Then another thought occurred to Jeremy, one he didn’t like at all. What if someone saw them speaking? Here there were no masks and no darkened gaming hells to hide them from prying eyes. Here they were both open and exposed to the light – which was the fastest way to bring a fantasy to a crashing halt. At least in his experience.
However, Mr. Okey, bless him, had moved some kind of screen into place when he departed with the toys, cutting off this corner of the shop from the rest. Jeremy could see figures moving beyond the paper partition and he could hear their muted voices, but that was all, the screen nearly reaching from the floor all the way to the ceiling.
Again, it was as if the man had known, bless him.
The one thing Jeremy did hear clearly enough was Mr. Okey telling someone that the far corner of the shop was undergoing cleaning because someone had spilled several sets of toy soldiers along with several bags of jacks. Given that the tiny toys were often painful to step on – even in shoes – he said that he didn’t want anyone to hurt themselves. It was a lie, of course, but Jeremy didn’t care and nobody seemed to complain too much about the temporary inconvenience. Especially since Mr. Okey also informed people that there were no more stuffed ducks and that the two in his arms were already sold, drawing the crowd of people even further away from the dim corner where Dory and Jeremy stood.
Somehow, that kind and wonderful man knew instinctively that Jeremy wanted to be alone with Dory – even in the middle of his toy shop – and had made that opportunity happen. The man really was a magician. With more than toys, it seemed.
“What are you doing here?” Jeremy asked before Dory could give voice to a question he wasn’t certain he wished to answer just yet.
He should have anticipated, however, that Dory was not one to be fooled. “I could ask you the same question.”
“Gift shopping,” he replied, smoothly, hoping that answer would satisfy her.
From the look on Dory’s face, it didn’t, but she didn’t question him further, either. “As am I.” She shook her head, a look of wonder mixed with what looked to be longing crossed her face. “I still can’t believe it myself, actually. It seems as if I am now an aunt.”
That bit of news piqued his curiosity. “Your sister, Lady Raynecourt? But I wasn’t aware that she was with child.”
Dory shook her head though there was still a bit of a sad smile on her lips. “No, my brother Frost and his wife, Lavinia.”
Ah, yes, the former virgin whore. She had been quite the contradiction and all of the talk in Jeremy’s circles at one point. He had never taken a fancy to her, but there were those like Richard who had spoken of perhaps being the one to win her innocence and prove to be her salvation. In the end, it had been Dory’s brother who had somehow managed to free the woman once known as Ianthe from that wretched place that had all but enslaved her.
“My felicitations to them both. It is a grand thing when any child is born.” If only his brother Alfred had felt that way when Maggie had been born. Or perhaps he had. Jeremy would never know for certain.
At that, Dory’s eyes grew soft. “They have a son. Frost has his heir. I never thought I would see the day.”
Neither did Jeremy’s mother, though he wouldn’t say that aloud. He and Dory were not at that point of sharing such intimacies just yet. Then again, he had suckled her breasts so perhaps they were long past that point and he hadn’t noticed. How could he tell? He had never been in this situation before.
“Again, my sincerest congratulations. I hope Lady Chilton is recovering well.”
According to Alfred, Maggie’s mother had died while attempting to give birth to a second child, and the reports Jeremy had received from his investigators just this morning had now proven that story to be true. Jeremy hated the thought of something similar befalling Lavinia Tillsbury.
“Quite well.” Now Dory was beaming, making her face radiant and something in Jeremy’s heart clenched, though he was sure it was just indigestion. Though he had skipped breakfast. “Their son was born not quite a week past, but we only received the news this morning. In fact, the courier brought the letter at first light. The babe came early, but we are told all is well. It was quite the news to wake up to this morning.”
First light. Those words brought Jeremy up cold, his entire body beginning to tingle with the potential implications of what he had done – had he been caught.
When he had probably been sneaking through the other side of Chilton House and returning Dory to her bed, a courier had come to the front door with news, rousing the staff from their slumbers. He had taken a huge, foolish risk. A risk far too great for a mere affair. What if he had been caught? No, what if they had been caught?
They had been together for only a single night and he was already putting Dory and her reputation at risk. That was why he avoided entanglements with properly-bred young ladies at all costs. That was why fantasy could only exist within the walls of Dionysus. Because of situations just like this.
His conscience had been nagging him before but this bit of news sealed it. This affair had to end. Now. Before it was too late.
On the other hand, there was Dory. The woman of his fantasies. The woman who saw him as he was and did not look at him in disgust.
But no. This was wrong. He knew that it was and, at his heart, he was still a gentleman. He hoped.
Something of his conflict must have shown on his face for Dory stopped and glared at him, crossing her arms over her chest. Which, of course, only served to make Jeremy notice how very enticing her breasts looked in that pale green gown she was wearing.
“Whatever you are thinking, stop it,” she demanded. “Unless, of course, you are thinking about when we can see each other again.”
“Actually, I am thinking about why seeing each other again is a very bad idea,” he hissed. “That courier this morning? What if he had seen us when I brought you home? Last night was reckless and dangerous and a bad idea. It can’t happen again. I should have known better. I do know better!”
