Chapter 2

2

There are times in a woman's life when she reaches the place of being perfectly content. Though she never imagined such a place for herself, Sophia gazed around her small drawing room and decided she had come as close to that place as she would ever be allowed. She and three of her fellow mistresses had just enjoyed a light but tasty luncheon. A fire burned in the hearth against the October chill. Each of them had taken up residence on a different settee or chaise and now discussed, punctuated with frequent sighs, the wedding of the fifth of their number to her childhood love.

Yes, Sophia was content, and after the early trials of her life, contentment was enough.

"When shall Adrienne and Obadiah return from their wedding trip, do you think?" Lily asked as she plucked the last lemon tart from the tray Sophia's underbutler, Short Rutherford, had brought in earlier.

"Judging from the way the carriage was rocking when they left their wedding breakfast not anytime soon." Margot Fauchette, the newest of their number said with a naughty grin. This elicited squeals of laughter from the group.

"Oh!" Sophia pushed to her feet and padded barefoot to the escritoire before the drawing room window. She'd situated the piece there to take advantage of the light but also to enjoy the view of her back garden afforded her when she sat and wrote in her journal. She fetched a stack of brand-new leather-bound volumes from where Short Rutherford had placed them yesterday when they were delivered. "Lady Daedalus had these sent over from Forbidden Pleasures. The latest by An Insatiable Lady."

"Ooh, yes please!" Saida wiggled both hands greedily until Sophia placed a book in them. She distributed the others and placed Adrienne's copy on the mantel for Young Rutherford to fetch back to her and Obadiah's house, the house Lord Framlingwood had given them as a wedding gift, only a few doors down.

"The duchess's brother-in-law and sister-in-law are such dears to us." Lily petted the cover of the book and hugged the tome to her chest. Sophia smiled softly in spite of the little pang in her chest. Lily, a former actress, loved books and enjoyed their weekly literary salons, but she could neither read nor write. They each took turns reading to her, and Lily did her best to follow along. Sophia understood better than anyone the shame and sense of longing Lily felt when it came to reading.

"If this one is as good as her last one, we're in for a wicked, wicked treat." Margot reached for the teapot.

Crash!

And nearly dropped Sophia's beautiful Wedgewood keepsake when Short Rutherford burst into the room, panting and out of breath. "Mrs. Collins has returned in his lordship's carriage and there is a gentleman with her. John Coachman tipped me off, she and the gentleman are coming here!"

"Bloody hell,' Sophia muttered. "Hurry ladies. Out! Now! Rutherford, the tea things."

"Why is she bringing a man here?" Saida asked as she gathered the book, her blue silk shawl and her slippers in one hand and headed for the inset door at the far end of Sophia's sitting room.

"Hurry," Lily cried as she shoved Saida forward into the hidden passageway behind that door. "Margot do stop dawdling. For God's sake, Rutherford, give her the whole plate. Are you ever not hungry, girl?" She pushed Margot with her plate of lemon biscuits and her book ahead of her and paused to shake a finger at Sophia. "We expect a full report."

"Go!" Sophia mouthed as Short Rutherford shoved the remnants of the luncheon into the Chippendale sideboard and collapsed against it to catch his breath.

"Do you know who this man is?" she asked the underbutler.

"No, miss, but I haven't had the chance to speak with any of my brothers."

"Do so at your earliest convenience, please." Sophia took her seat on her green lavender and yellow brocade settee. "Meet Mrs. Collins at the door so she knows all is well."

"Will do, miss." He executed a brief bow and hurried out of the room.

So much for contentment. There had been odd goings on throughout the earl's little kingdom for the last month. Adrienne had been assaulted and then kidnapped. Thank goodness Obadiah had been sent to look after her by the duchess, or at least they all assumed he had been sent by the new Duchess of Chelmsford. The earl was a bit too possessive of them all to have done so, though perhaps he might if he were concerned for their safety.

She dared not ask what next. The last time she did so her husband had beaten her nearly to death, and she'd fled. Even now, the memory made her shiver. Upon hearing voices in the corridor, one of them a rich cultured baritone, she picked up a book of music and pretended to study the symbols dotted across the page.

