Tony held the cheroot in her lips while the young girl lifted one of the candles from its trident bracket and held it steady. “What’s your name?” Tony asked, hoping the smoke would mask the look of rising panic in her eyes.
“Lily, my lord.”
Tony almost choked on a mouthful of smoke as she saw Savage lift his eyebrows and waggle them suggestively. She needed to get away—someplace where those piercing blue eyes of his couldn’t observe her. She got to her feet. “Come on, Lily, let’s find a place where we can be private.”
Tony could feel those damned piercing blue eyes on her back, as they climbed all the way to the second deck. Inside the small stateroom there was only a bed and a tiny commode with a mirror and a wooden chair.
Tony sat down on the chair, propped her feet on the bed, and tipped the chair back to balance it on its back legs in a pretense of nonchalance.
Lily fell to her knees before Tony and cried, “Oh, please, my lord, be gentle wi’ me!”
What the devil was the girl on about? Tony crushed out the cigar and brought the chair back onto its four legs. Lily’s begging increased. “Hush, Lily. I won’t even touch you! Are some men rough with you?” Tony asked in outrage.
Lily turned off the wailing as quickly as she had turned it on. “I was only trying to excite you, my lord. Most gents love it when I’m afraid.”
“Well, I don’t love it, and please don’t call memy lord.My name is Tony.”
“Tony, would it excite you if I undressed you?” Lily offered, ready to oblige.
“Good God, no!” Tony said repressively.
“Would it excite you if you undressed me?”
“Nothing you do will excite me, Lily,” she stated firmly.
“What would you like to do with me, Tony?” Lily asked blankly.
“Can’t we just talk? Look, my guardian dragged me here against my will. Damn it, he’s hellbent on making a man of me.”
A light of comprehension dawned on Lily’s face. “I know your secret,” Lily whispered.
Tony stared at her a moment in disbelief, then let out her breath in a huge sigh. “Thank God! What a relief.”
“You need a man’s arms, not a woman’s,” Lily said knowingly. “You probably lust only for that handsome devil who brought you here. Am I right?”
Tony blushed and laughed self-consciously. “He certainly does strange things to me.”
Lily licked her lips. “Like what?” she asked breathlessly, sitting on the bed and crossing her legs.
“Well, he makes my insides feel like jelly.”
“Because of his great size?” Lily asked avidly.
“Partly. He’s the biggest man I’ve ever seen, but he’s so dominant. He likes to be obeyed.”
“Does he beat you?” Lily asked wistfully.
“No, but sometimes he looks as if he’d like to. When he slashes his damned riding crop against his boots I think he wishes he had me over his knee.”
“Riding crop?” Lily repeated with a delicious shudder. “How big is his Willie?”
“Willie?” Tony asked at a loss.
Lily laughed. “I’m Irish, we call it a Willie, but English girls call it a Peter, a Roger, or a Dick.”
The last name rang a bell. Tony knew what a dick was. She blushed profusely. “I’ve never seen it,” she confided shyly.
Lily considered for a moment, then acknowledged the lad could be telling the truth, since he’d always enter through the back door. “I can tell you haven’t been together long. Are you jealous when he comes to a place like this?”