“What if I disagree?” she challenged, her anger obviously rising. “There are two of us in this fantasy, Jeremy. Not just you.”
Leave it to Dory to argue with him about continuing an affair. Wasn’t it usually the other way around, with the woman resisting and the man begging? Yes, he was almost certain that was the case. Except with Dory, it was the opposite, because nothing about her was typical.
Which made her all that more appealing to him, damn it all anyway.
“Yes, I am aware, but I also…”
“Don’t you dare say that you know better because you are older or a man or any of that nonsense.” Jeremy could see that he had somehow fueled Dory’s ire, though he did note that he had distracted her from asking why he was here buying an expensive stuffed child’s toy. “I might be six years your junior, but I can assure you that I am old beyond my years. You have no idea. I knew what I was doing that first night I came to your club. I knew it each night I returned. I still do.”
Dory had him there. Jeremy didn’t know anything about her or her past, and obviously, his body heartily disagreed with this plan of his to end the affair after only one night. Hell, even his mind disagreed! It was only his conscience that was nagging him about this matter. Which, unfortunately, was louder than all of the other parts of him combined.
“I’m sorry, sweet, but we can’t. This isn’t right.” He gestured angrily toward the screen, hoping to talk some sense into that pretty head of hers. “If any of those people out there knew we were here together? You would be ruined, and I would be tarred and feathered for daring to come near you. And that is if I was lucky!”
And assuming the Bloody Duke wasn’t involved because, in that case, Jeremy might lose a limb. Or, more likely, another part of his anatomy.
“This thing between us is right and we both know it! Give me one more night to change your mind.” Her eyes flashed blue fire. “Let me prove to you that I know what I am doing and that I have gone into thi
s affair with open eyes. That I am willing to take the risk to be with you because I want to do so!”
Oh, it was so tempting to give in to her request. But Jeremy couldn’t, no matter how much he wanted to do just that.
“I can’t, sweet,” he sighed wearily, his heart clenching in his chest. “It wouldn’t be right. It is not that I don’t want to, my peacock. You know that. It is simply…”
Jeremy was stopped from sounding more and more like a prissy society matron when Dory abruptly flung herself at him, knocking him back against a far wall of the shop, one that was thankfully devoid of toys or anything that might make too much of a sound as his large body crashed into it.
Instinctively, Jeremy’s arms came around her and Dory responded by wrapping hers tightly around his neck. He pulled her closer out of desire, shoving all rational thought aside and simply allowing himself the pleasure of tasting her as her lips sought out his.
This wasn’t a kiss of passion. Rather, this was a kiss of demand, one meant to prove a point. Which it did. If nothing else, it proved to Jeremy that Dory did indeed know her own mind and that arguing with her would be useless – something he had already known.
Because Dory Tillsbury was unlike any woman he had ever known. She was reckless and fearless, yet wise enough to be cautious at the same time. She was a deeply passionate and complex woman, yet described as uninteresting and bland in the papers.
In short, she was a contradiction and how no one else in Society could see in her what he did baffled him.
And for now? Maybe that was all he needed to know about her, Jeremy decided.
And maybe it would also be wise to know more.
Last night in his suite above the gaming floor at Dionysus, Dory had been an innocent seductress, both cautious and yet passionate at the same time as she came apart in his arms. At the moment, she was more of a force of nature than anything, heedless of the scandal that would fall upon both of their heads if anyone should peek behind that divider screen.
And if he agreed to meet her again tonight? To give her one more chance to change his mind about their affair – even though it had been his idea to take her as his mistress in the first place?
Jeremy had a feeling that she just might be persuasive enough to convince him that this affair really was a good idea. And that she should continue being his mistress until the Season ended.
Not that it would take all that much to convince him. Not much at all, really.
Chapter Ten
Even now, standing outside of Dionysus, Dory couldn’t believe that she had changed Jeremy’s mind about meeting her this evening with a simple kiss. Well, it had been more than a kiss, actually. She had essentially behaved like a complete and utter wanton and flung herself at him like some common trollop.
Still, it had worked. So far.
Back at Mr. Okey’s, Jeremy had been so adamant that this affair end before it really began and, to a degree, Dory couldn’t blame him. Being together was risky, but just as it had been that first night she had ventured into the gaming hell, it was a risk she was willing to take – partly because she was still a bit rebellious but more so because she was now completely infatuated with the man who waited for her inside these doors.
She wanted her raven, and he wanted her. She wanted this one moment out of time before she would be forced to wed a gentleman she might like well enough, but did not love. She wanted this passion that she had only felt with Jeremy, and there was a part of her – a childish part, perhaps, but it was still there – that was afraid she would only ever feel this all-consuming passion with him. And no one else. Ever.
In the end, Jeremy hadn’t given in to her wheedling easily. Nor had she expected him to, really.
But he had given in - eventually. Fine, the kiss had probably helped to convince him, but that was no matter. In the end, Dory still managed to get what she wanted. Though his acquiescence had come with a condition. One she had not expected.
