Revealing Ruby (Bound and Determined #1.5)(8)
Her dress this evening was blue, sapphire-blue velvet. A dress that begged to be stroked and petted. Tiny puff sleeves edged the shallow bodice. The waist was high, as was the fashion, and the skirts fell loose. Or it should have been loose; the soft silk velvet clung to her like another skin. The red wig lay in loose curls about her face and shoulders. Her cosmetics were restrained, a darkening of lashes and lips, her cheeks left pale.
Men always expected her to be wearing red or black, but she liked to add a bit of variety to the mix. And she’d come to realize that in their minds she wore red no matter what. Half the men who saw her tonight would swear the gown was red.
Perfect—or at least almost so. Reaching into the drawer nearest the door she pulled out a large pair of sapphire ear bobs. She wore them every night that she worked. They were her private talisman. They hung an inch or two above her shoulders, dancing in the candlelight. Everyone assumed they were paste. She could probably have worn them out walking at midnight and escaped theft. They were far too large to be real.
But they were.
Her father had given them to her mother upon her birth. It was why she wore them each night when she opened the doors and invited guests into her parlor, a symbol of what her life had been and what she had made it.
There, now she was perfect.
Placing a look of warm welcome upon her face she swung the doors wide, inviting the men into her elaborate parlor.
“Welcome, Lord Thorton. It is so good to see you again.”
—
Derek almost hadn’t come. It was true that he still felt anger at being cheated, but the amount had been trivial in the great scheme of things. The last thing he needed was another confrontation with the far-too-intriguing madame. Ruby was trouble and anybody with eyes could see that.
He should have sent his cabin boy over to pick up the monies. No. He was all too aware what young Peter would have thought upon entering the house. A boy of that age had enough dreams of naked women running through his mind without confronting him with the actual thing. Not that one was likely to see more than a flash of shoulder or ankle at Madame Rouge’s before one had presented payment. Ruby had been a stickler for having the money first.
Still, he could have sent any one of the sailors. He couldn’t claim that the rest of his men were too innocent to visit a whorehouse.
So why was he standing outside the bright red door waiting to go in? He glanced at the discreet brass plaque to the left of the door: Madame Rouge’s House for Gentlemen of Taste. It didn’t say just what they required a taste for. And based on some of the things he’d seen and heard he wasn’t sure he wanted to know. He loved women. They were magic creatures, but all he wanted from them was a simple f*ck. He didn’t need any complications.
And he still had Thompson to worry about. He’d tried again to persuade his mate to accompany him, but to no avail. If the man didn’t cheer up soon Derek would be tempted to toss him to the sharks. A knot curled in his gut as he considered his friend’s predicament.
He lifted the large knocker and let it fall. Instantly the door swung open. The older man who’d greeted him, and then given way to his ire earlier, answered. His eyes grew large as he first met Derek’s gaze, but then he carefully covered his expression with a welcoming smile. “Please come in, Captain Price. I believe Madame Rouge is waiting in the parlor.”
Derek followed him down the hall to the door he had passed through that afternoon. Now the door stood open and a woman’s low, husky laugh drifted through it. His body tightened at the sound, his toes curling. Was that her? It was not the laugh he would have imagined, far deeper and huskier, but it suited her. Oh yes, it suited her.
He strode in without looking about.
Ruby reclined upon the chaise in much the same manner as she had earlier that day, one arm draped elegantly across the back, the other lying by her side. He wondered if she’d practiced the pose to make it look so natural.
He blinked. Bloody hell, the woman knew how to dress. His fingers longed to brush the velvet over those mounded breasts, to stroke and squeeze until her nipples puckered against the fabric. His cock was firm against his leg and rising steadily—and he was sure that was just what she’d intended.
She glanced up as he entered, her lips curving in a slight arch, telling him that he’d guessed correctly about her intentions. She held his gaze for just a moment, her sparkling blue eyes speaking of forbidden delights, before she glanced back to the somewhat older gentleman who sat across from her. “Lord Thorton, I’d like to introduce you to Captain Price. I am afraid he’s American, but he seems to have some degree of taste despite that fact. Captain Price, Lord Thorton.” Ruby nodded as she spoke, her smile light and careful, holding back any offense her words might cause.
Lord Thorton turned. “Pleased to meet you—and clearly he must have taste if he finds himself here.”
Ruby tittered, far different than the laugh of a moment before. “You are such a flatterer.”
“Evidently not enough of one or you’d not be sending me upstairs to another,” Lord Thorton replied.
Derek’s hands curled into fists at the man’s words and he forced them open. The man was a good two decades older than Ruby and beginning to grow a paunch. “I believe we have some business to attend to, Madame Rouge.”
Ruby nodded, and then turned back to Lord Thorton. “Mary should be here any moment to take you up. I’ve put you in the green chamber just as you requested and asked that a light repast be served there. Is there anything else that you require?”