Savage Nights (The Savage Trilogy #2) (31 page)

Last, but certainly not least, was the pearl necklace that Savage had given me, looped sinuously in its case. It must not have been easy for Hamlin to bring Savage’s pearls in place of the ones that my husband had given me at my wedding, though perhaps the mercenary fact that Savage’s gift was more valuable than Arthur’s had been might have been enough for her to put aside her old loyalties.

But then in many ways this was more Hamlin’s day of glory than mine. Dressing me for Court must be the ultimate creation for a lady’s maid, and even Hamlin couldn’t be her usual dour self in the face of such a challenge.

“Come now, ma’am; come,” she said, hurrying me into the bathroom where I heard the splashing sound of the tub being filled. The small room was already steamy, and the flowery scent of bath oil perfumed the air. “There is so much to do to prepare you, and we’ve only a few hours.”

She drew the robe from my shoulders, the same way she’d done thousands of times before, and I climbed into the tub, sighing gratefully as I sank into the warm water.

“Let me soak a few minutes, Hamlin,” I said. “You’ll have time enough, I’m sure.”

She didn’t reply, and I glanced back at her. She was tightly clutching the robe in her hands and staring in horror at my breasts with the nipple rings and the diamond teardrop hanging between them.

“Another gift from His Lordship,” I explained, trying to sound blasé even as I blushed.

“Yes, ma’am,” she said, disapproval roiling through the two words. “That … that rigmarole must be removed before you bathe.”

“It’s not rigmarole, Hamlin,” I said. “It’s a diamond-studded jewel, and it’s not to be removed. I intend to wear it beneath my chemise and corset today.”

“To the Palace, ma’am?” Hamlin exclaimed in disbelief. “Before Her Majesty?”

“Yes, and before His Majesty, too,” I said firmly. “It is not your decision.”

“No, ma’am,” she said grimly, putting aside the robe and coming around to the back of tub to begin washing my hair. “But I will say that I’ve never seen the like.”

I was certain she hadn’t, but with everything else happening to me today Hamlin’s lack of worldly experiences was among the least of my concerns. I closed my eyes, letting the warm water relax me, and tried to let my thoughts relax, too, the way I usually did in the bath.

Yet my thoughts kept returning uneasily to something Savage had said:
I cannot be everything to you, just as you cannot be everything to me.

What had he meant by that? In the same breath he’d spoken of how I should form other alliances, too. Variety had been one of the main rules of the Game as it was played at Wrenton. No one was expected or encouraged to keep the same partner. Savage and I had already pushed the boundaries by being exclusively attached for nearly two weeks. I was acutely aware of how we had nearly reached the end of our agreed-upon time together, but was he pushing me to find another lover, another gentleman to amuse me? Or was it that he himself had already set his sights on a new lady?

I knew the rules. I knew his penchant—and his reputation—for variety. I knew that we’d never promised anything to each other beyond sexual diversion and pleasure.

And yet, and yet …

If I was honest to myself, I also knew I didn’t want to find another man. I didn’t want to explore more sexual games with anyone other than Savage. I didn’t want our time together to end.

I didn’t because I loved him.

I’d never loved any other man, but I loved Savage, loved him more than was wise, more than I could easily undo or forget.

I could tell myself that he loved me in return, and deep down I did believe it. In a thousand small ways he’d told me he cared for me, but he’d never once said the magical word, nor had I. I also told myself that too many men would speak of love carelessly, without any meaning, while Savage had not spoken it but shown that he treasured me and that we belonged together.

That meant more, didn’t it? Weren’t actions supposed to speak louder than any mere words?

Then why hadn’t he ever said it aloud? Why hadn’t he freed me to speak my own heart’s longings to him in return?

Why had I let myself be drawn into this miserable Game that could be at once so full of unimaginable pleasure yet so inexpressibly painful, too?

Admitting all this to myself hurt, and I groaned aloud, making the chain between my breasts tremble and send little ripples through the bathwater.

“Are you unwell, ma’am?” Hamlin asked with concern as she held the towel open for me.

“I’m perfectly well,” I said, rising from the tub with a scattering of droplets. “I’m only concerned about whether I’ll be dressed in time.”

