A Gentlewoman's Ravishment Read Free Page B

appearing to “—but to throw myself on your mercy and his, and hope and pray that you will all be kind to me.”
    “You may have no worry on that score, madam,” says the curly-haired charmer. “My name is Yuri, and my friend here is Clarence. Please allow us to assist you to undress.”
    My heart flutters, and tongues of heat seem to lick about my body. Take my clothes off in front of not one, but two, unknown men? Scandalous!
    But sure no more scandalous than not fighting the unseen marauder in the carriage. Even though I was tied, I could have resisted somehow. But I didn’t. I succumbed.
    C’est la vie.
    The two handsome fellows close in on me with no further ado.
    “Don’t be afraid, Mrs. Enderby,” murmurs Clarence as his fingers fly to the remainder of my dress buttons and the front of my bodice gapes farther open. How does he know my name? I wonder as the two of them work as a syncopated team, and in a jiffy, my dark, heavy gown is off over my head and flung aside on a gilded chair.
    Have I been kidnapped to order? And for whom? Perhaps at Lady Arabella’s recent ball, some libidinous connoisseur of women took a fancy to me. And resolved to whisk me away from my dear Mr. Enderby in order to ravish me and debauch himself upon me.
    As I’m divested of my petticoats and my bustle, I flush with shame, and not only because my body is rapidly being exposed. I know I’m wicked because I want to be debauched.
    “Please try to relax, madam,” says Yuri softly. He’s standing behind me, as Clarence stands in front of me. I stare down at my stocking-clad toes, shuddering and acutely aware that I am in a kind of sandwich between two handsome and virile young men. Clarence clasps me by the waist, his hands spread over my corset, holding me firmly, while Yuri slips down my chemise and massages my shoulders with gentle, assertive strokes.
    He’s clever. He finds knots of tension I didn’t know I was prey to. I gasp, my body loosening already.
    “Massage is very beneficial for the nerves, Mrs. Enderby,” remarks Clarence as he steadies my swaying. “Our master recommends it heartily. Perhaps you’d like to try something a little more extensive…a little more rigorous? I’m sure you’d find it beneficial…and pleasant.”
    “Yes…yes, I think so.” My voice is like that of a mouse. Yuri’s thumbs are wreaking sweet, delicious havoc.
    “Very well, then… But we’ll have to strip you. Yuri, will you attend to Mrs. Enderby’s laces?”
    He’s brisk now. Enthusiastic. My head comes up, and I catch him glancing toward the peacock as if seeking the mighty bird’s permission to proceed. As if it’s been given, Yuri attacks my corset. My maid, Alice, ties a special knot, and rather than wrangle with the laces and hooks, Yuri steps away, opens a rosewood box standing on a sideboard a few feet off. I catch a glint of metal out of the corner of my eye, and then astonishingly, my corset falls away from me. Clarence catches it and tosses it onto the heap of my other clothes.
    Good grief, I’ve let a strange man cut me out of my corset and now I’m standing in my chemise and drawers and stockings, before the two of them…and the peacock.
    “These too, Mrs. Enderby.” Clarence flicks at the lace edging of my chemise, a vaguely rascally expression on his handsome young face. Before I can protest—although I was not planning to—he grasps the hem of the garment, whipping it off over my head. As he does so, Yuri’s sly fingers are at the tapes of my drawers, and in the blink of a peacock’s eye, they’re in a pool around my feet.
    I’m naked. But for my stockings and garters. The young men dispense with my abandoned undergarments, and they each take me by the hand, drawing my arms wide and preventing me from any vain attempts to guard my modesty and cover myself.
    None but Mr. Enderby has seen me thus, as an adult woman. The blush that warmed my face and made my ears tingle spreads to my entire body now,