"Mrs. Hawksworth," Mrs. Collins said as she marched into the room. "His lordship has arranged a gift for you."

Sophia hardly saw or heard the housekeeper. The moment she glanced up from her music her eyes locked with the whisky-colored gaze of a tall, broad-shouldered man with the most handsome face she'd ever seen. His sharp cheekbones, blade of a nose, and full lips were framed by dark honey-colored hair that glinted in the light from the window like dew-touched stalks of wheat. As she slowly got to her feet, the gentleman smiled and she decided her heart had stopped beating.

She wanted to step closer, however her feet refused to move. Which was likely a good thing as she was better able to peruse his form at her leisure from where she stood. Muscled thighs rose from highly polished boots and led to a narrow waist and what appeared to be a nicely flat belly. His face flushed. Poor man knew exactly what she was thinking. Sophia sank her teeth into her lower lip to keep from offering him a distinctly unladylike pursing of her lips.

"His lordship is always a generous and thoughtful gift giver," she said. "But he has rather outdone himself this time. No one has ever given me a whole man before."

"Does that mean someone has given you parts of a man?" the gentleman asked.

She looked him up and down. Slowly. "Alas, never the parts of any use to me." Her heart did a little flip in her chest.

The gentleman chuckled. Mrs. Collins cleared her throat and gave Sophia a stern glare.

"Allow me to make known to you Mr. Joshua Norcross, your music master." If her tone was any sign, Mrs. Collins was not amused, but Sophia had few memories over the three years she'd known the woman of her ever truly being amused. "Mr. Norcross, this is Mrs. Sophia Hawksworth, for whom you have been engaged by his lordship to teach whatever she wishes to learn of music. And only music." She looked from this Mr. Norcross to Sophia and back again.

"I am pleased to make your acquaintance, Mrs. Hawksworth." The gentleman bowed and schooled his features though he still did not look like any idea Sophia had ever had of a music master.

"The pleasure is mine, Mr. Norcross. It is very kind of his lordship to engage your…services. Music is my passion."

"As it is mine. I understand you are a talented harpist."

"I do well enough, but I should like to learn more."

"She is a prodigy," Mrs. Collins said. "I will leave you to it as I have things to attend to this afternoon. Perhaps you should show the gentleman your music room?" The housekeeper inclined her head and left the sitting room, closing the door behind her.

"Well," Sophia said, her voice somewhat bereft of breath.

"Indeed." He stood a few feet away from her, hands clasped behind his back and rocked on his heels. For a few minutes he studied the room, anything save look at her directly. He spotted the music book on the settee. "May I?"

"Of course." She returned to her seat and held the book out for him. He hesitated but then joined her on the settee and took the book from her.

He studied the page and instantly an expression came over his face. She recognized the expression at once. Anytime she heard a familiar piece of music, a piece that spoke to her, Sophia's face looked very much as his did now.

"A favorite?" he asked.

"I…that is…" She twisted her hands in her lap. When she lifted her head to look into his eyes once more she sensed at once she might never be able to lie to this man. A thought which both thrilled and frightened her. "Mr. Norcross, you may wish to reconsider this position. The earl does not know this, but I can neither read nor write music. Not even a little. I learn a piece by listening to it repeatedly. For some reason after only a few hearings I can remember every note and play the piece back exactly. I am sorry." She bowed her head once more, unable to watch his admiration for her talent fade at her ignorance.

Lightly, so lightly she scarce felt his touch, he used two finger to raise her chin. "I think that is most admirable, Mrs. Hawksworth. Would you like to learn to read and write music?"

She swallowed. "Very much."

"Good." He stood and offered her his hand. "Show me your music room." His palm was rough and warm and his fingers surprisingly gentle as they engulfed hers. This was a hand that had the physical strength to crush hers, to deliver the sort of blows that left a woman gasping as if for her dying breath. As he pulled her to her feet, her momentary lapse into panic flowed into something else, something hot and stirring and alive.

"This way," she said as she led him out to the staircase to the first floor.

"Tell me again why you put him in the bedchamber next to your music room?" Margot had a way of making the simplest of statements into a Spanish inquisition. Even when she spoke in a loud whisper so as not to reveal their presence in the music room in question.

