A Gentleman's Wager Read Free Page B

washed the colour from her cheeks and turned her into a porcelain doll dressed in satin, velvet and lace. Bella wrinkled her nose at the vibrant yellow dress Louisa had lifted from her trunk.
    ‘I know – you hate it,’ Louisa said before Bella had a chance to comment. ‘But it’s the fashion, and my aunt insisted. I suppose you’re still living in your riding-habit.’
    Bella stroked her hand over her plum velvet outfit. The slightly worn pile was familiar to the touch and becoming a little shabby. She’d had it especially made to resemble a man’s frock coat, and it was her favourite even if it was nearly five years old.
    ‘Not all the time.’
    ‘Just most of it.’ They shared a smile and two years fell away, as if this was an ordinary conversation on an ordinary day before Louisa’s brother had died. After that, she’d been forced to leave Yorkshire to live with her aunt. Bella, who had never been out of North Riding, sometimes dreamed of seeing the capital.
    ‘So will you tell me why you’re at odds about Viscount Marlinscar, or do I have to guess?’ asked Louisa. She lifted another dress from her trunk. This one was a more tasteful shade of lilac. Holding both gowns, she opened the closet and sneezed as dust and the smell of mothballs wafted into the room. On the bed, Bella merely wrinkled her nose at the reek of camphor. She leaned across to a drawer and took out a beribboned lavender bag.
    ‘You won’t like it,’ she said, as she passed Louisa the perfumed sack.
    Louisa knotted the ribbon around one of the hangers. ‘That doesn’t surprise me. Did you meet him at a party?’
    A party. Bella hadn’t been to one in ages, whereas Lucerne was probably invited to dinner every night. Why hadn’t Joshua invited him on an evening when everyone was more relaxed, instead of during the day?
    ‘No, wandering about his garden,’ she said.
    Louisa pushed the door a little too firmly and it slammed sharply. Tight-lipped, she glanced between Bella and the closet as if unsure what to say.
    ‘It’s not that bad. I watched him swimming in the river. That’s all.’ Bella had to hide her expression in the drapes. Louisa was something of a prude when it came to men. Gracious, Bella wasn’t even sure she’d ever kissed one. But just the thought of Lucerne Marlinscar – his creamy flawless skin, his long lean body dipping in and out of the water and his hand working over his beautiful erect cock – plastered a huge grin across her face.
    ‘That’s all?’ Louisa said stiffly.
    ‘More or less.’
    ‘Somehow, I don’t believe you. Even if he were swimming in the buff, you wouldn’t fret over meeting him this much. There’s obviously something else.’
    Bella chewed her bottom lip and clenched her hands to stop them straying towards her thighs. She wondered how much to tell. She’d definitely skip the part with Mark. Louisa wouldn’t understand that; servants were just the people who did her bidding. As for Lucerne, she found herself surprisingly reluctant now that Louisa was asking, although all week she’d been itching to tell someone.
    ‘Confession time,’ said Louisa. She patted the lid of her trunk, a habit she must have picked up from her aunt. She stared expectantly at Bella, who remained on the bed.
    ‘All right, I watched him masturbate … watched him play with himself,’ Bella explained, uncertain that her friend would understand the word. She slipped her shoes off, and curled her toes into the cotton sheets of the bed. ‘He lay down on the river-bank after his swim, and he looked so peaceful, so … anyway, I couldn’t help myself. Now you can be shocked.’
    Louisa didn’t look even slightly shocked. ‘Did he see you?’ she asked.
    Bella frowned, puzzled by Louisa’s composure. In the past when Bella had tried to talk about men, her friend had generally turned scarlet and accused her of harlotry. Clearly she’d become used to gossip.
    ‘Well, we didn’t exactly get to formal