That was as good as a dare to Hamlin, and for the next two hours I was at her complete mercy. That was how long it took me to be powdered, coiffed, corseted, dressed, and bejeweled. Most time-consuming of all was the arrangement of my hair and headdress. My hair required extra pins to offer a secure base for the tiara and the veil that floated behind, and finally the three white ostrich plumes. The hairdresser Savage had hired knew all the tricks of this complicated arrangement and used needle and thread to sew the tiara and plumes into my hair so there’d be no question of anything falling off as I curtseyed.

When all this was complete, I stood before the tall dressing glass while Hamlin and the other women hovered proudly around me. There was no doubt that they’d made me an imposing figure, tall and regal and glittering with gold-thread embroidery, diamonds, and pearls.

But I’d grown so accustomed to wearing next to nothing with Savage that the formal dress felt stiff and confining, like a trap of silk and steel bones, and the train—all eleven feet of it that Court dress required—dragged like a gilded weight behind me. The diamond choker forced me to hold my chin high, and already my neck was beginning to ache from the effort of holding so much atop my head. The only things that felt familiar were the nipple rings, now well hidden beneath layers of clothing yet their pressure still somehow oddly comforting because they’d been put there by Savage.

“Oh, ma’am, you shall be the most beautiful lady there,” Hamlin said, sighing with happiness. “You’ll do all of us Americans proud, you will.”

I didn’t care about doing anyone proud. All I cared about was finding Savage before I had to leave for the palace with Lady Tremayne. It wasn’t that I wanted his admiration. Rather, we’d been together so much that it felt wrong to be apart and I longed for the comfort and reassurance of his company, if even for a few minutes before I had to leave. I looped the train over my arm the way I’d been taught and hurried across the hall to look for him.

“Savage?” I called eagerly as I walked through his rooms. “I want to show you all my noble splendor.”

But to my surprise, there was no answering voice and no sign of him at all. Disappointed, I couldn’t help but wander into the bedroom where we’d shared so much. By now, the bed was neatly made, with all traces of our earlier passion—and of us—tidied away. How easily it had been done! I didn’t want to believe he’d left the house without wishing me well, and unhappily I turned, preparing to go downstairs alone.

As I did I noticed one of the drawings he must have made of me last night, now propped on the bookshelf near his side of the bed where he must have seen it as soon as he awakened. I frowned, drawing closer to study the drawing. This one wasn’t like the other pictures he’d made of me—not at all.

The lines were sharp and aggressive, the shadows harsh and black in comparison to the pale vulnerability of my skin. Clearly this hadn’t been an easy drawing for him to make, any more than it was easy for me to see it now. Somehow the reality of my posture was more shocking in the drawing than it had been to experience: on my knees, blindfolded, with my wrists and ankles bound and the pendant dangling from the rings on my nipples. At the time, I’d felt bowed and submissive and entirely at his mercy, yet that wasn’t how he’d drawn me. Instead the arch of my back and the turn of my head seemed boldly defiant. I didn’t look like a captive but a rebel, ready to run away at the first chance.

Was that truly how he saw me? Independent, rebellious, and ready to flee, no matter how he tried to restrain me?

“Mrs. Hart, ma’am,” said Savage’s manservant, standing in the bedroom’s doorway. “If it pleases you, His Lordship would like to see you in the library downstairs before you leave.”

Relief swept over me.

“Thank you, Barry,” I said, returning the drawing to the shelf where it had been standing. “Show me the way, please.”

I walked down the stairs as swiftly as I could beneath the burden of my formal clothing and followed Barry to a room that faced the garden at the back of the house. I’d been a guest here for nearly a week, yet I’d rarely ventured from Savage’s private rooms upstairs. I’d seen next to nothing of the house or its obvious treasures, and I couldn’t have found the library without Barry’s guidance. Now the manservant knocked, and at the muffled assent from within he began to open the double doors himself for me.

I hung back a second, just long enough to drop my train from my arm to the floor and to sweep it gracefully behind me. When we’d been at Gaspari’s, Savage had told me that he wished to see me dressed to slay every other woman at the Drawing Room, and I wanted to give him that moment now.

