The Decadent Duke

by Virginia Henley

  Jane returned to Queen Charlotte’s side and lavishly complimented the Duchess of Devonshire on the presentation of her daughter. “At Georgina’s coming-out ball tomorrow evening, Lady Dorothy could very easily steal my daughter’s thunder.”

  Susan overheard her mother and murmured to her sister, “How can she utter such blatant claptrap to the Duchess of Devonshire and expect her to believe it?v

  “All mothers are convinced that their geese are swans,” Charlotte said dryly, “even ours.”

  By eleven o’lock the reception was over and the Gordons were in their carriage returning home.

  Jane asked the duke, “What happened when you left with the king?”

  Georgina saw her father place his hand over her mother’s. “I’ll tell you about it when we are alone,” he said.

  They are on friendly terms tonight. Life is much more pleasant when they are being civil to each other. If only they can remain like this until Father leaves. That would make my coming-out ball truly a success. Georgina crossed her fingers and made a wish.

  When all the family arrived back at number 91 Pall Mall, Jane Gordon instructed a footman to bring champagne. When the glasses were filled, she proposed a toast. “Here’s to Georgina! Her presentation was a raging success. She was by far the most beautiful debutante at Saint James’s Palace tonight.”

  “Hear! Hear!” Alexander raised his glass. He was the only one who had been served whiskey. “I would like to propose a toast to my wife, Jane, who has done a magnificent job bringing up daughters and a son worthy of a duke”

  “To Mother!vher offspring chorused.

  Georgina saw her mother blush at the rare compliment her husband paid her. She is vividly attractive tonight.

  More toasts to the debutante followed, each more outrageous than the last. Finally her brother raised his glass. “Here’s to a successful Season. I wager Georgina will win the gold cup in the race to the altar.”

  “Devil take you, George! You make me sound like a filly that’s ready to be harnessed and ridden.vGeorgina added wickedly, “I shall at least wait until after my coming-out ball.”

  Everyone cheered at her saucy wit; then one by one, the couples went upstairs to their bedchambers. Georgina watched as her father whispered something to her mother. Jane picked up the decanter of whiskey, and then they too began to ascend the staircase. Georgina set her empty glass down and followed.

  When she saw her parents enter her mother’s bedchamber, she told herself fiercely, They only want to be private to discuss the odd behavior of the king. Georgina left her door ajar so that she would know when her father sought his own bedchamber in the east wing. After half an hour had passed, she distinctly heard her mother’s throaty laugh.

  Dear God, Mother would never let him share her bed if she knew that he’d gotten Jean Christie with child again. I should have told her—I shouldn’t have kept my mouth shut! Guilt washed over her. She stopped brushing her hair and gazed into the mirror. Suddenly she realized that Jean Christie must have safely delivered the baby, or her father would not have come to London. I should have known.

  She went to her bedchamber door and listened, trying to reassure herself. They are only talking about the king. Georgina’s conscience was pricking her unmercifully, and she felt the need for advice from her sisters Susan and Charlotte. They would know whether she had done the right thing in keeping the upsetting news from their mother.

  She slipped along the corridor to Susan’s room, tapped softly, opened the door, and stepped inside. Georgina gasped at the sight that met her eyes. Clothes were strewn all over the bedchamber, and Susan and William were coupling stark naked in the middle of the floor. “Christus! You’re riding him!”

  Montagu, lying supine on his back, grinned at her. “You’r the one who put the idea into her head, Georgy. Care to join us?v

  Georgina backed from the room and closed the door. It was the first time she had been exposed to a sexual encounter, and she was shocked. She realized she had made a terrible mistake in seeking out Susan. The one to advise her was Charlotte, with her practical common sense. She hurried to the east wing, past her father’s empty chamber, and stopped at her eldest sister’s door. “May I come in?” She turned the knob and the door swung open.

  Charlotte, wearing a modest nightgown over her distended belly, sat on the side of the bed. A naked Charles was standing before her with his cock in her mouth.

  “I . . . I . . . I’m sorry,”Georgina stammered.

