Lady Vice Read Online Free PDF Page A

better. Unwrap yourself for me.
    She’d spent hours a day disrobing for Vaile. By the time Vaile had invited Montechurch to watch as well, Lavinia had learned the utter futility of fight.
    Or, so they had thought.
    “When I undress, I still feel as if I am being watched.” Lavinia shivered.
    Though fashion had once allowed courtiers to innocently assist married ladies with their toilette, Vaile’s forced ritual had been anything but innocent.
    “His lordship treated you as if you were one of his statues.” Maggie tsked . “I saw plenty in the days before I went to the Magdalene House, but I never heard tell of a gentleman treating his wife’s naked body as a bauble for others to admire.”
    Lavinia held Maggie’s gaze in the mirror. They both knew dressing room performances had not been his most depraved demand.
    The night of their marriage, Vaile had informed Lavinia he would not be performing his husbandly duties unless appropriately appreciated by an audience. He told her of a procuress who understood his particular tastes. Among other things, the madam brought together those of means who needed to be watched with those of means who liked to watch .
    She had refused to go to the madam’s establishment at first but, night after night, he had reminded her of her vows to him and her duty to provide an heir.
    Vaile’s voice rang through her memory. Which is more important? Your duty to provide an heir to your husband, or the preservation of your modesty?
    She had been trained from birth to obey her husband, trained that a wife’s most important duty was to provide an heir. Hogarth’s A Harlot’s Progress warned girls of the dangers that waited if they strayed from the moral path. But no one had had told her what to do if the man you vowed to obey asked you to perform outrageous acts and took delight in your pain and distress.
    Weary of his constant rage and without anywhere else to turn, she had finally agreed—with the stipulation that she be masked.
    The marital transactions, as he termed their visits to the madam’s establishment, lacked any measure of sensuality. Instead, she and Vaile had come together in a display of protest on her part and unmitigated ownership on his—much to the delight of the men peering at them through peepholes in the walls.
    Duty . She hated the word.
    “Ah, Maggie.” She rubbed her stomach. “I prayed I would conceive so I could put an end to the madness. I am grateful, now, my prayers were never answered.”
    “Come,” Maggie urged. “He cannot hurt you any longer. Let me loosen your stays.”
    Lavinia nodded stiffly, and Maggie resumed. She exhaled as her stays fell away. Maggie released the ties that secured her petticoats and the heavy, wet fabric dropped to the floor. She stepped out of the circle of lace and linen.
    “If I have a say, the house will be emptied and sold as soon as possible. Not that I wish to allow strangers to parade through the place.” She could not help another shiver, and not just because she was clad only in her shift. “Surely anyone who sees the glass door and my dressing room will guess how Vaile made me live.”
    Maggie held up a dressing gown. “Truth is not as plain as we think.”
    “I hope you are right.” Lavinia slipped her arms inside the comforting warmth and tied the garment at her collar. She swiveled and touched Maggie’s cheek. “I thank you for your loyalty.”
    Maggie flushed and turned away.
    Maggie’s years as a prostitute had hardened the maid. Three years out of the Magdalene House and several months more off the streets, and a kind word still caused her embarrassment.
    Lavinia understood. When Max had offered to take her away she had frozen inside, suddenly certain she was unworthy of his sacrifice. His kindness had only served to make the cold pain of her shame more acute.
    “Shall I ask Lady Sophia’s housekeeper to prepare dye for mourning clothes?” Maggie asked.
    Lavinia’s heart stopped. She hadn’t