I lay on my bed, my thoughts passing over the evening’s events. My mind lingered on the way Audrey’s hair brushed against her cheek as she played the harp, the way her mouth opened to usher out her high, silvery voice. I shivered, recollecting her long fingers as she plucked the strings, her shoulder muscles releasing and her back arching when she closed her eyes. It was the same look on her face when she came for me, her face flushed, a soft sheen of sweat on the edge of her forehead. I grasped the bedspread and bolted to standing, ripping off my cravat. Good god, there was no end to this.

I tugged my boots off, and they landed on the floor with a soft thud. I had my trousers half unbuttoned when a soft knock sounded at the door.

My heartbeat quickened. Was it Lady Aberthorne? My mind raced, trying to come up with some sort of excuse not to let her in. That fish had smelled a bit off, so perhaps if I said…

The knock sounded again, more urgent this time. Buttoning up my trousers, I took a deep breath and opened the door a crack.

My mouth gaped. Audrey stood in the hall in her nightdress and wrap, her eyes shining.

“May I—”

Before she could finish, I grabbed her arm and pulled her inside. Throwing her against the door, I crushed my mouth to hers, pushing my tongue between her lips. I gripped her tight, afraid she might slip away, but she melded her hips close to mine, a small whimper erupting from the back of her throat. My cock hardened at the vulnerable sound, and the need to claim her sent a fever to my brain. This woman. There was no end to wanting her.

She broke off the kiss. “Joseph, wait!”

Gasping for breath, I stopped, backing away with raised hands. “I apologize, Miss Byrnes. I—”

She took my hand and silenced me with a small kiss. “No, please. It’s not that. It’s…”

I pulled her closer to my chest. “Is there anything I can help you with? Anything at all?”

“I…I don’t know.” Her lower lip trembled, her eyelids blinking hard.

Oh dear god, she was about to cry. Panic paralyzed my limbs, and I clenched my fists at my sides. Lord grant me a broken arm. A laceration. A cold. Such things I could help, but not a weeping woman.

“What is it?” The steel in my voice shocked me, but my head pounded with rage. Someone had hurt her. Someone had distressed her somehow, and I would defend her, provide her my protection. I could do that at least.

She let go of my hand and staggered over to a chair beside the hearth. A few coals still smoldered in the grate, and I grabbed the poker and stabbed into them, forcing them to take flame. I stole a blanket from the bed and wrapped it around her before kneeling at her feet.

“Please tell me what distresses you, Audrey.”

She pulled the blanket closer under chin and let out a long, shuddering breath before glancing up at me with a big, soulful gaze. “Do you find Lady Aberthorne attractive?”

I spluttered, my face heating as I recalled the woman’s wandering hands. “I…er…”

“I find her beautiful…in an imperious sort of way.” She glanced down and played with a loose thread on the blanket, her delicate finger wrapping it around and around in a hypnotizing motion. “And as a leading member of the Gathering, surely one could do worse for a night companion.”

I blinked hard. “Audrey, my darling, I am not sure I’m following—”

Her head snapped up. “Lady Aberthorne kissed me.”

“Oh.”

She smiled, shaking her head. “And I believe I sort of enjoyed it.”

“Oh.” I settled back on my heels, my cock swelling in my trousers. The idea of Audrey kissing that formidable, sexual woman sent a bolt of desire through me, and I let out a long breath, trying to steady myself.

I swept my hand back and forth across her forearm. “She must be a woman of insatiable appetites. She was quite forward with me, as well.”

Audrey let out a low laugh. “Oh my. What den of iniquity have we found ourselves in, Dr. Moorland?”

I shrugged. “I do say our intentions were good, Miss Byrnes.”

“The road to hell was paved with good intentions.” She waved her other hand before resting her chin on her palm.

I leaned forward. “Audrey. You do not have to do this. Whatever she asks of you…you can say no.”

She shook her head. “Say no? Joseph, are you mad?”

“I…that is…” I ran my hand through my hair, shaking my head. I had not spent a great deal of time in the company of women, what with medical school and then my travels within the Ottoman Empire. I did not think Audrey was the type of women to trifle with the opposite sex, but I knew I had to walk a delicate line with her lest I say or do the wrong thing and scare her off forever.

“The Aberthornes are the highest patrons I could ever imagine procuring. To elicit Lady Aberthorne’s disfavor…I can’t imagine the consequences.” Her eyes peered sideways at me. “And what of you? I saw how she looked at you this evening. Would you refuse her? What would that mean for your inoculation program?”

