Ecstasy

Chapter Two

“Doubtless you have a good reason for summoning me from my fencing match,” Kell Lasseter remarked mildly as he reached the second floor of his gaming house.

His beautiful hostess, Emma Walsh, awaited him at the head of the stairs. “A most urgent reason,” she replied in obvious agitation. “Your brother…”

Kell felt a prick of alarm, his familiar protective feelings suddenly roused. “What’s amiss? Has Sean been hurt?”

“No, not hurt. But he brought a lady here, Kell, and I fear he means her harm. He has a whip, and he has bound her to the bed.”

Kell’s dark eyebrows snapped together, a different kind of alarm coursing through him. His charming rogue of a younger brother could be wild at times, even dangerous when driven to it-yet he’d never known Sean to act with physical violence toward a woman. Still, during these past months Sean’s black moods had come more and more frequently…

“Our reputation.” Emma shuddered in horror. “If he rapes her…”

Emma was as desirous of protecting the club’s renown as he was, Kell thought grimly, but she would doubtless feel sympathy for any vulnerable female because of her own harsh past. Yet his own stomach knotted at her talk of rape.

“You must stop him, Kell. Miss Kendrick is well-known in society, and she has powerful connections.”

At the notorious name, he felt himself stiffen. Miss Raven Kendrick was the darling of the ton, and for a time last summer, she had turned his brother’s life into a living hell-delivering him to the unspeakable brutality of the British navy.

“Where are they?”

“In your bedchamber.”

Kell clenched his jaw, striving not to leap to conclusions. Sean had struggled with his inner demons for years, but since his impressment in the navy, he’d been bitter, brooding, vengeful. Had the torture he’d suffered during his enforced service finally driven him over the edge?

Swiftly Kell strode down the corridor to the bedchamber he normally used when staying overnight at his club. The Golden Fleece was an elegant gaming hell, but the gambling took place on the ground floor below, while this floor held only private rooms.

The door to his bedchamber was locked, he discovered. Kell rapped sharply, uttering one terse word. “Sean.”

When there was no reply, he spun on his heel and made his way to the adjacent study, then crossed to a second door that connected with his bedchamber. Finding this one unlocked, Kell entered and came up short, taking stock.

On the bed, a disheveled woman lay on her side, her bound hands stretched overhead and tied to the headboard. She wasn’t quite naked, but her fine cambric shift was hiked up above her knees, exposing long slender legs, while her ebony hair flowed in wild disarray over her bare shoulders.

Kell felt his heart give an unsteady jolt. So this was Miss Raven Kendrick, the dazzling debutante who commanded the homage of nobles. Their paths had never directly crossed before, probably because he actively shunned her ilk and her elevated social circles-unlike his brother, who’d earnestly aspired to join her elite ranks.

Her eyes were closed, and she didn’t stir, yet she was clearly a damsel in distress.

Kell’s first urgent impulse was to rescue her from her plight, but he fought down his natural instincts-shock, horror, fury that his brother would treat any woman so cruelly. He had to remember who she was. A deadly temptress with a heart of ice. One who lured impressionable young men to their doom simply for sport. She deserved to be punished in some fashion for the misery and suffering she’d caused his brother-although this was unquestionably too harsh a penance.

Kell’s gaze shifted to his brother. Sean sat slumped in a wing chair near the hearth, cradling a whiskey bottle in one hand, a riding whip in the other. Three long scratches scored the left side of his face.

Involuntarily Kell reached up to touch his own cheek and the wicked scar there. But his scar was an old one and no longer painful, unlike the ones his brother bore, both visible and hidden.

Outwardly, though, they were much alike, with jet black hair and athletic builds, although Sean was slighter and not quite as tall, and his eyes were shamrock green, not nearly black like Kell’s.

Sean glanced up now, his green eyes bloodshot, as if he was deep in his cups.

Kell clamped down on his churning emotions, knowing he would need to remain calm in order to deal with this volatile situation.

“Would you care to explain why you’ve barricaded yourself in my bedchamber like this?” he said finally, stepping inside and closing the door.

Sean waved his bottle toward the quiescent beauty on the bed. “Thish is my revenge,” he muttered, slurring his words. “I abducted her. Ruined her noble marriagsh. Her curshed duke won’t have her now.”

“And the whip?” Kell asked.

“Mean to flog her like I was flogged. A whip, not a cat-o’-nine-tails. Won’t hurt as much, morsh the pity.” Sean made a scoffing sound deep in his throat. “Devil is…couldn’t do it shober…Needed courage…” He held up the bottle.

