When the carriage stopped a short while later, Lucas didn't wait for his footman to descend from his perch and opened the carriage door himself. Edwina tumbled out after him and they hurried up the stone path to the side entrance of the building.

He resisted the urge to clasp tightly to Edwina's arm and pull her close to his side, to shield her from the atrocities going on within the brick manor that sat at the corner of King Street in Covent Garden.

Lucas had entered the premises of the brothel many times in the past several years, the sole physician for the soiled doves within. He was familiar with the grounds, the establishment, at least all he had ever seen from entering through the service entrance.

More so, he was familiar with the activities within the Hothouse. He knew the clientele, he shared drinks with some, lectures with others. He never partook in the services offered by the Cyprians, no matter how some clambered after him, wishing to show their gratitude in the only way they knew how. And, he did not judge them for their chosen profession, no matter how much he wished there were other opportunities for the women, and if he was truthful with himself, many of them mere girls who'd found themselves in desperate circumstances.

He glanced down at Edwina. Women even younger than Edwina, but older than her in so many other ways. Though, after last night, Lucas frowned, not in many more ways.

Why had he brought her along? He knew he was entangling himself with Edwina in ways that he may never be able to unravel.

Which, brought to mind the question, did he truly want to?

***

Edwina looked up at the manor before them. It was plain, constructed out of red brick with a gabled roof. A small, flourishing flower garden lined the stone path. She would not have given it a second glance if she had passed by, though, now that she thought of it, the street did look familiar. Edwina glanced behind her and realized that they were only a few blocks away from Lucas's own apartment above the coffeehouse in one direction and in the other the Swineherd, the tavern where she and Lucas met again that one fateful night.

They must have passed the brothel on the way to Lucas's apartment that night, but she was too focused on getting Lucas home alive to realize where she was.

More so, only just down the street was the home of Jamie Croft–the feverish boy they had treated the other morning.

Edwina turned back to the house in wonder. To think, she was in the presence of a brothel all week long and had no knowledge of it. Of course, it was designed to be overlooked, to blend in with its surroundings. The house only stood apart from its neighbors by the candlelight that blared from the windows and the frenzied movement of many shadowed figures behind the murky glass. A thrill passed through her as she wondered what she would find within. A brothel, a den of iniquity, was much like a gentlemen's club, forbidden ground for ladies like herself. If it wasn't for the dire nature of their call, Edwina would squeal in excitement at the upcoming adventure into the illicit realm.

They stopped abruptly at the service entrance. Lucas reached down to adjust her golden mask and repeated, "Do not take this off. There is a great chance that someone will recognize you."

Edwina nodded. She was not so naive to believe that gentlemen of the ton did not patronize brothels. The men snickered to themselves around the punch bowl at balls about their conquests assuming, incorrectly, that the ladies around them were too innocent to understand. Edwina had it on firsthand knowledge that women could be just as crass visiting over a tea tray.

Lucas banged his fist against the door. Though Edwina could hear laughter pouring out from an open window on the second floor above them, there was no answer. Lucas banged again, louder, the movement jerky with impatience. When no one answered again, he tried the handle. Locked.

"Damn it. Where are you Brutus?" Lucas grumbled, before pivoting on his heel, turning towards Edwina, his eyes assessing her. "Should I even bother to ask if you would return to the carriage?"

"Don't even think of it," Edwina replied curtly. "I'm coming with you."

Lucas let out an aggrieved sigh and reached forward, closing her cloak over her costume. Coincidentally enough, Edwina’s outfit would fit right in with the girls of the Hothouse. A bit of exposed skin, nothing too scandalous, but all too enticing. "Whatever you do, stay close to me. We will need to enter through the front door."

Lucas felt a wave of anxiety flood him as he pulled Edwina along in his wake. As much as he was familiar with the upstair rooms of the prostitutes, he had never entered the brothel through the main entrance. He could deduce what he would find within and the thought made him cringe.

He glanced down at Edwina and saw the stubborn set of her jaw. She would not back down, no matter what she encountered. He felt a swelling of frustration and pride.