I swallowed the lump in my throat. She knew one of my greatest weaknesses. One of them might have been petite brunettes with lilting Irish accents. The other? Medicine. Always medicine.

“Joseph…” she whispered.

“No.” My hands swept up to wrap around her small waist. I clung to her, shaking my head. The sound of the sputtering fire filled the room and the shadows grew longer across the wall.

“Joseph, what if…?”

I raised my head to glance at her. She looked like an oil painting. All soft curves and blurred edges. I suppressed the urge to reach up and touch the lines of her face to see if they were actual flesh and blood.

“What if…”

“What is it?” I pressed.

She leveled me with her gaze. “What if we approached her together? Did this together?”

I burst out laughing. “What do you mean? Bed Lady Aberthorne? Would her husband be joining us?”

Audrey shook her head and waved her hand. “He has three mistresses. Christine told me. He doesn’t care a whit what his wife does. In fact, I think he likes it for some reason.”

I let out an exasperated sound, dropping Audrey’s hand. “And what do you mean, doing ‘this’ together? What is ‘this’?”

She sat up, folding her knees to her chest. “I don’t know. Pleasuring her. Giving her what she wants. It could be…nice. Don’t you think?”

Flashes of Audrey rolling in the sheets with the dark-haired lady arrested me, and I coughed, shaking my head. “Lady Aberthorne is the high priestess of the Gathering, a Bacchanal cult of the lowest order. Or highest order, depending on who’s doing the measuring. Who knows what she wants?” I paused, stifling a laugh. “I suppose I could imagine a few creative scenarios if pressed.”

Audrey swatted me with the back of her hand, and my spine went rigid. This woman had no reservations, truly.

“Joseph, this is serious. The contract for my next novel is still in negotiations. You’re fighting for your program in Parliament!”

I raised my hands. “Yes, and I fail to see how fluffing the wife of the most powerful man in England could help my case.”

“Fluffing?” She quirked an eyebrow at me.

I met her gaze with a devious smile.

She blew the hair out of her face and grabbed both of my hands. “Joseph, look. I told you. Lord Aberthorne doesn’t care. He would probably knight you for giving his wife an orgasm.”

I arched an eyebrow. “Do you really think so?”

“Joseph!”

My smile widened, and I leaned toward her. “I’m sorry. You’re right. Fluffing is quite a serious business.”

She rolled her eyes and sighed. “I doubt fluffing her would be such an unpleasant task. I think I could enjoy it, actually.”

The thought of Audrey hovering between Lady Aberthorne’s thighs sent a tingling sensation straight to my cock. I shifted, clearing my throat. “How can I be of assistance?”

“Well, that’s just it. I’m not quite sure.” She stared down at her lap, and when she peered up again, her face was contorted in a frown. “How does one lady please another lady? It seems so unnatural.”

I let out a snort, and tried to stifle my laughter with my shoulder.

She swatted me again, but I caught her wrist.

“My dear Audrey, I think you know one way in which a woman can pleasure another.” I laced my fingers in hers. God, I wanted to sink my hand between her legs. The merest suggestion sent me into a fever.

Her face reddened and she stood up, pushing me away. “All right, then, so that’s one way.” She paced in front of the fireplace and turned to face me. “But certainly that’s not all…is it?”

I stood up and met her by the fireplace, taking her hand in mine. “No. There is more. Has no man ever shown you?”

“Shown me what?”

My cock twitched in my trousers, and my chest tightened. I found it difficult to believe with all her lovers, however many she’d had, not one man had the decency to kiss her exquisite sex. It was all I had thought about for the past week, sucking on her swollen clit, licking along her sweet folds. Who were these barbarians she had lain with? I swallowed the well of rage bubbling up in my chest.

It does not matter now who came before.

I cleared my throat. “Audrey, there are things one can do for a woman. Special things. I understand for a woman beneath a skilled practitioner, it can lead a lady to the heights of ecstasy.”

Her eyes glittered, and she ran her tongue across her lips. “And are you a ‘skilled practitioner?’”

A sharp tingling ran straight down my spine, and I edged toward her. “I have had no complaints, but it would be immodest of me to brag of my own talents.”

She took hold of my arm and ran her fingertips back and forth from my wrist to my shoulder. I grasped her hand and kissed the middle of her palm before pressing it to my face.

“Then show me,” she whispered. “Show me what it means to give a woman this kind of pleasure.”