The Rogue (30 page)

Light
footsteps stopped outside Jane's cell. "Look at this beggarly
creature, darling," said a cool feminine voice. "Isn't she
odd? Not at all like the others."

Jane
remained as she was, with her forehead lowered onto crossed arms over
knees pulled high. For most of the day, she'd managed to avoid being
singled out by the spectators. She'd discovered that if she bored
them, they went away. Surely visiting hours must be ending soon. She
bit her lip and tried to seem as dull as possible.

A
heavier tread joined the first. "Oh, I don't know, my sweet,"
a masculine voice drawled—a voice Jane knew as well as her own.
"They all seem much the same to me."

Ethan.
At last! Jane jerked her head up to see him gazing at her calmly from
outside the cage. His arm was wrapped about the waist of a beautiful
woman—another painted ladybird like the earlier ones, but this
one was truly lovely. From the cheeks and hair that peeped out from
beneath her deep bonnet, her coloring was much the same as Jane's,
but there the resemblance ended. Jane knew when she was outclassed.

She
could only blink stupidly at them for a moment. Then she shook off
her surprise and forced down the silly twinge of hurt at seeing Ethan
with someone else. "Eth—"

He
cut her off smoothly. "Do you think that bothersome guard can
see us from here, my love?"

Jane
opened her mouth, but the other woman answered. Jane flinched, then
berated herself silently. Ethan had never addressed her so. There was
no reason for him to start now.

"Yes,
I believe he can. In fact, the bounder has been watching me ever
since we passed him."

Ethan
looked away from Jane and gazed passionately into "My Love's"
eyes. "I don't care," he murmured huskily. "I cannot
wait another moment to take you into my arms!"

"Oh,
darling!"

"Oh,
Bess!"

Before
Jane's disbelieving gaze, Ethan and the other woman—Bess?—dissolved
into a grasping, torrid embrace.

If
this was a rescue, it was a damn poor attempt! What was he trying to
do, make her vomit her way out of Bedlam?

Jane's
cage rattled. She looked back to see that Ethan had pressed his
ladybird up against the bars while passionately kissing her neck.

Apparently,
this was nothing so new in Bedlam, for the other inmates were
beginning to cheer the couple on. "She's an 'ot one, sir!"

"Best
put out that fire afore she burns the place down!"

Jane
was about to demand an explanation when she saw Ethan working his way
down Bess's neck to kneel at her feet. For the first time, Jane
noticed that the gown Bess was wearing so well was a good ten years
out of date. The waist was cinched and the skirts were outrageously
full. If Jane had been wearing it, she'd have been laughed off the
street.

Unfortunately,
Bess looked lovely in it.

Ethan
went to one knee and gazed worshipfully up at Bess. "My darling,
I must!"

Bess
tossed her head impatiently. "Go on, then, my stallion!"

Jane
looked from one to the other, completely perplexed. Was Ethan going
to propose? He was trying to kill her, wasn't he?

It
wasn't a marriage proposal. It was much worse. Ethan flipped Bess's
hem high and dove underneath.

Jane
clapped one hand over her mouth in shock and plastered herself to the
back wall of her cell. The woman's skirts flowed over the entire
front of the cage. There was nothing to see but Bess with her back
pressed to Jane's bars and her head rolling from side to side with
ecstasy. Ecstasy that had been denied to Jane, yet!

One
day she was going to make her way free of this place, and when she
did, she was going to hunt Ethan Damont down and kill him!

Then
something else caught her attention at the front of her cage. A fold
of Bess's full gown had lapped over the catch and lock—and
there was something going on under that fold!

Reason
finally beat down her shock and—admittedly— jealousy. Of
course, Ethan would never come here simply to flaunt another woman in
front of her! He had a. plan!

Relief
spun through Jane, making her dizzy with it. Her clever Ethan! And
here she'd been vowing revenge! How silly! She would wait to kill him
until
after
she thanked him.

She
heard a faint metallic click and a jingle. Then the door to the cage
inched forward slightly, digging into the folds of Bess's gown. A
manly hand carne up from under the hem and beckoned her forward with
one finger.

Normally,
Jane would not have been inclined to insinuate herself beneath the
skirts of a prostitute, but today was not a normal day. She eagerly
wiggled through the narrow opening in the gate and slipped under the
wall of scarlet brocade. Above her, Bess continued to carry on, her
cries of ecstasy growing louder.

Jane
found herself in a stuffy, dimly red-lit space crowded with skirt
hoop and the blessedly pantalets-clad limbs of another woman. And
Ethan. He pulled her to him to greet her with a hard desperate kiss.
As she pulled back, a small damp laugh broke from her. "Hello to
you too, Mr. Damont!" she whispered.

"Take
off your gown!"

Jane
blinked. "Not until we're married," she shot back.

Ethan
started. "What?" Then he shook his head. "Janet, I'm
not—"

"Ah,
sir?"

The
deep tones of the burly guard's voice close by froze them both. Jane
was sure they were caught until she realized that Bess's cries would
have covered up their own hissed whispers.

Ethan
gazed wild-eyed at Jane. "Y-yes?" he called out. "What
is it?"

His
tone was that of a bored aristocrat being disturbed by an unwanted
servant. Hysterical laughter began to rise within Jane. She pressed
one fist to her lips and gazed helplessly at Ethan while her
shoulders shook.

"Visitin'
hours is near gone, sir."

Ethan
shot Jane a warning look, but she could tell he was having trouble
restraining his own sense of the ridiculous. "I see—ah,
yes. Thank you, my good man."