Kell felt a measure of relief that his brother couldn’t cold-bloodedly carry out his planned vengeance but needed to work himself into a drunken stupor. Sean was a charming, reckless rogue with the devil’s own tongue and a quick, hot temper-no doubt a product of his half-Irish blood-but his darker nature was purely the result of his English ordeals.

And in this case, Sean’s bitterness was entirely justified. Last June, the treacherous Miss Kendrick had sent her groom to thrash him for daring to aspire to her hand. Left unconscious on the London streets, Sean had been taken up by an impressment gang and forced to serve in the Royal Navy for four brutal months, an experience that had left livid scars on his back.

Kell couldn’t think of that time without dread and guilt. When his brother had suddenly disappeared, he’d searched frantically and finally rescued Sean from the inhumaneness of the British navy. Yet Kell had once more been tormented by self-blame because he hadn’t prevented Sean’s suffering or shielded the brother he’d vowed to protect.

Tears suddenly filled Sean’s green eyes before he lowered his head. “I loved her, Kell. Why’d shhhe have to do that? Taunted and teashed me, then spurned me to wed her cursed duke an’ dishposed of me like so much offal. Heartless bish.”

Kell himself was filled with anger at the vicious seductress who’d so callously orchestrated his brother’s impressment. Even so, flogging her now was insupportable.

Crossing to his brother, Kell reached for the whip. “You don’t really want to beat her, Sean. No matter her crimes, you can’t be reduced to brutalizing women.”

When he took the whip away, Sean immediately protested. “Yesh, I can… Sheesh my hostage. Gonna hurt her th’ way shhhe hurt me.”

Kell tossed the whip on the adjacent table and noted the other weapons his brother had staged there-a pistol and a lethal-looking knife. Sean had obviously come prepared for every eventuality.

Just then the woman on the bed stirred, giving a low moan. Taking up the knife, Kell went to her. Her patrician face was flushed and feverish, but he fought his feelings of sympathy, reminding himself of her treachery as he carefully sliced away her bonds and freed her hands.

For an instant she opened her eyes, looking up at him with a vacant stare, and Kell froze in reaction. Long, sooty black lashes rimmed incredible blue eyes, making him suddenly understand the bewitching effect she’d had on his brother.

From the huge size of her pupils, though, he could clearly see she’d been drugged. Her lashes lowered and fluttered against ivory skin. Then rolling over with a weak groan, she pressed her face into the pillow.

Deliberately he drew the corner of the counterpane over her, as much to shield her near nakedness from his sight as to ensure her warmth. He had no desire to fall victim to her dangerous allure, as his brother had.

“What did you give her, Sean?” he asked over his shoulder.

“ ’Phrodisac. Made her drink it. Thash when she scratched me.”

“Not cantharides?” Kell said sharply. “Did you give her Spanish fly?”

“No…not that. Shomething Oriental. S’posed to work as well. Got it from Madame Fouchet.”

Kell felt another twinge of relief. Madame Fouchet was the proprietor of a high-class brothel Sean frequented. She would have knowledge of aphrodisiacs and appropriate doses. More crucially, she would have shunned Spanish fly, which reportedly could be deadly. Even so, it would likely be many hours before this drug wore off…

Kell ran a hand impatiently through his hair, wondering what to do about this damnable situation.

“Why an aphrodisiac?” he asked absently. “Why not simply a sleeping potion if you wanted to render her unable to fight you?”

“To make her want me.” Sean flashed a sad, watery smile. “Like she once did. She wanted me, Kell. She was so hot…could not get enough of me.”

With that, Sean struggled to his feet and moved toward the bed, determination etching his features. “Gonna use her body the way she did mine…”

Just as determinedly, Kell stepped in his path.

Sean blinked at him, then frowned. “You mean to stop me?”

“You can’t go about ravishing young ladies, no matter how reprehensible they are.”

“But sheesh no lady,” Sean replied plaintively. “She looks innochent enough, but she gave me her body. An’ doan forget, she’s Englissh.”

The reminder was like twisting a knife inside Kell. Miss Kendrick had reportedly turned down his brother’s proposal of marriage not simply because Sean was untitled, but because he was half-Irish.

Kell felt his jaw clench with familiar fury. Undoubtedly the haughty temptress had the same callous contempt for those beneath her social standing that the disdainful English Lasseters had had for his Irish mother. The same contempt that had led to his mother’s death and that still made him seethe.

