He raised a questioning eyebrow.
“And once she is betrothed I will explain the particulars of sexual congress to her in detail. Will that do?”
“Yes.” Relief washed over him like summer rain.
“But first,” she said as she leaned forward in her chair, tapped his desk with her blue kidskin gloved hand, and smiled in a way that made him shudder. “In regards toAn Insatiable Lady, I know you well enough to know you are not one to give up so easily. You’re concocting another scheme to meet her. I’d wager my new racing curricle on it. Tell me what you intend to do. Only then I will grant your favor.”
“Why do you want to know?” Daedalus had heard of Lady Honoria’s schemes. He was a mere amateur next to her.
“So I might crow with delight when she fails to succumb to your ruse, of course.” She fell back in her chair and laughed with evil delight.
“Does your husband know about your mercenary side, Lady Honoria?”
“Of course, he does. He bargains for my sexual favors quite regularly.”
Daedalus laughed and shook his head. “Very well.” He’d explain his newest idea to Lady Honoria, ask his favor, and then set his plan in motion to finally discover the identity ofAn Insatiable Lady. And this time he would not fail.
2
One of the things Miss Cordelia Perriton failed to consideronce she had decided to write under a colorfully invented name was the number of times she would be forced to bite her tongue and mask her features so as not to reveal her true feelings. In the past hour, she’d been forced to do so with such frequency she feared she might turn into a faceless mute and never be capable of speech again. A state which would please her brothers immensely. Then again, she’d never dreamed her weekly attendance at Lady Camilla’s literary society would reveal her publisher to be a duplicitous, devious—
“Scoundrel,” Lady Camilla said. “I would never have thought he had it in him to be so ruthless. She’ll never accede to his wishes.” She held up her obviously well-read copy ofA Banquet of Base Desires, Cordelia’s newest book. “The woman who wrote this is not the sort to bend to the will of any man.”
“Here, here,” the widowed Julia Amherst declared. “Tell us, Honoria. How does he expect to lure our favorite authoress into revealing her identity to him?”
Cordelia savored a rush of pride at Mrs. Amherst’s praise. Even as her entire being hummed with curiosity to know what the arrogant Mr. Whitcombe intended. Lady Honoria’s announcement after providing them all with a copy of the notorious missing page fromBanquethad caused Cordelia to choke on her tea and nearly drop Lady Camilla’s expensive Sevres china teacup onto the drawing room’s ivory and pale blue Aubusson.
“The missing page was all a plot to draw An Insatiable Lady out to reveal her identity to him. Can you believe it? And now he has come up with another ridiculous plan.”
“He didn’t tell you why he wishes to meet the lady?” Cordelia asked as she returned her teacup to the tall marquetry table to the side of her chair. She leaned over the low-set tea table in front of her and plucked a macaron from the exquisite display of pastries. With great effort she managed not to turn her complete attention to Lady Honoria. At the moment casual behavior served her best. A moment from which her worst nightmares sprang. In the last year-and-a-half, she had dreaded the day when someone grew curious enough about her identity to try and unmask her. The last person she expected was the man who stood to profit the most from her continued anonymity.
“He said the matter was between him and the lady,” Lady Honoria said with an arch lift to her tone.
“Do tell.”
“How intriguing.”
“Whitcombeisa typical man after all.”
The other ladies in Lady Camilla’s drawing room might be amused, but Cordelia moved between fury and fear in rapid succession. Her writing had a purpose, dammit. The revelation of her identity threatened to destroy that purpose. She cared not a whit for her reputation save for the necessity of said reputation in her work for others, for women in desperate need of her help. In fact, the money her trusted footman was to pick up that very afternoon promised to bring her closer than she had ever been to offering some of those women real, permanent help.
She only just managed to retain her seat perched on one of Lady Camilla’s opulent ivory and blue silk chairs. This latest news portended disaster. Cordelia fought not to squirm on the edge of her seat. She tapped her foot beneath the skirts of her green and black silk walking dress.
“I am on tenterhooks, Honoria. What is Lord Daedalus’s devious plan?” Lady Jane Forsythe, widow of Baron Trevellyn and now wife of the formidable barrister Stephen Forsythe, had only recently joined their literary society, but Cordelia admired her greatly for her knowledge of the erotic literature of India and for her open and inquisitive disposition.
“It truly is a devious and low plan,” Lady Honoria announced as she refilled her plate with a selection of the little tarts and cream-filled pastries from the tea table. “Lady Camilla, if you continue to allow Nathaniel to prepare the refreshments for our gatherings I shall need an entirely new wardrobe to accommodate my girth.”
“Yes, it truly is too bad of you and your nephew to enjoy Mister Charpentier’s culinary skills every day when the rest of us must make an appointment and pay a king’s ransom to do so.” Mrs. Amherst popped a macaron into her mouth and sighed, eyes closed as she savored the light and airy delicacy.
Cordelia wanted to scream. She needed information about Whitcombe’s plan. Not that she wouldn’t mind interviewing Nathaniel Charpentier, whose erotic food creations made the notorious Club Ambrosios such a huge success. If her brothers discovered she knew anything about the scandalous club they’d pack her off to their parents in the country in an instant. She startled at the sudden series of gasps and exclamations from the other ladies in attendance.
“He is going to what?” she asked, certain she had misheard.
Every eye turned to her in an instant.Damn!She didn’t dare let her guard down around these women. They were too clever and insightful by half each having come from backgrounds in which keeping their wits about them accounted for their current success in life and in most cases in love.
“She must deliver her next book in person,” Lady Camilla said quietly. Her unflinching gaze sent a tiny fissure of fear into the pit of Cordelia’s belly. “And he intends to withhold her latest payment until she does.”
“That is what he told me,” Lady Honoria confirmed.