The doors opened, and I glided through them. He was standing in the center of the room over a large desk strewn with papers and maps. He was in his shirtsleeves, the cuffs rolled up to his elbows over his forearms and the collar unbuttoned at the throat, and his smile when he looked up to see me made my heart skip.

“Evelyn,” he said. “Eve. You are …
magnificent
.”

14.

I blushed, pleased by his response. “You approve, then?”

“How could I not?” Savage left the desk to come walk around me, considering me from every angle. “His Majesty may suffer a complete apoplexy, having you at his feet.”

“You know it’s only for a few seconds,” I said almost apologetically. “So much effort and expense, and for what?”

“For the chance to be received in every fashionable house in Britain,” Savage said with just the proper tinge of mockery. “That’s every American woman’s dream, isn’t it?”

“Every New York woman’s,” I admitted. “I’ll be forever guaranteed a place in Mrs. Astor’s ballroom after this.”

He stopped his circling to stand directly before me. His dark hair was neatly slicked back now, the waves tamed, and his jaw was so newly shaven that it gleamed. He looked almost civilized, standing there surrounded by books and paintings.

I wasn’t fooled. Nor did I wish to be.

The next moment he proved it. He leaned forward to kiss me, taking care not to touch any of my finery. With us joined only by our mouths, he kissed me purposefully, his tongue penetrating my mouth to duel wetly with mine. All sensation focused on the forceful possession of that kiss, desire stabbing directly to my sex. Obeying the unspoken order, my hands fluttered uncertainly at my sides and clutched at the air to keep from touching him.

Without warning he deftly plunged his hand down the front of my low-cut bodice, beneath my corset and chemise to find my right breast. He plumped the flesh against his palm, testing it, then grazed his fingers over my nipple. Instantly he found the tip, made swollen and extrasensitive by the gold and gem-studded circle tightened around it. I broke away from his kiss and gasped, but I didn’t pull my body back, and he smiled wickedly.

“You wore the rings as I asked,” he said, his voice low, satisfied. “You obeyed me, Eve.”

“Yes, Master,” I whispered, dizzy with desire and bewilderment. How could such a slight touch from him be enough to do that to me? “I always obey you.”

“Almost always,” he corrected. “But in this you couldn’t have done better. This evening you’ll be surrounded by crowds of others, none of whom will guess that beneath your dress you’re wearing these rings, or that when you make your curtsey before the king and queen your breasts will be aching with excitement.”

“No, Master,” I breathed, feeling that arousal even now. “I will know, but no one else.”

“Except for me,” he said, the pad of his thumb rubbing back and forth over my trapped nipple. Such a tiny caress, and yet I felt the pull of it in my quim, that familiar building heat and tension. “I’ll know, too. It shall be our secret, Eve, won’t it?”

“Yes, Master,” I barely managed to say, my breathing ragged. “Only ours.”

“Exactly.” With unnerving aplomb he slipped his hand free of my bodice and smoothed the layers of silk and lace back into place. “But your obedience tonight guarantees that you’ll receive your reward after you’ve been presented.”

“Thank you, Master.” I let out my breath, belatedly realizing I’d been holding it as long as he’d teased my nipple. I’d half-hoped he’d change his mind and fuck me there in his library, but instead he walked to the far side of the desk, his mind clearly shifting back to other matters with disappointing swiftness. He bent over the papers, poring over them.

The large mahogany desk now stood between us, a physical barrier, but there was also to be another, less visible one between us. He’d withdrawn from me as completely as if I’d already left the room or, worse, he’d dismissed me. He’d done it before, not that that made it any more pleasant. This time, however, I was determined not to let him withdraw from me again.

“Would you please summon Lawton to join us?” I said as if our conversation were continuing still—which, to me, it was. “He’d asked if he could see me dressed for Court, and I promised him I wouldn’t leave before he did.”

“Lawton?” Savage repeated, glancing up with surprise. “I’m sorry, Evelyn, but he’s no longer at home.”

I took a step forward, forcibly closing the gap between us. “Where has he gone? To the home of a friend?”

“I’ve sent him to Berkshire,” Savage said. “You may recall I’ve an aunt there, who has agreed to look after him until the next term begins and he can return to school.”

I couldn’t keep back the little exclamation of disappointment.

“I’m sorry,” I said wistfully. “I didn’t have a chance to say good-bye.”