Authors: Kate Pearce
Simply Carnal (26 page)
“Make me come.”
Elizabeth didn’t want to watch Paul, but it was hard to look away. Her attention was finally jerked back when the cage door opened again and Christian stood there. She attempted to stand, but his gaze swept over her and settled on another, much younger woman.
“Miss Retton? You are in here again?”
Miss Retton started to cry and Christian held out his hand to her. “Stop sniveling and come here.”
Elizabeth realized she was glaring at Christian, but he didn’t look at her at all. She sank back into her corner, her breathing uneven.
Damn him to hell
. The thought of having to watch Miss Retton pleasuring Christian made her fingers curl into claws. She wouldn’t watch him. With that thought, she lowered her eyes and stared down at her interlocked fingers.
Damn him to hell
. The thought of having to watch Miss Retton pleasuring Christian made her fingers curl into claws. She wouldn’t watch him. With that thought, she lowered her eyes and stared down at her interlocked fingers.
A gasp made her look up, but it wasn’t from Christian. It was Lady Kelveston, her head thrown back, her mouth open as she climaxed under Paul’s skilled mouth and hands. Miss Retton sat on a chair by the wall, her hands in her lap, her expression still terrified. Elizabeth looked for Christian, but he was already sitting back at the card table engrossed in another round of the game.
Indignation stirred low in her stomach. In his quest to outdo Lord Kelveston, did he intend to gather as many unwilling lovers as he could? And what then? Did he mean to pleasure them all in some almighty orgy?
Time passed and as players dropped out, the crowd around the card tables grew. Unlike Christian, Kelveston chose his victims and either fucked them or made them suck his cock before sending them on their way. Ten other people were released from the cage, two of them chosen by Christian, who continued to ignore Elizabeth.
For the first time, she began to doubt his motives. Had he brought her here to save Paul or to further his own sexual legend? Paul seemed quite happy keeping Lady Kelveston occupied. He was fucking her now while she knelt on the chair, her bottom raised in the air, his hands firmly grasping her hips.
Four of them were left in the cage now, and the card tables were down to the last two. Kelveston was on one and Christian the other. Elizabeth knew that it would eventually come down to the two men. She could only hope Kelveston wouldn’t cheat. There was something about the set of his mouth and the hard black shine of his eyes that made her uneasy.
Applause sounded and Kelveston got to his feet, grinning. He headed for the cage and nodded at the footman. “Let’s see what’s left, shall we? Stand up, all of you.”
Elizabeth reluctantly rose to her feet and tried not to catch Lord Kelveston’s stare.
“You, Sylvia or whatever your name is, Delornay’s whore. Come here.”
The footman reached inside and pulled a reluctant Elizabeth out of the cage. She tried not to shudder as Kelveston locked his arm around her waist and bent his head to nuzzle her throat. It wasn’t the first time a man had treated her thusly, so why was it so difficult to stand there and let him paw her?
“She’s mine, Kelveston,” Christian said. He stopped in front of her repulsive captor, his expression as relaxed and charming as ever. “We agreed that she would be mine first, did we not? You can certainly try her out later.”
His gaze met Elizabeth’s. She latched onto the calm certainty in his eyes as if he were the only thing that could save her. And perhaps he was. He’d taken away her ability to accept men such as Kelveston and left her with nothing but anger and her own pride.
Kelveston’s hand slid up from her waist to fondle her breasts. “I don’t remember agreeing to anything except putting her in the cage, Delornay. I got here first, and I get the first choice. You can watch me fuck her if you like.”
Christian sighed. “With all due respect, my lord, I don’t like it at all.”
There was a sudden hush around the two men, and Melinda pushed Paul out of her way so that she could see better, her expression avid.
“My club, my rules, I’m afraid, Delornay.”
Christian considered him for so long that Elizabeth almost forgot how to breathe.
“Seeing as how we both won our games and there is only one left to play, how about we keep Sylvia for the ultimate winner ?”
