The Seduction (Notorious 1)

“No,” Vanessa said with a delicate shudder.

“Madame Fouchet’s salon is known more for its stylized diversions than perversions.”

“There is a difference?” Vanessa asked archly, a facetious question Damien didn’t deign to answer.

Cursing her stubbornness, he rapped sharply on the door. Vanessa had insisted on coming here, even threatening to find another escort if he refused. But she would discover, Damien reflected darkly, a vast difference between the pleasurable carnal games she enjoyed with him in private and the sordid kind of public debauchery to be found at Fouchet’s. Shocked enough perhaps to keep away from such iniquitous dens in the future. If so, then it would be worth bringing her here, despite his grave misgivings.

They were admitted to an antechamber without question by a majordomo and greeted personally by Madame Fouchet, a Frenchwoman who seemed delighted by Lord Sin’s patronage of her establishment. If she was curious about Vanessa’s presence, she hid it well.

“And what pleasure may I offer you this evening, my lord?”

Damien favored her with a charming smile that hid his savage mood. “This lady has never attended a house such as yours, Madame. We would like to observe for a time, if we may.”

“But, of course,” Madame replied, as if his request was nothing unusual in a sporting house that catered primarily to aristocratic young bloods. “And will you be requiring a private room? Perhaps some companionship?” Her glance darted to Vanessa. “I would be pleased to offer a young man or two to entertain madame.”

Damien’s jaw tightened. “I believe we will choose our pleasure later. Meanwhile a measure of discretion would be advised. You have a mask for the lady?”

“But, of course.”

She produced a demi-mask with ease, suggesting that protecting one’s identity was an entirely common request. When she asked his lordship if he wished her to conduct a tour of the premises, Damien declined, saying he would see to the matter himself.

“As you wish, my lord. If you require anything at all, you need only ask.” Madame withdrew then, leaving her noble clients to their own devices.

Without speaking, Damien led Vanessa across the ante-chamber to an alcove. Pulling aside a velvet curtain on the wall, he exposed a glass viewing window, beyond which was an elegant salon with gilt furnishings. A half-dozen young beauties dressed in translucent gowns sat or reclined artfully in various sensual poses that displayed their charms to advantage.

“This is where clients select their partners and their particular entertainment for the evening,” Damien explained without inflection. “The hour is late. Those are the performers who have not yet been chosen.”

“Is that all they wear?” Vanessa asked in a weak voice.

Damien feigned a smile. “No. They usually change into appropriate costumes for the entertainment. Madame Fouchet excels at satisfying fantasies, and costumes are part of the fantasy. For gentlemen with a preference for young virgins, there are schoolgirls and dairymaids, who, of course, miraculously regain their virginity overnight. For more forbidden fruit, one may chose a governess or nun. If you aspire to the nobility, you can have a duchess or even a queen. Or if your tastes run to the exotic, you can order slave girls or an entire harem, although the expense for a harem is far greater.”

He paused, gauging her reaction. “There may very well be a harem in progress tonight. Would you care to see what delightful entertainment awaits, sweeting?”

Vanessa nodded hesitantly. The destructive recklessness that had driven her here still stirred her blood, yet, frankly, she was glad she was not quite sober.

Damien led her through a door to a long hallway, explaining as he went. “The rooms on this floor are used for group affairs. For more privacy there are a number of bedchambers above.”

He paused at another alcove, thi

s one boasting a much smaller viewing window than the main salon. He hesitated for a moment before moving aside with obvious reluctance. Vanessa could smell the scent of incense as she stepped up to the window.

The exotic scene was of an Eastern palace, with swaths of filmy draperies and whisping smoke. Several nude men reclined on silken cushions like pashas, wearing nothing but turbans. One of them sported a rampant erection as he avidly watched a nude dancing girl whose swaying body glistened with oil and decorative bangles. The other clients were being fed grapes and sweetmeats while their limbs and genitals were stroked with oil.

Vanessa drew back, her face flaming with shock and embarrassment. Whatever had made her think she could go through with this? But she couldn’t back down now, not after forcing Damien to bring her here.

He raised an eyebrow but refrained from comment. Leading her to the next alcove, he glanced through the window, then stepped back so she could look.

“The shipwreck is a popular entertainment here. The clients dress up as pirates and take captive a ship of female passengers.”

The scene was a ship motif lit by flaming torches, Vanessa saw. Several naked women were tied to masts. A man was taking his pleasure with one of them, his face flushed with exertion as his buttocks pumped fiercely between her white thighs.

In another corner three men lay with another bound female, jointly fondling her breasts and mons and thrusting a large ivory phallus between her legs while she writhed in apparent ecstasy.

“Ravishment is a popular fantasy,” Damien observed in a grim voice. “Here a man can have his wicked way without consequence. And adventurous ladies can pay for the pleasure of being one of the captives.”

Vanessa closed her eyes, feeling revulsion and arousal at the same time.

“You should probably learn the techniques of bondage,” Damien added coolly. “Your lover might well enjoy such pleasures.”