He glanced over his shoulder, torn between his brother’s rightful desire for justice and his own reflexive urge to protect the helpless beauty in his bed.

He shook his head at his particular vulnerability-caring too much for the weak and powerless. How could he possibly feel sympathy for a femme fatale who’d so viciously left a trail of broken hearts across half of England? Especially when he’d sworn years ago never to let anyone hurt his brother again?

Yet, still…he would be protecting Sean by preventing his vengeance. Sean had evidently planned to seduce and abandon the beautiful Jezebel, but there would be hell to pay as a result.

“You don’t honestly want to see her tortured,” Kell asserted in a low voice.

“Yesh, I do!”

“What of the club? Do you want my reputation destroyed by a violent assault on a reputed lady?”

Grimacing, Sean brought his bottle to his lips. “Doan care,” he muttered.

Kell narrowed his gaze, belatedly wondering why Sean had brought Miss Kendrick here instead of to his own town house. Perhaps deep inside he’d wanted to be prevented from carrying out his planned vengeance. Or perhaps he’d purposely involved Kell in his machinations, bent on another sort of revenge…

Feeling a familiar ache at his brother’s festering resentment, Kell put a hand on his arm. “You should go home, Sean. You won’t find any further satisfaction by hurting her. Miss Kendrick’s reputation is thoroughly ruined now. Adequate enough revenge, wouldn’t you say?”

With a snarl, Sean shook off the restraining hand. “No! Not enough.”

Kell gave his brother a steady, intent stare. “Sean,” he said in a quiet, warning voice.

The younger man ducked his head, suddenly looking as if he might cry. After another glance at the helpless woman on the bed, however, he nodded drunkenly.

Kell led his brother to the main bedchamber door and unlocked it, glad to find Emma waiting anxiously in the corridor.

“Have someone take him home,” Kell murmured. “I will deal with him tomorrow when he’s in his right mind.”

“Yes, of course,” Emma said, putting a supporting arm around Sean’s waist and urging him toward the far staircase.

After watching them go, Kell shut the door softly, but he took a deep breath before turning to face his dilemma. What in hell’s name was he to do with the suffering, senseless woman in his bed?

Most certainly he couldn’t return her to her family in this pitiful condition. Indeed, for her own safety, he would have to keep a close eye on her. If the aphrodisiac she’d been given was even half as powerful as cantharides, she would be driven by sheer lust. And if left on her own, she might assault any man she encountered…

No, better to let her sleep off the drug and return her to her family in the morning.

Kell frowned. Raven Kendrick had thrown off the cover and was thrashing her bare legs feverishly, twisting her head side to side on the pillow. Steeling himself, he approached the bed.

She had turned onto her back, and her gossamer chemise did little to hide her sweet, firm breasts with their rose-hued nipples or the dark thatch of curls between her thighs. But it was the glorious raven tresses framing her heart-shaped face that held him momentarily spellbound-

Suddenly she reached out, her fingers clutching his arm with surprising strength as she gazed up at him, her eyes wide and unfocused. Kell found himself staring into deep pools of blue fringed by heavy lashes.

He cursed, damning the sudden quickening in his loins.

Yet, as if comforted by the sight of him, she abruptly stilled and let her eyes close. “My pirate,” she whispered. The faint smile that wreathed her delicate lips held incredible sensuality…

Hell and damnation. It was nearly impossible for him not to soften toward his beautiful, unwanted hostage. But he had to harden his heart if he had any chance of making it through the night unscathed without becoming her victim.

Extricating his arm from her astonishingly strong grasp, Kell went to the washstand to make certain the pitcher and basin held enough water to cool her fevered body. He’d seen the effects of a similar drug before, at a debauched revelry during his wilder days. She would eventually become hot as a volcano, simmering with sexual need, threatening to explode at any moment. Whatever pain she’d endured at his brother’s hands would pale in comparison to the torment she would experience from the drug if she didn’t find relief. And if he had the least measure of compassion, he would have to provide it for her, would have to help ease her suffering…

He glanced at the windows where a gray winter light still shone, grimly noting that it was late afternoon. Crossing to the fireplace, he stirred the embers and added a scoop of coal to counter the growing chill. He would have Emma bring up supper later.

At the bureau, Kell poured himself a generous glass of whiskey from a crystal decanter. Then gritting his teeth, he sank into the chair to wait, knowing it would doubtless be a long night.