The next day Anne arrived at the theatre to find several dozen wildflowers and a calling card for the Duke of Kelfield. The men had sent her flowers. Something she had never gotten before. She softened at the thought that these men might be more sincere then the others even though they had not approached her before, but immediately pushed the thought away. Why would two friends pursue her at once with real intentions? They would not of course. She would just thank them for the flowers, telling them she was not interested in these games. Hopefully they would show up tonight so she could get this over with.

Show up they did, with more flowers than Anne had ever seen before.

“Just a moment of your time, and if you are not interested in what we have to offer we will part ways and you will never have to see us again, on my honor as a gentleman.”

She found it hard to believe that they would truly leave her alone but she was intrigued enough at this point to listen; she might even get something out of it. On that thought, she said, boldly, “You may take me to dinner and speak with me there. Then I will make a decision.”

She was wearing the wrong clothes for a dinner, dressed as she was in a sapphire blue walking gown, but Anne knew they wouldn’t dare take her anywhere they might run into polite society, so she doubted her inappropriate dress would even be noted. So much time had passed since she last dined out and even though they had settled in a small off street cafe, Anne felt as if she were royalty as the Duke pulled a chair out for her to sit in.

The serving woman brought out the first course of nettle soup when they sat. They ate in silence at first, but then one of them spoke. “So we are asking you to be with both of us,” Ralph stated bluntly.

Anne’s brow furrowed as she thought about this, were they serious? Why were they asking her of all people? This must be some kind of farce . She thought as she finished her soup. Standing, she placed her napkin beside her now empty bowl, and looked at them. “I may not be as beautiful as the women who you usually partake in but I am beautiful in my own right and do not deserve to be mocked by you. Goodnight, Your Grace. Lord Ashford.”

“Ms. Van Rae, relax we are not picking on you. How could you even think that we would not believe you were beautiful?”

She was not the usual fare for mistresses. Sure, she could sing, and she saw a certain beauty in her body, but she never expected one, never mind two, men to be interested in her for her body. It had to be a ruse.

“Because I am not a mistress, I am a villainess in the opera. I am beautiful but not slender and not some debutante or widow.”

“That is precisely why we are interested,” Ralph said.

This surprised her, based on the normal fare around town Anne would have guessed that they preferred bones to curves and while that was their prerogative, it did give Anne a painful feeling in her gut to be completely out of their league. But if they were really not interested in that type, which Anne found unlikely, then she was willing to listen. She sat back down as the server brought the next course of quail in sauce to the table.

“It is true that we want you to be our mistress, but Ralph and I share everything, horses, and clubs included. Truthfully, we are best friends, and we do everything together. Ralph is a second son but that shouldn’t keep him out of the first state of fashion. Besides that, we just want to see if we find it more pleasurable to take two women together.”

“So you haven’t done this before?” she asked, shocked.

“Had mistresses yes, but shared mistresses? No. But we think it will work out,” Ralph said with a broad smile.  

Anne did not know how to respond to that; they wanted her together? How was that even possible? The thought made her stomach cramp with nerves while her core began to wet at the idea of it all. She had never felt this way before, aroused as she was. Her well-wishers and so called ‘admirers’ had never sparked such feelings in her. The exhilarating shiver that ran through her forced her to focus back on dinner. She ate in silence for a few moments before looking up at the pair. “So would you like some port with the syllabub?” Ralph asked, throwing her off for a moment.

“Y-Yes, of course, thank you,” she said as the server cleared the last course from the table.

“Three ports with the lemon syllabub, miss,” Jake declared, leaning back in his chair.

“So if I do this, would I continue to live alone at my apartment?”

“No you would live in our mistress house, but there is no hurry on that.”

“So I could go with you now to try this out, what if I do not like being with two men?”

“Have you ever been in a ménage a trois situation before?”

“I have barely been in a ménage a dieux situation,” Anne joked, as the server sat her dessert and port in front of her.

“If you were unhappy after a trial period we could simply part ways, but we will have a contract after that. You would still have the ability to part ways with us, but it will be more complicated after that. Is that agreeable to you?” Jake asked, sipping his port.

“That works for me, thank you, and please call me Anne.” she remarked taking a bite of the creamy substance before setting the spoon to the side, she was too filled with anticipation to continue eating.

As if sensing her arousal, Ralph asked, “Should we get started then, Anne?” At their nods he, rose from the table without even sampling his dessert and walked out. A moment later, after Jake paid, the two of them followed. Climbing into their carriage, they drove off into the night, ready to see where this connection might lead.