  Charlotte made a choking sound, Charles flushed red to the roots of his hair, and Georgina fled.

  Five minutes after she reached her room, Charlotte knocked and entered. “You’re pale as a ghost. Come and sit down.”

  Georgina allowed her sister to lead her to a chair.

  “You’re upset about what you saw.” Charlotte sat on the edge of the bed and rested her hands on the mound of her belly.

  “I shouldn’t have come bursting in on you.”

  “And I should have locked the door. There, now that’s out of the way, let’s talk about what you saw.”

  “I didn’t know ... I never imagined—”

  “Truly? I had no idea you were such an innocent. You do know what happens between a male and a female ... how babies are made?”

  “Of course I know about coupling—at least in theory. And at the farm I’ve seen many a ram mount a ewe.v

  “Between men and women there are many forms of intimacy. When intercourse becomes difficult during pregnancy, men seek sexual relief in other ways. Males get very randy if they don’t have a physical outlet. If you don’t keep your husband satisfied, he’ll soon find a woman who will. It’s as simple as that.”

  “So you’re telling me that a wife has to submit to her husband’s demands, no matter how disgusting?”

  “Georgy, sex isn’t disgusting, not with the right partner. At times it can be glorious, at other times deeply satisfying. We are all sexual beings with varying degrees of lust. The trick is to find a good match, and that’s what courtship is for.V

  Georgina tried to digest what Charlotte was telling her.

  “What about love? Is there such a thing?”

  “If you’re lucky. But in any relationship between two people, one always loves more than the other.V

  “Or lusts more than the other.V

  “Exactly.V

  “I came to your room to ask your advice about Mother.”

  “Mother?” Charlotte laughed. “She should be the one advising you. What has she done now?”

  “She’s allowed Father into her chamber, and likely into her bed. If I’d told her what I know, she never would have done that. And now my conscience is playing merry hell with me.V

  “What do you know?V

  “When I went to Scotland, I learned that he’d fathered yet another bastard on Jean Christie. When I asked him to come for my presentation, he said he couldn’t because the baby was due in October. He likely came because she’s been safely delivered. I never breathed a word to Mother. I didn’t want to hurt her.”

  “For what it’s worth, I wouldn’t have told her either. I think you did the right thing, Georgy.”

  “But he’s using her. He’s seduced her because he’s ’randy,’ as you call it.”

  “Perhaps she’s randy too, tonight.”

  “Do you think there’s a chance that they will forget their differences and get back together?”

  “I’m sorry to dash your hopes, Georgy, but there isn’t a chance in hell of that happening. Mother would never give up her life in London as the leading Tory hostess, and Father would never give up his life in the Highlands of Scotland. His great passions are hunting and fishing.”

  “And fucking,” Georgina spat.

  Charlotte didn’t even raise an eyebrow at her language. “When two people have been trapped for years in an unsuitable union and divorce is impossible, it is only natural for them to seek partners outside the marriage. That’s why affairs are so commonplace in o
ur society.”

  Georgina gave her sister a tremulous smile. “It was naive of me to expect a lasting reconciliation.”

  “Naïveté is a charming quality in a young debutante.” Charlotte kissed her sister’s brow. “Good night, darling.”

  Georgina undressed, got into bed, and lay quietly contemplating the things she had learned tonight. Well, at least I am considerably less naive than I was this morning!

  Jane Gordon rolled onto her back and opened her legs in invitation. When Alexander moved between them, she groaned with anticipation. She reached down between their bodies and cupped his heavy sac. Then her fingers firmly gripped his hard cock, and she slid them up to its swollen head and squeezed.

  It was Alexander’s turn to moan. “I always could make ye hot fer me, lass.” He buried his face between her opulent breasts and relished the scent of her aroused body. Then he thrust up inside her with one forceful push.

  “Yer randy as a bull tonight. ”Tis plain ye’ve been starving fer the body of a real woman.“ She wrapped her thighs about his buttocks and moved with him as he plunged in and out with a driving force that was far more satisfying than the fingers he’d used to arouse her and bring her to orgasm earlier, before she’d even undressed.

