Chapter Two
The Misfortunes Of Beauty
“Good evening, ladies.” Lucian stepped through the door and smiled. “How lovely you both look. I hope you are pleased with your gowns and shoes.”
I clicked my black, stiletto-heeled shoes together three times. “There’s no place like Harrowcroft,” I repeated at each click. We all laughed at my nervous attempt at humor.
“Just one more brief ceremony,” he said, “then we can all join the rest of the guests downstairs.” He strode over to the attaché case lying on the bed and thrust a brass key into its lock. The lid popped up and I gasped. Two sets of collars and eight cuffs like the maid’s lay inside, hungering to wrap themselves around Laura and me.
“What...” I began.
“Hush, Val,” Laura said. “You don’t want Lucian to gag you, too, do you?”
“But I.