When they reached the front door, it automatically opened as the footman inside must have spotted them coming up the path. The servant reached for Edwina's cloak, but Lucas held out his arm, stopping him.

"She keeps it on," he said. The footman looked surprised, but said nothing. All kinds of predilections occurred within. It wasn't the place for the footman or any of the other servants of the Hothouse to judge what the patrons desired. For all the footman knew, Lucas possessed a cloak fetish.

The footman nodded and stepped back, allowing Lucas and Edwina to pass through the foyer.

The main entrance opened to a foyer with several closed doors on each side of the room. The Hothouse was once a manor of a peer who lost it in a game of vingt-et-un nearly three decades ago. Their footsteps echoed off the original black and white marble floor.

"Where are we going?" Edwina looked about curiously. Lucas thought that to her the brothel didn't appear too much different from Bridgerton House. Exquisite replica paintings from old masters hung on the wall. Hothouse flowers, mainly roses, overflowed from vases. The house was designed to make the clientele feel as if they were at home, both an homage and a mockery of the upper class. Only at the Hothouse, a man can do to a whore what he could never do at home to his wife.

"To the back of the house. There is a staircase that leads to the second floor."

In a traditional house of this design, the room to Lucas's left would be the drawing room while the one to his right the library. Lucas debated silently which one to take, before the door to the drawing room slammed open and a drunken gentleman stumbled out, his trousers pulled down to his ankles. Edwina gasped out in surprise.

The man turned at the sound and grinned widely. His flaccid penis flopped to and fro as he began to shuffle toward them.

Without a second thought, Lucas grabbed Edwina's hand and opened the door to the library.

***

The room was dark except for a scattering of candles lit in sconces along the walls. The soft candlelight illuminated rows of books stacked neatly on shelves that towered overhead. It was a library, and a well-stocked one by the looks of it.

Edwina heard the cries and moans of pleasure before her eyes slowly adjusted to the scene before her. Men and women in various states of undress copulated wildly against different pieces of furniture. One couple laid flat across a chaise, a woman with large breasts riding on the top of the gentleman. Another bent over a desk. A third, half hidden in shadow, of a woman kneeling before a man. Another couple pressed up against a bookshelf with the man thrusting so violently that Edwina was sure the books would tumble free down upon their heads at any moment.

There was a cloying musky scent in the air that Edwina quickly realized was the smell of sex.

"Oh, Christ," Lucas swore. "Close your eyes, Edwina."

"Absolutely not." She tugged away from him, fixated with wonder at the multitudes of writhing half-dressed bodies. Her eyes landed on one couple in a particularly athletic stance. "How do you suppose–"

Lucas shook his head slightly, nearly tripping over a pair of discarded breeches as he quickly hustled her from the room. "You are shameless."

They found themselves in a narrow corridor with only one door at the end. Lucas peeked through the doorway first before allowing Edwina to follow. It looked to be a small parlor room and was blessedly empty.

He closed the door behind them, leaning against it and took in a deep breath to calm his nerves. Alone, he would have spared the frenetic orgy around him a dispassionate glance, but with Edwina by his side, he felt the creep of embarrassment crawl up his spine to heat the skin under his collar. He resisted the urge to tug at it.

"I will never forgive myself for this," he muttered.

"There is nothing to forgive," Edwina said, looking around the room. It was dark and cold, the fire unlit in the hearth. A small couch embroidered with pink roses and two settees sat in a circle as if waiting for a tea tray. Lucas was not fooled by the deception and stood on edge as if waiting to be ambushed by another fornicating couple. He was prepared to toss Edwina over his shoulder and flee the premises.

"Consider this as a field excursion for my studies," she continued. "The Human Animal In Varied States of Procreation," she replied cheekily, before turning thoughtful. "Though, I do wonder how some of those positions could achieve impregnation. Specifically, the one where the woman had her mouth on the man's–"

Lucas slapped his hand over her mouth. "No."

Her large brown eyes peered at him innocently from above his hand. He narrowed his eyes and slowly pulled his hand away, warning her wordlessly to stay silent on the matter. She did not.

