The Accidental Courtesan

The desire to shout for joy and drag her down on the nearest settee was tempered by the mischievous gleam in her eyes. Whenever she had that glint, it didn’t bode well for him. There was something suspicious beneath her offer, and he suspected it had nothing to do with her overwhelming desire to climb atop his manly frame and ride him all night. He had a feeling Lady Noelle never did anything without first carefully thinking through the consequences.

And yet, he couldn’t resist reaching for her before a return of sanity turned her back into the frigid Lady Seymour, the frosty half of her personality he disliked immensely. He much preferred the mussed-up and well-kissed courtesan-thief who’d offered to share his bed.

“I accept.” He pulled her gently against him, pushed back her bonnet, and leaned to press a kiss against the side of her neck. She smelled lemon tart-sweet, and her skin was just as soft as he’d remembered. “Shall we begin?”

It would take more than an hour or two for him to work through all the delicious things he wanted to share with her. Regretfully, he believed getting one or two minutes to seduce her into submission was the limit of her allowance. Even now he sensed her hesitation start to build. He had to work quickly.

Thankfully, he had nothing more pressing to accomplish at the moment than getting her naked. His foreman could watch over the shipyard this morning.

He felt her stiffen, and he knew his moment of seduction was at an end. A flicker of annoyance danced through her amber eyes. The day wasn’t to continue abed.

His reluctant courtesan pressed both gloved hands against his chest to place space between them. “Your courtesan I shall be, but in name only. I have devised a plan to catch the thief-master, and I need your help. I fear the lives of you and Bliss depend on your compliance.”

Slowly his brewing erection withered. Icy Lady Seymour had that effect on his ardor. The woman might enjoy public flirting in the company of men, but do not expect her to drag a suitor off behind a bush for kissing and groping.

Slowly her hands slid downward to splay over his stomach. His eyes narrowed. She delighted in tormenting him to get him to comply with her wishes. One day he’d return the favor, only it would be his wishes, his desires, they would be following.

“Does not the idea of spending days and nights in my company satisfy your desire to maul me?” She looked down at her hands. Her fingers twitched on his stomach, and fire burned through his tormented cock.

Gavin grinned evilly. He felt his flagging erection flash back to life. “Even brilliant conversation cannot squelch desire, Milady.”

Noelle was a temptress, a handful, and he wondered if he might be wrong about her innocence. Were she not born to privilege, she would make an excellent and sought-after courtesan. Staring into her eyes would make any eager protector offer her anything to get her into his bed.

He cleared his throat. “You cannot be my courtesan without sharing your body with me.” He drew a knuckle over her jaw. “Lovers look at each other in a certain way. They connect intimately with their gazes, subtle touches, and give off a heat when they are together. How can you lead others to believe we share a bed when every time I touch you, your spine stiffens?”

“I can act any part,” she assured him. Noelle slipped a hand around to caress the side of his buttock. She leaned to stare into his eyes. “Undoubtedly, even I can fake attraction for you, Mister Blackwell.”

The insult was a direct hit to his masculinity. Had her sighs and moans all been faked? Was she truly capable of making him believe she wanted him, and yet felt nothing? Were any of her responses to his kisses real, or were they ploys to save her lovely hide from the hangman?

Reluctantly, he took a large step back and scanned her eyes for the truth. Normally, he’d enjoy her toying with him. However, now was not the time or place to enjoy her feigned favors. He was puzzled. Was it possible he’d read her wrong? That the cold Lady Seymour had played him with the kind of skill a player on a stage would envy?

Noelle fluttered her lashes once, twice, and then sighed dramatically, as if she was bereft to no longer have him in her arms. This was a game. Her eyes held the clues.

Gavin snorted. One day he’d have the disagreeable wench in his bed, and he’d keep her there until she responded to him with real passion.

“I have been thinking about your recent visit and the attack that brought you to me.” She tugged the bonnet strings and pulled the item free. She dropped it on a wing-backed chair. “All this started with a courtesan. I think if I become one, we shall have a better chance to roust out the den of thieves.”