"He is between accommodations at the moment," Sophia all but hissed. She leaned against the wall between the music room and the bedchamber she had insisted Mr Norcross take. Meanwhile Margot, Saida, and Lily each took a turn peering through the strategically carved viewing hole in the Greek myth themed mural that covered the aforementioned wall. The hole was at eye level and covered by an oblong medallion. Which at the moment was not nearly as important as the placement of the viewing window on the bedchamber side. The window blended into the décor and incorporated with beveled glass on that side gave the earl's mistresses a perfect view of Mr. Norcross in his bath.

"Typical musician," Lily said with a snort. "Constantly changing residences as they are ever pockets to let."

"And actors are not?" Margot smiled sweetly. To which Lily stuck out her tongue.

"Mrs. Collins wanted to put him in the servants' quarters in the attic." Sophia shook her head as Margot pushed Saida out of the way in order to check the view into the bedchamber. "But I thought since this bedchamber is next to the music room and is more befitting a man of his station, she agreed to let him move in there. Why are you three here? If Mr. Norcross catches you, he will surely tell the earl. Especially dressed as we are." She smoothed down the front of her thin wine-colored silk dressing gown. Which was more than the others were wearing if one didn't count that she was naked underneath the belted garment. Lily, Saida, and Margot wore muslin and lace nightclothes so sheer nothing was left to the imagination.

"Pffft." Saida waved her hand and all three women surrounded Sophia to continue their whispered conversation. "What I want to know is why you did not offer that magnificent man a chamber on the second floor."

"Next to your bedchamber," Lily added.

"You know perfectly well why." Sophia folded her arms across her chest. "He is here to teach me music, nothing more. And I would rather his lordship not shoot my music master for teaching me anything else." She allowed herself a brief study of the medallions that hid the view into the other room. "He's too pretty to shoot."

"Aha!" Margot covered her mouth immediately whilst Saida and Lily giggled. "So, you have noticed the gentleman's…finer points." She thrust her hips in a suggestive manner.

"And please," Lily said. "Adrienne was fucking Obadiah for weeks before she was kidnapped and ended up married to him. The earl never suspected a thing."

"All the same." Saida took a step toward the doors into the music room. "Short Rutherford is keeping watch for Mrs. Collins or, God forbid, the earl."

"Of course he is.' Sophia rolled her eyes. "That man will do anything for an extra quid. Or extra beer with his meals."

"Or an extra fifteen minutes in the pantry with that maid, Molly Black." They all smothered laughter at Margot's all too true statement.

"Very well," Sophia said. "You've had a look at him." She made a shooing motion with her hands. "Back to your houses before Mrs. Collins storms past Rutherford and delivers one of her scolds."

"But I wanted to see him come out of his bath." Saida fixed her mouth in a perfect pout.

Sophia rolled her eyes. "You all three watched him undress and step into the bath. I assure you he hasn't grown anything new soaking in all of that water the Rutherfords fetched up the stairs for him." She didn't dare mention to the girls that Mr. Norcross had tipped each of the footmen half a crown for their troubles. For a man who could not afford to rent rooms, he was more than generous with his money.

"She's right," Lily said and grabbed Saida and Margot each by one arm. "Come along. We should leave our dear Sophie to watch him leave his bath. His is, after all, her gift from the earl." Lily didn't answer as the three women crept cautiously out of the music room and scampered down the corridor to the servants' stairs that led to the passageway that stretched across all five of their Grosvenor Street townhouses. She listened intently to the underbutler, Short Rutherford's, footsteps as he came back up the corridor, passed the music room and jogged down the stairs to the first floor and then finally to the foyer.

She relaxed against the muraled wall and allowed the various raised medallions and carvings guide her. Slipping her hand into the pocket of her dressing gown, she closed her fingers around the thick ivory carved lady's comfort the women at Goodrum's House of Pleasure had given her as a parting gift when she'd left three years ago to become the earl's mistress. The detailed resemblance to a man's cock and a brief explanation as to its use had elicited a brilliant red blush from her and a great deal of laughter from the women who had undertaken her instruction in the art of being a mistress.