From
above them, they heard Bess purr. "Yes, thank you most kindly.
We won't keep you but a moment longer." The entire dress heaved
with the force of Bess's sigh. Jane's giggles soured as she thought
of what a sigh like that would do to the woman's substantial
décolletage. Such effect was apparently not lost on the guard
either.

The
man cleared his throat with obvious difficulty. Jane hoped he managed
to wipe his chin as well. "All right then—I'll just go on
then and…"

"What
a wonderful idea," Bess cooed. "You go on then."

Jane
had never heard so much sexual promise conveyed in so few words. "I'm
going to have to practice that," she murmured, as she heard the
guard's footsteps move hesitantly away.

Ethan's
hand came over her mouth. Instead of protesting, Jane surprised
herself by wanting to melt into the hard warmth of that hand. She was
tired of being brave. She wanted to be held and told everything was
going to be fine.

Ethan
came close to whisper into her ear. "Everything's going to be
fine," he said softly. Then he slipped back out from their
silken cage and was gone. If it hadn't been so stuffy in there, Jane
would have felt cold with his absence. How did one man give off so
much heat?

Above
her, Ethan began to coo nonsense to Bess again. "Let me hold you
for just one moment more, my sweet, just one precious moment more…"
Then the toes of his boots appeared beneath the flounced hem next to
Jane's hand. Jane glared at those boot tips with narrowed eyes.
"That's close enough," she muttered. Close enough to pull
Bess into his arms, apparently.

"Oh,
my darling! Oh, my sweet!" Various wet sucking sounds ensued.

Ethan
and Bess sounded as though they were having entirely too much
enjoyment. Jane crouched low and sourly considered elbowing the man
she loved in the kneecap. If she didn't do it too hard, he wouldn't
be permanently crippled, would he?

"I
must have you, my darling, my love!"

The
gown bucked and swayed around her. Jane bit her lip. She knew it was
false—or at least hoped it was!—but she didn't think she
could bear much more.

Then
Bess dropped to her knees next to Jane. "Hullo, dearie!"

Jane
started wildly. "But—!" She looked up. The gown was
still being clenched by a passionate Ethan. She heard his amorous
murmurs continue. She looked back at Bess, who was clad in nothing
but a chemise and pantalets.

"Quickly
now," Bess urged, tugging at Jane's gray flannel gown. "Get
that thing off and give it to me."

Jane
could only stare stupidly at her. "But I've nothing underneath!"

Bess
smirked. "Trust the voice of experience, dearie. You won't die
of it. Besides, I'm giving you mine."

Finally,
the entire, mad lovely plan bloomed in Jane's mind. "Oh, my."

Wasting
no more time, she pulled the oversized gown over her head and thrust
it at Bess, keeping her blushing face averted.

She
felt Bess push something small and thin into her hand. She looked
down. Hairpins.

"Pin
that braid up," Bess urged as she scrubbed at her face paint
with a handkerchief. Beneath it, Jane was surprised to see an
ordinary freckled snub-nosed face emerge. Bess grinned at her. "Go
on! Get up there. He can't carry on like that forever!" Then she
smirked cheerfully at Jane. "Although he's been known to try."
Then Bess pulled her own hair down and felt beneath the hem for the
cage door. "Be seeing you, dearie."

Jane
stopped trying to hide her nudity long enough to put a hand on Bess's
arm. "Will you be all right?"

Bess
blinked as if she hadn't expected Jane to care. "Oh, sure. I'll
take myself a rest cure for a few days, and then—" She
held up an iron key just like the guard's. In fact, Jane rather
thought it
was
the guard's! "I nicked it off his belt just now!" Bess
winked. "Don't worry, dearie. It'll be worth it!"

Then
she flipped up the hem and was gone. Jane heard the lock clink back
into place.

"Janet!"
Ethan's urgent whisper came down through the neckline of the gown.
"Get your lovely arse into this dress!"

Fortunately,
Jane was intimately acquainted with the construction of such dresses,
since she had refitted and resewn her mother's old gowns for both of
them over the years. Her mother had taken every single stitch of
clothing with her when she and Jane had made the trip to the Dowager
House, for that wealth of wardrobe had supplied the two of them with
fabric and trims throughout the following ten years. Jane's mother
had drifted through the rotting rooms of the Dowager House clad in
the same costly gowns as she had always worn, as if she walked in
halls of gold.

As
Jane eased her way up the statuesque gown, she bit back another
semi-hysterical giggle. She'd done her share of silent cursing at
recalcitrant hoops and corsets over the years. She felt as though she
ought to apologize to every single one as she popped up through the
gown that was going to save her life.

She
eased her head up to peer at Ethan, who was glaring at her through
the open neckline.

"Hurry
it up, will you?" he hissed at her. "That guard could come
back to the upper gallery at any moment!"

"Close
your eyes," Jane told him.

Ethan
shut his eyes obediently—at first. Then, as he felt her begin
to rise and fill the empty dress in his arms, he found himself
compelled to open them the tiniest slit. After all, he'd never
claimed to be a gentleman!

She
was completely nude. He could see directly down the dress to nearly
every part of her elegant, rose-tinted body. She was having a bit of
trouble fitting her arms into the sleeves from that angle and Ethan
got an eyeful of round pert breasts that swayed very temptingly with
her every movement. She glanced suspiciously up at him a few times,
but Ethan had spent years on his poker face. He knew she could not
see past his lashes to his slitted eyes and he knew that no sign of
his rousing lust was displayed upon his face.