“Absolutely not.” His voice boomed in the large room, echoing off white plaster walls and dark furniture. “The moment you are seen anywhere on my arm, as my courtesan, you are ruined and your family will be thrust into scandal. I’ll not have it.”

Once a woman was touched by scandal, it was nearly impossible to recover from it and have any sort of satisfactory life. Hypocritical, he knew, considering he wanted to bed her without marriage vows.

Fire blazed in the pit of his stomach. She had no idea of the ramifications of her ill-conceived plan. Or if she did, she didn’t care. She was hooked on the silly notion of tying up the caper herself.

Forcing himself to be calm, he expelled a breath. The wardrobe idea had serious merit. He wondered how long he could keep her locked up before a servant stumbled upon her and let her out. “Have you considered all you are risking, Noelle?”

“I am not an idiot,” she snapped. “I would be in disguise, of course, and our outings would be limited to places where it is unlikely I will bump into anyone I know.” She tapped her open palms on her thighs. “I shall start at the courtesan school. I’ll learn all I can from Bliss and Edolie about courtesans so I’ll be able to pass as one. Then you and I shall go to the courtesan ball at Vauxhall Gardens on Saturday and see if we can draw your attackers out of hiding. If we can manage to catch one, then we can use him to gain information on the others. I believe that if they approached you once, they will do so again. However, this time we will be ready.”

Noelle watched his face and wondered if he’d make good his threat and lock her up. From what she knew of the man, she wasn’t sure he wouldn’t. She had no information about his years in America. He could be a criminal, a thief, a murderer.

She shot him a skeptical look. “I shall shriek to the rafters should you consider making good your threat.” She sighed and continued, “When Bliss disappeared, the maid must have suspected that she planned to return the necklace. It took your attackers no more than a few days to connect you to the earl’s home. They were probably sent here to spy with the hope of discovering the whereabouts of the necklace. How long will it take for them to find Bliss and connect her to me? Bliss is not the kind of woman who is easy to hide. Men fall at her feet when she strolls down the street. I have her safely hidden, but for how long?”

There was a long pause as he stared into her face, as if contemplating her argument. Or perhaps thinking of where he might find a length of rope. It was impossible to read his blank expression.

“I have a business to run and ships to build,” he said finally. “I have wasted enough time looking for my mysterious courtesan and not attending to my work. The more time I spend traipsing around London after you, the less time I devote to fulfilling my lucrative contract.”

“You have workers, and it won’t be a twenty-four-hour investigation,” she snapped. “Surely you can take some time to help me with this matter. Unless you’d prefer I take care of this nasty business myself.”

If he refused her, how could she proceed? She needed Gavin to pose as her lover to make it work. He was the key to drawing out the men. The footpads would have no reason to attend the ball otherwise. Until they were caught, Bliss and Gavin would be in danger.

Noelle felt partially responsible for the situation and wouldn’t rest until she helped extricate the two of them from this very deep pit she had helped dig. The very public courtesan ball was the perfect place to start.

First, she had to become a courtesan. Though Eva worked with them, Noelle spent little time in their company. This was Eva’s rule, about which she had grown more insistent since her marriage to her duke. Society couldn’t know about the secret life of their newest duchess.

It had been Eva’s mother’s sudden illness that sent the duke and duchess to the country and put Noelle and a former courtesan, Sophie, in charge of the school. Unlike Sophie, Noelle was woefully inadequate in the position.

As there were currently no classes until the end of the month, her responsibility was only to settle courtesans into the town house and see they were cared for.

Noelle grimaced. Hopefully, Eva’s stay at Highland Abbey would be lengthy. By the time she returned, Noelle prayed this adventure would be at a conclusion and her sister none the wiser.

