11. November 11, 1826

11

NOVEMBER 11, 1826

NUMBER FIVE GROSVENOR STREET

M argot and Gabrielle had been curled up in each other’s arms on Margot’s huge bed for hours. Neither one wanted to let go. Both knew the next day would probably bring Gabrielle’s brother to their doorstep. Sleep was out of the question for either one of them.

Gabrielle kissed Margot fervently over and over again as if she were imprinting forever the memory of her lover’s lips, as if this might be the last night they’d ever have together.

Each time Margot tried to bring up another wild idea of how they could still escape to the Continent and outrun Gabrielle’s duty to her brother, her lover would gently push a finger to her lips, stopping yet another rush of frantic imaginings of how their lives might turn out differently. How they could stay together.

“Why do we have to care about society’s expectations? Why not break free and carve out a life for us alone?”

“Because…my brother has very powerful friends in the East India Company.” She paused, lost in thought for a long moment. “Because there’s nowhere we could run that he wouldn’t have access to their agents who would find us and force me to return to him.”

When they finally wore each other out with worry and what-if’s, Gabrielle crawled behind Margot and pressed their bodies together from crown to toes. Margot was perhaps a bit taller than her, but spooned together this way, they fit snugly like a sculptor had designed them to curl as one into a long, soft arc.

She moved her hands to Margot’s scalp and rubbed soothingly before combing out her long, lush curling hair with her fingers. When Margot moaned softly, she moved on down to cup the warmth of her breasts and roll her tightened nipples beneath her thumbs and forefingers.

She lovingly circled Margot’s softly rounded belly before moving on down to her mound. Her partner rolled to face her and straddled her hips with her legs, starting another round of deep kisses.

“No matter what happens tomorrow, we’ll have had this, all of this for four years,” Gabrielle whispered.

When Margot widened her legs, Gabrielle accepted the invitation by plunging two of her fingers deep within her quim. They’d been touching and kissing each other for so long, that Gabrielle’s thrusting brought Margot to a peak of pleasure within minutes.

When Margot re-positioned herself so that she could dip her tongue deep into Gabrielle’s pussy, she reciprocated with probing licks of her own tongue across Margot’s slit. A few hours later when the chiming hall clock sounded twelve times, they decided they might as well visit the kitchen for cocoa, since neither of them could will themselves to sleep.

November 12, 1826

A Minute After Midnight

Number Five Grosvenor Street

John and Will had problems sleeping as well. They’d worried for hours about what to do about Gabrielle’s brother, and so far, neither one had come up with a solution.

Women had no rights of their own. They were more or less the property of their families, to dispose of them as they wished. The two drapers, of course, sympathized with Margot and Gabrielle’s woes, but they didn’t think they could interfere in her brother’s right to take her home.

She’d apparently been only sixteen when she’d run away, but now she was twenty. However, she still didn’t have any rights to go against her brother’s wishes.

“We have to come up with some explanation when the man shows up.” John took a sip of the tea he’d brewed for both of them.

“What can we say? This isn’t even our house. What can we tell him? That we’re the owners of a large drapers establishment who, by the way, also hire out as bodyguards? Oh, and your sister is in danger from a murderous blackmailer.” Will ran a hand through his hair whilst pouring a healthy dram of Irish whiskey into his tea.

At a soft sound from the hallway, they both looked up. Margot and Gabrielle stared at them as though they were ghosts from a cheap gothic novel.

John leapt to his feet first. Christ…what a tub of subs they’d fallen into.

Will rose and spoke first . “I’m so sorry, Gabrielle. What can we do to help?”

“We couldn’t sleep, either. Could you make us some cocoa?” She put an arm around Margot and pulled her close. “Neither one of us is any good in the kitchen.”

John moved to find a block of chocolate from the pantry whilst Will fetched a kettle to fill with water and put on to boil.

When Will returned, Margot pled her cause. “We can’t let him take her. We have to figure out a way to hide her.”

Gabrielle laid a soft hand on her arm. “My welfare isn’t your responsibility. I know my brother. He won’t give up until I’m back in our house in Surrey. He’ll make all of your lives miserable, which he’s more than capable of, considering all of his powerful friends at the East India Company.”

“Don’t let him destroy your lives too.” She gave a wry grin. “He wouldn’t think twice.”

John interrupted. “Why don’t we have the earl meet with him? At least that might make the situation seem a bit more respectable.”

“You mean the Earl of Framlingham could explain the part about my being the lady’s maid to one of his five mistresses?”

At that they broke out into uncontrollable laughter. Will laughed till tears rolled down his cheeks. “And then John and I can tell him about how we’re two drapers here to protect you from a maniacal blackmailer.”

As it turned out, none of the wild scenarios Margot had feared in the early hours materialized as the day unfolded. At nine o’clock sharp Young Rutherford brought the card of Captain Jameson Tamaryn perched on a silver tray and handed it to her, since she was the official owner of the townhouse.

“Where is he?”

“Waiting in the anti-room.” Young Rutherford left and quickly disappeared back toward the stairs down to the kitchen.

The Coward . He must be on his way to meet Molly in the pantry. She took the card and held it between her thumb and forefinger for a moment, looking at the expensive vellum with precise, no-nonsense printing and the seal of the East India Company.

Her eyes blurred as she studied the card intently. It was if she was seeking some clue that would help her secure Gabrielle’s freedom. The image depicted the company's arms, which included three merchantmen ships under full sail, two sea lions as supporters, and a sphere with the Zodiac and the words DEVS INDICAT. What a cabal of pompous men.

Finally, she decided she’d face the man and somehow make him see his sister was an adult who deserved to choose her own life . As she headed down to the ground floor entry, she heard the sound of the entryway door slamming like the crack of a cannon.

She was just in time to observe Gabrielle running up the stairs toward her and then racing past in a blur. Her lover, who not twenty minutes ago pretended to be too ill to get out of bed, had somehow put on a demure morning dress and sneaked down to face her brother alone.

At that moment, a wild pounding commenced with the knocker on the door to Number Five Grosvenor Street. He wasn’t going to take no for an answer.

The pounding was so loud that Toplofty strode out of his lair in the kitchen which he rarely left and headed up the stairway, finally joining Margot at the door.

He motioned for her to take refuge in the ground floor parlour whilst he dealt with the fractious Captain Tamaryn. She cracked the door to the parlour open a bit so she could hear what transpired.

Toplofty used his most disdainful imitation of a butler to warn the captain that no one was at home to receive him.

At one point, the man, who was tall and well built, tried to force his way past Lofty, which did not end well. Lofty was stronger than he looked, and ended up tossing the man out into the street.

Margot hid behind the door, wondering whether she should run to find Gabrielle, or join Lofty in the shindy in their entryway.

At a tap at the parlour door, she peered out at Lofty, who looked no worse for the wear. “Do you think he’ll be back?”

“I don’t think we’ll be rid of that milling cove that easily. You’d better find somewhere for your friend to hide out for awhile.”