the tricky maneuver of swinging from roof to rope, she descended in a controlled slide, her leather gloves protecting her hands from being rasped raw. She reached the ground safely, only to slip on a patch of ice directly under the rope. Luckily she was still holding onto the line, which kept her from falling.
She stepped away cautiously, then signaled to Strathmore. As soon as he was on the ground, she would be away at a speed that would do credit to a frightened hare. The tipsy earl would be on his own, and good riddance.
He made the descent so quickly that she wondered about the condition of his bare hands. Telling herself that it was none of her concern, she gathered herself for flight. Then Strathmore hit the ice below the rope and went down hard. She winced at the violence of the impact. "Are you all right?"
"I believe so." He started to rise, then went down again as his right ankle folded under him. "Then again, maybe I'm not."
"Damn!" Kit said with feeling. "Have you broken your leg?"
"I don't think so." He probed the limb in question. "This ankle gives way whenever it's abused. In a day or two it should be fine." With the aid of the rope he pulled himself up, then leaned heavily against the wall of the house.
"Does it hurt badly?"
"My dear, nothing hurts at the moment." He chuckled. "I could have my foot hacked off with a dull knife and not notice. If I'm ever forced to submit to the surgeon's knife, I intend to saturate myself with nitrous oxide first." He took a cautious step and went down to his knee. "However, though my ankle doesn't hurt, it's showing a certain stubbornness about walking."
Dancing on the Wind: Book 3 in The Fallen Angel Series Page 8