“Workers tend not to work when there is no supervision.” Gavin scowled. “If I lose this navy contract, I can lose everything. Not only a fortune in earnings but my reputation as a shipbuilder. People will not trust a shipbuilder who fails to build ships.”

“The last thing I want is for you to suffer for my misdeeds. You cannot know how deeply I regret getting you involved in this caper.” She wondered if his financial situation could end up as dire as he imagined, or if he was using his company as a reason to dissuade her from following through with her plan. “If I promise not to venture out without you, and to go out only during times when we can be together without taking you away from your work, will you say yes?”

“Is there even a small chance I can convince you to give up this impulsive endeavor and let me handle the matter alone?” At her head shake, Gavin rubbed the side of his face. She’d arrived so early, he hadn’t yet shaved. Dark bristles added to his rakish appeal. “I thought not. You are a most stubborn woman.”

“If I agree to this scheme, will you follow my directives without argument?” He leaned in and pointed a finger in her face. “I will not help you if you don’t agree. I cannot worry that you will do something impulsive and foolish.”

His bossy tone stiffened her shoulders. She truly hated to take orders from anyone. Still, if she had to agree to take his manly commands as law, so as not to have to face the criminals alone, she would. In theory, anyway. He certainly couldn’t expect her never to argue or to trot about at his heels like a dog on a leash. Did he know nothing about her?

“I agree,” she said, and watched mistrust edge his eyes. He didn’t believe her promise one bit. However, there was nothing else he could do but take her at her word.

“I shall return home and ready my disguise. Then I shall go to the school and learn all I can about courtesans and their lovers. By this evening, I should know all there is to know about the profession.” She snatched up her bonnet and, with a little wave, left the town house.

Gavin listened to the sound of the door closing behind his new courtesan; his courtesan in word but not in truth. How, exactly, did their agreement work in his favor? He’d already lost valuable work time thinking of the beautiful and fascinating courtesan-thief. Now he’d agreed to her scheme to catch the crooks. He’d spend even more time with her, and none of it abed. By the end of this adventure, he’d be broke, existing in a full state of burning arousal and living in squalor as his shipyard failed.

And heaven help him if the chit actually could learn everything there was to know about courtesans and seduction in one afternoon and then used those skills to tease him further. His life would be pure hell.

“Lady Seymour, you do try a man’s patience,” Gavin grumbled. He dropped in the nearest chair, stretched out his legs, and settled his chin in his upturned palm. Exactly how much information could she could glean from a group of courtesans in a few hours? The idea of Noelle speaking to a gaggle of soiled birds about how to satisfy a man in bed roused his slumbering erection. Again.

The courtesans knew about men; that much was true. Nevertheless, their teaching would be limited to explanations, and Noelle would be limited by having no actual experience. His cock twitched. He should call Noelle back and give her a real lesson in how to please a man, as a good courtesan should.

Bliss screwed up her beautiful face. “Of course a courtesan allows a lover certain liberties in public, in the right setting.” The girl shot Noelle an odd look. “But never on the street. His wife might pass by and witness the act. A courtesan is always kept separate from his family.”

Noelle plucked at the thread on her sampler and tried to appear bored. She didn’t want to appear too eager for information. That could arouse suspicion as to the reason for her desire to know about courtesan behavior. The two women, Bliss and the russet-haired Edolie, knew her as Miss Noelle, a friend of Miss Eva’s. They hadn’t an inkling that she was a Lady. Eva preferred it that way, and Noelle agreed. In fact, Eva wore a spinster disguise when she was teaching classes. Very few people, outside of Sophie and Noelle, knew this secret side of her life.

Though Noelle wasn’t disguised, she wore simple clothing and told the ladies she was a widow with charitable intentions and a desire to help abused courtesans. The women accepted her presence in that capacity.

They were fleeing a life of sexual servitude. All they wanted were husbands and families. Noelle was of little interest to the women. They had their own worries.

“Interesting.” Noelle wished she could put pen to paper and write everything down. To her surprise, there were a dizzying number of rules a good courtesan had to follow. It tore apart her notion that all the women did all day was lie abed, awaiting their lover’s pleasure. “And the clothing?”

