A Devil Named DeVere (The Devil DeVere)(79)

"You may wonder all you like, but my identity is not your concern."

"Ah, but you seek something from me, do you not? This is a house of both business and pleasure, you understand. Perhaps we can come to an arrangement?"

"You wish me to pay you just to speak to her?"

"One hundred guineas per hour for Salime," the bawd said with an avaricious gleam in her eye.

"But I only need a moment," Diana protested.

"Salime's time is exceedingly valuable."

"So she said," Diana replied wryly, wondering if she even had enough coin to procure the brief interview she sought. "I have but ten guineas." She opened her purse.

"That will buy you precisely seven minutes, my dear."

"Seven minutes?" Diana sighed. "So be it then." She gave the madam the ten gold coins, and Mrs. Hayes promptly beckoned to the footman. "Jenkins, take her to Salime."

***

The footman opened the door to a large and exotic room much like DeVere's private apartments, only in this case, a scantily clad woman reclined on the divan, the stem of a hookah between her teeth. She took a slow pull before casting a lazy gaze toward Diana.

"So you come at last." Her lip curled with insolence.

"Yes. I have come regarding your proposal," Diana said stiffly.

"Come." Salime gestured her to the divan. "You will smoke with me."

"I don't smoke," Diana said. "What is it?"

"Opium," Salime replied. "It relaxes the body and opens the mind." She offered Diana the pipe. "You are sadly in need of both."

Diana scowled.

"You will smoke if you wish to speak with me," Salime insisted.

"Very well," Diana snapped, taking in a brisk and choking puff that made her lungs burn and her eyes sting. She threw down the pipe with a glower.

Salime gave her a glassy-eyed smirk. "You must learn patience and to wait for instruction." She offered the stem to Diana once more. "Slowly, gently, draw it into your lungs as if you inhale the fragrance of a delicate flower."

When Diana repeated her attempt, she choked less violently. Within minutes, a peculiar languor settled over her.

"Much better," Salime remarked, settling herself back on the silk cushions. "Now we talk."

"Several weeks ago, you made me an offer—"

"One you snubbed with your English arrogance."

"It was with no disrespect to you, madam."

"No?" Salime looked dubious.

"You don't understand how it is between he and I. We have a history, one that ended badly."

"For both of you, I think. Yet he still desires you, Khunam."

"Yes," Diana replied. "He has made it clear, but it's only a matter of vanity, because I snub him."

"I think not," Salime said. "For Effendi is a man of great pride, but this reaches deeper. But now you change your mind?"

"Perhaps," Diana answered. "You said you could teach me things. You said 'it is he who would soon be enslaved, heart and soul—prostrate at your feet!' I wish to learn what you meant by this."

Salime gifted her with a secretive smile. "You wish to make him wet clay in your hands?"

"Yes. I agreed to a wager and lost. I now must go to him, but I want it to be on my terms. Do you understand that?"

"I understand very well, Khunam. But did you not agree to give yourself to him completely?"

"Without condition or constraint," Diana confessed.

"Do you not understand what this means? He desires much more from you than just to be a bedmate. You must seek his pleasure in all things."

Diana bridled. "I may agree to go to his bed, but I shall not become his slave!"

"But what woman would have agreed to such a wager unless she secretly desired to lose it?"

"I assure you I intended no such thing!" Even as she spoke it, Diana wondered at the truth of her own protest.

"It is a dangerous game you wish to play, Khunam, for Effendi is not without secrets of his own."

"But you will help me?"

Salime nodded.

Diana didn't fully understand why Salime wished to teach her, but she was avowed not to refuse knowledge she could come by in no other way. While she had foolishly wagered and lost, she now had a plan to ensure she would not be the true loser in the end. Four years ago, she had been innocent in the ways of passion. DeVere had beguiled and seduced her with his dark charm and erotic arts, but now Diana sought the secrets to seduce him in kind.

"I suggest we begin at once," Salime said. "My mornings are my own. Thus you must return tomorrow at nine o'clock. I will speak to Madam Hayes. When she understands for whom this service, your tutelage, is performed, she shall not oppose it, but my services for your tuition in these ways of love shall be procured at no small expense."

The footman rapped upon the door to indicate her time was finished.

"How much?" Diana asked, taking stock of her empty purse.

"I do not speak of gold, Khanum, but of something far more valuable that you are sure to lose in this bargain"

"And what, pray, is that?" Diana demanded.

Salime gave her a knowing smile. "Your heart, Khanum."