Knight's Mistress by C. C. Gibbs Read Free Book Online

And they entered a room with subdued lighting, posh decor, affluent patrons and spectacularly naked women.
    A beautiful woman, nude except for a navel ring, beckoned an equally nude coat-check girl to take their coats. Then she escorted them to two large black velvet banquettes set against a mirrored wall. As everyone found seats, the hostess raised a manicured finger and signalled another equally dazzling, unclad woman.
    After ordering several bottles of Cristal, Max exchanged a few words with their server. As the woman left, he sat back and gave a brief nod to Dominic.
    Greta, Kate, Max, Dominic, Werner and his wife sat in one banquette, the other held the noisier half of the dinner party. Dominic and Max were the last to take their seatsand whether by chance or design, Dominic sat beside Kate.
    It was an intimate venue with an unobtrusive bar to one side, six banquettes lining the walls, and four marble-topped tables fronting a small stage. The clientele was well-dressed and cosmopolitan, the conversation hushed. Even the rowdy members of the Knight party had instinctively quieted.
    A small stage, framed in gilded pilasters and rich azure silk draperies, reminded Kate of Marie Antoinette’s little theatre at Versailles. Sofia Coppola’s movie clearly had left its mark on her. The stage set represented a richly furnished Victorian sitting room: a table set for tea, a crimson brocade chaise, a spinet and a leather padded bench, sumptuous carpets and two lace-curtained windows stage right, draped in royal blue silk.
    The black velvet banquette was soft as down, the atmosphere restful, the noise level muffled. If the servers weren’t nude and if a man and woman in period costume hadn’t walked onto the stage just then, Kate would have thought she was drinking champagne in someone’s living room.
    But as the little play began to unfold, she realized she was about to witness an erotic Victorian tableau.
    The couple began having tea, the man, as host, explaining to the young woman that his sister had sent her regrets at the last minute. ‘I sent a message to your home, but too late, I’m afraid.’
    ‘Oh, dear.’ The pretty blonde, dressed in white ruffled muslin, made a little O with her mouth. ‘I really shouldn’t stay.’
    ‘Come, Liza, we’ve been friends for years. Let me pour you a sip of sherry. It’s from Papa’s cellar.’
    ‘I shouldn’t.’ She flushed a rosy pink.
    And so it went, the couple drinking more sherry than tea, the young lady becoming more comfortable and talkative, the man full of compliments and small courtesies. The acting was really quite good, enough so that Kate was drawn into the scene despite her reservations. She wasn’t alone in her interest. The audience was captivated.
    ‘I have to marry Lord Richmond, you know,’ the actress suddenly blurted out, her eyes welling up. ‘And I hate him. He’s old and ugly.’
    ‘And cruel.’
    She clapped her hands to her cheeks. ‘Oh, no, don’t say that! You can’t mean it?’
    ‘I wish it weren’t true,’ he grimly said. ‘But it is. Everyone knows.’
    Her tears began to flow. ‘So I’m to be – sold off – for Richmond’s fortune,’ she sobbed. ‘Oh, Ned, what am I going to do?’ she wailed. ‘Help me!’
    A theatrical silence fell. You could have heard a pin drop.
    His expression solemn, he reached across the table and gave her his handkerchief. ‘You know what he’s paying for.’
    She looked down. ‘I know.’
    ‘If you weren’t a virgin …’
    ‘He wouldn’t want me.’ She looked up, her eyes bright with hope. ‘How clever you are, Ned!’ Then her face fell. ‘But the contracts have all been signed. And Mama’s already counting her money.’
    ‘Then I’m not sure what he’ll do.’
    She jumped from her chair and began pacing the room, her agitation plain. ‘The world is cruel when I can be sold off like so much chattel. It’s not fair!’ She suddenly spun around, her nostrils flaring. ‘I