“It depends on the man,” Edolie said. She had possessed three lovers in her twenty-four years, and the third actually wanted to wed her. Unfortunately, the elderly baron had died during their last visit, in the midst of a particularly enthusiastic romp. The trauma had been enough to finally convince Edolie to give up her profession for a husband and children.

“I thought all courtesans dressed scandalously,” Noelle interjected. It was interesting how little she knew about courtesans. Everyone knew about them in a general way, as most husbands, fathers, and brothers had one. To spend time with them up close was a lesson in the depths of her ignorance. “Bright colors, low necklines, overflowing corsets ?”

Edolie nodded. “Sometimes yes, sometimes no. While a few men do prefer that their lover dresses modestly in public and scantily in private, other men find it pleasing to have her forgo a corset and wet the front of her dress so her nipples show.”

The courtesan paused and frowned. “I heard of one particularly naughty earl who took his courtesan to a ball where she wore only a long cloak, stockings, and slippers. Of course, it is an unconfirmed rumor.”

Heat crept up Noelle’s neck. She tried to imagine any woman engaging in such appalling behavior. Yet she knew that in the world of trading sex for money and security, anything could happen. Debauchery and abuse were what sometimes led courtesans to this town house’s door.

“It is rumored that a duke took his mistress to a party where clothing wasn’t required,” Bliss added. “The party guests spent the entire weekend naked.” She leaned in. “And the men were whispered to have swapped their lovers.”

Dozens of outrageous questions popped into Noelle’s head, but she kept them to herself. She’d retain some sort of propriety. If her questions got back to Sophie and, through her, to Eva, her sister would not be pleased. She’d want to know why Noelle was suddenly interested in courtesans.

“Shocking,” Noelle said simply, wondering if Gavin would ever take a mistress to a ball sans clothing, or wander around all day without a stitch on. Worse, she wondered what kind of proclivities he enjoyed in bed, and why she really wanted to know.

“There have been several of those parties,” Edolie added with a brisk nod. “The last was at Huntworth Manor. The earl lost his wife two years ago and has turned his home into a house of sin.” She screwed up her face. “I cannot believe anyone would want to see the earl in that state. He is quite robust in his midsection.”

Noelle gaped at that news. She had visited Huntworth with her mother and sister, once, many years ago. The countess had been a lovely woman, albeit a bit shy. The earl had been loud and red-faced with a barrel chest and a dark red beard. She tried not to imagine the man strolling about his grounds with a doxie on each arm and not a stitch of clothing between them. Unfortunately, the image planted itself in her imagination and refused to dissipate. She’d never again look at the earl without that disgusting thought popping into her head.

There was an entire world of debauchery she’d not been privy to. Faces she’d seen at balls and parties. Who knew what sorts of vile acts were committed in the privacy of some of the homes she’d visited as an innocent child?

A world she wanted to visit under the guise of finding out who was stalking Gavin and, indirectly, her. Could she pull off the charade with Gavin, knowing she was about to expose herself to who knows what?

Though Bliss and Edolie had given her several valuable pieces of information, she knew nothing, absolutely nothing, about the secret life of a courtesan! She’d never so much as had a man’s hand on her unbound breast or bare thigh.

The closest she’d come to any sort of seduction was with Gavin, and even he had been a gentleman. Well, sort of. Kisses certainly hadn’t led to nudity, and they certainly hadn’t led to her agreeing to gallivant around London, bare beneath a cape.

Aches began in her secret places. Would the heat in his eyes turn to fire if he knew a cape, stockings, and slippers were the entirety of her clothing? Would he reach for the tie at her neck, knowing that with the flick of his wrist, the cape would puddle at her feet and she’d be naked to his unfettered gaze?

“Goodness, look at the time.” Noelle jumped to her feet, upending her sampler so it clattered to the floor. She scooped it up and clutched it to her breast. “I really must go. I have a prior engagement.”