“Why would I do that, Delornay?” Kelveston’s hand slid between Elizabeth’s thighs. “Surely a bird in the hand is worth more than one in the bush?”
Christian smiled and gestured at Miss Retton and the other debtors he had freed from the cage and not yet touched. “Winner takes all?”
Kelveston studied the debtors, his gaze lingering on the still-sobbing Miss Retton. “Yes, and the winner has to fuck Sylvia in front of everyone.” His grip on Elizabeth tightened and she fought a whimper. “Even if you win, there’ll be no hiding away tonight to savor your conquests, Delornay.”
“Agreed,” Christian replied. “And I’ll want Paul St. Clare as well.”
“You are very confident.”
Christian shrugged, the gesture very French. “I’m an excellent cardplayer.”
“We’ll see about that.” Kelveston snapped his fingers at the nearest footman. “Go and fetch a new pack of cards from my study.”
Melinda pouted at her husband. “What if I don’t want Paul to leave me?”
Kelveston released Elizabeth and then bowed to his wife. “When I win, my lady, you can do with him what you will. I’ll be more than happy to participate.”
“I’m playing, too, my lord. Boris has yielded his place at the table to me.” Melinda smiled. “Perhaps you’ll all have to come begging to me for your pleasures after all.”
Elizabeth could only wonder how Christian felt facing both Kelvestons at the same time. It obviously had been planned and didn’t bode well for the final game or for the outcome. There was nothing she could do about it now except pray that Christian’s skills were as good as he thought they were.
Christian walked over to Elizabeth and took her arm. She looked up at him and he smiled and spoke in an undertone only she could hear. “Don’t fail me now. Kelveston will try anything to win this last game.”
She swallowed convulsively. “I’ll do my best.”
“Good.”
He led her toward the card tables where a footman was replenishing the candles and the brandy bottles.
“Kneel beside my chair.”
Most of the crowd had dispersed, moving on to more exciting pursuits like fucking each other or drinking. Unfortunately, those who were left were mainly close friends of Kelveston’s and even more likely to be after Christian’s blood.
Christian beckoned Paul forward and directed him to kneel beside the chair Lady Kelveston would occupy. He took a moment to bend close and smooth Paul’s hair. “Tell me if you see them cheating. Use the same method we use at the pleasure house.”
He’d already taught Elizabeth the system Philip had developed to identify card thieves and cheats in the most inconspicuous way possible. Helene had always preferred such unpleasantness as confronting cheaters to happen after the game had finished and in the privacy of her office. It meant less of an open scandal for the person concerned and more of an opportunity for them to right the wrong before Helene used her contacts to blacken their name forever.
The fourth man took his seat at the table. Christian barely nodded at him and received a frosty look in return. Lord Norton had no love for Christian, having been banned from the pleasure house for cheating at cards, a coincidence that, considering the circumstances, didn’t escape Christian’s attention. He was deliberately being set up to fail. There was no longer any doubt of it. Thankfully he’d brought his own luck. All he could hope was that he was good enough to keep one step ahead of his opponents.
Melinda Kelveston took her seat and patted Paul on the head. “I can see why you like him, Christian. He is very skilled.”
“Indeed he is.”
Christian watched as the footman delivered a new pack of cards to Lord Kelveston, who broke the seal and placed the pack on the table. He continued to watch as Kelveston shuffled the deck and soon confirmed his suspicions that the cards had been tampered with. Kelveston was fingering the cards so carefully that it was obvious he was learning the pack. Now all Christian had to do was work out the system and hope to God that he could turn it to his own advantage.
He bent to kiss Elizabeth’s head. “The deck is crooked,” he breathed. “Be on your guard.”
As Christian started to play, Elizabeth pretended to cover her face with her hands. In reality, she focused her attention on Lord Kelveston, who sat on her right. If she was very careful, she might just see his cards. She soon noticed that when he dealt from the deck, he ran his forefinger over the back right-hand side of each card. She couldn’t quite see how he finagled the cards to the right people because he was so fast, but she was certain that he was doing something.