"Do men enjoy that? A woman's mouth on their..." she made a gesture toward Lucas's crotch. He felt his cock twitch inside his evening breeches at the close proximity of her hand.

"Yes, I suppose some men do," he answered hastily, now desperately looking around the room for an exit. The momentary reprieve was gone. He thought he was in dangerous waters dragging Edwina through the gauntlet of fornicating bodies, but he was wrong.

It was much more dangerous to be alone with her.

"Do you?"

His attention snapped back to her. She looked up at him inquisitively.

"I am not going to answer that question." Oh God. Dangerous waters, indeed.

Satisfaction bloomed on her face. "Ah, so, yes, you do." She looked as if she was making a mental note to revisit on a later date.

"Enough of this nonsense. We must be nearly there." Lucas arranged a map of the house in his mind. The staircase to the second floor was located in the back, near the service entrance and the kitchen. If they continued to walk south to the far end of the manor, they would eventually find it. He hoped.

Lucas took Edwina's hand and opened the door at the far end of the small room and peered through. The melodic tones of a violin accompanied by a piano hung in the air. There was a soft murmuring of men and women talking and when they stepped through, Lucas realized that they had stumbled into the ballroom.

Only one in which the musicians sat upon the raised dais completely nude.

***

It was a masquerade like the one at the Hastings ball, only all the women were naked except for the masks they wore. It was as if their only costume requirement was no costume at all. The men, Edwina noticed, were dressed in costume, and she realized that they must have come directly from the Hasting ball to the brothel. She likely had spoken to some of the gentlemen present, perhaps even shared a dance with a few of them.

Lucas stopped for a brief moment, taking in their surroundings, before pointing to a door halfway down the opposite wall. "Through there," he said, as he leaned in close to her ear. When he straightened, Edwina watched him stiffen as he looked at a man near the punch bowl. The gentleman was liberally pouring the contents of his flask into the bowl and when he looked up, he startled at Lucas's gaze.

Edwina recognized the lithe figure of Lord Morrison. The gentleman looked between Lucas and Edwina, and she saw a dawning recognition spread across his face. She had danced one set, a quadrille she believed, with Lord Morrison earlier in the evening. He likely recognized her costume.

"Damn it all to hell," Lucas said, wrapping his arm around her shoulder, forcing her head under his arm.

They scurried around the edge of the ballroom floor as the musicians struck up a waltz. Dancers in various states of undress began to form around them, most of the gentlemen swaying on their feet. A man attired as a pirate grabbed at her cloak and wrestled it free from her shoulders, yanking her back and out from under Lucas's arm. The crowd pushed in between her and Lucas.

"Come dance with me, lovey," the man said, his words slurring from too much drink. The tricorn hat on his head listed dangerously with each erratic movement. His glassy blue eyes raked over lecherously. He pulled again at her cloak, this time harder and Edwina fell back against his chest. He grabbed her arm, his fingers digging into her flesh.

Fumbling fingers grabbed at her mask and pulled it free from her face while the other pinched her bottom. She cried out in outrage, throwing up one hand to cover her face, while the other slapped at the pirate until he released her.

"I say!" the man exclaimed, flailing about in an attempt to block her blows. Her gold mask dropped from his hand and was trampled under the his boot. Her blood chilled at the loss.

Edwina turned to see Lord Morrison pushing his way through the crowd toward her, his eyes lit with mischief.

A loud exclamation rose in the air as Lucas suddenly shoved aside the crowd and appeared before her. He looked wild, furious, and grabbed her assailant by the lapels.

“ Don’t you dare touch her! ” Lucas roared, raising the man off the ground until he stood on the tip of his toes. The pirate’s eyes bulged as he choked, his face reddening. His hands slapped ineffectually against Lucas's clenched fists.

"Lucas," Edwina said, looking again over her shoulder. Lord Morrison had closed the distance. He looked directly at her and smiled. Edwina felt cold. She was found out. She was ruined.

Edwina tugged at Lucas's arms. "We need to go. Please." Her words seemed to snap Lucas out of his fury and he dropped the man on his ass.

The pirate gasped for air and blubbered, a shaky finger raised and pointed at Lucas. "That man attacked me!"