  Jane and Alexander’s goal was the same. Each wanted the other to be moaning and frenzied, reeling with the hot carnal need for each other. Both were determined to prove that they alone could satisfy the other’s raging sexual needs.

  With grim determination, Alex hung on, clenching his fists and his teeth, in an effort to delay his climax until he felt his wife’s sheath begin to tighten with strong pulsations. Only then did he allow himself to spend. With a groan of satisfaction he collapsed on top of her, and lay still, enjoying the feeling of satiety this voluptuous woman brought him.

  When he finally summoned the strength to roll off her, he watched Jane arise from the bed and walk across the room to pour him a dram of whiskey. The gesture made him decide it was a good time to confess. “Jane, I have to tell ye something.”

  Georgina had just fallen asleep when a screech rent the air, followed by angry voices. Then she heard the sound of glass shattering. Georgina jumped out of bed. Mother threw the decanter at him!

  She opened her door and came face-to-face with her father wearing a dressing gown and clutching the formal clothes he had worn to the palace. Georgina nervously licked her lips. “I swear I didn’t tell her.”

  “I told her myself.”

  “After you seduced her!” his daughter accused.

  “She seduced me in a shameless attempt to get me to foot the bill fer this bloody ball she’s throwin’.”

  For once Georgina was on her mother’s side. “And pay you bloody well should, Alexander Gordon. Think of it as conscience money.” She shut the door and went back to bed.

  Chapter 10

  “Lord have mercy, Susan, just looking at those corset strings you are pulling gives me a bellyache,” Charlotte said.

  “I don’t feel the least bit pinched,”Georgina said, laughing, and held up her arms so they could slip her gown over her head.

  “Perhaps you are numb. If you start to feel dizzy it’s because the blood has rushed to your head,” Charlotte warned.

  “Giddy, yes . . . dizzy, no,” Georgina assured them.

  All three of them gazed into the mirror at her reflection, as the gown slid over Georgina’s hips and fell to her ankles. It was a delicious confection of gauzy white silk trimmed with silver.

  “Your titties are well exposed tonight. Could this be the chaste debutante who was presented to Her Royal Highness not twenty-four hours ago?” Charlotte teased.

  “I’m less innocent than I was, after being exposed to some shocking sights last night,” she said with a straight face. Then added, “At the palace, I mean. I thought the Duchess of Belgrave’s breasts were in competition with each other to see which would pop out of her gown first, the left or the right.”

  “Then the Duchess of Drinkwater removed her cloak and took first prize,” Susan declared.

  The sisters sobered when Georgina refused to put on a wig.

  “I shall wear my own hair and set a new fashion. I have a pair of silver sequined butterflies for decoration.”

  “Well, you have such pretty black curls, it’s a shame to cover them,” Susan conceded.

  “It’s your bloody ball—do as you please!” Charlotte declared.

  The invitations said that the ball would begin at the fashionably late hour of ten, but many of the guests began to arrive early. The Gordon family formed a receiving line in the spacious foyer to welcome their guests. The noble hostess Jane had taken the precaution of asking George Grenville, the Marquis of Buckingham, from whom the Gordons leased the Pall Mall mansion, to act as official host.

  “You do us great honor, George. The duke finally arrived from Scotland, but I doubt Alex will make more than a token appearance.”

  “The honor is mine, Your Grace. To host a ball with the leading social hostess is a great feather in my cap. Ah, here comes the Prince of Wales and his brother Prince Edward.”

  “Good evening, Your Royal Highness. It gives me the greatest pleasure to welcome you to Lady Georgina’s special ball.”

  Prinny kissed her fingers. “Wouldn’t miss it for the world. Hello, Buckingham. Whenever you officiate, fun is guaranteed.”

  “Prince Edward, welcome.” Jane dipped her knee in a second curtsy. “Now you have arrived, I believe the ball can begin.”

  The royal brothers moved down the receiving line and when they reached Georgina, each took one of her hands and led her to the ballroom, where over two hundred guests were already gathered.

