My grip tightened on my wine glass. I swore I would crush it in my fingers and use the shards to slice Lord Castlevane’s saggy throat if he stared down Audrey’s décolletage one more time.

Even still, I couldn’t help but sneak a glance at her bodice. How did such a tiny woman come to be in possession of such full breasts? My cock swelled as I recalled their heaviness in my hand, the small nipples bright pink against her pale skin. She had tasted like silk, like white wine in summer. She smelled like a field of cool grass, and I wanted to bury myself in her. I did not know what had come over me today, but it took all my self-control not to rip off my trousers and take her right then and there. She made it clear this was a secret tryst, and the arrangement held an allure. How many places in this monstrous mansion could we find for a clandestine rendezvous? I would need to conduct my own investigation.

“So Dr. Moorland.” Lady Aberthorne leaned in to me. Her musky perfume burned my nostrils, and I shifted away to escape its heady fumes. “What is it this program you were going on about to my husband?”

The tablecloth moved, and a small hand gripped hard onto my cock. My knee jammed into the table, rattling the dishes.

She released her hand and let out a giggle, her dark curls spiraling down and springing against her shoulders.

I cleared my throat, and Audrey smiled at me over the rim of her cup. I met her gaze and nodded before my attention returned to the lady of the house and her wandering hands. Lord Weston had mentioned how she enjoyed “entertaining” her guests, and if her performance at the Gathering was any indication, she liked more singular diversions. Perhaps there was a time with Weston where we might indulge the lady, but all my thoughts returned to Audrey. Audrey talking. Audrey singing. Audrey laughing. I could not escape her vibrant presence. Like bright rays of sunlight, she filled all the dark shadowy corners inside me. I wondered if she would come to me tonight. I would not dare enter her room without a direct invitation, but what an incredible night it would be. To take my time. To taste every inch of her.

“Dr. Moorland?”

My eyes returned to Lady Aberthorne who studied me with a quizzical expression. She might have said something, but blast it, I did not care a whit what the woman uttered. Not with Audrey in the room.

“My vaccination program?” I ventured.

She gave me a warm smile, batting her eyelashes at me. “You mentioned something about orphans?”

“Yes, that’s where we would start,” I said. “In the more crowded areas of the cities and move outwards.”

Lord Castlevane leaned across the table, pointing his fork at me, a pink slab of meat dangling at the end. “Would that smallpox could eradicate the lesser populations of London. I believe that’s what this country needs, to be honest.”

I shook my head. “With all due respect my lord, what you are suggesting is nothing short of genocide.”

Castlevane raised his eyebrows. “My, that is a harsh assessment, Dr. Moorland. Genocide denotes a degree of malice. I believe nature should take its course. Consider what the plague did to clean up the urban cities of England.”

My chest tightened, heat flaming in my face. I clenched my fists and let out a long breath. As Audrey said, Castlevane was the key to Lord Aberthorne. I glanced over at the table toward my host, but he was laughing at some joke of Weston’s. My attention returned to Castlevane.

“I have considered the plague. I have studied it. How it works and whom it affects. Disease knows no class. It brings down kings as well as the lowliest peasants. The scourge you ignore today will find you eventually.” I took a long sip of wine. I could feel Audrey’s gaze, but I looked straight at Castlevane.

He dabbed at his mouth with his napkin. “You are an alarmist, Dr. Moorland, if not a Jacobin discontent.”

Ice water flooded my veins, and I set my glass down on the table, willing my hand not to shake with rage. “I prefer to keep politics out of science and medicine. We are entering a new age of discovery, Lord Castlevane. What is the point if we do not use our knowledge to improve our society?”

Lady Aberthorne’s skirts rustled as she leaned in to me. “You have such passion, Dr. Moorland. If you did not bore us all to death with your lectures on disease, you would make a great poet.”

“I believe Lord Weston has the market cornered in that regard.” I looked across the table. “And Miss Byrnes, of course.”

She smiled and looked down at her lap, her cheeks turning pink.

Lord Castlevane glared at me.

“Still,” Lady Aberthorne said, “it’s a shame such rigor is wasted in laboratories.”

Her hand crept up my thigh, and I gritted my teeth. If I slapped her away, I might offend her, and she would mention something to her husband. Perhaps out of jealousy, he would throw me out, and the inoculation program would be over. But I was not a toy, and my back bristled with every inch her fingers shifted up my leg. With a sharp movement, I grabbed hold of her hand and squeezed. Hard. She let out a sharp exhale, and I gave her a pointed look, trapping her fingers in my palm. If I had to sit here all night with the lady’s hand in mine, so be it.

“My dear Lady Aberthorne,” I said in a low voice. “If I can keep one child from the pain and trauma of smallpox, I will see my duty done in this world and the next.”

Lord Castlevane brought his wine glass to his lips again, shaking his head. “That is where you are wrong, young man. It might begin with a vaccination program, but where will it end? Next thing you know the peasants will be storming Westminster, demanding all manner of things.”

And perhaps they should.

From across the table, Audrey rolled her eyes, shading her pained look by brushing her hand across her forehead. Her scar would heal beautifully, fading to nothing eventually. I suppressed a smile and nodded at her.

“Yes, Lord Castlevane,” I said. “Where does it end? I am a man of science. Not a magician. I cannot see the future.”

I glanced over at Lady Aberthorne who stared at me from beneath hooded lids. Her thumb curled against my palm, rubbing back and forth.

“But what I can see,” I began again, “is a clear solution in our present times.”

Aberthorne cleared his throat. “I do say, what is it you all are arguing about down there?”

A wide smile passed over the lady’s face. “Nothing, my dear. Dr. Moorland is dazzling us all with his plans for a better world. He is not just a great man of science, but a true visionary.”

He nodded thoughtfully, appraising me with a warm smile. Out of the corner of my eye, Castlevane settled back in his chair with a sulky frown. Lady Aberthorne’s hand slipped out of mine and wandered between my thighs to cup my sac. I gritted my teeth, my chest sinking. I may have made an ally, but at such a cost.