The crowd around them swelled again and Lucas snatched up her hand. They were shaking and Edwina couldn't tell if it was she who shook with fear or Lucas with anger.

***

Lucas flung open the door on the far side of the ballroom and they entered into another corridor. However, unlike the last, this one was lined with several doors.

“Confound it. This place is a damned labyrinth.”

"He's still following us," Edwina said and Lucas turned to see that she was right. Morrison followed doggedly in their footsteps, forcing his way around the crowd. He stopped momentarily to speak with the man who accosted Edwina and both men turned to look at Lucas.

Edwina’s face was white with fright. Lucas saw that she knew what this meant. Morrison recognized her.

Lucas didn't know much about Morrison, but learned from his past discussions with Wesley Silva that he was a miscreant and rumormonger, a man Silva kept well away from his sister Ursula. Morrison was also severely short on funds, which made Lucas's palms sweat at what a desperate man would do with the knowledge of discovering a young lady within the confines of one of London's renowned brothels. Blackmail came to the forefront of his mind. Complete ruination following swiftly.

Morrison would spread word of Edwina’s night at the Hothouse like wildfire throughout the ton. Perhaps even sell his story to Lady Whistledown.

Lucas opened one of the many doors, not caring what he'd found within, and pushed Edwina through. It was a linen closet and smelled faintly of dried rose petals. He slammed the door behind them, dropped his valise, and began stripping off his coat.

Edwina looked alarmed.

"I am going to kiss you," he said in a harsh whisper, his mind praying that his ill-conceived plan would work. He pushed Edwina up against the far wall, deeper into the shadows, his body blocking her from the direct line of sight from the doorway. "And I am going to touch you."

He snatched off her golden crown of rays and ran his hands through her hair, dislodging her pins. Half of her coiffure fell down in a mass of dark curls against her rapidly rising and falling chest.

"I am going to touch your breasts, your thighs."

Edwina nodded jerkily, her tongue darting out and wetting her lips as if in anticipation of his kiss. Lucas groaned and reached down and undid the falls of his breeches. When he was finished, he pushed his breeches down until they hung mid thigh. Edwina's eyes widened.

"Hold on to me. Don't let go." Lucas took her arms and wrapped them around his shoulders. She clasped her hands tightly behind his neck, pulling him close.

Lucas grasped the hem of Edwina's tunic and dragged it up over her waist and stepped between her thighs. He could feel her trembling, her thighs quivering with anticipation, as he lifted her up against the wall until her legs straddled him. He ground his cock against her snatch, feeling her wet heat through the thin cotton of his drawers. Only the thin barrier stood between them and complete penetration.

Lucas lowered his head and captured Edwina's lips with his own, swallowing her moan of pleasure, and began thrusting against her.

Edwina melted instantly at his touch. With his free hand, he touched her as he said he would. Her face, her breasts, the soft underside of her thighs.

His lips against hers, their tongues caressing and stroking, imitating the thrusts of their hips. She rode against him hard, seeking her own pleasure.

Lucas shivered with the need to free himself from his drawers, to feel her skin to skin. He willed himself not to spend.

It felt like an eternity until Lucas heard the linen closet door open. From the corner of his eye, he saw Morrison's surprised expression.

"Get out!" Lucas growled, without turning his head. He straightened slightly to ensure that Edwina was hidden between him and the wall. Edwina did not appear to notice the disturbance, as she leaned forward and began nipping delicately around Lucas's throat. He swallowed, clenching his eyes shut against the rising tide of desire.

"I–I beg your pardon," Morrison said, before the door closed again. Lucas let out an exhale of relief as he heard Morrison move quickly down the corridor, opening and closing doors as he went, in his continued search for Edwina.

Lucas looked down at Edwina, her eyes heated with lust. A dark flush had spread across her body. He knew he should pull away, that his plan worked and they no longer needed to keep up the pretense, but, instead he pushed her up higher against the wall.

She had been afraid when the man grabbed her in the ballroom. He had seen the stark fear in her eyes, the paleness of her face when she realized her mask was gone. That she was completely exposed to the masses. It would have been no worse than if she stood naked among them.

