A Gentlewoman's Dalliance Read Free

done so, he set about the fastenings of her gown. Mary wondered how many other ladies’ dresses he’d attacked in his career, because his fingers were so nimble that her dress seemed to be undone in barely a heartbeat. “You’re shaking. Please don’t be afraid.” He murmured softly into her ear and made the tiny hairs at the nape of her neck stand alert. “Perhaps you can assist, Leonard, and steady her.”
    Her husband sprang up from his comfortable chair and came forward, taking her face between his hands and kissing her lightly on the lips as his partner in crime slid down the sleeves of her gown and then eased the entire garment down over her hips. As Leonard’s tongue slipped into her mouth, his hands moved to her elbows, supporting her as Benedict pulled the dress right down, encouraging her to step out of it. She heard the swish of satin as he tossed it away, toward a chair.
    Then he was at the tapes of her petticoat, too, whisking that off while Leonard still plundered her mouth and lent his strong arm to her as she again stepped out from the circle of delicate lace-trimmed muslin.
    â€œSo, let’s see her, shall we?” suggested the specialist urbanely, stepping away.
    Immediately, Leonard ended the kiss, and as he retreated, too, Mary almost followed him. The moist contact of their mouths had been a protection, a shield of familiarity. Now she was to be exposed, both to eyes familiar with her body, and those that weren’t.
    Together, the two men perused her half-clothed form. Their glances roved over her, eyes narrowed and appraising as they circled around her, viewing her every aspect like connoisseurs assessing a marble Aphrodite. Under such intense scrutiny, Mary’s skin tingled as if she were already completely naked. Her corset, drawers and chemise were no protection. They might as well have been transparent as a sheet of Venetian glass.
    â€œVery handsome,” observed Benedict. “Very fine indeed. You are a lucky man, Leonard. I truly envy you.”
    A sense of outrage flared in Mary’s bosom, despite everything.
    I’m not a mare or a heifer to be cataloged for sale, you insolent pup, she protested silently to the younger man. And yet at the same time there was a delicious, forbidden quality to her condition. She was not so much the stock animal in the pen as the voluptuous slave woman on the block, her curvaceous form admired and coveted by desiring men who yearned to possess her.
    Raising her chin, she breathed in deeply, proud of her assets and the lush, mature shape of her body.
    â€œVery handsome,” breathed Benedict again, his long fingertips flexing as if they hungered to handle her. Low in her belly, longing surged, a matching hunger. “But she’s haughty, too, isn’t she, Leonard? She needs to learn the lesson of humility.”
    Mary’s eyes flew to Leonard’s when he coughed, and put his hand to his mouth. His eyes were alive with merriment and it was a chuckle he’d suppressed. Regaining her sense of the game, she wanted to laugh, too, but she contained her response to smiling with her eyes only at her adoring husband.
    This is fun, she thought, lowering her gaze to hide the curving of her lips. It wouldn’t do for the “submissive handmaiden” to break out into the giggles.
    â€œA little more exposure, perhaps?” her husband suggested. His cheeks bore a slight flush, so familiar to her, the two patches of pink the signal flags of his desire.
    â€œThat’s an excellent suggestion. May I?” The younger man deferred to Leonard, nodding at Mary’s bosom, then turning as if to ask permission.
    â€œGo right ahead, old boy.” Her husband nodded, running his tongue over his lips, as if anticipating the view.
    Unfamiliar hands deftly attacked the hooks down the front of her corset, unfastening several, and then loosing the small bows that secured her chemise. His pale eyes