Page 31 of Only Pleasure Will Do

Chapter 14

The beautifully appointed drawing room Lady Dalbury led Amorina to was grand by comparison to any room she’d ever set foot in—even her father’s home in Rayleigh had not been so impressive. The walls were covered in pale cream silk wallpaper with intricately carved molding around the panels. At the ends of the room, huge paintings of the marquess and marchioness in heavy gilt frames overlooked the salon. Medieval looking tapestries hung at various intervals, their jeweled colors enhancing the delicate pinks and roses in the thick carpet and elegant furniture.

Amorina stood in awe, gaping like a star-struck girl. How would it be to live in such rooms? To enjoy the quiet and the tasteful furnishings instead of the raucous din and lurid décor of the House of Pleasure? If this venture ended with her somehow still alive, she would sell the brothel and take Pearl far away where they could sit in a pretty, quiet parlor and enjoy just being together.

“Please be seated, Madam Vestry.” Lady Dalbury waved her toward a Queen Anne chair covered in a fabric of delicate pink flowers and greenery then stepped back into the corridor. “John, ask Grayson to attend me.”

Dragging her feet, Amorina inched toward the elegant seat, trying to tell herself it was merely a chair. Somehow, however, it seemed as if she had no business making herself comfortable in this refined room.

“Madam Vestry.”

Amorina jumped. Lady Dalbury stood in front of her, frowning. “Please be seated. I’m about to order tea and send this little one back to his nursery.” She patted the back of the sleeping baby on her shoulder. “I shall have to figure out an excuse for leaving his carriage out in the garden.” Her quicksilver smile lit up her face. “Although no one seems to think any lapse unusual for a new mother.” She nodded firmly at the chair, and Amorina sank onto it. “Are women always scatterbrained after the ordeal of childbirth?”

“I cannot speak for anyone other than me, my lady. I had no such lapses, but then my circumstances were somewhat unusual.” Amorina glanced away from the marchioness’s frank gaze. “My child and I were separated after only two weeks, so perhaps when a mother is allowed to be absorbed in their babe, it is different.”

“I am sorry for that, Madam Vestry.” At the regretful tone, Amorina looked back at Lady Dalbury. Her eyes had moistened, and she brushed a tear away. “I cannot imagine anyone trying to separate me from my son.”

“As you might imagine, I had no choice in the matter. The child’s father was adamant that I take up my work.” Certainly, this was not the conversation she’d expected them to have when she walked into this room.

The blood drained from Lady Dalbury’s face.

Alarmed, Amorina leaned forward, fearful the woman might faint and drop her baby. “Lady Dalbury, what is wrong?”

Her face so pale her vivid auburn hair seemed the only color left her, Lady Dalbury clutched her baby to her. “Was… Is Duncan the father of your child?”

Heat flooded Amorina’s face so quickly sweat popped out on her brow. “No. No, my lady.” Her hands shook and she grasped her gown to stop their shaking. “I met the marquess long after my child was born. Please believe me, he had nothing to do with her at all.”

The butler chose that moment to enter the room. Tall and stiff with graying hair, he approached Lady Dalbury, noticed Amorina and stopped dead. He blinked several times, his bushy eyebrows waggling as he did. Then he opened his mouth and said calmly, “You sent for me, my lady?”

The marchioness cleared her throat. She’d seen his recognition of her as well. “Yes, Grayson. Please order a pot of tea and some cakes and ask Lord Dalbury to come here as soon as possible.”

“Very good, my lady.”

“And fetch Nurse, please. Lord Tolliver needs to continue his nap in the nursery, I think.”

“Yes, my lady.” With another piercing look at Amorina, Grayson bowed and left.

“I’m sorry if my question seemed rude,” Lady Dalbury said when he’d gone. “It simply suddenly occurred to me that…that was a possibility.”

“I am sorry too, my lady, to have placed you in a position to have to ask such a question.”

Lady Dalbury waved that away rather blithely. “Oh, I know my husband’s reputation was well deserved, Madam Vestry.” She shifted the baby from her shoulder, instead cradling him in her arms. “He was a horrible rake and a rogue where women were concerned.” She scrunched up her face, as if disgusted. “The leopard has changed his spots, however, since our marriage. That gives me hope indeed that all men have the capability of doing so.”

Yes, she’d known this woman was unique that first night at the House of Pleasure.

“Ah, I see the leopard is here.”

All the breath left Amorina’s lungs as the Marquess of Dalbury strode into the room, as gorgeously handsome as the day he’d appeared at her table requesting a lady for the evening. Tall and slender, though with muscles like corded steel, the marquess had exuded charm and danger in equal portions, another reason she’d wanted him for herself.

“You wished to see me, my love?” Smiling, the marquess came toward his wife, but when he saw Amorina, he halted, his face turning to stone. “What’s going on? Why are you here, Amorina?”

“Do not jump to conclusions, Duncan.” The lady rose to stand before him, staring him down as Amorina would swear no other woman on earth would’ve dared to do. “Madam Vestry has come here seeking our help.”

That was hardly the way Amorina would’ve characterized her visit, but Lady Dalbury obviously had learned quite well how to manage her volatile husband.

“Our help? What kind of help?” Still suspicious, the marquess tried to ignore his wife and glare at Amorina instead. “Is this some new game you are playing, Amorina?”

“I assure you it is not, my lord.” Slowly Amorina rose, her head a little dizzy. “It is deadly serious.”