Stumbling over both her words and her feet, Noelle hurried for the door, snatching up her cape and bonnet as she went. She didn’t want him. Sex was for procreation and not for sport. Only men seemed to find it such. Women saw it as practical and a duty. A duty she had no interest in pursuing.

A light fog rolling across London helped soothe the heat in her face and body as she hurried to retrieve her gig from the small stable behind the town house and climbed onto the seat. Taking up the reins, she snapped them over the back of the horse, thankful she’d chosen to drive herself this morning rather than take a hackney. The fresh air helped to ease the burn in her cheeks.

Beneath the bonnet, she thinned her lips and wondered how many men who had danced with her, laughed with her, all properly behaved, shamelessly enjoyed chasing naked doxies around. How many men who had pursued her in the years after her coming-out were the same men who swapped mistresses at the house party?

Did Eva or Margaret know such things were happening under their noses whenever they attended a society function? There was no telling what information Eva knew and kept to herself. She’d wandered among courtesans, listened to their gossip, for years.

There was a brief time last year when Noelle had insisted Margaret don a courtesan disguise and enter the school in order to get information on the mysterious Eva. Having a third and illegitimate sister could have caused problems had the connection come out publicly. But both Harrington sisters had learned fairly soon that Eva wasn’t at all what they’d expected, nor did she want anything from them. They’d quickly grown to love their father’s secret daughter.

A thread of anger crept up her spine. She knew men of circumstance took mistresses, courtesans, but what of their families? Didn’t they care that their behavior could shame their wives, their children?

Her father had loved Eva’s courtesan mother, Charlotte, and she’d born him a daughter. Noelle and Margaret’s mother had lived to make him miserable long before Charlotte had come along, so how could Noelle have resented his happiness?

The conversation with Bliss and Edolie confirmed what she already knew in her heart. Spinsterhood was a far better path for her. She’d never lie awake at night, knowing the man she’d vowed to cherish for her lifetime might be mistress swapping with other husbands. And she’d never risk her heart.

A few hours later, Noelle called for the maid, Elsie, to help her into her costume. The young maid was easier to dupe than Martha, who never did anything for Noelle without first battering her with questions about who, what, and where she was going, and why. Martha was a mother hen in a maid’s serviceable clothing.

If she was to convince Gavin she could go through with her plot, she had to convince him she was taking no chances with her reputation. “No one will recognize you now, My Lady,” Elsie said, and made one last adjustment to the wig. Noelle leaned in for a better look in the mirror.

Beneath a crown of dark brown hair and enough powder and rouge for three women, she hardly recognized herself. A beauty patch had been placed above the corner of her mouth, and Elsie had lined her eyes in black for a dramatic flair. The gown was gold satin and cut low, tight to the waist. The fabric flowed in watery waves to her feet.

Noelle had convinced Elsie she was attending a costume party where the best-costumed guest would win a prize, and she wanted to be well disguised.

In truth, there was only one man she needed to convince that her disguise would fool anyone who knew her. If Gavin didn’t recognize her, she’d be satisfied.

“It is perfect,” she said. It was perfect. She’d be horribly disappointed if he quickly caught on to her ruse. If he, a man she’d known only a few days, saw through her disguise, then how would she fare with men who’d known her for years?

Sliding on her gloves, Noelle spun one last time before the mirror. She quelled a tightening in her stomach and nodded while Elsie drifted off to tidy up the room.

“Let us hope Mister Blackwell doesn’t,” Noelle mumbled. If she fooled Gavin enough to make her point, then this evening would be a success. She could attend the courtesan ball without any worry she’d be exposed and ruined. They could publicly trick the thieves into making a mistake and catch them before they could do more harm.

She walked down the stairs and found her footman waiting. He smiled. “I followed the gentleman from White’s. He went to a carnival with two friends, Milady. I have hired a coach to take you there.”