Page 93 of The Seduction of an English Scoundrel

Audrey ordered refreshments before leading them to a drawing room furnished with a blue-and-cream-white theme that carried over into the damask draperies and Persian carpet. She presided like an empress from her ivory-inlaid chaise while Chloe explained what had brought them to her.

“I am so flattered,” Audrey said, one hand to her heart, her third glass of brandy in the other. “I am also a little drunk, but so much the better for scheming.”

Chloe stretched out comfortably on the sofa, explaining Jane’s secret and the unexpected results. “My horrible brother is allowing Jane to think that he desires her as his mistress when behind her back he has contracted with her father to marry her.”

“Then a mistress she shall be,” Audrey said, her eyes sparkling with anticipation. “Speak up, Jane, do you want to have some fun? I say it is your calling to stand up to this wicked boy.”

“I’m not quite sure I have the courage.”

Audrey looked at her. “Any woman who can jilt herself has courage in spades, believe me. The question is: Are you prepared to best Sedgecroft at his game?”

“How?” Jane asked, suddenly wondering if such a task were possible.

“By becoming a courtesan to end all courtesans!” Audrey cried, her cheeks flushed becomingly. “We will teach you to seduce Sedgecroft right down to his socks.”

“Well, I’m not sure—”

“We’ll do it,” Chloe said, setting her glass down on the table. “But we’ll have to start this very afternoon because Heath is watching me like a hawk, and he’ll think I’m meeting a lover here. Not that I shall ever have a lover at this rate.”

“Chloe, my dear,” Audrey said, gently reprimanding, “that I teach Sedgecroft’s future wife to be a seductress is an act for which he will only come to thank me. Profusely. Instructing his unmarried sister in the sexual arts is another matter entirely. Come back when you are affianced.”

“The sexual arts?” Jane said with a nervous laugh. “It’s, um, rather straightforward, isn’t it? I mean, what does a woman really need to know?”

Audrey rose and went to her escritoire, her voice as crisp as a schoolmistress. “There is so much more to the ‘ins and outs’ of lovemaking, as it were, than the typical English wife ever realizes.” She untied the blue silk ribbon from a bulging portfolio and brandished a detailed sketch. “Regard this illustration.”

Jane gasped, sputtering for breath. Was this what she had in mind? “Oh, my.”

“You do know what it is?” Audrey asked matter-of-factly.

Chloe finished her brandy in a gulp. “It’s not one of those new Congreve rockets, is it? Drake showed me a sketch of one in the newspaper, but I have to admit, I wasn’t really paying much attention.”

“Chloe,” Audrey said in a firm voice, “you may leave the room and entertain yourself in my library. Although for want of a more delicate term, we shall indeed refer to this drawing as a rocket, the proper handling of which a well-informed wife must understand lest it fire before its time.”

“Do I really need to know this?” Jane asked, taking a deep sip of her brandy.

“Would you want a rocket to explode in your hands before you have guided it home?” Audrey demanded.

Chloe turned halfway to the door. “It isn’t fair. I brought her here, Audrey. I should be allowed to hear what is said.”

“Your turn will come,” Audrey replied, waving her away to reveal another illustration in her portfolio. “Now, Jane, study this if you will.”

Jane leaned forward, her lips parting on a gasp. “Good heavens! That is a physical impossibility.”

“It is not only possible,” Audrey retorted, “it is highly pleasurable to the male.”

Chloe popped her head around the door. “Where did the rocket go?”

Jane closed her eyes, her voice quivering in amusement. “You do not want to know.”

Chapter 22

Jane and Chloe arrived back at the villa late that same afternoon. For all appearances they were two well-bred young ladies who had spent a few benign hours at the library. Fortified with brandy and a treasure trove of sensual knowledge that had shaken her aristocratic sensibilities, Jane lingered in the entrance hall. From abovestairs drifted the sound of male voices. One of them belonged to the man she was going to seduce. Right down to his socks.

“What do I do now?” she whispered in a low voice.

Chloe removed her bonnet. “Implement while that brandy is still in your bloodstream.”

“I can’t do this.”