With no idea why, she had slipped it into her pocket before she joined the other mistresses in spying on Mr. Norcross. Liar! To be honest she knew why she'd retrieved the ivory piece from the drawer of her bedside table. She slid along the wall until she reached the spot where the medallion covered the little window. Mrs. Collins had assured them she had never discovered why it was there nor what its purpose might be. To which Margot's later response was Bollocks! if memory served.

She drew the lady's comfort from her pocket and studied the intricately detailed length of ivory. The damned thing was even fitted with a sort of hand grip for easier usage. Sophia had far less acquaintance with the various forms a man's cock might take than any of the other women she knew. Her husband's had been far shorter and softer than this one. It had never afforded her pleasure or any other feeling save perhaps pain…humiliation…shame.

Not that she'd ever made the comparison, but the earl's cock was very much like the one she now clutched in her hand. And whilst his had afforded her pleasure she'd always felt there was something more she was missing. Or perhaps she was simply a foolish, greedy girl who was not satisfied with a life many women would envy.

"Just a quick look," she muttered as she turned and pushed the oblong piece up and locked it into the open position. She perused the room as much as the little window allowed. The bath was empty. Damnation! Her contemplation and hesitation had cost her the chance to see—

"Oh! My!" Sophia clapped her free hand over her mouth. She turned away, but only for a moment. The only thing more beautiful than Mr. Norcross in his perfectly fitted gentleman's attire had to be Mr. Norcross completely out of that attire. He lay stretched out atop the crimson counterpane, his skin still glistening from the drops of bathwater he'd not bothered to towel dry. His head was propped up on the pillows and he had the back of one hand throw across his eyes. He'd raised the leg farthest from her which left his groin in full view. Now there was a cock worthy of being sculpted in ivory. She bit back a snort.

Sophia's attention was drawn to his face by some very familiar sounds. His head thrown back against the pillows, her new music master gasped and groaned in his dark, feral voice. She glanced quickly to his cock, now enclosed in his fist as he pumped up and down, the foot of the raised leg pushed into the counterpane for balance. Her heart raced. Her breasts pushed against the silk of her dressing gown, aching and full. Without thinking she untied the belt and shrugged until the garment slid to her feet.

Naked, Sophia pushed her breasts into the textured surface of the mural, rubbing her nipples against the raised medallions. She fixed her eyes on the man in the bed. Her breath came in short pants as she watched him stroke himself and pump his thick cock into his fist. She flattened one palm against the wall and with the other drew the ivory cock in her hand back and forth between her already wet nether lips. She braced her feet apart and after several strokes across the spot at the top of her cunny she pushed the ivory cock inside her with a long hiss of pleasure.

Her teeth firmly pressed into her top lip she smothered the moans and cries she could not stop as she matched the thrusting of her hand with the strokes of Mr. Norcross as he quickened his pace and gasped in sharp, short ahs! at each stroke. His arse rose and fell as he rocked the bed with blind fervor. The creaks of the bed and the slap of his fist against his groin excited her and increased the speed with which she rode the ivory cock in her hand.

"Fuck!" Mr. Norcross roared as his cock erupted and covered his hand and belly with his seed. He arched off the bed in one erotic pose, held for just a moment and then collapsed onto the counterpane, breathing like a horse ridden long and hard.

Sophia reached up to squeeze her scarred breast as she used the raised carvings in the ivory phallus to slide against the seat of her pleasure as she pumped it into her cunny until her orgasm swept through her like an inferno. She slid down the wall in a heap and tried to gasp for air as quietly as she could. With her legs splayed wide she sat and waited for her body to cool and her heart to calm its frantic beating. She drew the lady's comfort from her body and shuddered as tiny tremors went through her, echoes of the ecstasy she'd experienced.

In a few moments or a few hours, she had no idea which, Sophia felt around for her dressing gown. She pulled it on and slid the wet ivory piece back into the pocket. She'd wash the garment by hand herself. No need for the servants to know she'd fucked herself whilst watching the man now living in her house do the same to himself. Very slowly she climbed to her feet and belted the dressing gown tightly about her. Finally, her willpower returned, and she did not look through the viewing window again no matter how badly she wished to do so.

Mistake! She repeated the word over and over in her mind as she returned on shaky legs to her bedchamber on the second floor. Mistake! Mistake! Mistake!