He felt the rage course through him as he forced his way back to her side. He wanted to tear the man who accosted Edwina limb from limb. The man had frightened her and deserved whatever punishment Lucas meted out. And if it wasn’t for Edwina’s soft voice calling to him, returning him back to his senses, Lucas would have done just that. Pummeled the man until he was a quivering, bloody mass against the white marble floors of the ballroom.

“Don’t stop, Lucas. I need you,” she pleaded against his throat, her hands grasping at his shirt. “I need you.”

She had been afraid, but she wasn't afraid now. All he could do was surrender and give her what she needed and take nothing for himself.

Lucas lowered his head again and kissed her, hard.

***

Edwina understood what Lucas planned. It was like camouflage. If they wanted to blend in with the patrons of the brothel, then they needed to act the part.

But the knowledge that it was all a ploy did nothing to stop the rising heat dwelling between her thighs. It did nothing to stop Edwina from kissing Lucas back, to pulling him closer to her as he tugged at her bodice until her breasts spilled free, one hand caressing her naked breast while the other bracing them up against the wall. It did nothing to prevent her from tightening her legs around his waist, from meeting the hard length of him as he thrust up and down against her slick folds, pressing down firmly against her clit. And it did nothing to keep her from keening out in pleasure as her orgasm overcame her in thundering waves.

It took several minutes for Edwina to catch her breath. She felt hot, sticky pressed between Lucas’s firm body and the unyielding wall at her back. She opened her eyes, blinking slowly, only to find Lucas looking down at her with concern.

“All right?” he asked.

Edwina nodded. “All right.”

He smiled and slowly lowered her legs until her feet touched the ground. She wobbled slightly, Lucas holding her arm until she steadied herself. When he pulled away, she felt an aching loss at her core. She wanted more. More of him. All of him. Inside her.

Edwina repressed her indecent thoughts while awkwardly smoothing out her tunic and watched as Lucas buttoned up the falls of his breeches. Even in the shadows, she could see the thick outline of his hard cock straining against the fabric.

“You didn’t…”

He followed her gaze and shook his head ruefully.

“But, it isn’t fair,” she said.

Lucas frowned, stopping in the midst of straightening out his waistcoat. “This has nothing to do with fairness. If I want to give you pleasure without reaching a release of my own, then that is how it will be.”

Edwina narrowed her eyes, her hands reaching toward his falls. Lucas grabbed them before she made contact. “No, Edwina. This isn’t the time.”

Edwina blinked. Of course. “Lily.”

Lucas nodded as he finished dressing. He draped his coat over her bare shoulders as she lost her cloak somewhere in the ballroom and had no intention of returning for it.

They exited the linen closet to find the corridor empty. “Lord Morrison?”

“He’s gone,” Lucas said. “But, we must hurry.”

They must have lost at least a half hour, if not more, rambling about lost inside the brothel. Edwina only hoped that they weren’t too late. From the tense look on Lucas’s face, she knew he was thinking the same.

Lucas opened several of the doors in the corridor until they found one that led to a stairwell. Lucas’s shoulders slumped with relief. “The door at the bottom of the staircase is the service entrance we tried to enter through earlier,” Lucas said. “Lily’s room is up these stairs.”

Edwina followed close behind him as they climbed up the narrow set of stairs. She clutched his coat around her shoulders, her body still shaky from the aftermath of the events in the ballroom, but more so from their lovemaking. The heady scent of Lucas enveloped her, earthy like old books and a slight sharp antiseptic smell from the medicines he used. She could get accustomed to this, to him.

A small cluster of prostitutes murmured to themselves as they gawked into a room at the end of the hallway. A few clutched onto one another, the older ones comforting the younger girls. The rouge on their cheeks contrasted sharply against their pale ashen skin.

“Dr. Blakeley, thank the ’eavens!” one girl cried out, breaking free from the group. Tears streamed down her face creating two rivulets of paint. “Please ’elp ’er!”

The other prostitutes stepped aside to let Lucas pass and he froze stock still at the threshold.

All Edwina could smell was the coppery stench of blood.