Jeremy had challenged Dory that afternoon in Mr. Okey’s shop to prove that she truly wished to be with him and that this was not merely some kind of risky game for her. He had agreed to meet her once again, but this time, she had to entire Dionysus through the front doors and not the Peacock Door. She could come in disguise, of course, but she had to enter as everyone else did this evening.
Perhaps Jeremy had imagined she would back away from the challenge, but then, he didn’t know her well enough to understand that such a request was more of a dare to her than an obstacle. He couldn’t have known that she would not only meet his challenge, but that she would do him one better. She would surpass it.
Because she wasn’t afraid. Very well, Dory was afraid, but this afternoon when she had returned home with the stuffed duck in hand, she had found her mother locked in the past again and this time, there was no coaxing her out of the madness.
Her mother had ranted and raved about her long-dead husband, about how her mother-in-law was betraying her by revealing family secrets to those who should remain protected, and about how she needed to be strong for her daughters. One of whom, Lady Chilton was now unable to recognize, even though Dory was standing in the middle of the room pleading with her mother to come back to the present. It hadn’t been any use and it had taken both Helen and Claxton to coax the dowager into sitting down and stop her from running directly out into the street as she wished to do in order to flee her abusive husband.
After the servants had managed to calm her mother, Dory had sent a footman to fetch Dr. Hastings and dashed off a quick note to her sister, Sarah, alerting her to their mother’s condition. Dory had no wish to disturb Frost at Hallowby Grange when he had other, far happier matters to attend to, and she could not have reached Aurelia and Hugh even if she had wanted to, for she had no idea where they were, save for “somewhere in Scotland,” which was hardly narrowing things down enough to post a letter.
No, at present, Dory was alone in dealing with her mother’s illness. For that was how she had decided to view the dowager’s bouts of madness – as an illness. It was an illness that they knew nothing about and that had no cure, but if Dr. Hastings was to be believed, her mother might not be the only one to suffer such issues. Therefore, in Dory’s mind, it was an illness.
At that moment, standing in the middle of her mother’s dressing room while the older woman sobbed softly, Dory had been stuck with a clarity of thought. A thought that not only gave her pause but chilled her to the bone as well.
Dory’s life was about to change, probably sooner than anyone knew. Because if her mother could not manage the London household, let alone care for herself? Then she would be forced to depart Town and live with Frost and Lavinia and their servants, taking Dory with her. And at present, the new parents were happily ensconced in the country. If the innuendo in Frost’s letter was to be believed, they were actually now enjoying the country far more than anticipated and had no desire to return to London anytime soon.
If ever, other than when it was strictly necessary.
As the only unwed daughter remaining at home, Dory would be forced to go where her mother went. Or marry, of course.
Neither option was very appealing at the moment, but one of those choices was to be her future whether she liked it or not. Meaning her time with Jeremy might be running out faster than she had anticipated. Also meaning there was no time left to waste.
So, though a bit of underhanded trickery that involved invoking the name of her brother-in-law Rayne, a hired hack, and a quick stop at her room in St. James for a change of gown, Dory now found herself outside of Dionysus’ beautifully carved front door.
This door, unlike the one beyond it that led to the gaming floor itself, depicted the story of Hades and Persephone in rather graphic – and rather naked – detail. She supposed it served as both a warning and a promise all at once. Through this door lay the way to all manner of vices. A warning that if you were weak, the vices would consume you. At the same time, it offered a promise that if you were str
ong enough, any pleasure you desired could be yours for the taking.
Dory had the impression Jeremy believed she was neither strong enough nor brave enough to enter the gaming hell this way. If she even came at all. Well, he was wrong. Just as everyone was wrong about her. She was more than she seemed. More than people believed her to be. And tonight? She would prove that to Jeremy at the very least.
She had assumed he knew her better than that, but maybe he didn’t. In either case, after tonight? He would at least know not to underestimate her. Not when there was something she truly desired at stake.
Dory raised her hand to knock, but before she could, the door swung open silently. She had heard that some of the newer hells had a system of spy glasses that allowed those inside to see who was waiting at the door. She wouldn’t be surprised if Jeremy used a similar system. He seemed the sort.
“Good evening, my lady,” a soft voice intoned and Dory looked up to see Adams holding the door open for her. Even without his mask, she would know the tall, handsome young man in a crowd. She couldn’t tell if he recognized her since she wasn’t wearing her peacock costume this evening, but from the sparkle in his eye, she thought he might. “May I see your pass, please?”
Pass? What pass? When he had issued his challenge earlier, Jeremy hadn’t said anything about needing a pass to enter Dionysus this evening. Wait. What about that so-called “Emerald Pass” he had given her the first night they met? Hadn’t he said that all she needed to do was show it to anyone within the club and she would be taken directly to him?
Reaching into her reticule, Dory flashed the small piece of paper with the raven’s eye emblazoned on both sides at Adams. “I hope this will suffice?”
A small smile broke on the man’s face and he offered her a low bow. “Of course, my lady. It is more than sufficient. Right this way, if you please.”
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