  The throng broke into applause when the guest of honor arrived, and with a radiant smile, Lady Georgina slowly circled the room to thank everyone for coming.

  More guests were arriving by the minute and Georgina stopped to speak to Lord and Lady Holland. “Beth, Henry, I’m so glad you could come. I declare you are the handsomest couple in the room.”

  “Don’t flatter him; he’s conceited enough,” Beth teased.

  “Conceited enough to beg to partner you in the first strathspey, my dearest Georgina.”

  “Done! I won’t need to write your name on my dance card. I won’t forget you, Henry.” Georgina saw that the gentleman standing next to Lord Holland was Francis Russell.

  “Your Grace.” You came without an invitation! She offered him her hand and he raised it to his lips and kissed her fingers.

  His glance lingered on her breasts as he drawled, “It would be a distinct honor to partner you in the opening dance, Lady Georgina.”

  “Indeed.” She smiled sweetly. “And the distinct honor has been granted to Lord Henry Petty.”

  The Duke of Bedford’s eyes narrowed as the youngest son of the Marquis of Lansdowne came to claim the beautiful debutante and lead her out in the first dance, which was a lively tune played by the renowned violinist Neil Gow.

  “Conceited young puppy,” Francis remarked.

  “Petty is the same age as Lady Georgina. No doubt the duchess orchestrated the opening dance with the young nobleman.”

  “Doubtless you are right, Henry. I shall partner your lovely wife and allow you to cool your heels.”

  The demand to partner Georgina increased with every dance, until there was a waiting line of eager gentlemen. Before midnight, she danced with the prime minister and every Tory member of parliament. After midnight she started on the Whigs.

  The Earl of Winchilsea, whom she’d met at Charlotte’s, finally claimed her. She smiled up at him. “George, I swear more than half the gentlemen here are named for the king.”

  “I’m sorry it is such a common name, my lady.”

  “Pray, don’t be sorry. I’m named for the king myself!”

  Prince Edward partnered her in the mazey dance, where the couples lined up and the top couple raised their arms to form an arch. Then all the couples tripped beneath the arch, reversin
g the order of the line. The mazey dance always caused confusion and a great deal of laughter ensued.

  The laughter encouraged the Marquis of Buckingham to announce a game of ballroom blindman’s buff, and Lord Huntly volunteered to be blindfolded first. Dorothy Cavendish, who was enamored of Georgina’s brother, made sure she was the one he captured. Because of her squeals, it didn’t take him long to guess her identity. When it was Dorothy’s turn, she caught Lord Holland, who in turn caught and identified Georgina.

  “I think you were cheating, Henry. I warrant you could see that it was me all the time.”

  “What man wouldn’t cheat for a chance to get his hands on you, my dearest Georgina?” Lord Holland put the blindfold on her and secured it so that she couldn’t see, then turned her three times.

  With the crush of gentlemen crowded round her on the dance floor, it didn’t take her long to catch someone. Georgina realized immediately that it was Francis Russell, and she knew that he had planned it. “Is it His Royal Highness, the Prince of Wales?” she asked innocently. She knew the guess would offend Bedford, since Prinny was exceedingly stout.

  “No, no, no!” everyone shouted. “Guess again!”

  “Is it Lord Lauderdale?” She named another portly friend of Bedford’s. “No? Then I give up.” She removed the blindfold and pretended great surprise.

  “You little witch . . . you knew my identity,” Francis accused.

  “Surely you don’t want me to tell the truth and shame the devil, since I suspect you are the devil?” she teased.

  When Buckingham saw that Bedford was disinclined to don the blindfold, he signaled the orchestra to play a Scottish reel.

  Georgina relented and smiled at Bedford. “I promised when I came out I would be delighted to make your acquaintance.”

  “And do you always keep your promises, m’lady?”

  “I do, m’lord.”

  “In that case I will partner you in this dance, if you promise you will allow me to escort you to supper later.”

  “I’m sorry, but I already promised Prince Edward.”