Christian sat back in his seat, his gaze calm, one hand occasionally stealing down to touch her hair or her face. His deliberate gestures might have seemed possessive or designed to infuriate Lord Kelveston, but she knew they meant much more than that.
Paul was keeping watch on the other side of the table, his deceptively sweet gaze fixed adoringly on Lady Kelveston but encompassing every motion Lord Norton made as well.
The first two hands went to Kelveston, and Elizabeth felt her stomach tighten. However, Christian seemed unperturbed, his smile relaxed, his conversation still light. She concentrated even more carefully on Kelveston and finally caught a clear glimpse of his cards. She reached out to Christian’s chair and tapped a series of numbers out on the wood.
A moment later, she noticed Paul doing the same and she could only hope that Christian had the ability to keep all the numbers straight. Each player drew another card, and Elizabeth checked Kelveston’s cards again—only this time they weren’t the same. Three of them had changed suit. She tapped again, suddenly aware that Melinda Kelveston was watching her. Elizabeth produced a hasty sob and Lady Kelveston laughed and looked away again.
Christian dropped his hand down onto her shoulder and she almost jumped. His fingers slid lower until they delved beneath her bodice, and he pinched her nipple hard. She gasped and tried to pull away from him, making the other occupants of the table chuckle.
“That’s the way, Delornay. Make her think about what’s coming,” Kelveston shouted.
Christian straightened and removed his hand from her body. At the same time she realized he’d stuffed some of his playing cards inside her corset. She hunched her shoulders and prayed they wouldn’t fall out.
The play continued, and Kelveston started to get restless, his replies shorter as Christian started to win. He even snapped at Lady Kelveston when she inadvertently played the wrong cards and glared at Lord Norton, who seemed too drunk to understand that their carefully laid plans were going awry.
Christian yawned, stretched out his foot, and deliberately kicked Paul, causing him to knock into the petite Lady Kelveston, who fell off her chair with a screech. Paul was quick to catch her and receive her gratitude. While the other men set her chair back on its feet and fussed around her, Christian removed the remainder of the deck and replaced it with an identical one from his pocket. Now all that was left of the marked deck was in the other three players’ hands.
When everything had been restored to rights, Christian bowed. “My apologies, my lady. It was entirely my fault.”
Melinda blew him a kiss. “It is all right, Christian. You can make it up to me later.”
Christian smiled and returned his attention to his hand. Would Kelveston notice the differences in the decks, and if he did, what would he do about it? With two different sets of cards now in play, it would be difficult for him to call Christian out for cheating without revealing his own more deliberate attempt.
But would Kelveston care? This club was his creation, his world, and he believed he owned everything and everyone in it. But in the world of the
ton,
a man’s reputation meant everything. If Kelveston was prepared to ruin Paul, Christian was quite happy to reciprocate and had the connections to follow through. Christian glanced at his remaining cards. He could finish this in less than five minutes. After that, it was up to Kelveston.
ton,
a man’s reputation meant everything. If Kelveston was prepared to ruin Paul, Christian was quite happy to reciprocate and had the connections to follow through. Christian glanced at his remaining cards. He could finish this in less than five minutes. After that, it was up to Kelveston.
He touched Elizabeth’s dark hair and played with a curl that had escaped her chignon. Even if Kelveston didn’t contest his win, they still had to get out of the club in one piece. He played his last two cards and watched Kelveston’s face flush an unbecoming red.
“My game, I believe, Lord Kelveston?” Christian smiled right into his opponent’s enraged eyes.
“You, you ... ,” Kelveston hissed.
“Thank you, my lord. I accept your compliments.” Christian stood up, bringing Elizabeth with him. “I should have insisted that you be put in the cage if I won.”
Kelveston lunged at him and Christian stepped back. “Is there something wrong, my lord? We wouldn’t want rumors to get about that you are a bad sport, now, would we? Or any rumors about other guests.”
Kelveston suddenly seemed to recall that they had an avid audience and that his wife was clinging to his arm. He visibly controlled himself and unclenched his fists.
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